Homily 7th Sunday of Ordinary time 20th February 2022
Have you ever realized how difficult life is when you make things black or white, right or wrong, or their fault or my fault? This approach to life is called dualistic and will constantly split us in two, especially mentally. The real challenge is to see that even heretics contained in their teaching an element of truth, it’s just that they were not the majority.
In the first reading from 1st Samuel, Saul is hunting down David with the purpose of killing him. However, David finds himself in a position with Abishai, one of his commanders to thrust a spear into the heart of Saul but David forbids this because Saul is, to use the words of David, “the Lord’s anointed”.
David could have killed his enemy but the esteem to which David held Saul because of his anointing held back his hand.
Every Roman Catholic is anointed with holy chrism. The same oil with which a priest is anointed and with which an altar is anointed. Can you and I say that we hold all Catholics in the same esteem as David held Saul?
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians calls us to see that all Adams and Eves are made of stardust and a spiritual force. In every human being these are not separate but totally united. Thus you and I are intimately bonded together by the Spirit of Christ. There is no separation, no dualism, no me and them, no right or wrong, no better or worse. We are one in Christ.
There was a time in the early days of science when we would look up at the skies, see the darkness and conclude that there was nothing there. In Psalm 139 we read in verse 12 “For you (that is G-d) darkness itself is not dark, and night shines as the day. (Darkness and light are the same)” and this was written between 900 and 500 years before the coming of Christ or 2,900 to 2,500 years ago. And to our surprise the scientists in 1998 confirmed this biblical insight by affirming that there was such a thing called dark energy. Also, there is an apparent darkness due to there being a light frequency which is not seen by the human eye! These being the scientific discoveries case, what we see as darkness in the skies above is full of light and energy.
So if we said, what do the biblical writers know about the skies above and came to the conclusion that they were wrong in making the statement, “darkness and light are the same”, we would be wrong and indeed the truth could be found in both the bible and science. And that conclusion would only come about with a non-dualistic attitude.
Assuming that you agree with this, we now have to accept the very tough loving mandate of Jesus as articulated in today’s Gospel. This mandate has 12 clear ways of living life and none of them places other people as beyond our ability to love them, forgive them or seek reconciliation. And I repeat that, none of the 12 clear ways places other people beyond our ability to love them, forgive them or seek reconciliation.
What are these 12 clear ways as prescribed by Jesus? They are as follows:
1) Love your enemies.
2) Do good to those who hate you.
3) Bless those who curse you.
(I will explain # 4 and 5 later)
4) Pray for those who ill-treat you.
5) Offer the other cheek when struck.
6) Give to those who beg.
7) If something is stolen, do not ask for it again.
8) Do unto others as you would have them do to you.
9) Lend not expecting repayment.
10) Do not judge.
11) Do not condemn.
12) Forgive. Items 10, 11 and 12 can be incredibly summed up by the attitude of the mother and father of Lucas Gaudet, who have chosen not to condemn or become angry at the parents or the son who allegedly stabbed Lucas. (I say “allegedly” as the boy’s case has not yet come to trial with a verdict).
To explain #4 to pray for those who ill-treat you: to pray for people who ill-treat you is a way of not allowing their violence to infiltrate you. So you are not allowing them to control you. This is not easy but it is possible.
To explain #5 turning the other cheek: when slapping someone’s cheek with your right hand, you generally go from left to right. Thus you come down on the cheek of the person which is a physically superior position. If the one who is struck turns their left cheek to the striker, then the striker comes with a parallel strike to the cheek. In other words, the person being struck has brought the one striking down to their level. The one being struck, therefore, is not inferior anymore.
Here I have to beg all of us not to role our eyes and say something similar to, “you must be kidding, for that is impossible”. Remember the statement last week, “Jesus did not call us to a bed of roses but to a crown of thorns” and also Mother Theresa’s statement “God has not called us to be successful but to be faithful”.
Is this then the challenge that faces us from today’s Scriptures? Is this the question we need to deeply answer within ourselves?
Do I wish to exercise my faith and really put it into action or do I wish to sit on the sidelines and never see the results of faith in action? For we must remember what the apostle James said: “My brothers and sisters, what good is it to profess faith without practicing it? Such faith has no power to save one, has it? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and no food for the day and you say to them, “goodbye and good luck! Keep warm and well fed, “but do not meet their bodily needs, what good is that? So it is with the faith that does nothing in practice. It is thoroughly lifeless”.
“To such a person one might say: “you have faith and I have works –is that it?” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works!
Be assured that faith without works is as dead as a body without breath””.
So, let’s become united in our faith, not dualistic. Let’s put the words of Jesus first in our lives, not last, and I promise you, when you and I do that, we will see the light in the dark and we will see the results of our faith in action. But if we continue to make faith only a Sunday activity then …..well you can end the sentence.