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Hearts of Prayer: Sacred Liturgy - Homilies |
Hearts
Homily for Sunday, July 15, 2007- 15th Sunday in
Ordinary Time, Yr C
Fr. Joseph Rogers
Dt 30:10-14; Ps 69; Col 1:15-20; Lk 10:25-37
Today is Good Samaritan Sunday. It is a familiar parable that we
have heard many times, but it has particular significance for us.
When Paul VI became Pope he addressed the Second Vatican Council and
presented this parable as the test of the Church in the modern
world: we are not to merely know the faith as information, being
able to recite chapter and verse like the scholar in today’s Gospel,
but must be witnesses, a word that comes from the Greek word
marturion – martyrs. The world must know Christians –true witnesses,
martyrs of Christ. Of course, the problem for my generation is we’re
great at making felt banners…but could hardly tell you what the 10
Commandments are. So, we need both: to know our faith with our minds
and to live our faith from the heart.
The first reading comes from the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 30.
Deuteronomy is the most sacred book of the Old Testament: it is the
last will and testament of Moses, 34 chapters given on a single day,
attributed to the man who saw God face-to-face on Sinai, confronted
Pharaoh, and lead the Lord’s people through the desert. Now he
stands at Moab, where he will die. He cannot enter the Promised
Land, but he knows the interior content of inhabiting that sacred
space: turning to the Lord with all our heart and soul. To turn
comes from the Hebrew word shūb (“shoe-v”), which is translated as
metanoiete in the Greek New Testament and in the Vulgate as “repent”
– the first word of Jesus in his public ministry: “Repent and
believe the Gospel!” To repent, to convert, is to turn with one’s
feet to the Lord. Our whole body and soul, mind and strength must go
to Him, walk back to him. Israel would be unfaithful – Moses knew
that – and he knew that the only hope for God’s People was the
Lord’s unfailing mercy. This is the word that is on Israel’s lips
and in their hearts: it’s not far away in the skies or in the
oceans. The Law has been given; the Covenant was made, now they are
ready to enter the land. There is one condition: they must
constantly turn to the Lord.
The scholar who questions Jesus today understood this. He asks the
only question that matters: “What must I do to inherit eternal
life?” Everything else has value only insofar as it leads us to God.
It’s the fundamental question we must ask ourselves about our daily
choices. The scholar also got the answer right: Jesus asked, “Of the
three, then, who was the neighbor of the robbers’ victim?” He
replies, “The one who showed him mercy.” The Good Samaritan
encounters the victim; the text implies “his stomach was turned with
compassion.” The Greek translates the Hebrew verb răhăm, meaning to
have compassion. It is the base word for “womb” in Hebrew: răhămă.
The womb is the compassionate place. Every woman is capable of
receiving the gift of a new human life within her: every conception
is an invitation to offer compassionate love. The Good Samaritan
does not make a decision about the victim as a neighbor. His heart
is torn open by what he sees. His heart tells him that he is the
victim’s neighbor. He makes a decision about himself. He must help
this man.
Is living with such compassionate love beyond our resources? Our
second reading from the Letter to the Colossians explains to us that
Jesus is “the image of the invisible God.” The first place we hear
the word “image” in Scripture is Genesis chapter 1: “God created man
in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them.” Colossians is telling us that Jesus is the
New Adam, the new image of God, the new humanity, and he reconciles
us with the Father, “making peace through the blood of His Cross.”
The blood of the Cross that we receive by faith and baptism, in all
the sacraments, is the power behind compassionate love. The more we
turn to the Lord in the sacraments, the more we are able to love as
he loves. His heart was pierced for us, blood and water flowed from
his side, and that same blood and water bathe us in every sacrament.
To love as Jesus loves, we must turn – shūb – to Jesus, who shares
with us his own love – his mercy, compassion, his răhăm.
There is one creature who perfectly turned to Him, one heart who
perfectly chose to offer compassionate love: the Blessed Virgin
Mary. She is the incarnation of compassionate love. We turn to her
to learn the way of compassion, the way of “Good Samaritan” love. As
we receive her Son in the Eucharist, at this feast of compassion,
may we beg the LORD for his help. May we be Christians.
(Comments after Communion)
My brothers and sisters, some of you have heard this week of two
documents that came to us from the Vatican: one on the Tridentine
Mass and one regarding our theological understanding of what makes a
church. Pope Benedict has been moved with compassion. His heart is
wrent by the divisions among us. He is dressing the wounds of the
broken body of Christ with the oil and wine of truth and charity.
In his letter regarding permission to celebrate the Tridentine Mass
– the Latin Mass prior to the Second Vatican Council – he states
that his desire is to bring about an interior reconciliation in the
heart of the Church. He wishes to offer conciliation to two groups
in particular: primarily, those affiliated with the Society of St.
Pius X, the schism initiated by Archbishop Lefebvre, a very vibrant
group in France and other parts of Europe, and also to those who
experienced particular suffering with the change of the liturgy
after the Council and who still long to experience the Mass they
knew as children. The Pope is opening wide the gates of compassion.
He wants to offer, as far as the faith allows, concretely, the
compassionate love that brings people home to the Church.
You may have also heard of the document issued by the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith on what makes a “church.” The document
has been publicized as being particularly offensive to Protestants –
what the document terms “ecclesial communities.” The CDF is making a
theological clarification: essential to a church being a church is:
(1) apostolic succession – which means valid priesthood coming from
the Apostles – and therefore (2) the Eucharist: the Eucharist makes
the Church. This is not a polemical statement. It is an expression
of what we believe. The Church must offer the truth in charity. You
may wish to download both documents at www.vatican.va – each about
two pages – since your friends will probably ask you questions about
them.
Fr. Joseph Everett
Rogers resides at the Pontifical North American College
in Rome studying for the
Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. He is a Graduate of Notre Dame
University, with an MA from the John Paul Institute for Marriage and
Family. He was ordained a Priest on May 26, 2007.
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Mary