PRONE  TO  EVIL? 

HOW  PRONE? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 17^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Prone To Evil?  How Prone?”

I take that title and that thought from what Aaron, the brother of Moses, says to him in today’s first reading from Exodus 32: 15-24, 30-34, when Moses comes down from the mountain and all the people are singing, dancing, chanting and worshipping the Golden Calf.

Moses was just up the mountain in ecstasy, in awe, in worship, with God, Yahweh, the presence that brought them out of Egypt and slavery.

How soon they fall into sin!  How soon they drop the invisible God - for a visible God - the Golden Calf.

Aaron says to Moses, “Don’t be angry. You know well enough how prone the people are to evil.”

QUESTIONS THAT COMMENT TRIGGERS?

That comment in Exodus 33:22 triggered for me the following questions:

·       “How prone am I to evil?”

·       “Are we all different in degree when it comes to sinful tendencies?”

·       “If different, what sins am I prone to?”

·       “Have I changed through the years?”

·       “What are my temptations?”

PRONE

Other translations of Exodus 32:22 use the word “bent”.

The New English Bible has Aaron say, “You know they are troubled.”

The King James Version says that the people “are set on mischief.”

The Good News Version goes this way, “you know how determined these people are  to do evil.”

KEY THEME

For a homily thought today, please answer this question for yourselves.

Why do we sin? Why do our kids mess up? Why the horror stories in life?

Why do we hurt ourselves or others?

Another series of questions:

·       Are we predetermined? 

·       Are we born bent out of shape?

·       Is it our parents or TV or friends that give us good or bad example?

I’m serious. We need to reflect deep on this.

Genesis begins by saying, “All is Good. All God makes is Good.” 

Then we have the Adam and Eve and bad fruit story - and we are the ones who choose evil.

Next Cain kills his brother Abel.  In that Hebrew Story in Genesis 4 - we hear about the “Yetzer hara”- a Hebrew term for the evil that lurks at our door and we are the ones who invite evil into our house or tent.

All through the Old Testament we have this question - of why Evil.

In the New Testament Paul’s answer in Romans is, “I don’t know.” I tell myself, today I’m going to do this and I go out and do the opposite. Why? Why?

Why do find ourselves saying on a regular basis after we do a nasty, “Next time less wine, next time less whining, next time less eating, next time less gossip and we do the opposite?”

CONCLUSION

I don’t have a conclusion.

This is the lifetime struggle. Paul will say in Romans - as Augustine read in the garden - that the only person we can turn to is Jesus Christ. [Cf. Book 8 of the Confessions and Romans 13:11-14]

In the meanwhile, be like Moses and find some alone space and listen to the 10 Commandments.

In the meanwhile, follow Jesus, the New Moses, and hear him tell us what he learned on the mountain: the Sermon on the Mount.

Or scream out to the Lord, “Help! Bend me back into shape. Prone me towards you.”