Homily, 9am Sunday Mass, February 20, 2022

now i like to think of myself as a man who is courteous and respectful i like to hold doors open for people i let cars merge onto my lane of traffic i offer my seats on the crowded bus to an older person you could call it chivalry i just call it good manners a bit of human civility trying to be a good citizen most of us would do the same now i like to think that my intentions in these circumstances are pure but it doesn't always work that way so one time i was on a train it was filled to capacity and then some people were huddling together trying not to fall over each other as the train jolted to a stop at each station now i got on early i had a nice window seat and after about three stops i noticed an older lady boarding the train and she looked from left to right from left to right searching in vain for a seat no one budged my sense of good manners kicked in so i raised my hand and indicated to the lady that she could take my seat so i julie got up and let her sit down she took my place and proceeded to take out her book and read hang on a minute i thought she never thanked me she didn't so much a smile or nod in acknowledgement of my free gift she owed me that at least right well i thought to myself if i could take that seat back i would then i realized maybe my free gift wasn't so free after all my good deed wasn't as selfless as i had previously thought in fact at some level the deal was i'll give you my seat in exchange for you thanking me in front of all of these people my pride was hurt that day but maybe that wasn't so bad after all because it taught me a valuable lesson you see so much of what we do is governed by this rule of civility i'll scratch your back and you can scratch mine sometimes it's very obvious like when you're at the movie theater hey if you buy the popcorn i'll buy the drinks there's a promise to do something and here's what you can do for me in return it's part and parcel of our lives in fact it's how most economies work the very fabric of our society is built on this quid pro quo but it even permeates to a whole range of other interactions that are much more subtle let's be honest have you ever said let's invite the neighbors over for dinner they'll have to invite us back and i am dying to see their new extension or maybe you've been involved in organizing a wedding settling on an invite list is never easy maybe this has happened to you but i remember at my sister's wedding the number of potential invitees had skyrocketed it's a difficult call who makes the final list and who gets the cut my sister was ruthlessly suggesting names saying we don't have enough room for them my parents would respond we have to invite them they invited us to their daughter's wedding at our human minds this makes perfect sense it's only being fair it's maintaining a sense of balance it's human civility and so the back scratching must go on but here's the problem if we merely live by this rule of civility then there is a real risk that it can downward spiral it's not just a matter of i'll scratch your back and you'll scratch mine but i'm not scratching your back until you scratch mine first so our coexistence descends into skepticism and our skepticism descends into animosity and a stalemate ensues a stalemate where we become suspicious of each other and centered on ourselves i don't want to be bothered by anyone you live your life i live mine thank you very much now this stalemate can persist for a long time sometimes even a lifetime but the story of christianity shatters this quid pro quo in fact our gospel today sets out the very essence of what should define us as christians it speaks of a reckless generosity a mercy that is uncapped a love that knows no limits it is what i call a heroic charity and jesus is calling us to this heroic charity where our actions aren't based on what we can get in return love your enemies jesus says do good to those who hate you bless those who curse you pray for those who abuse you if anyone strikes you on the cheek offer the other also now does this make sense to you because i find it very difficult to wrap my head around it i don't think i'm the only one these are challenging words radical words and the words of jesus were as radical in the first century as they are now you see in judaism in the first century at the time of jesus there were certain rules around punishments for sins and crimes we call it the law of retaliation or an eye for an eye at the time this was considered civil so if you murdered your neighbor you would be sentenced to death and if you injured your neighbor's arm in a fight and he could no longer work in the fields then the same will be done to you or you would pay an agreed penalty now the law of retaliation was actually quite a novelty in its day quite revolutionary it meant that if your brother was killed you couldn't just go and kill the perpetrator along with his whole family in revenge an eye for an eye limited repercussions so that only one eye would be given for one eye sounds fair yet you may have heard the phrase an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind in the past it was love your friends and hate your enemies but god has raised the bar throughout history and in jesus this has been expanded to love your friends and love your enemies too the former limits have been shattered in fact there are no limits because god has no limits you see every other legal text or code in human history that set forth how we are to live our lives has had limits and in a way maybe they had to but their interest lies in what it means to be a good citizen how to be civil and in many ways today's gospel is like the christian magna carta except it goes way beyond what has been enshrined in any rule of law in human history the u.n charter of human rights pales in comparison because the gospel is not only about what it means to be a good citizen it's concerned with what it means to be a christian a follower of christ and the gospel of jesus christ doesn't hold back in fact it's radical it's almost absurd illogical crazy to our human minds how can it make sense to give your shirt to someone who's just stolen your quote so when you think of this challenge we think how can all of this be applied in our lives we are only human after all but jesus too was human and he is the one who is calling us to this heroic charity to be a hero for his sake forgiveness is one form of heroic charity but forgiveness is not easy if it was easy it wouldn't be heroic one author put it like this everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive it's true the idea of forgiveness sounds good but when someone has really hurt you suddenly it becomes much more difficult look at jesus his own life as an example to us in his passion he was mocked stripped spat upon beaten crucified and left to die an agonizing death and yet in all of this he was able to pray father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing we are called to exercise this kind of heroic charity or think of the heroic charity of pope john paul the second now in 1981 a turkish man called mehmed ali agka attempted to assassinate the pope in saint peter's square in the vatican the assassin shot four bullets at the pope two of which hit him in the stomach he was rushed to hospital and life-saving surgery was performed miraculously the pope survived and sometime later he visited the very man who wanted to kill him in prison and there he forgave him that took guts that took courage that was heroic charity some 26 years later mehmet's became a catholic you see our acts of heroic charity like forgiveness have an effect on those around us they have the potential to inspire and move others to heroic charity also forgive and you will be forgiven what if jesus is calling us to heroic charity today by asking us to forgive someone who perhaps you think does not deserve forgiveness but instead of waiting in civility in this kind of stalemate jesus is calling us to take a first step in heroic charity now maybe you're saying well that's fine for the saints but it's too big of an ask for me and i'd say yes the call to heroic charity is colossal forgiving others forgiving myself even is not easy blessing those who curse us doing good to those who hate us doesn't make sense but jesus did all of these and he is the one who says what is impossible for people is possible with god on our own they are too much but with god's help we can live lives of heroic charity but imagine even if we only got even if we only got it five percent right i'd still bet that there would be no buildup of troops on the borders of russia and ukraine the words of jesus love your enemies but prove too strong by the same benedict we're not interested in five percent we're interested in being full-blown christians who live out our calling to heroic charity every day we're interested in loving all our enemies in doing good to all who hate us in blessing all who curse us in praying for all who abuse us in forgiving all who have hurt us and in begging forgiveness from all those we ourselves have hurt and when we do this people will look to us and say wow that must be a christian look there goes a christian and they too may be inspired to be a hero for jesus christ

Channel: Saint Benedict Parish

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Id: vImLCPz6UIQ

Length: 15min 49sec (949 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 20 2022