DIVISION
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 29 Thursday in Ordinary Time is, “Division”.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel - on first hearing - evoked an, “Oh no!”
from me.
Oh no - here’s Jesus - saying, “Do you think that I have
come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Then Jesus talks
about division in families: three against two and two against three. A father will be divided against his son and
a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter
against her mother, a mother-in-law her
daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Down through the ages did scribes - monks -
printers - doing the Book of Kells or the Lindisfarne scriptures - or the
Guttenberg Bible - or any transcriber of the Gospels - say the same, “Oh no!”
upon coming to this wall of words - a wall that divides people from people. Did they say, “What about those other words
Jesus told us about forgiveness - for example forgiving 70 times 7 times and bringing
peace to the rooms we enter?”
STEPPING BACK
Stepping back, sitting back, pondering these words of
Jesus, after saying, “Oh no!” I said,
“Oh yes, there is plenty of family division - church division - political
division.”
Next I said, “You were taught all these Gospel texts were put there to deal
with stuff in Christian communities two and three generations after Jesus.
Next I said, “And we need to deal with division - and disagreements
- and inner fights - just as every generation of Christians have to.”
I love to quote the saying, “The greatest sin is our
inability to accept the otherness of the other person.”
I like it when the pope follows my opinions. I don’t like these folks who don’t like Pope
Francis. And I would like this pope and
the next pope to make significant changes in the church - as long as they are
liberal..
And I realize there are lots of people who will have
problems with me when I’m made pope.
WHERE I NEED TO CHANGE
I need to walk in other’s shoes and figure out where they
are coming from when I discover they differ from me.
I need to talk to others who will challenge me to see
where I am coming from.
I need to read, talk, dig into - so as the figure out the
why of divisions.
We were just talking the other day about two
Redemptorists and one guy says about a guy who was a whiner - he couldn’t
accept Vatican II.
CONCLUSION
So there’s differences and divisions - and we all need to deal with them. Amen.
We
need to learn to meet with each other - as you’ll hear in the 2nd
Canon for reconciliation which I’ll use at this Mass.
