In the over 10 years that I have been preparing homilies for our community here at All Are One, it seems from my notes that I have never done one for this Sunday and next in the C cycle of which we are now in!  That happened I am guessing because of how the Church Year is laid out, basically, when Easter comes in the calendar.  You will note that Easter is about as late as it can be, falling on April 21^st this year.

So, I looked for some exegesis on the readings for today from Diane Bergant.  She says that the story of David sparing Saul’s life is, “a striking example of respect and forgiveness, ‘of doing unto others what we would want them to do unto us,’” as our brother Jesus teaches in today’s gospel from Luke.

Jesus’ examples of “turning the other cheek,” giving and giving, not only the top garment, but our inner garment too to those who would ask, spells out quite well the extent to which we must share with others.

For those who would read this gospel literally, which we should never do; a disclaimer.  Should we in our relationships ever allow ourselves to be abused with regard to living in harmony with others? The answer is most assuredly, “No!”

I think that Jesus always made the point of carrying the example to the extreme because he knew of our human tendency to give less than we are capable of giving.  The idea, I believe, in praying over Jesus’ message is to look for a balance in our lives that cares for ourselves with enough left to do our share in raising others to a level of dignity that each person deserves.

I personally find sometimes in working with others who have fallen on hard times, like some that I encounter at the Winona Warming Center—having less than the basics to live a dignified life; that some of these individuals present character traits that are less than good. Sometimes when “life happens” as we say, to people; they acquire habits of rudeness toward others, lack of concern, a kind of, dog-eat-dog mentality born perhaps out of the pain they themselves have suffered in life.

Now while I can understand this kind of behavior, due to how someone might have to live; I know too that to condone people acting in this way doesn’t allow them to rise to be their best—what God calls each of us to, in our humanity.  Sometimes tough love is required in a world that must serve the needs of all.

Jesus calls us to this task when he says that we shouldn’t accept the abuse—that we should do or say something that lets an abusive person know that we don’t approve of their less-than-good actions toward us or others—we are always challenged to somehow overcome evil with good. As Christians we are then further instructed to forgive, while not accepting the bad behavior and certainly never to retaliate.

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians today, reminds us that we must not only model ourselves on the first human—Adam, but on the second human—Jesus.  In other words; we must be both human and spirit; and blending the two; we can come more and more to image our brother, Jesus, the Christ.

Diane Bergant writes more on this golden rule of, “doing unto others as we would have them do unto us” by saying that sometimes our culture encourages us toward an opposing rule, that of, “doing unto others before they do unto us.”  We all instinctively know within our spirits that we must never respond to our world in this way, while we struggle with our humanity to act in just this way.

I know within myself that I have responded in less than good ways when others have been unjust or unkind to me, but in a more passive way—not necessarily noticeable to others, but noticeable to me.

To be slighted by another, shown an unkindness or a lack of concern; I might make the decision to show a lack of concern for them—nothing overt; but unkind and unChrist-like, just the same.

And the piece for us to be aware of is that the actions of unkindness and retaliation ultimately hurt us more than they do the target of our less-than-good actions.  They rob us of our peace and joy.

With regard to how we respond to our world and the people we encounter and associate with, as baptized followers of Jesus; we are always called to take the high road, never acting out of the human tendency “to do first” before it is “done to us,” but most assuredly, to do unto others as we would expect and want them to do unto us.  Anything less is simply, not Christian.

And as I stated earlier, this means keeping ourselves as part of the equation—it is never good or right to allow ourselves to be abused with the notion that this example of “turning the other cheek” is what Jesus wants us to do.  Balance, always balance, respects the fact that our God loves me as well as all others.  An alternative way to speak about the golden rule is to say, “Love your enemies, and, love yourself.”  It’s a package!

In conclusion; we must focus on probably the hardest part, forgiving those who have hurt us.  Jesus, our brother, showed us the way from the cross, Bergant reminds us—“Forgive them Abba, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

In reflection upon this final piece of Christ-likeness, it seems to me that if I can get my head and heart around the fact that someone “doesn’t know what they are doing,” for whatever reason, then I don’t have to give their action as much weight. Better, I think, to move on, responding as a Christian, as a true believer would and should.  After all, as Bergant concludes her remarks, “Violence and hatred will be eradicated from this world only if we refuse to perpetuate it.”

According to a Pew Research Report in 2010; there are 2.19 billion Christians around the world.  Imagine; if you can, what this world would be like if we all really lived and treated the earth and its people as Jesus did!  That would seem to be our challenge for this week, and each week—Amen? Amen!

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend in Ordinary Time once again gives us so much to think about.  Each of our writers; Jeremiah, Jesus and Paul is speaking from their place in history and beyond, to us, now, messages of challenge, hope and love.

