Ordinary 27

The Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

2020 – Cycle A – Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80; Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43

Eight centuries ago in a small walled Tuscan hill town there lived a youthful local delinquent named Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone. Wrestling with many questions and looking for insight he knelt before a crucifix in a small chapel just beyond the walls of the town. Giovanni was told as he prayed, “Rebuild my church, which you see, is falling down”. The problem with visions is they can sometimes be misunderstood which has led many a saint initially in the wrong direction. And so Giovanni started work on the chapel which was in need of much repair. Giovanni, who changed his name to Francesco came to realize he was being called to go beyond stone and mortar. Francis of Assisi, one of the most beloved of saints, within and beyond Catholicism, even beyond Christianity, became one of the great reformers of the Church. Yes, rebuilding the church but from the inside out.

Francis comes among us today across the centuries, I believe, to continue his work of rebuilding and reforming the church. There is so much about Francis that is applicable for our reflection and action for the sake of our world and church; both of which are in need of repair.

Francis came to be called, Il poverello, the poor, little one. The pandemic has spotlighted the economic, racial, emotional and political situations of so many people in our country and world. The hardships of families experiencing furloughs and local businesses closing with the ensuing and difficulty of making car payments, the rent and purchasing food. The poverty of relationships resulting in loneliness, the inability to visit family members in healthcare facilities, and to appropriately tend to the sick and the burial of the dead.

Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus teaching, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” that is, blessed are those who are humble, who know they are in need of others; of God.  This must be balanced with Luke’s record in which Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the poor…” One poverty is of the body and the other is a poverty of the heart and soul. Both lead to God.

The spirit of Francis is inviting us to question and reflect on what is essential in life; what is essential in our spiritual relationship to God the Trinity, to each other, to ourselves. Are we not finding ourselves to be poveri piccoli, little poor ones, in some manner?

Did we not find it curious that Maria Bergoglio chose the name of Francis on his election as Bishop of Rome? Pope Francis, like his namesake, is not primarily concerned about orthodoxy and dogmas as he is about people. For Bishop Francis those people are the innocent unborn, the poor, the destitute, the abandoned, the refugee, the underprivileged, the vulnerable victims of infirmity, euthanasia and human trafficking and slavery. He chastises bishops, clergy and the Roman Curia for clericalism, power and gossip while calling forth church leadership from what he calls “the peripheries” of the church. Pope Francis bears out what Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, “You were despised and rejected by all and intimately knew suffering being acquainted with pain. When we saw you, we turned our faces away; we despised you and did not value you.” [Isaiah 53:3]

How many people in our society and among the nations are turning their backs on people in need as being of no value? The first papal first was to the Italian island of Lampedusa to spotlight the plight of refugees and the indifference of the global community. “When we saw you, we turned our faces away; we despised you and did not value you”. Pope Francis is criticized for his position by high ranking clerics and wealthy lay Catholics, who like his namesake was criticized from within his own Franciscan Order.

Isaiah continues, “Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured”. Have we ever considered that the poverty, abandonment and pain of the poor, refugees and migrants, the unborn and infirm, black and brown peoples and those sold into slavery, are for our sake?

Pope Francis has made dialogue between religions, especially with Islam, a priority of his pontificate. In 1219 Christianity and Islam were fighting against each other in the fifth crusade. Saint Francis made the audacious decision to cross borders and visit Sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt for peace negotiations. Eight hundred years later in 2019, Pope Francis, walking in the steps of Saint Francis, visited the United Arab Emirates to meet the Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed. A document was signed by Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University. It called on all religions to work more closely together. A call away from forms of extremism which is infecting all world religions, including corners of Catholic Christianity.

This document is the basis of a third encyclical by Pope Francis which was signed last evening in Assisi entitled, Fratelli tutti. The title comes from a line in the writings of Saint Francis, “Let us all, sisters and brothers, consider the Good Shepherd who to save his sheep bore the sufferings of the cross”.  “Let us all…” includes for both the Italian and Argentinian Francis separated by 800 years, all creatures great and small, animate and inanimate. The wind, sun and clouds as well as the birds radiate the sublime community and interconnectedness of all creation. Has not the lockdown reacquainted us with nature as we walk, cycle or run drawing in pure air and welcoming the silence of nature? Does not all of creation sing of the glory of God? “Rebuild my church” was the original call Saint Francis heard, Fratelli tutti will focus on how human beings can, must(?) restore and rebuild our relationships with one another.

This encyclical is the natural sequel to Pope Francis’ second encyclical which also began with a quote from Saint Francis, Laudato Si’  mi’ Signore…Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures…”  on restoring our relationship with the natural world. Nature teaches us an important lesson. It is indifferent to humanity. Hurricanes, flooding and wildfires attest to that.  Mountains and rivers, and the creatures that dwell on this planet will continue to exist whether we are among them or not. But we cannot be indifferent to creation. We need biodiversity. We need the Amazon and primal forests of Alaska. We need clear, pure water. The planet has shown us its capacity to do us great harm. We must rebuild our relationship with creation and cherish it as a gift from God.

What underlies the life of Francis of Assisi 800 years ago speaks clearly to our world today. We are all called to rebuild our relationship with God, the church, creation, and between religions and societies. The common good and the dignity of all human beings, two of the four pillars of Catholic Social Teaching, must be the source out of which we make all our decisions and the summit to which we aspire.

Harmony and understanding between religions, unity among Christians, racial justice, the environment, the poor and the vulnerable, refugees and migrants, war are all daunting issues of our time. Il poverello, the little poor one, lived the humility needed to address our times: “Start by doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible”

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PLEASE NOTE: Homilies presented here are also being videotaped and put up on the Saint Mary, Oneonta website: http://www.SMCCOneonta.org.