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 1st 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.
