Fr. Charlie’s Homily – 28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 10-9-2021 4:30 pm (Vigil)

As we were growing up, we were always examining our conscience for confession according to the Ten Commandments.  So, I didn’t kill anybody, I went to church on Sunday, I didn’t commit adultery, so not too hard to be a faithful person.

And, I think, as we look at the gospel today, at the young man there that comes and says, ‘what must I do,’ and Jesus lists the Ten Commandments.  And then, when he says, ‘well, is that it?’  When Jesus challenges him to more, that’s when it becomes difficult.  He has too many possessions, he has to walk away.

There is this development in faith.  And we start out in the Old Testament and as I call it – it was a parent/child relationship.  You tell the child, ‘you do this,’ you don’t do that,’ and that was fine.  That you found these rules, these regulations.  He didn’t have to give you a reason, you just follow them.  And when you didn’t, you would be punished.

 Unfortunately, as you go through the lives of the prophets, it always didn’t work out that way.  Sometimes those who were the good people were carried off into exile, that were the ones who were suffering.  But Ezekiel and Jeremiah both say, ‘well, the day is coming when the law will be written on your heart.’  It won’t be by external norms that you go to confession.  It is when we are gifted with that love, that we allow that love to be reflected in the lives in the world around us.

That was the sign that was so attractive to the early centuries, with those Christians – how they loved one another.  They shared their meals; they shared whatever they had; they took care of the widow and the orphan, and the alien.  You didn’t have to worry about Social Security.  The Christian community, they were there to take care of one another.  So it’s not just something extra we do.  If we want to gain that discipleship, it’s a requirement of who we are. 

And at times in the past there have been some scripture scholars who tried to argue that in battlement walls, there was one very narrow one (a slot) for the archers, it was called the eye of the needle.  So, you can almost think well it might be possible for a small camel to get through it.  No.  When Jesus is using this example, what he means the ‘eye of the needle that a camel...’ to show the importance, the significance, the meaning of what it is to give up everything and follow him – and that’s what takes our direction.

And certainly, the reference when you had family members turning you in to the authorities for being Christian, and suffering martyrdom, and Jesus is promising a bigger family.  Those that care, those that take care, those that love one another are known by their love for one another.  That’s the important part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.  That we maybe, as an institutional church, didn’t deal with it so well.  Within the last century, we’ve taken on a much more significant element trying to bring about and live the life of the kingdom in the world: bringing about justice, bringing about peace.  That this is the work of the community.  You never heard of social justice missions in pre-Vatican II days.  But, it is the result of having incorporated this reading of the gospel today.  That love requires this of us. 

This week in the bulletin, there is a letter, a request coming down for the barrels at the different entrances, for the Afghanis that are being brought in. And Cleveland, I believe there’s probably about 300 that are being brought to Cleveland, and Catholic Charities is doing a big part of trying to resettle them.  And, we have 13 coming in, and so there’s a list on that bulletin insert of things they would help, toiletries basically, as far as being able to assist.  So, maybe next week, if you think about it, again, we need to do this – it’s not something extra we do because we’re Christian; it’s the essence of who we are.  That we seek to do the work, that we seek to build that kingdom of God.

We pray as we gather at this eucharist, that all those things that have control of us – and that’s why the politics, economics, and what’s going on in the world – it’s getting so ugly, because we’re so focused on those things.  If we were focused on this stuff, that’s all we need for human living, that that’s where we would find our joy; that’s where we would find fulfillment; is understanding what God has revealed to us – the Word, and pursue them is, we would find much more joy and these other things wouldn’t have control of us, we could care less.  And I think that’s part of what Jesus is trying to communicate to us in this gospel.

So, we pray for that grace, that yes, we live in a comfortable world; there’s a lot of suffering going on in the world, that we have the sensitivity to seek to bring about the work that is God’s love within us and that we carry that out especially in the way that we treat and care for one another.