HOMILY WEEK 17 05 – Year II
Prophets Speaking Truth to Power:
Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola
(Jer 26:1-9; Ps 69; Mt 13:54-58)
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The late Andrew Britz OSB, former editor of the Prairie Messenger, was known for his ability to write and speak forcefully on issues of social justice – so much so that a post-humous collection of his editorials was entitled Speaking Truth to Power.
Today’s liturgy invites us to be prophetic, to put our faith in Jesus, and be ready to speak truth to power.
In the first reading, the prophet Jeremiah is asked by the Lord to prophecy to the people and the leaders who have been unfaithful to the covenant, in the hope that they might repent and change their ways. Jeremiah fearlessly speaks the painful truth. Amazingly, rather than repent, the leaders and the people gang up on him. Their hearts are closed to the truth of their need to change their ways.
The responsorial psalm reflects the suffering of the prophet whose words are rejected. It ends, however, with an act of trust in God regardless.
In the Gospel, it seems that over the centuries, not much had changed. Jesus himself runs into resistance from the people of his hometown. They cannot get over the fact that he is so ordinary, just one of them. Here we see the sin of unbelief, and which along with the sin of hypocrisy, were the sins that upset Jesus the most. It seems almost endemic that those who speak truth to power will run into resistance.
Years ago, I wrote an article in the Edmonton Journal, with the help of the professor of moral theology Fr. Adam Exner OMI, in response to a pro-choice article by June Shepherd they had printed. In the third paragraph of the article, I asked what rancher in Alberta would abort a fetus in one of his cows, claiming that is it only tissue? Have we arrived at the stage where animals are more valuable than human beings, I asked? The newspaper printed the article, but took out that third paragraph, rendering the article rather innocuous. It seems that the truth was too painful for them to print, and I felt angry, that my right to express my views had been suppressed.
The Church honors today someone who truly lived out his faith in Christ well, St. Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatius was born into a noble Basque family in northern Spain and raised as a gentleman destined for military service. In 1521, during the defense of the citadel of Pamplona, he was struck by a cannonball. During his convalescence, he read a life of Christ and the lives of the saints and found himself filled with joy and inflamed with the desire to serve Jesus. In a moment of graced insight, he realized in this state, a stark contrast with the brief pleasure followed by sadness and depression he would feel after reading worldly literature. This insight led to him later developing his theory of the discernment of spirits.
Leaving home, Ignatius spent a vigil at Mary’s altar in the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat and then lived in the nearby town of Manresa, praying and serving the poor. During this time, he had mystical experiences and illuminations that later formed the basis of his Spiritual Exercises. After a brief stay in the Holy Land, naively thinking he would evangelize the world from there, Ignatius returned to Europe to acquire a formal education. He studied theology for eleven years and thus laid the foundation for his future work. He gathered together a group of students, including Francis Xavier, with whom he shared his eagerness of whole-hearted service of Jesus.
After ordination and a variety of apostolic experiences, Ignatius brought the group to Rome, where they offered themselves in service to the pope. Wishing to make their companionship a lasting one, they formed the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Ignatius spent the rest of his life directing the rapidly growing order, writing its constitutions and refining the Spiritual Exercises. He was canonized in 1622 and is universal patron of retreats and soldiers.
The Eucharist is also a truth that many people have a hard time believing – that Jesus is truly present in the consecrated bread and wine. Yet to participate in the Eucharist is to be embraced by God in a very special way.
So, let us put our complete faith in Jesus, and be ready to like Fr. Andrew Britz, Jeremiah, and Jesus, to speak truth to power.
