23rd Sunday Year C - Homily 3

Homily 3 - 2013

Jesus obviously did not care about numbers.  He was not interested in retaining the crowds following him.  He certainly did not seem to listen to any PR consultants or follow the advice of spin doctors.  “You can join with me,” he said, “only if you are prepared to hate your family, stand up for what I stand for … and pay the price in suffering, ridicule and even death.  And, just for good measure, give up all your possessions.”

Has he been quoted properly? or translated accurately?  Well, perhaps, not quite; but the message is still pretty stark.  Hating family members does not quite catch his meaning.  But family entanglements and family pressures cannot stand in the way of following conscience or of living a life wholeheartedly oriented, as was Jesus, to genuinely, actually, loving people.  And giving up all your possessions calls for some nuancing.  Possessions here mean those things we cling to and value because they somehow reassure us who we are and help us to feel important.  It could be our assets or our income; it could be our professional status, or our achievements, or our influence in the community, or whatever.

Why Jesus mentions things like that is because they so easily hinder our true human growth and our genuine freedom.  Unhealthy co-dependence can be rife in families and destroy people’s true personalities and human dignity.  Possessions can possess their owners, sap their real freedom, and prevent their coming to own their true selves.  Discipleship is ultimately about true self-knowledge.  It is the freedom to see others as they truly are and to reach out to them with respect and compassion – all the time sitting lightly with what it might cost. 

Today is Child Protection Sunday.  As a Church, we do not have a good track-record here with our shameful history of clerical sexual abuse.  Thank God that the Church has set up good procedural safeguards for future situations; but it still has someway to go.  We need to look harder at some basic issues like the formation of priests, the continuing clerical sub-culture, and the on-going need to hold each other responsible.  One respected author I read was of the opinion that, given the quite inadequate formation provided in seminaries and religious houses of formation, the surprising thing was not that so many offended but so few.

Then there was the instinctive response by some bishops to prioritise damage control, to protect the Church’s reputation as much as possible and its assets, and, in the process, overlook the enormous harm done to the victims.  There were extenuating circumstances, certainly, like the general ignorance, until about twenty-five years ago, of the deep, on-going harm done to victims; and the addictiveness of pedophilia; along with the poor advice given by lawyers and insurers.

Yet, somehow, the clerical culture pervading the Church was always there, favouring the priest; and continues to linger on.  Many victims still feel that they are not being heard nor are their needs being addressed adequately.  It is important, also, to realise that the abused children are not the only victims.  Their parents and family and friends have also suffered terribly.  Many of them felt rejected by their fellow-parishioners, and judged and even condemned – especially if they spoke out.  Ordinary Catholics like you also suffer from the fall-out.  Generally Church members have felt hostile towards victims who have spoken out [and are still be doing so], and towards the press for the on-going publicity.  Why so? We all need to change.  

Perhaps we all need to listen harder to today’s Gospel.  It applies not just to us as individuals but to us, too, as Church.  The Church needs to sit lightly with reputation, and influence.  They do not define who we truly are.  We need to let go of everything that possesses us.  Unfortunately, the crosses we have to carry always seem to be the wrong ones, certainly the ones we don’t want to carry.  We do not need to be looked up to by the crowds; but we do need to keep on struggling to grow ever more authentic – even when we feel confused and hurting.  

Crosses hurt.  Ask Jesus!