Homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Scriptures for today's Mass
Audio
When I was younger, much, much younger,
I was taught
to live
according to the Ten Commandments, the words of Jesus
and the teachings of the Church
- LEST I sin and end up in hell.
Are you familiar with the concept of
“teaching to the test?”
It’s a term for any method of education
whose curriculum is heavily focused on
preparing students
to pass a standardized test.
Analogous to “teaching to the test”
is an approach to faith that might be
called “living to the test,”
the test being God’s judgment of me at
the end of my life.
Or, as Saint Paul put it in his letter
to the Corinthians and to us:
Therefore,
we aspire to please the LORD…
for
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ
so
that each of us might receive recompense,
according
to what we did in the body, whether good or evil.
Just as “teaching to the test” might suggest
that the purpose of education is
passing an exam,
so “living
to the test” suggests
that the purpose of leading a Christian
life
is escaping eternal punishment.
And while there’s some validity in
both,
neither one tells us the whole story.
The purpose of education
is something far greater than passing
an exam
and the purpose of living according to
the law of Christ and his Church
is more than getting into heaven.
True education prepares a student
to be a more fully developed human
being
long after any exam is taken.
True education teaches not only content
but just as importantly teaches the
student how to learn.
Analogously, the goal of the Christian
life
is to help us human beings live and
more fully participate
in God’s loving plan for his people
long before we appear at the pearly gates,
waiting for St. Peter to post our final
grades.
True faith teaches the believer not
only how to die
but more importantly - how to live!
Nowadays, one doesn’t hear much about
hell, or the threat of hell,
and many tend to think that somehow,
just about everybody goes to heaven
regardless of the far-ranging degrees
of accountability and success
we experience in living or failing to
live as God desires.
As is so often the case, this isn’t so
much matter of either/or
but much more a matter of both/and.
It’s altogether both helpful and valuable
on the one hand, to keep in mind that
one day
God will judge my life as worthy or
unworthy
of the place he has prepared for me in
heaven.
AND,
on the other hand, to live each day as its own,
simply striving to love God and my
neighbor
because such love is what God asks of
me
and is good for the welfare of the
human family
and my own well-being.
God’s commandments, the gospel of Jesus
and Church teaching
are not intended as a series of hoops
through which we jump
[on our way to the judgment seat of
Jesus
but rather are meant to help you and me
be and become always more
the persons God created us to be.
• As children, we often obey our
parents out of fear of being punished
but as we grow and mature,
we observe and meet societal
expectations and standards
out of a love and respect for others
and for God.
“Both/and...”
• We don’t obey the law simply to avoid
being arrested -
we keep the law because it establishes
good order for our society -
even if there are times when fear of
arrest
keeps us from pressing too heavily on
the gas pedal.
“Both/and...”
• A marriage doesn’t develop and
flourish based on fear of divorce,
but rather on the love that spouses
mutually promise and share -
although there may be times of
temptation when it’s precisely fear
that keeps a partner faithful to his or
her vows.
“Both/and...”
So it is with God and us.
A life lived according to the rules -
out of fear of hell -
]is not the life God envisions for us.
Rather, the life God desires for us
]is a life shared with him and with
others - in love.
It’s possible that we might go through
life keeping all the rules
]and yet never meeting, never
experiencing the person of Jesus.
If keeping the rules doesn’t lead us to
a deeper relationship
of trust, love and intimacy with God -
something is critically missing.
Although here, too, there may be times
when fear of God’s judgment
may keep us from sin and living apart
from his love and grace.
“Both/and...”
We all
need always to keep in mind
that we’re called to lead holy lives
for the sake of holiness
- and by holy lives I mean lives
generous
in goodness… truth… mercy… prayer…
kindness…
peace… justice… healing… and
compassion.
And we need to keep in mind that it’s
on just these points
that one day we’ll stand before the
judgment seat of Christ,
hoping to pass our “final exam”
and, in God’s mercy, be welcomed to
life that has no end,
a life with no end to its joy and
peace.
Simple thoughts like these,
thoughts about how we live, day by day,
in God’s love,
in preparation for being judged
simple thoughts like these should be in
our minds and hearts
as we consider complex issues,
issues like immigration policy and
reform:
how we meet and welcome our neighbor
at our nation’s borders.
And thoughts like these, day by day,
should just as keenly inform
how we meet and welcome the neighbor
who lives
in our own homes, in our own families,
in our neighborhoods,
in our town, in our parish, at work and
at school.
We need to consider what it means to
lead a holy life, day by day,
because it’s on this evidence
that our lives will be reviewed and
judged by Jesus.
“Both/and...”
Jesus uses a beautiful image in today’s
gospel
to help us measure ourselves and our
lives of faith:
the image of planting seeds.
We can’t wait until the “final exam” of
the harvest at the end of our lives
to see if we have been faithful
farmers.
Our fidelity begins with the seeds we
sow every day
and how we nurture them.
Alden Solovy is friend of mine in the
blogosphere.
He’s not a Christian, he’s a Jew, and
he writes, beautifully,
from the perspective of his Jewish faith.
Let me close by sharing with you
a fine poem Alden wrote about planting
seeds.
Planting Seeds
Every act is a seed:
Every laugh, every smile.
Every song, every dance.
Every outstretched arm
And every open heart.
A seed of holiness.
A seed of redemption.
A seed of grace.
Every act is a seed:
Every frown, every angry word.
Every dislike, every disdain.
Every closed fist,
And every hardened heart.
A seed of loneliness.
A seed of isolation.
A seed of despair.
How many seeds have I planted, God of
Old,
Seeds that hurt, Seeds that heal?
How many seeds have I yet to plant,
Seeds that hurt, Seeds that heal?
Ancient One,
grant me the discernment
And the skill
To plant seeds of wonder and awe
In my life and the world.
Let me be a source of wholeness,
Let me be a source of thanksgiving,
So that my life yields
A garden of blessings
In service to Your Holy Name.
- ©Alden Solovy at
ToBendLight.com
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