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Homily 26th Sunday Year C September 29, 2013
Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola Chestnut Hill MA
Joseph M. O’Keefe, S.J.
Several days ago, I came across a paraphrase of the famous parable of the
sower and the seed. I want to share it with you:
A pope went out to give an interview. And as he talked, some of his words fell
to the media, and those birds gobbled them up before they could even be heard.
Others of his words fell to those who didn’t understand his context. They received
his message with joy, but the first time it occurred to them how difficult it would be
to live by those words, their enthusiasm withered like seedlings in a drought. Some
of his words fell among cranky people who believed those words contradicted
everything they had ever worked for, and the crankiness in their own hearts
strangled the message. And some of his words fell like good rain on the patches of
rich soil others had dismissed as just dirt. His message fell like healing balm on
hearts and minds and bodies of people who had gotten used to just limping along.
Everywhere I go, especially outside of church contexts, people are talking
about the famous interview with Pope Francis, which was published last week in
America magazine and several other major Jesuit journals around the world. Just
when we thought the church was becoming irrelevant to the lives of others, the
pope's words have sparked a new level of interest. And it is true that many of us
Catholics, in the words of the parable paraphrase, had gotten used to just limping
along.
The pundits and the media outlets seem to have moved on. But I think it is
incumbent upon us, members of the Catholic Church, to reflect carefully on what our
chief shepherd is telling us. Clearly, Pope Francis has a profound respect for the
dignity of every person, no matter who they are or what their lifestyle. God be
praised! But let's not deceive ourselves by thinking that the Pope advocates an easy,
undemanding, bourgeois, comfy Catholicism. When I think about the messages that
we're hearing from the Vatican these days, I am reminded of the Lutheran pastor
and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who warned against the fallacy of cheap grace. In
his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer wrote, "Cheap grace is the grace we
bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without
repentance, baptism without discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap
grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus
Christ, living and incarnate.” Pope Francis is calling us to a life of grace, but not a life
of cheap grace. And today's readings are calling us to a life of grace, but not a life of
cheap grace.
Think about the first reading. The Prophet Amos lived during the long reign
of King Jeroboam II, King of Israel in the 8th century BC. These were the glory days
of the Kingdom of Israel. Unfortunately, the unusual prosperity brought a collapse
of moral standards. Ignored were the great ideals and commandments of the Torah
to help the poor, and to practice justice. The rich oppressed the poor; might was
right. Not surprisingly, hand in hand with the degeneration of morals came
increased idolatry. People built many altars on mountains to serve the Canaanite
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gods. In place of the Torah and the holy commandments, it was the golden calf that
was worshipped. . “Woe to you,” prophesied Amos, knowing that greed and
selfishness contain within themselves the seeds of sure destruction. Indeed, by the
turn of the century, the Kingdom was in ruins and people were scattered by the
invading Assyrians
And then we hear the story of Lazarus and Dives (the man is anonymous; the
traditional name comes from the Latin dives; rich man). Dives is ensconced in his
wealth. In sharp contrast is the crippled beggar Lazarus. He would have been glad to
eat - if they had been offered to him - the pieces of bread on which the guests wiped
their fingers and then dropped on the floor. It is important to note that the gospel
does not suggest that Dives' wealth is ill-gotten or that Lazarus was his victim. The
sin of Dives is that, cushioned by his lavish life-style, he was simply oblivious to the
presence of those in need. And that blindness, according to the story, cost him his
eternal life. Can one surmise from the story that all the rich go to hell and all the
poor go to heaven? I don’t think so. But I do think that there is a risk to being rich.
Why? Because, as our patron Ignatius points out in the Spiritual Exercises, the lure
of riches, pride, and honor can imprison a person in a cell of selfishness, inured to
human suffering, blind to the needs of others, complacent and comfortable in a
world of conspicuous consumption.
Back to Papa Bergoglio. In his homily at the morning mass at Casa Santa
Marta on Friday Sept 19, the Pope preached, “There is something in the attitude of
love for money that takes us away from God. The power of money can make one
deviate from the faith and ultimately, lose it…it also sickens one’s thoughts, it also
sickens one’s faith and makes us go on another path. It gives rise to envy, strife,
slander, evil suspicions, conflicts of men with corrupt minds and devoid of truth,
who consider religion as a source of income. Money corrupts! There is no way out.
What happens with money? Money gives you a certain comfort in the beginning.
Then you feel a little important and then comes vanity. And from vanity comes pride
and arrogance. When we worship money, we are sinning against the first
Commandment and making money our idol in place of God. The early Fathers of the
Church put it in a very blunt way, calling money the dung of the devil that corrupts
and leads us away from our faith. Instead of focusing on money, we should strive for
justice, piety, faith and charity, as well as the gifts of patience and meekness that are
the ways of the Lord.”
I want to return to the parable paraphrase at the outset of my homily.
“Others of the Pope’s words fell to those who didn’t understand his context. They
received his message with joy, but the first time it occurred to them how difficult it
would be to live by those words, their enthusiasm withered like seedlings in a
drought.”
Thank God for sending us Pope Francis. Thank God, I say, for his message of
mercy and profound respect for all people, including the unborn. Thank God, I say,
for his moves to reform with boldness Church structures gone awry. Thank God, I
say, for his acting as a pastor and not a potentate. Thank God, I say, for his desire to
be in dialogue with other types of believers and even with others who have no belief
at all. And thank God, I say with some trepidation, for his clarion call to service,
simplicity, and selflessness. Pope Francis once recounted something he learned
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from his grandmother. She said, “Shrouds have no pockets.” From the perspective
of eternity, wealth is but dust in the wind. Grace is not cheap. Holiness can be
elusive for people of privilege like us. But if we want lives of purpose and meaning,
let us forego the cheap trinkets of pride, honor and riches, and seek instead the
greater gifts, those that never tarnish or fade away. Let us be as generous and
merciful as God. Let us care for the poor – indeed – and let us also ask why the poor
are poor, and then courageously reform society so that the privilege of the few is not
founded on the misery of the many. And let us heed the message of Saint Paul to his
friend Timothy: “But you, man of God, woman of God, pursue righteousness,
devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. And, unlike
Dives, lay hold of eternal life, to which you have been called.”