Dare to Follow the Lord - Homily 78 Year C Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel antiphon, that chant that you hear between the Alleluia’s before the Gospel, typically announces the central teaching of the Mass readings. You should always pay special attention to this proverbial “Cliff Note” for the Mass. Today, we prayed a verse from the Gospel of John,

“I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: love one another as I have loved you.” … and all sang alleluia!

Here is the central teaching; Jesus gives loving others as an imperative. He dictates a law, a statute, with no caveats or loopholes that shall not be transgressed. If Jesus is really your Lord, in Latin, your Dominus from which the word dominate comes, His command and our adherence must dominate every aspect of our life. We cannot, in good conscience call Him Lord and transgress the law of love. Now, to love, to will the good of the other without regard to personal outcomes, that takes courage!

Courage, or Fortitude, is one of the four cardinal virtues which ensures firmness and constancy, despite difficulties, in doing the good. The word cardinal comes from the Latin, “cardo”, which means a hinge or that on which something pivots and depends. So, courage is one of four virtues upon which everything depends. Keeping it simple, I like the definition that I got at West Point. Courage is doing the right thing, without regard to personal risk. Today’s readings speak to me of courage, the daring to love “the other”.

Now, many of you know that I served the Army for 44 years. That service was the dream of my youth. As a youth, one of my heroes was GEN George Patton. Hollywood made a movie about him in 1970. A speech, delivered by George C Scott, opens the movie. Patton gave that speech to Soldiers who were preparing for the D-Day invasion. It is one of the best delivered I have ever heard. In the speech, General Patton tells a story which defines courage. It goes like this:

“One of the bravest men I saw in the African campaign was on a telegraph pole in the midst of furious fire while we were moving toward to Tunis. I stopped and asked him what the [heck] he was doing up there. He answered, 'Fixing the wire, sir.' 'Isn't it a little unhealthy up there right now?' I asked. 'Yes sir, but this [gosh-darn] wire has got to be fixed.' I asked, 'Don't those planes strafing the road bother you?' And he answered, 'No sir, but you sure as [heck] do.’ [Patton goes on] “Now, there was a real soldier. A real man. A man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how great the odds, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty appeared at the time.”

One could ask, what took greater courage; to doge bullets hanging from a telephone pole while you spliced wires together or to tell a GEN that I have far better things to do than to sit here and engage in a conversation with you right now.

Today, in the first reading, we hear of David’s courage. We see David standing over his enemy, Saul who is asleep, surrounded by his sleeping Army. Apparently, David and a small band have penetrated Saul’s Army lines and an opportunity to put an end to Saul is being offered to him on a “silver platter”. David’s nephew and trusted warrior, Abishai, whispers to David: “God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this day. Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I will not need a second thrust!” The language is one devoid of love or caring for the other. Literally, let me ram Saul’s spear through him with such force that I will bury the point such that it will pin him to the ground. Certainly, David would have been justified in doing so. Saul had innumerable times unjustly tried to kill David. Saul who is, at best, mentally unstable, has literally cornered David and his small band in the most inhospitable part of Israel. It is a life-or-death struggle for David. Yet, David has the courage to say; “no”. He refuses to give in to hatred of his enemy, but tells Abishai, “Do not harm him, for who can lay hands on the LORD’s anointed and remain unpunished?” You see, David could have given in to the easy, low risk solution but instead dares to love Saul. He has the courage to tell Saul; “Today, though the LORD delivered you into my grasp, I would not harm the LORD’s anointed.” David has courage. There is in him a firmness in difficulties and constancy in doing the good. David puts aside his own personal agenda and places the kingdom of God first. How could David call God Lord and fail to love, even Saul who fought to destroy David.

Today’s Gospel further tells us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you, do not strike back when struck, and withhold nothing when asked. To “do to others as you would have them do to you”. To place doing the will of the Lord as number one in our life is not option to turn on and off like a spigot whenever we want. It is commanded. Courage, firmness in difficulties and constancy in doing the good, is not optional. The Lord tells us; “for the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

The word enemy in Greek is echthros, means antagonistic individuals or anyone who gets in your way. Jesus is using extreme language to get us to understand that if you must love even your enemy, you cannot hold back love from anyone. This love is risky. Look at the result of absolute love hanging on cross. Will you pick up that and dare to love?

Consider this; the corporal or bodily acts of mercy include feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, sheltering the homeless, and burying the dead. These are a straightforward approach for caring for what St Paul describes in the second reading as someone’s earthly existence. Who can have anything against giving water and a sandwich to the homeless? Who would say, “no” when asked? Risky; no not much. However, in addition to the Corporal Works of Mercy, there are the seemingly much riskier spiritual works of mercy we don’t like too much. They are: counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing the sinner, comforting the sorrowful, forgiving injuries, bearing wrongs patiently, and praying for the living and the dead. These are difficult and risky! Yet the Lord is calling you to them today! You may be thinking what, me? I am not equipped to counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish the sinner! I ask you; why not? These spiritual works of mercy are the most important acts of love by which we come to the aid of our neighbor.

What is more loving, giving someone a sandwich or leading someone, even your worst enemy, to heaven? Yet, the Lord demands that we love! Yes, there is a risk of someone walking away angry. But what if they come to repent? Yes, there is a risk of a door slammed in your face or harsh and unpleasant words spoken. But, what if instead they respond to the invitation to come back to Mass to receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ? Yes, there is a chance that they will ridicule you in front of others. But what if they instead thank God for His words spoken through you.

Yes, this most important path of love requires uncomfortable courage. Like the young Soldier hanging on a pole while bullets popped and buzzed around him, we are a people called by Christ today to devote all we have to his call, no matter how great the odds, no matter how seemingly insignificant this duty may appear. We must have the courage to dare to really love! To love as Christ commands us.

As you heard last week, our Lenten mission is to send out teams, two by two, as the Lord sent His disciples like “lambs among wolves” (Luke 10: 3) to announce the Good News of Salvation to our brothers and sisters. Their mission is to call all those whom they visit to heaven. These teams consist of Donna and Ferdi Prantl, John Dorsey, Liz Xhema, Arlene Bradley, Gina Endres, Dave Cienski, Jennifer Strash, Bill McHenry, Aaron Belangeri, Rick Rice, and Linda Riva. These parishioners are daring to love as David did Saul. To love as Christ commands. If Jesus calls us to love even our enemies, what must we do for our own fallen away brothers and sisters? These missionaries have taken the call to love to heart. These twelve parishioners know that as you heard in the second reading today that this is an imperative for, “just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.” Will you join them in mission and in prayer? Why not this Lent, make a commitment to courageously call someone you know back to Mass? Will you dare to Love?

Mercy or tender compassion is God’s most distinctive characteristic. Mercy speaks of loving, not just bodily but spiritually. The result of having the courage to love is: “Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” Dare to love. Dare to seek the good of the other first. Have the courage to make Christ the Lord, dominus, of every aspect of your life without counting the cost or the risk. We need more than twelve missionaries. Christ is calling for a Church full of missionaries rooted in the fertile soil of heaven, who have the sacramental strength and courage to release Christ into the world.