Having just celebrated a whole day dedicated to love this past week; I’d like to concentrate on this topic.  I think it’s wonderful to have one day that calls us to remember in special ways those we profess to love, but maybe in the busy-ness of our lives, forget to often tell them.  Such a day gives us that opportunity.

Now while it is true that Valentine’s Day or Christmas Day or any other holiday in the business world is about the bottom line, with us being encouraged to buy; what I am talking about is so much more than that.  Like following our brother, Jesus, which always involves more than meets the eye, telling someone we love them goes so much deeper too.  The giving of flowers or candy is hopefully just a token of our day-in and day-out feelings.

I always think of Tevye’s question to his wife, Golda in Fiddler on the Roof: “Do you love me?” Golda goes through a series of tasks that she has done for him for 25 years; cleaning his house, preparing his food, giving him children and so on.  He persists, “But Golda, do you love me?” To which she finally says—that basically, doing all that, “I guess I do!”

As Jesus always said while among us, “You will know what is in someone’s heart by their actions”—the fruit on the tree!

Jeremiah in attempting to tell the Israelites what is best in life, that is— putting their trust in God, for it is God who gives us hope, says a curious thing with regard to the “heart,” the place where most of us locate, or at least, associate with love and I find that I must disagree with him. The human heart, Jeremiah says in today’s first reading, is more deceitful than anything else.”  In defense of Jeremiah first off; I would say that he is referring basically to the heart as the source of our emotions and therefore can’t be trusted, because many things can affect them.

There has been a great deal of study done on the human heart since Jeremiah said these words and during a week that annually devotes an entire day to love; I think it is appropriate to share some of the wisdom of the ages.

In an address given recently by Rochester Franciscan Sister Charlotte Hesby to the Sisters and Cojourners, she shared the words of author, Cynthia Bourgeault:  “According to the great wisdom of the West (Christian, Jewish, Islamic), the heart is first and foremost an organ of spiritual perception. Its primary function is to look beyond the obvious…see into a deeper reality…where meaning and clarity come together in a whole different way.  Amazingly she says that the heart is not a metaphor, rather points to Ezekiel 36:26, and Eastern Orthodox tradition which both make clear that it is the “heart of flesh,” the physical heart which is meant.  So the muscle pumping so faithfully in our chest is likewise that which sees the Holy in all that is! This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.  The prophet’s words, [given by God], “I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

So, where am I going with all of this?  I would say that of the messages that are contained in today’s readings; those of challenge, hope and love, love is the one that we have to really grow to understand in our lives as Christians, as followers of Jesus, especially if, as Cynthia Bourgeault says, [the heart is that], “which sees the Holy in all that is.”  What better action for any of us to be about than seeing the Holy in all that is?

I believe most of us would agree that love—true love, is that feeling-emotion-action that originates in our hearts.  And as Bourgeault seems to indicate, the heart that can truly love and act upon that love is a spiritual and ultimately, very good thing for us spiritual beings here having a human experience.

I believe she is talking about a greater purpose than was Jeremiah in today’s first reading; but then, he was making an all-together different point—that trusting in God is the best thing we can do. I would add though, that the God who gave us hearts capable of love that can at times “break them open,” would want us to trust our hearts as well, because the heart, it would seem, is so much a part of what makes us spiritual beings.

Love is the only answer for Jesus’ life among us—teaching, preaching, speaking truth to the powers that were in his world, knowing that full well, such actions would not bring him to a good end—but love to him was more than safety.

This past week; I read a talk given recently by Roy Bourgeois, former member of the Maryknoll Priests and Brothers who lost his status and place within Maryknoll, a community he gave 40 years of his life to because this organization thought it more important to be safe, than to allow their hearts to break open with love.

Roy lost all because he acted on the call of the Spirit to support his friend Janice Sevre-Dusynska who told him she was being called, just as he was, to be a priest.

Roy, coming out of a culture in the deep south and a Catholic parish that relegated blacks to the last 5 pews in the church, claiming, even as they professed to believe in Jesus and his Scriptures, that this was “tradition” and not racism, finally awakened as he listened to more and more women claiming that God was calling them to priesthood and that, as he had learned, “tradition” could no longer be the reason to commit sins of racism or sexism.

This awakening allowed Roy to proclaim, “What I came to, is that as a Catholic priest; I was in a profession that discriminated against women.”  Being safe wasn’t enough for Roy anymore and even though he lost much, he said, he has never been more, free.

So, my friends; we might say with Jeremiah today that we are blessed who put our trust in God and in all the good our God gives us to share with our world, love being a most significant gift.   We simply must give from our hearts allowing them to break open for our world, actions that may not keep us safe, but will surely allow us to “see the Holy in all that is.” Amen? Amen!