“FOR GOD ALONE"
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 22nd Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “For God Alone.”
In today’s first reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, we have evidence of a problem that shows up regularly in religious communities and organizations. It’s the problem of rivalry! Jealousy! Factions! Divisions!
Luckily at St. Mary’s you get a variety of priests. It’s my take that people come to Church for Christ – to enter into the Trinity – to enter into the mystery of Christ – to be in communion with Christ and his body – and his body has all kinds of characters (1) – and then to go forth from here – to make this a better world – not coming here for specific priests – but coming here, “For God Alone.”
Of course hospitality, good liturgy, good service, lots of love, all help.
Many parishes are one priest parishes. If the guy is great, if the guy is a servant, wonderful. It the guy is a lemon, people can be stuck for years – unless they make lemonade and come there for God alone.
So as we heard in today’s first reading, in the Corinthian community, there was bickering and bragging. Some said that they follow Apollos and not Paul; others said they follow Paul and not Apollos. We get glimpses of rivalry – factions – and frictions as we read the New Testament – not just in the letters and the Acts of the Apostles, but also in the gospels. (2)
Paul gives the classic comeback to the question of rivalry. I planted. Apollos watered. God gives the growth. (3)
WHAT IF?
If people come to church for the priest, what happens when the priest gets transferred? Or what happens if the priest is discovered to be an abuser or what have you. Uh oh!
I’ve listened to people who went through all this. I’ve heard people talk about the priest who married them – who later left and got married himself or what have you. What if the priest has problems?
SACRAMENTS AND THEIR VALIDITY – BASED ON THE PRIEST
One of the problems that came up several times in the early church was that some held that the validity of baptism depended on the inner life of the priest. (4)
The church in time said, “Nope!”
Imagine the chaos if a community didn’t know the mind set or spirituality of a priest? Am I baptized or not? Are my sins forgiven or not? Is the Mass valid or not?
Of course things go better with better priests – hopefully.
In that comment, I was wondering if I should use the word “holy” instead of “better” as in “better priests” or “holy priests”.
I think “better’ is the better word – because the word “holy” can mean a lot of things and there have been situations where people experienced “holy” priests – where division and stress erupted
Not everyone is everyone’s cup of tea. Yet we come here for God.
I love the story where the old lady in Jersey City, N.J. said, “The five marks of the Church are: it is one, holy, Catholic, apostolic and survives its clergy.”
I’m sure you’ve heard the old story about Cardinal Ercole Consalvi – and what he said to Napoleon Bonaparte when Napoleon threatened to destroy the church. Consalvi said, “If in 1,800 years we clergy have failed to destroy the Church, do you really think that you'll be able to do it?” (5)
If you read the lives of the popes, fortunately or unfortunately, you’ll come away either stronger or weaker in your faith. Please God, stronger. Please God you come to church and you remain in the church because of Christ who is with us all days even to the end of the world.
CONCLUSION
I love these early texts in the gospels – like yesterday and today’s gospels – where demons know who Jesus is – the holy one of God and the people Jesus is reaching out for, don’t really know who he is – including his disciples and apostles.
And Simon Peter whose mother-in-law Jesus heals in today’s gospel, Peter who discovered and once blurted out who Jesus is – and gets praised by Jesus for saying so, ends up saving his own skin by denying Jesus three times. (6)
The theme for religious education in our school and religious education this year is, “For God alone! Soli Deo”. It was one of St. John Neumann favorite short sayings and prayers – St. John Neumann whose anniversaries we celebrate this year. (7)
My message this morning is to avoid rivalry in church life – liberals vs. conservatives, this pope vs. that pope, young vs. old, those who dress up for church vs. those who don’t, this priest vs. that priest – but to be here, “For God alone.” And then for all of us to try not to be a pain you know where.
Statue in picture on top: St. John Neumann, CSSR, in the outside gathering space of St. John Neumann Church - Annapolis, Mary - other church building for St. Mary's Parish.
(1) Cf. St. Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthians 12: 4-31
(2) Acts 15:1-12; Acts 15: 36-40; Luke 12: 51-53; Mark 10: 35-45; Matthew 20: 20-28
(3) 1 Corinthians 3: 6
(4) For example, there was the question in the early Church whether baptisms in the heretical churches were valid. Here is a quote from Berthold Altaner’s book, Patrology, Herder and Herder, 1960, pp. 194-195 on Cyprian, “”Like Tertullian before him and like the bishops of Asia Minor, Cyprian thought heretical baptism invalid. Three synods at Carthage over which he presided in 255 and 256 declared themselves in favour of the invalidity of heretical baptism. Though Pope Stephen rejected the opinion of the African Church, Cyprian persisted in his view (EH 257/307). This did not later prevent St. Augustine from emphatically defending and excusing him as a catholicus episcopus and catholicus martyr when the Donatists appealed to his authority.”
(5) Hilaire Belloc [1870-1953] is reported to have said that the Catholic Church is “an institute run with such knavish imbecility that if it were not the work of God it would not last a fortnight.” Source of quote – couldn’t find?
(6) Cf. Luke 9:18-21; Matthew 16: 13-20; Mark 8: 27-30; and then the denial of Christ Luke 22: 54-62; Matthew 26: 69-75; Mark 14: 66-72; John 18: 15-18; John 21: 15-19
(7) “For God alone – Soli Deo” …. Cf. Michael J. Curley, Venerable John Neumann, CSSR: Fourth Bishop of Philadelphia, Washington, Catholic University of America Press, 1952, p. 374
