HOMILY WEEK 12 05 – Year I
Walking in the Way of the Lord
(Gen 17:5-22; Ps 128; Mt 8:1-14)
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The late Gerald May, a Catholic psychiatrist, is author of the book Will and Grace on addictions awareness. In it he highlights free will as one of God’s greatest gifts to us. It is what distinguishes us from animals that function out of instinct. God will never force us to do anything – the choice of what we do with that gift is always ours. May points out we can be willing, and cooperate with God’s grace, or stubborn, and insist on doing our own will, often leading to addiction.
The psalmist today affirms May’s teaching: “Happy are they who fear the Lord … who walk in his ways.” May we always choose to walk in the ways of the Lord.
The other readings make clear what that means. A first way is the way of faith. In the first reading, Abraham places his complete trust in God, even when God’s promise seems impossible in their barrenness. From setting out into the unknown to the willingness to sacrifice his only son, Abraham is for three major world religions, a model of faith.
In the gospel, it is the faith of the leper that stands out: “If you choose, you can make me well.” He believes totally that Jesus can heal him, but leaves it up to Jesus – if it be his will, much as Leonard Cohen sings in one of his famous ballads. It is the same faith that Jesus had during his agony, asking if it were possible for the cup to pass him by, yet in the end submitting to the Father’s will. We need to pray for that kind of faith to walk in the way of the Lord.
A second way to walk in the way of the Lord is to keep the covenant that God has established with us. That was so important to God with Abram and Sarai that he even changed their names to Abraham and Sarah. Religious women especially used to change their names to signify the radical stance a final profession involved.
A covenant with God involves two key elements: on the one hand, an intimate relationship with God through especially contemplative prayer, just being in God’s presence and soaking up God’s love, and on the other hand, living the commandments that God gave us – first the Ten Commandments or Decalogue, and finally the Great Commandment Jesus gave us that both fulfills and transcends the Decalogue. In summary, these are to love God with our whole being, to love others as we love ourselves, to love one another as Jesus has loved us, and finally, to love our enemies by forgiving them. Do this, and we will with total certainty be walking in the way of the Lord.
A third way to walk in the way of the Lord can be drawn out of the reality of leprosy, and that is to resist racism. No longer a threat as a physical disease in our society, leprosy lives on through racism, discrimination and prejudice. Some years back the Sisters of the Presentation and I ministered as part of a First Nations Ministry team. During the sharing at one of our Sunday celebrations after this gospel was read, the Indigenous participants pointed out that they felt like lepers when they attended a local parish – people looked at them coldly, sat away from them, and refused to shake their hands at the exchange of peace. We were greatly saddened to realize that even in the church, this form of leprosy still existed. This was a wake up call to us to do whatever we could to eliminate this less visible leprosy in our midst.
Finally, another way to walk in the way of the Lord that arises out of the gospel is to be on a healing journey. The leper was in need of physical healing. Most of us today are in need of inner and personal healing of our painful emotions like anger and bitterness, negative attitudes such as racism, false pride, stubborn self-righteousness and a tendency to judge others, as well as even our addictions, both chemical and process (like the addiction to being right!)
In short, we stand not only in need of forgiveness for our sin and wrongdoing, but also in need of healing for our sinfulness (that which makes us sin) and negative attitudes. We can rest assured that as we pray for and have others pray over us for inner healing, God chooses to heal us, as Jesus chose to heal the leper. After all, did not Jesus say that if parents know how to give good things to their children, how much more so the Father is waiting to give us the Holy Spirit if we only ask him in faith.
The Eucharist is both the primal sacrament of forgiveness and a priceless sacrament of healing. We cannot participate in the Eucharist with genuine faith without being forgiven, healed and transformed in some way – the greatest being molded into the Body of Christ ourselves.
So let us pray as we celebrate that we will be able to walk in the ways of the Lord through sincere faith striving to keep the covenant, working for greater justice, and being on a healing journey. In so doing, we will experience not just happiness, but genuine joy in a loving intimate relationship with God and a caring relationship with others.
