Trinity Sunday – On Racism

On the Death of George Floyd The Most Holy Trinity 2020 – Cycle A Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9; Daniel 3; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18

For three months we have experienced the consequences of an invisible virus that has invaded the human body for which there no doubt will be a vaccine at some time in the near future.  But as we have watched across our nation’s cities the peaceful demonstrations and regretfully their violent takeover by certain elements of society in reaction to the death of George Floyd there is among us another virus; a visible one. This virus is within the American body politic and psyche for which there will never be a vaccine. Racism and violence will have no quick and easy fix.

The situations of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin and many others are complex and videos do not reveal the entire human story of an event as they simultaneously galvanize the nation’s reactions. I have to ask, why we are so obsessed with videotaping violent events against human dignity rather than putting our phones down and intervening. Whether a person is guilty or not, a suspect, a mistaken identity, no person should be treated so violently and callously. I also acknowledge I am not a police officer. These women and men put their lives on the line for us every day. We need to balance and recognize the good among them. Though complex, the violence against people of colour, those living in poverty and the homeless need more than another governmental commission. The anger and rage that we have been watching spilling out over our cities is centuries in the making. And those of us who are white, and yes, particularly male, should never say we understand, we don’t. For myself, I am privileged by the colour of my skin. I am privileged because of my male gender. I am privileged because of my education. I am privileged because of my status in the Roman Catholic Church. To say any less would be dishonest. I don’t understand the experience of many people in my culture. I need to listen. I need to honour their experience and I need to learn humility. We all do.

Medical research can address the abnormal systems that attack the human body but to be healed, the soul of a people needs to be pierced with compassion, courage and a brutally critical appraisal of history. To address systemic issues such as the continued racism and violence in our society, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s are not enough. Declarations and laws do not change people’s hearts. If they did our nation would not still be harboring and sustaining Neo-Nazi, White Supremacist and racist groups whose purpose it is, is to divide people. Fear, lies and hatred are powerful tools against “the other”.

The belief that each human being has intrinsic value owes much to Christianity. But even Christians should not forget how we have used the Bible, God’s Word, to justify human slavery, anti-Semitism and the suppression of women as equal partners. A nation who at one time held nearly four million people in slavery, whose roots reach deep into the soil of human indignity and whose founders practiced slavery; is also the nation who over a series of relocations, known as the Trail of Tears, forced Native American Indian tribes from their ancestral lands in the 19^th century, built concentration camps for Japanese and German Americans in World War II, continue to imprison people without due process in the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp and cage Central American immigrants and refugees on our southern boarders. This nation needs to scour its conscience! This is not a political issue; it is a moral issue because it is a human issue. At the heart of these historical occurrences is the cruel treatment of human beings. Resonating with that inhuman treatment at the heart of our faith is the tortured and crucified Jesus.

Today we honour our belief that the Eternal God is One and yet a Trinity; an interwoven community of being that bestows life.

Yet how powerfully George Floyd’s plea, “I can’t breathe”, contrasts with the Eternal God and Father who blew the breath of life into clay and the human became a living being. The resurrected Son breathing the Holy Spirit upon his disciples filling them with the courage to go beyond their fear and be a source of healing and forgiveness. The Holy Spirit who, “In the beginning…,” breathed over the waters of chaos and birthed an ordered creation that continues to evolve and expand.

This mysterious belief in the Most Holy Trinity is belief in a God who is creative, compassionate and bold. Our God, in whose image we have each been created, calls us to act in no less a fashion.

There will be no vaccine. Racism, human cruelty, hatred and violence require a radical change of heart. What needs to change in your heart?

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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.