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26 th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, September 27, 2015
Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola
Joseph M. O’Keefe, S.J.
I was up before dawn today. The BC Office of Public Affairs asked me to do a live interview about Pope Francis’s visit at Fox 25 studios in
Dedham. In preparation, I had given thought to the wide range issues about which I might be asked: the impact on legislative debates about a range of public policy issues, or whether Francis is a Democrat or a
Republican, or whether or not global warming is a reality, or the complex Constitutional issues that define church-state relations, or the widening gap between official church teachings and American culture on a host of sexual issues, or the reopening of hideous wounds inflicted on innocent children by priests and covered up by bishops, or whether the papal visit will revitalize the Catholic Church, especially in places like Boston where, according to the Pew Research Center, 29% selfidentify as Catholic and a whopping 33% claim no religion at all, the socalled “nones,” not “n-u-n-s” but “n-o-n-e-s.”
Yes, the papal visit given us has been much to ponder these last days. Prompted by today’s readings, I want us to consider two issues: dialogue and solidarity.
Dialogue. In the gospel, which echoed the reading from the Book of Numbers, we heard the following conversation: “At that time, John said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.’"
Then, as now, we see someone drawing lines, trying to codify who is out

2 and who is in, who is worthy and who is not, who has something to say and who should be silenced. Then and now, we tend to dismiss those who are different from ourselves, who look different, or who hold different opinions. And Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.”
For John, estrangement. For Jesus, engagement. For John, demonization. For Jesus, dialogue.
Pope Francis has talked a lot about dialogue these past few days. In the address on Capitol Hill, the word “dialogue” appears twelve times, and we know well that the 114 th Congress is not noted for dialogue, but rather for partisan bickering, for seeing only the worst in those across the aisle.
The theme of dialogue was also prominent in the Pope’s speech to bishops at St. Matthew’s Cathedral. He said, “Dialogue is our method, not as a shrewd strategy, but out of fidelity to the One who never wearies of visiting the marketplace, even at the eleventh hour, to propose his offer of love.” He continued, “I cannot ever tire of encouraging you to dialogue fearlessly. The richer the heritage that you are called to share, the more eloquent should be the humility with which you should offer it. Do not be afraid to set out on that ‘exodus’ which is necessary for all authentic dialogue. Harsh and divisive language does not befit the tongue of a pastor, it has no place in his heart; although it may momentarily seem to win the day, only the enduring allure of goodness and love remains truly convincing.”

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A lesson for us from the papal visit: in civil society and in the
Church – dialogue, not demonization.
The second issue: Solidarity. For the last five Sundays, we have heard excerpts from the letter of James. It is said that the word of God comforts the afflicted, and that it also afflicts the comfortable – nowhere is the latter as evident as in today’s epistle. “Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.”
Though in a kinder and gentler tone, in his speech at the United
Nations, Pope Francis touched on the same theme, he reminded the gathered world leaders of their responsibility to use their power and wealth to safeguard the dignity of the most vulnerable among us. He said, “A selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and the disadvantaged. The poorest are those who suffer most from such offenses, for three serious reasons: they are cast off by society, they are forced to live off what is discarded and they suffer unjustly from the abuse of the environment. They are part of today’s widespread and quietly growing “culture of waste.” The Pope continued,“…respect for the sacredness of every human life, of every man and every woman, the poor, the elderly, children, the infirm, the unborn, the unemployed, the abandoned, those considered disposable because they are only considered as part of a statistic.”

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A lesson from the papal visit: in the church, in the United States, and worldwide - solidarity, not selfishness.
Dialogue, not demonization. Solidarity, not selfishness.
I conclude with the words of Pope Francis yesterday at the cathedral in Philadelphia. He said, “Most of you know the story of Saint
Katharine Drexel, one of the great saints raised up by this local Church.
When she spoke to Pope Leo XIII of the needs of the missions, the Pope
– he was a very wise Pope! – asked her pointedly: ‘What about you?
What are you going to do?’ Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you for the way in which each of you has answered Jesus’ question which inspired your own vocation: ‘What about you?’ Those words changed Katherine’s life, because they reminded her that, in the end, every Christian man and woman, by virtue of baptism, has received a mission.”
Dialogue, not demonization. Solidarity, not selfishness. What about me? What about you?