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23rd SUNDAY |
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Dear Preachers:
DID YOU KNOW: We have posted a review of Elizabeth A. Johnson’s new book, “Come, Have Breakfast: Meditations on God and the Earth,” on our webpage. Our brother R. B. Williams, O.P. gives it high praise. Go to: https://PreacherExchange.com/index.htm and click on “Book Reviews.” Did you know we also have over 50 book reviews on our preaching webpage? Check it out. While you are there look around at our other features on the site, in Spanish and English, related to preaching.
In his letter today James has seen something happening is his Christian community and he is distressed by it. It occurred when they gathered for prayer? He criticizes the worshiping community for its showing favoritism towards members in the assembly who are rich. They have the visible signs of wealth, “gold rings and fine clothes.” Christians responded to these visible signs by offering those arrivals special seating. While a person in shabby clothes isn’t offered a seat at all, but instructed, “Stand there,”... “Sit at my feet.”
While the favorable actions towards the rich and neglect of the poor may seem discourteous, the reading suggests more – it is a sin. Certainly people in society show favor to those with influence and disregard those on the streets. This social partiality is not what James is addressing. He’s concerned about how Christians make class distinctions among themselves in the faith community, where all the baptized are equal and there is no place for categories separating rich and poor Christians.
James reminds the Christians how they were poor, but God chose them and made them rich in faith. Though they were mistreated, they were still the property of God and had been gifted with faith. When they restrict the poor they are copying the way the world treats the poor. By favoring the rich, those James is criticizing, are acting contrary to the basic belief of their faith. “Did not God choose those who were poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?”
The clue for us Christians is not merely to celebrate the reception of new members at our Easter Vigil baptisms. Newcomers, whatever their social ranking, have to be fully welcome, not only in our pews, but also into our fuller church life. If you want to spend a long time searching through the Bible look for the number of times the poor and those suffering social injustice are mentioned. Make sure you have a lot of time and plenty of food when you begin the undertaking. A challenge to the preacher: how many times have you preached about the poor? And, to those sitting in the pews today, by what criteria do you judge others? Someone said, if you cut out references to the poor in the Bible much of the Psalms and Prophets would disappear and we would be left with holes – and that’s just counting two of the biblical books!
The reading from Isaiah today is like a tender love letter a mother, or father, might write to a beloved child going through hard times. Certainly there are parents in the congregation today who have had to send such words of concern to a child in a letter, email, phone, or face-to-face. When everyone else goes their own way, a parent is still there loving and worrying over a distressed child. In such cases everything else, household, job, friends and recreation are put on hold, so that full attention can be focused on the needy child; no matter what their age, no matter what the cost.
Does that hint at how much God loves the lost and distressed children of God? It is there in our Isaiah reading. The passage shows God’s coming with promised vindication for the exiled Israelites. There is reason to have hope because of the promises God is making to the people. The language depicts a new Exodus: “streams will burst forth in the desert….The burning sands will become pools and the thirsty ground, springs of water.” God will produce great changes among the people. The hardened, especially, will be converted: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared… then the tongue of the mute will sing.” When will this promised relief happen and who will bring this hoped-for relief about? We find the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promises in Jesus. So, let’s turn to the gospel.
Jesus is in Gentile territory; not exactly a sacred place for devout Jews. There he heals someone not of his clan, or faith. As James did in our second reading, Jesus challenges us to reach out to others, despite their social, racial, economic, or ethnic standing and share with them the gift of grace and peace we have received.
The deaf man Jesus healed did not come forth on his own to declare faith in Jesus and request a healing. He was brought by others. It’s the faith of others who have compassion that brings about the healing for the man. And isn’t that a challenge for us? Is our faith visible enough to others to draw them to Christ for healing they may need in their lives? As the old saying goes, “If it were a crime to be a Christian would they have enough evidence to arrest us?”
