Ordinary 30

The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2020 – Cycle A – Exodus 22:20-26, Psalm 18; 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10; Matthew 22:34-40

As Christians we long ago lost, forgot, or discarded our spiritual memory of enslavement in Egypt. In speaking against anti-Semitism in 1938, Pope Pius XI reminded us that Abraham is our patriarch and therefore our ancestor. In reminding us that we are spiritually Semites, Catholic Christians need to reclaim our biblical memory and thus hear afresh the injunction, “Remember, you were once strangers yourselves in the land of Egypt…”

Repeatedly throughout the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy the people of Israel and we as their spiritual descendants are told to remember – remember the experience of being a stranger. We all are familiar with the experience because Egypt takes many forms. Being “the new kid on the block” – the stranger – in a  new school, place of employment, parish, neighborhood, while traveling abroad, at a cocktail party, or any situation where no one makes the effort to connect, can be a daunting places especially if no one walks up, introduces themselves and welcomes you into the group. The isolation of standing unknown, alone in a room; is it not a form of slavery and oppression?

Though the Irish poet William Butler Yeats said that, “There are no strangers here; only friends we haven’t yet met,” we know that the initial response to the stranger for most of us is fear or at least standing back until we can ascertain if the stranger is friendly or not.

Yet the command of God leaves no room to hedge: “You shall not molest or oppress the stranger…” “You shall not wrong the widow or orphan.” “You shall not extort…” ”You shall love your neighbor…” These commands are the recognition that we are called into solidarity with each other. This pillar of Catholic Social Teaching expresses that those who differ from us are in fact our sisters and brothers. “Solidarity,” Pope Francis teaches, “means much more than engaging in sporadic acts of generosity. It means thinking and acting in terms of community. It means that the lives of all are prior to the appropriation of goods by a few. It also means combating the structural causes of poverty, inequality, the lack of work, land and housing, the denial of social and labour rights.”

As you can see, at the heart of Catholic Social Teaching is the human being, the dwelling place of God. When we believe God lives in some remote heaven rather than in the person next to us, the person in need or a people oppressed it can excuse us from taking action. Paul starkly teaches us, “Do you not know that you [and every other human being] are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you [and every human being] are, is holy” [1 Corinthians 3:16-17].

At the heart of the biblical story is God’s compassion and actions for the human race. At the heart of the Gospels is Jesus with his desire to encounter a person in their present situation, listen to them, walk with them and leave them physically and spiritually healed. Therefore the theatre of human experience is where we are called to act as Christians.

The principle of solidarity calls us to have a particularly deep love for those who are poor, vulnerable or oppressed. What the bible repeatedly refers to as the widow, orphan and stranger; people who are excluded from the table of relationship and the ability to reach their fulfillment.

As we approach our national elections, we as Catholic Christians and citizens are each called to reflect on the relevant issues. Since no political party or candidate completely aligns with Gospel values and the teachings and principles of the Catholic Christian Faith, we need to do the hard work of informing ourselves on the issues, giving them prayerful reflection and strive to balance moral issues.

We need to ask ourselves, what will respect and raise the dignity of as many human beings as possible? What is best for the common good in which all people can have the opportunity to flourish? How best can we stand with those who are poor, marginalized and excluded from the opportunities that enhance life? The issues are complex; from immigration and asylum seekers to climate change; from racial injustice to good and honest policing; from the possibilities of a new “cold war” to cultural polarization; from agriculture and manufacturing to just wages and employment and the life issues of abortion, poverty, capital punishment and euthanasia.

One important aspect we need to be aware of as we enter the political arena to create “social conditions which allow people to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily” [CCC, # 1906] is that no political or economic system, no nation state or religious institution is to be equated with the Reign of God. Though some political and economic systems are ethically superior to other systems of state authority, no human structure is perfect; including our own. No people, culture or nation is exceptional.

The bishops acknowledge that “Catholics often face difficult choices about how to vote. There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate’s unacceptable position…may reasonably decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons… [Faithful Citizenship, Nos. 34-36] In a world of imperfect choices our Church respects our formed conscience, our prayer and calls us to do the best we can.

The principles of Catholic Social Teaching; the dignity of the human being, working for the “common good” and solidarity – standing with and for each other – are all linked to assist us in forming our consciences so to act as moral beings in the world.

On our parish website there are links to Pope Francis’ encyclical, Fratelli tutti… and the teaching document of the United States Catholic Bishops entitled: “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship”.

In his encyclical, Pope Francis argues that the primary threat to humanity is our social division, fragmentation and friction. He writes, “We need to think of ourselves more and more as a single family dwelling in a common home”.  

And to never forget, “you were once strangers yourselves in the land of Egypt…”

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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.