12th Sunday Year B - Homily 4

Homily 4 - 2018

For the past week or so the St Vinnies have had a poster in the church porch. It haunts me. It shows a distraught woman with a young child in her arms. The caption reads: “She should not have to choose between violence at home or sleeping on the street”.

This weekend also marks the beginning of International Refugee Week, just as another refugee dies in off-shore detention. I remember fifty years ago being actively involved in reaching out to refugees through the ecumenical organization, Austcare [which was short for Australians Care for Refugees]. It was the time when the refugee question first came on the radar and, not just the churches, but the whole Australian population needed to be sensitized and encouraged to respond practically to the challenge they presented. I believe that we really did make an impression. But of late, a tired callousness seems to have taken over, encouraged by disastrous political leadership and an abysmal absence of true statesmanship. This has generated a sense of powerlessness across much of the population, that fits too well with a growing individualism and selfishness. I try to work myself out. My own energy levels have noticeably dropped.

Pope Francis mourns the loss of people’s ability to weep. I gather that it is when children reach grades five or six at primary school that teachers concentrate on helping them consciously and deliberately to learn how to stand in the shoes of another, and to practice seeing things from a different perspective.

What can we do? We cannot do everything. Many of you can feel flat out meeting the seemingly endless calls made on your time and your resources. It is important for us responsibly to sort out our conflicting priorities as best we can. Some things we can do without too much fuss. We can sign appropriate online petitions to politicians and others. We may be able to contribute financially to support the work of organisations such as the St Vincent de Paul Society who reach out particularly to people in need locally. The Jesuit Refugee Service does admirable work, nationally and internationally, supporting refugees financially and personally, representing them legally and lobbying for just and compassionate political responses.

When we choose to support financially, I think it is important for us to give enough to ensure that we feel the continuing need to respond. Giving to no longer feel guilty usually means giving too little – particularly when we judge there are real needs to be met.

More significantly, but not possible for all, is to join with others and to work together. Join the St Vincent de Paul Society; join the local branch of Rural Australians for Refugees. The contribution simply of our own wisdom can be particularly constructive, especially when it is important to nourish an ongoing sense of anger at obvious injustices. However, anger easily degrades into disrespect and violence. People need to be encouraged and to learn how to channel their anger constructively and to work against injustice actively but non-violently.

I like today’s parables. They both reassure us that God’s energy is always on tap and at work: “The Kingdom of God is like …”. That energy, the world’s energy, is essentially relational, instinctively loving. Since we all are made in the image of God, the energies of mutual respect and responsibility are already in our DNA. However, experience only too constantly reminds us that that original energy has been overlaid by generations of indifference and hostility. We need consciously and frequently to touch into those deeper sources of positive energy in order to bring them to the surface. We need, like Mary, to treasure experience and to ponder it in our hearts. We need time to pray and to reflect.