Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time 'A'

Saturday October 29, 2011

This homily was delivered at the community liturgy here at Guest House on Saturday evening.

None of us are off the hook…

neither I in the pulpit nor you in the pew!

Despite my best intentions, rarely do I begin preparing my weekend homily before Wednesday morning. Of course at my age anything I read before Friday is subject to permanent memory loss anyway. Nevertheless, even after forty-nine years of homily preparation, I still get the ‘pre-game jitters’ on Saturday or Sunday morning no matter how well prepared I may be.

When I was ordained, the homily was called a sermon. The focus was on one or another aspect of Catholic dogma or doctrine, independent of the Scriptural readings for any particular Sunday. In the light of the liturgical reforms inspired by Vatican II, the focus of the ‘homily’ is now on the Sunday readings that are divided into a three-year cycle in order to expose a greater portion of the word of God to the faithful. In as much as Vatican II was called an “ecumenical council,” it is fair to suggest that this renewal is a reflection at least in part of the positive impact of the Protestant emphasis on the Scriptures since the time of the Reformation.

In any case, you can be sure that I struggle with the Sunday readings every week whether or not I begin preparing on Wednesday morning or on Friday evening.

The struggle is rooted in the necessity for the preacher to understand the origin and the root meaning of the text as well as the context in which it was written. The next challenge is to determine the core of the message and the scope of its application to generation upon generations of believers. The scriptures are inspired, to be sure, but the texts and their meaning have been “accommodated” throughout the centuries to the different circumstances in which believers live.

“Accommodation” is a technical term, which means that as the texts are passed down from one generation to another, they may take on new meanings and new applications to each generation no matter what its culture, social status or political persuasion. The wellspring of God’s wisdom does not run dry for people of faith.

It is the responsibility of the homilist to unpack the meaning of God’s word and explore possible applications to the experience of the faithful in the pew. The preacher engages the congregation in a dialogue with the word. It is my responsibility to challenge but never to hassle, to stretch the imagination without distorting the message. It is my role to suggest connections to current world events without presenting simplistic solutions or limiting the freedom of the individual or community to consider the meaning through within the context of the long tradition of the Church.

That’s a tall order and you can be sure this preacher is still a neophyte!

That having been stated, the message this week is directed more toward the priest-preacher than to the congregation. However, I am not about to take you completely off the hook. That which applies directly to me applies indirectly to you.

Malachi was a hard-nosed prophet who preached in the tradition of Amos three centuries before him. Malachi directed his words to the priests of old on their return to Jerusalem following the liberation of the Jews from Babylon. “Your worship has become sloppy and your preaching shallow. You are more concerned about your status, your titles and your perks than the truth you were sent to speak.” Ouch!

Jesus doled out the same fare to those Pharisees and scribes who were more concerned about their titles and places of honor than they were about the truth of God’s revelation. “They preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders but they will not lift a finger to move them.” Wow. Those words surely have application to ‘some’ religious leaders in our own time! As my mother would say, “Watch where the eyeballs roll!”

The Torah was not to be manipulated or dissected to the advantage of religious leaders. Jesus was clear about the foundation on which the Torah was established—love of God and love of neighbor. Anything that distracted from that core truth detracted from its application to God’s people and became a distortion of the truth. Jesus was neither a crowd-pleaser nor an iconoclast.

Our Sunday worship is the most important thing we do all week. It must not be sloppy, hurried or harried. It must be joyful but reverent and carried out with care and respect. It can be relaxed but never casual. If the preacher must prepare the homily, the congregation must be prepared to listen. Although it is not for children, children must be welcomed. How else will they come to know its importance in their lives as adults?

Jesus chastised his contemporaries for separating their rituals from their daily experience. He connected worship with justice and works of mercy. He avoided political correctness and risked rejection. He sought no titles or favor other than the privilege of service. “He did not deem equality with God something to be grasped but emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave…”

In truth, we are all messengers of God’s word to the world and in this Eucharist we become the bread of Christ blessed and broken for one another.

“We also constantly give thanks to God for this,
That when you received the word of God
That you heard from us,
You accepted it not as a human word
But as what it really is, God’s word,
Which is also at work in you believers.” [I Thess. 7:9]

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