HOMILY WEEK 33 05 – Year II
The Word of God and Fraternal Correction:
Memorial of St. Cecilia
(Rev 10:8-11; Ps 119; Lk 19:45-48)
********************************************
“My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it into a den of robbers.”
That statement by Jesus in the gospel today invites us to pray more contemplatively with the Word of God, and to be open to some fraternal correction in our lives.
According to Robert Barron, the Messiah had four distinct roles: to gather all nations to himself; to restore the temple; to overcome the enemies of Israel, and to reign over all creation forever.
We know Jesus, as the Messiah, did indeed gather people from all over to himself; that he did overcome the real enemy of Israel, death itself through the resurrection, and that he is even now reigning over all creation.
In the Gospel, we see Jesus restoring the temple. During the time of Ezekiel, the religious system had become so corrupt the shekinah or glory of the Lord rose up and abandoned the Temple. The Word of God that was sweet to the mouth had truly become bitter to the stomach of any faithful Jew. Jesus was now restoring the temple, not just by driving out the merchants and moneychangers, but also by being himself the Temple where God truly dwells. Plus, the glory of God did return to the temple, not the physical building in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, but on the early church huddled in the upper room at Pentecost in the form of a strong wind and tongues of fire! We are the new Temple of God.
As children of God who are baptized into Christ Jesus, we are also Temples of the Holy Spirit. The psalm tells us what we should do. The Word of God must be sweet in our mouths also. One of the best ways of allowing that to happen is contemplative prayer based on the Word of God, and delighting in the sweetness of that Word.
We can also cleanse our spiritual temple by a sincere celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in which we are forgiven our sins, and healed of the bitterness of our sinfulness, that which makes us sin.
That sinfulness would be our painful emotions like anger and bitterness, as well as our negative attitudes such as false pride, stubborn self-will, tendency to control, sense of entitlement, etc. These are deep-seated attitudes and “ways of being” that are like weeds rooted in our human insecurity. That insecurity flows out of the reality of being born into a beautiful but flawed and wounded world, where all of us suffer from some lack of love, and perhaps even trauma.
Many, if not most people, are spiritually blind and unaware of these inner attitudes that affect out behaviour, as we act out of our emotions and defects of character. We need others who have the courage to give us honest feedback on our weaknesses, hopefully with compassion and love. That is called “fraternal correction” – a practice that seems to have diminished over the years. In a way, it is what Jesus did for the merchants, money changers and religious leaders of his day, when he cleansed the temple. He told them in no uncertain terms that they were turning the temple, supposed to be a house of prayer, into a den of robbers! May we be open to receiving that kind of correction from others who have the courage to give it to us.
The Church provides us with a fitting model today, St. Cecilia. She was a woman in Rome who came from a very rich family and was given in marriage to Valerian, whom she converted. As her husband and brother-in-law buried the dead, St. Cecilia spent her time preaching and in her lifetime was able to convert over four hundred people, most of whom were baptized by Pope Urban.
A few days after her husband Valerian and his brother Tiburtius were beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to the gods of the Romans, Cecilia was arrested and condemned to be suffocated in the baths. She was shut in for one night and one day, as fires were heaped up and stoked to a terrifying heat – but apparently Cecilia did not even sweat. When Almachius heard this, he sent an executioner to cut off her head in the baths. The executioner struck her three times but was unable to decapitate her, so he left her bleeding and she lived for three days. Crowds came to her and collected her blood while she preached to them or prayed. On the third day, she died and was buried by Pope Urban and his deacons.
Honoured since the early years of the Church, Cecilia is mentioned in the list of saints in the first Eucharistic Prayer.St. Cecilia is regarded as the patroness of music, because she heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married and is represented in art with an organ or organ-pipes in her hand. Officials exhumed her body in 1599 and found her to be incorrupt, the first incorrupt saints. She was draped in a silk veil and wore a gold embroidered dress. Officials only looked through the veil in an act of holy reverence and made no further examinations. They also reported a “mysterious and delightful flower-like odour which proceeded from the coffin.” St. Cecilia’s remains were transferred to Cecilia’s titular church in Trastevere and placed under the high altar. In 1599 Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, nephew of Pope Gregory XIV, rebuilt the church of St. Cecilia.
When in Rome for the canonization of the founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1995, St. Eugene de Mazenod, I visited the catacombs and was struck by a statue of her lying on the ground in the catacombs, a scar on her neck, dying for her faith, in the spirit of the Maccabees.
The Eucharist focuses on the Word of God, especially during the Liturgy of the Word, and is scriptural from beginning to the end. And there is a moment of contemplative prayer after communion when in silence we commune with our God in a very intimate way.
So, may our celebration today deepen our belief in Jesus as the Messiah, foster our appreciation for contemplative prayer and strengthen us to be open to fraternal correction in our lives.
