Jesus and the Disinherited

Holy Hour Homily

My brothers in Christ,

Our holy hours were started over the summer for us a means to come together and pray for the healing and unity of nation. By the grace of God, and the willing participation of clergy at a number of parishes, we have been able to come together, and though are numbers are small, I firmly believe that our time together has drawn an abundance of grace. We must continue to pray for peace and unity, for healing and reconciliation, and for the coming of our Savior.

But it is not enough just to pray for these items, we must also take action. We can look to James Chapter 2 and 3 as perfect teachings on how we as Knights should attend to the cares of others.

We can show no partiality as we adhere the faith of our fathers, a faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. If we make distinctions on how we apply our faith, we become judges of evil design, guilty of the sin of partiality. If our words and actions are mirrored, even in our smallest of actions, think of the force of change that we can have. In James chapter 3 we are reminded of how a tiny fire can set a huge forest ablaze.

Demonstrate to me your faith without works, and I will demonstrate to you my faith with my works.

In the work called The Vocation of Man in 1800, Johan Fitche wrote that one cannot remove even the smallest grain of sand from its place without changing something throughout all parts of the immeasurable whole. A man by the name of Edward Lorenz added to this with his theory that the development of a mighty tornado can be traced back to the minor perturbations of a butterfly’s wings, flapping weeks earlier.

How many of you have seen the movie Ben Hur? One of the most striking scenes in that movie was the marching of the Roman Legion by crowds of people who had lined the streets to watch the amazing spectacle. As the final soldier passed by, a dignified man, without the slightest change in his expression, spits at the heels of the passing troops. A passive attempt at resistance. This type of attitude is a powder keg for society, and has - as described in this movie, been around since before the time of Christ. One nameless incident may cause to burst into flame the whole gamut of smoldering passion, leaving nothing it is wake, but charred corpses, burnt cities, and deviant society. Nothing but mute reminders of the tragedy of life. Jesus saw this, and understood it clearly.

Today’s Gospel message provides a plan for us to avoid these powder keg situations in our modern society. In Matthew’s Gospel we read, At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them, because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. At this point we need to be reminded that this role of shepherd is not to be left to our clergy, we all are baptized as priest, prophet, and king. Around the world our church and our faith are under attack. It is no longer okay to claim to be a Catholic man, it is time for action.

Many and varied are the interpretations dealing with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. But few of these interpretations deal with what the teachings and life of Jesus have to say to those who stand, at a moment in human history, with their backs against the wall. To those who need profound succor and strength to enable them to live in the present and dignity and creativity, Christianity often has been sterile and of little avail. The conventional Christian word is muffled, confused, and vague. Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak. The is a matter of tremendous significance, for it reveals to what extend a religion that was born of a people acquainted with persecution and suffering has become the cornerstone of a civilization and of nations whose very position in modern life has to often been secured by a ruthless use of power applied to weak and defenseless peoples. It is not a singular thing to hear a sermon that defines what should be the attitude of the Christian toward people who are less fortunate than himself. Again and again our missionary appeal is on the basis of the Christian responsibility to the needy, the ignorant, and the so-called backward peoples of the earth. There is a certain grandeur and nobility in administering to another’s needs out of one’s fullness and plenty. One could be selfish, using his possessions - material or spiritual for strictly private or personal ends. It is certainly to the glory that it has been most insistent on the point of responsibility to others whose only claim upon one is the height and depth of their need. This impulse at the heart of Christianity is the human will to share with others what one has found meaningful to oneself elevated to the height of a moral imperative. But there is a lurking danger in this very emphasis. It is exceedingly difficult for those who predicament makes moral appeal for defense and succour. It is the sin of pride and arrogance that has tended to vitiate the missionary impulse and to make of it an instrument of self-righteousness on the one hand and racial superiority on the other. That is one reason why, again and again, there is no basic relationship between the simple practice of brotherhood in the commonplace relations of life and the ethical pretensions of our faith. It has long been a matter of serious moment that for decades we have studied the various peoples of the world and those who live as our neighbors as objects of missionary endeavor and enterprise without being at all willing to treat them either as brothers or human beings. I say this without rancor, because it is not an issue in which vicious human beings are involved. But it is one of the subtle perils of a religion which calls attention - to the point of overemphasis, sometimes - to one’s obligation to administer to human need. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that I have heard a sermon on the meaning of religion, of Christianity, to the man who stands with back against the wall. They are the poor, the disinherited, the dispossessed. What does our religion say to them? The issue is not what it counsels them to do for others whose need may be greater, but what religions offers to meet their own needs. The search for an answer to this question is perhaps the most important question of modern life.

As we continue through Advent men, let us not just look towards those with their backs against the wall, but stand with them, and show them what it means to put on the whole armor of God, and to share in the coming Kingdom of God.