There is a disturbing fact in the story. Why did Jesus tell the healed man and his friends to keep silent about what happened? Perhaps they would have shared the story of the cure, but not gotten the full truth of what had happened. They would not have told what Jesus had been telling his disciples, about his upcoming suffering, death and resurrection.
We tend to be shy about sharing our faith with others so we keep quiet. We probably claim: “I do not want them to think I am a fundamentalist Christian.” “They might think me a ‘ Jesus freak’.” Or, “I don’t know enough about my faith, I am just a regular Christian.” Even though they were told not to, they “proclaimed it.” We use the verb “to proclaim” when we refer to announcing God’s word – that is, “proclaiming the gospel.”
They did not have any sophisticated theological training, but they did have the experience of God’s mercy and power for the man. It was their personal experience that fired their faith: the experience of God’s compassion, mercy and love to the outsider.
The God Isaiah proclaimed today reaches out to open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf. Have we ever had an experience of a new insight in our lives, or heard a truth that turned us around? Why not speak out of our personal experience and tell someone about it?
Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090824.cfm
The maker of heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, Who keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed. —Psalm 146:6-7
Have you heard of the Season of Creation? It is happening right now. This annual Christian celebration takes place between September 1st (the Feast of Creation) and October 4th (the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi). It aims for everyone to pray and respond to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, while encouraging awareness-raising initiatives to protect the natural environment and the lives most impacted by the abuse of the earth. This year’s theme is “To Hope and Act with Creation.”
On May 25, 2014, Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (Constantinople), issued a Common Declaration stating, “It is our profound conviction that the future of the human family depends also on how we safeguard – both prudently and compassionately, with justice and fairness – the gift of creation that our Creator has entrusted to us. Therefore, we acknowledge in repentance the wrongful mistreatment of our planet, which is tantamount to sin before the eyes of God. . .We appeal to all people of goodwill to consider ways of living less wastefully and more frugally, manifesting less greed and more generosity for the protection of God’s world and the benefit of His people” (6).
“We acknowledge in repentance the wrongful mistreatment of our planet, which is tantamount to sin before the eyes of God.” Let us pause to examine their statement. We do not talk often about the sin of omission, but it is obvious when one begins to look at our communal and individual disregard for the care of our common home. Via Vatican Radio on November 19, 2017, Pope Francis defines the sin of omission. “Omission is also the great sin. . . [and] has a specific name: indifference. It is when we say, “That doesn’t regard me; it’s not my business; it’s society’s problem.” It is when we turn away from a brother or sister in need, when we change channels as soon as a disturbing question comes up, when we grow indignant at evil but do nothing about it. God will not ask us if we felt righteous indignation, but whether we did some good.” During the Season of Creation, Pope Francis especially asks us to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, “to secure justice for the oppressed” (Psalm 146:7).
What will your response be?
Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC
“Live Lightly Upon the Land”
Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home. From today’s Isaiah reading:
Streams
will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in
Reflection:
Isaiah is speaking to the Israelites in slavery...and to anyone of us who may be feeling in exile. At this Eucharist today we remember that God has not deserted us but, by taking flesh, has gone into exile with us. The sacrament we share not only sustains us, but promises that on our journey we will find, “The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.”
So, we ask ourselves:
POSTCARDS TO DEATH ROW INMATES
“One has to strongly affirm that condemnation to the death penalty is an inhuman measure that humiliates personal dignity, in whatever form it is carried out." ---Pope Francis
Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I am posting in this space several inmates’ names and locations. I invite you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know that: we have not forgotten them; are praying for them and their families; or whatever personal encouragement you might like to give them. If the inmate responds, you might consider becoming pen pals.
Please write to:
----Central Prison P.O. 247 Phoenix, MD 21131
Please note: Central Prison is in Raleigh, NC., but for security purposes, mail to inmates is processed through a clearing house at the above address in Maryland.
For more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the Catholic Mobilizing Network: https://catholicsmobilizing.org/resources/cacp/ - On this page you can sign “The National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty.” Also, check the interfaith page for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty: https://www.pfadp.org/
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