CONTEXT  IS  ALL

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 23 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Context Is All!”

That’s a phrase the Canadian writer, Margaret Atwood, became known for. It’s a  comment she makes all through her book, The Handmaid’s Tale.

“Context is all.”

ST. PETER CLAVER

Today is the feast of St. Peter Claver [1581-1654]  – a Jesuit priest who worked for 44 years in Cartagena – now Colombia – one of the key ports for slaves coming from Africa.

As I read his life – lots of things hit me. What would it be like to be living there in the first half of the 1600’s?   I’m aware that writers in our time criticize missionaries and church and their presence in the colonies – what they did and what they didn’t do.  Why didn’t they do more? Why didn’t they protest more about slavery and how native Americans were treated.

Then I stepped back and said, “Context!” Then I said, “Context is Everything.”  Then I remembered Margaret Atwood’s comment: “Context is all”

For example: St. Peter Claver baptized more than 300,000 slaves – and rather quickly after their arrival.

Today we would not do that – but context is all. In Europe whole tribes and groups were baptized and made Christians – when their king or leader became Christian. And the king didn’t go through an RCIA program.

As I read Peter Claver’s story – I was amazed. Type his name into the Google Search Box – and sail on.

When news of another slave ship - 1000 future slaves were arrived at the port in Cartagena each month,  Peter Claver would be down there first. He would row out in a canoe to the boat with a whole team of catechists.  One of his team, a man named  Calepino spoke 12 African languages. They would bring food, fresh fruit, wine for wounds, water. They washed and attended to cuts and sores and would take care of the dead. They feed those who made it in what were called “coffin ships”  to the Americas..

They would wash and baptize – they would feed and greet. Today we would do some of these things and not do some of these – but what I’m saying here is, “Context is all.”

Slave owners hated him – and gave him a hard time.  The rich of Cartagena didn’t like Father Claver’s Negroes in church with them.

Context is all. Thoughts in my mind  changed when I read the following words from Peter Claver, “We must speak to them with our hands by giving, before we try to speak to them with our lips.”

Kindness – caring – giving food – a welcome - smiling – love -  is the same in every language.

So that’s the context  of my comments today. That’s why I came up with this short message that I’m pushing today.

Context is all.

TODAY’S GOSPEL: CONTEXT IS ALL

It’s also a key to keep in mind when reading the scriptures.

Today’s gospel begins with Jesus going to the mountains to pray – to spend the night in prayer.

Then we hear him calling out those he chose to be his apostles by name.

I wonder why did Jesus call Peter who would deny him – and Judas who would betray him?

What is the back story of each one of them?

Why did people reach out to Jesus back then – and why do they do so today?

What was Jesus’ goal? Was it to feed and to heal – more than to teach and preach?

What is the purpose of Church?

What is the Christian calling?

What is the goal of parish?

What is Jesus calling us to be and to do today?

Why do we do what we do and why?

Context should give us pause.

As we heard in today’s gospel Jesus knew the importance of pause – especially the pause to pray.

It’s important to escape – to grasp where we are and where we want to go next.

We need to see our present context and to see our next calling.

We need to stop!

We need to see who’s in the boats around us.

Context gets us to talk and to listen.

Context gets us to say, “I don’t know why you said that or why you did that. Can we talk?”

So much of life is talking before listening.

So much of life is taking things out of context.

So much of life is being self-centered – our mind being within only our boundaries – so our all is rather small.

Too often we are slaves to our own context.

Too often we’re sailing along stuck in the dark – at the bottom of our boat – as we pass each other like ships in the night – as the old saying goes.

MOVEMENT

Christianity is all about movement – moving out of where we are – out of our context into a new context.

It’s called conversion. It’s called change.

In today’s first reading from 1^st Corinthians 6: 1-11 we were placed in the context of a Christian Community in the city of Corinth in around 54 A.D. We hear details about what is going on. We’re getting context.  We hear St. Paul challenging his listeners to see what they are doing. Talk about lawsuits. It sounds like it was an everyday threat of Christian against Christian in that city. He said you’re not in the kingdom of God if you are unjust, if you cheat, if you deceive, fornicate, prostitute, drink too much, ruin people’s reputation. 

The context of the Christian community in Corinth seemed like it needed a lot of changes – that they needed to see life in a new context.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, Context Is All.

The first step is to see our present situation – our present context – and then the next step is to move into the Kingdom of God each day of our life.

God moved out of God – out of the context of God – when he became human. The Word became flesh and lived amongst us.

St. Peter Claver left a small place name Verdu in Spain – population about 2000 – probably from right near when Columbus came from – and look at how he changed his life and our world.

Well Peter moved from the farm to the school – to the Jesuits – to the priesthood – to America.

One of his self-descriptions was: I want to be a slave among slaves.

I sense his gift and his secret was to enter into the skin and the emotions and the feelings and the needs of these people who arrived in America – in horrible conditions – thinking they were going to be eaten or killed here.

He was to  be their experience of Jesus after 1615 in the city of Cartagena. Amen.