HOMILY SUNDAY 15-A
Be Open to Transformation
(Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 65; Romans 8:18-23; Mt 13:1-23)
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Some years ago, late at night and tired, Fr. Bob pointed out to Sandra, one of his parishioners, a difficulty with her career plans that left her angry and not speaking to him. Realizing that she was hurt, he apologized, but that did not seem to make any difference in their relationship. Her husband also took it very personally and carried anger towards Fr. Bob for years. Subsequent attempts to heal the rift were to no avail. Frustrated, he was at his wits end as to how to heal this strained relationship.
Then, during a Returning To Spirit training session designed to bring about healing and reconciliation for the legacy of Indian Residential schools, the facilitator used an incident involving two participants who were late to teach the group the importance of a declaration. He simply asked them if they would give him their word that this would never happen again. They did so and he carried on as if nothing had happened. He used that incident to teach the group that “an apology without a declaration of a commitment to change is almost meaningless.”
Using that new knowledge, Fr. Bob called Sandra, reminded her of the strained relationship they had, repeated his apology and gave her his word that he would try never to do that again. Her immediate response was to say that now that she had Fr. Bob’s word for it, she would certainly treat him more warmly. They proceeded to talk about skiing as if nothing had ever happened. The strained relationship between them was healed by a simple declaration to change.
Today, we are invited by the readings and by this celebration, to believe in Jesus as the Word of God, and be open to the power of that Word to transform us, and our relationships.
In the Gospel of John, we are told that “In the beginning the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, the one who pitched his tent among us. He put into flesh God’s unconditional love for us, by his humble birth, his compassionate life, his teachings and miracles, and especially by his love for all humanity, saint and sinner. He demonstrated that love for us on the Cross by forgiving his enemies and by the selfless sacrifice of his life. Jesus IS the Word of God.
The gospel today is all about the sower and the seed. We are reminded that the Bible contains the Word of God. Not every word in the bible is the Word of God, but taken as a whole, in the context of the tradition of the Church, the lived Word of God, the Bible contains the Word of God, especially the teachings of Jesus. Thus, the Bible IS the Word of Jesus.
The gospel today is also all about soil, good soil and bad soil. That soil is the Church and our human society. We can be good soil, that receives the Word of God and bears much fruit, or we can be the hard path the rejects the love of God; the rocky soil that hears the Word but has no root; or the soil full of thorns that accepts the Word but gets distracted and falls away.
The residential schools and day schools in many dioceses can be compared to a garden. There were priests, religious and lay people in those schools who were good soil, rich ground in which the Word of God took root and inspired them to come to serve the First Nations and Métis peoples of that area. They did this through manual labor, teaching, administration, cooking, laundry, maintenance and childcare. Though often challenged by a lack of resources from the federal government, as letters in the archives often attest, they did the best they could with what they had, and often made great sacrifices.
However, there was also some hard soil, rocky ground, and thorn infested dirt that was present in the schools. Some of the religious and lay staff, in their human weakness, took advantage of that unfortunate situation to abuse some of the students physically, verbally, emotionally and even sexually. That is truly unacceptable and lamentable, and also needs to be acknowledged.
Ed, who ran Grollier Hall in the Northwest Territories with his brother for some years after the government was going to shut it down, mentions that he talked to some staff who worked at that Hall when the known perpetrators were present, and they saw no evidence of the harmful actions that now are being made known. Good soil and bad soil, weeds and wheat truly existed side by side.
So, while honouring and celebrating the good soil that was part of this system, so too we need to accept and address the bad and harmful soil that was also part of that same system. Weeds and wheat were present, it seems, and most often, indistinguishable.
The best way to deal with that bad soil, those weeds among the wheat, is through humble honesty. Those who perpetrated violence against innocent children should take the time to listen to the pain of those they hurt, to apologize, to change their ways and to make amends for the wrong they have done. Knowing how impractical and even impossible that is so many years later, many Church leaders and superiors of religious orders have issued apologies for the harm inflicted by members of their respective groups.
At the same time, victims of abuse and generational survivors are encouraged to be good soil and to respond to the Words of Jesus that especially teach us to forgive. That is being the best soil possible. It is also a demonstration of the power of the Word of God to heal, to transform and to restore relationships.
St. Paul puts it well in the second reading for today. He calls it like it is. All of creation, though good and beautiful, is wounded, subjected to futility, and waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God. While acknowledging the bad soil and the harmful effects of that bad soil, we can strive to be good soil, to be part of the first fruits of that new creation that the Word of God is bringing about in this world, through forgiveness and healing of relationships. Indeed, forgiveness and healing can make a strained relationship even stronger than it was before, because of the love that is involved in the process of healing and reconciliation.
The Eucharist is what Jesus asked us to do in his memory. We are a weak, wounded and sinful people who never live up to what is asked of us by our compassionate and loving Creator God. However, for the last two millennia, the Church has been faithful, in its weakness and sinfulness, to this command of Jesus, to celebrate the Eucharist, to remember him in this way, and to pray for the power to forgive as he forgave.
It is in this sacrament above all that we encounter the love of God made flesh, first in the birth and life of Jesus among us, then in his death for our sins on the cross, a tremendous final act of forgiveness. And now, through the power of the Risen Lord, we listen to his Word and receive his Body and Blood.
We are accepted as we are, forgiven, healed and sent out into the world to be good soil that bears the fruit of faith in Jesus through, in our turn, acts of forgiveness and loving service.
