HOMILY WEEK 21 01 – Year II
Love to Affirm; Courage to Correct; Faith to Praise
(2 Thes 1:1-5, 11-12; Ps 96; Mt 23:13-22)
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As worshippers leave the Holy Family Cathedral in Orange, CA, they are artistically reminded to Be Doers of the Word by a mural done in tiles above the entrance to the church.
In the light of that statement, the readings today encourage us to lovingly affirm others, courageously correct those who stray, and faithfully proclaim the glory of God, as did Mary our spiritual mother.
In the first reading, St. Paul exhorts, encourages and especially affirms the Thessalonians. He thanks God for their growing faith and steadfast ever-increasing love for others. He boasts about them to other communities, assures them they are worthy of the kingdom of God, and claims Jesus is glorified in them.
St. Paul is an example for us to do the same – to love others by blessing and affirming them. I felt the power of that love when Archbishop Adam Exner, former professor and spiritual director, blessed me after participating in a retreat I had conducted by writing in the thank you card, “The student has surpassed the teacher – am proud of you!” That powerful blessing filled me with an energy and joy that I will carry to my dying day.
We find just the opposite in the gospel. Jesus takes the fickle people to task and courageously enters into fraternal correction. He makes no bones about telling it like it is – calling out the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy, not really caring for others but rather turning their faith into a self-serving religiosity of externalism – the keeping of rules without compassion and trying to earn their way into heaven.
We may at times also need to correct others around us out of love and caring, to be doers of the word. Often, people are spiritually blind to their faults and failings. I needed others to tell me that I was stubborn and to let me know my tendency to control upset them. Someone once informed me that I had a sense of entitlement – I seemed to think I was above the law at times. My brother Oblates have pointed out other things I was doing that bothered them, for which I am now grateful, although it is always somewhat painful to hear the truth about ourselves at the time. One husband shared with me his frustration at his wife who in over fifteen years of marriage has never apologized even once for her often hurtful, passive-aggressive behavior.
For its part, the psalm suggests we praise God and proclaim God’s glory to be a doer of the word. Praise is a high form of prayer, because it takes our attention off us and puts it squarely on God, so it is a very selfless form of prayer, and a great antidote for hypocrisy.
May our celebration today empower us to lovingly affirm and bless others, practice fraternal correction where needed, and above all, praise God with all our hearts, and be ready to proclaim God’s glory to all who will listen.
