Ordinary 25 Sunday -B -2015 (Fr. Mark Starr) Social Justice Numbers 11:25 29 Psalm 19:8, 10, 12 14 James 5:1 6 Mark 9:38 43, 45, 47 48 In the Gospel reading from Mark today, Jesus disciples try to forbid others, who are not in their select group, from casting out demons. Jesus rebukes them and says For he that is not against us is for us. Throughout scripture, we see many examples of exclusion. From the first reading today from the book of Numbers we read, the spirit of the Lord rested Eldad and Medad, who remained in the camp, and they began to prophesy. Joshua asks Moses to prevent them from prophesying, but Moses says he wishes that all would prophesy as such (Numbers 11). When the Temple was built, there was an outer court, an area permitted for the Gentiles, but they were not allowed to enter with the elect into the inner courts. In the time of Jesus the Samaritans were those who were born through intermarriage between the Jews and gentiles and were not even considered people by a respectable Jew but note Jesus often spends time with them. The Pharisees disregarded anyone who did not commit to keep the fine letter of the law, ignoring the spirit of the Law, the who and what behind the Law.
If you have been watching Pope Francis this week in his trip to the United States and listening to his homilies and speeches, one common theme that permeates through his messages is the dignity of humanity, which does not exclude any human we are all made in the likeness and image of God. This dignity of humanity includes the way we show respect to immigrants, the poor, the unborn, those on death row, denigrating humans to commodities traded or sold, reducing the family unit to something other than a man and a woman, human trafficking and the dignity of our descendants through the manner in which we respect our environment. Many of these are political hot-button issues; I am well aware of that. But I would like to explicate on a few of these. In his address to Congress, Pope Francis said I am the son of immigrants. His parents immigrated to Argentina before he was born. He saw first-hand the struggles of trying to make a living in a new country. In his own words, every conversation he had with is grandparents as a child was in Italian thus his proficiency in both Spanish and Italian. He asked us to respect those who are immigrants to this country. I am not saying that I promote blanket amnesty as some political pundits would say, but rather, that we work together as a nation in order to uphold our laws and at the same time respect the dignity of those who are here trying to provide a means of support for a family. I have personally been
in the homes of dozens of undocumented immigrants in my three plus years as a priest (one of my best lay friends is an undocumented immigrant); I understand the dilemma on both sides. Most undocumented immigrants are here fleeing from poverty to the scale none of us has ever seen in this country; and many, if not most, have family and relatives who have been killed by ruthless drug lords. The majority are not here because they want to break our laws (ironically most would rather not be here at all), but they are here because there is no work and no hope in their respective countries. (One of the things as part of my ministry to the Hispanic community at St. Joseph was to help parents write letters to be kept in a safe place indicating who would be the custodians of their children in case they were deported. Many Hispanic children live in fear that when they come home from school one day, their parents will not be at home because one or both have been deported and they will effectively be orphans. That is the reality of many of our children. One of the young Hispanic men, who comes to our 7:00am Spanish Masses at the office chapel on Wednesday morning, left his child of 3 months in Guatemala along with his wife over two years ago, to come up here through connections to obtain work so he could support his wife and child. He has not held his son in over two years. He does not want to be here he has every right to be a father present to his son, but due to lack of any opportunity in
his country, he is here sending money back home to support his family he is only in his early twenties. I generally have coffee with these young men after the Spanish Mass in the rectory and I thank each of them for the sacrifices they are making here separated from their families so they can send money back home to support their loved ones.) [Not in presented homily note: A son of a former president of the United States said one time that many times the crossing of borders is an act of love for which he was quickly rebuked by many members of the media. There is merit to his statement] Pope Francis asked Congress to agree to dialogue to come up with common solutions to problems facing us. He pointed out Church teaching that we respect the dignity of life in all forms. Certainly this means protection of those in the womb, but respect of life is not exclusive to one issue. He also called for the abolition of the death penalty because every human being has the dignity of receiving God s grace and mercy even if rightfully convicted until they breathe their last breath. He encouraged us to work together using technology to change our wasteful habits and to respect and protect the environment; thus being good stewards of God s creation. Eucharistic Prayer IV, which I talked about during our explanatory Masses tells us God made man in his own image, and I quote: and
entrusted the whole world to his care, so that in serving you alone, the Creator, he might have dominion over all creatures. While many may question some of the conclusions Francis draws, as to the extent of the impact of mankind s activity on global warming and the environment, we cannot deny that we are all called to be good stewards of the many gifts God has given us, including care over His creation. We are a throw-away consumer culture. For example, I look at my neighbor s trash can at the curb every week and it is overflowing so much that they cannot even close the lid one week with just four people! Just this past week, it was made public that a certain car manufacturer had set up a software routine in the car s system to simulate lower emissions while it was being tested than it actually produces when operating on the road a sign that corporate profits take precedence over emission standards and thus effecting air and the environment. As Christians we have an obligation to turn our world over to future generations with care and respect. That is the way we respect the dignity of future generations. At his address to the UN, Pope Francis asked the countries of the world to come together to bring about peace so that the massive flow of refugees who are fleeing due to terrorist activity may stay or return to their homes. We have recently witnessed thousands of people fleeing their respective countries due to
terrorism and many dying in flight as refugees. May we work to bring about peace and at the same time provide the basic dignity of life to those who have been displaced because of hatred and war. We have an obligation as Christians that our actions do not promote the disintegration of dignity which is to be afforded all peoples. Many come to this country being trafficked for drugs and other injustices to their human dignity [sex trafficking not read]. Our Christian walk calls us to help stop these injustices. Remember Jesus words in the Gospel today: For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink, because you are of Christ, will by no means lose his reward (Mark 9). Pope Francis final stop is in Philadelphia for the church council on the family. In his address to the Congress Pope Francis, in his remarks on the family, said today increasingly the family is coming under attack. It is interesting to note that four of the nine Supreme Court Justices, who just ruled same sex marriage as the law of the land in this country were sitting right in front of him. Let me explain this ruling from the perspective of Divine Law. When God creates, he embeds in nature laws, which we call Natural Law. An example: the force of gravity on this planet is 32.2 ft/second/second. It does not change day to day. Embedded in living species, in natural law, is the move toward self-preservation
of the species which includes reproduction. This cannot take place in a samesex union, therefore it is contrary to natural law. In making this ruling, what the Supreme Court essentially said is that civil law (man s law) takes precedence over natural law (Divine Law). That is very dangerous territory. The Catechism of the Catholic Church at the same time tells us that those who deal with attraction to the same sex are to be treated with respect, compassion and sensitivity (CCC 2357). We embrace everyone and are charged with helping everyone live a life of dignity and to help them live lives according to the will of God. We welcome all to help them lead lives of chastity and obedience. I am also painfully aware of the fact that there are parents of children who suffer because of their decisions in this arena. We are called to respect them as well showing love and respect to the children, yet at the same time through our love of Christ to demonstrate that we are all called to mantain the love of the Lord through lives of chastity and obedience. While the world may say this is being uncharitable or unloving, in reality, it is extending complete love to each person for the ultimate gift of love is to sacrifice exactly what Jesus shows us on the cross. While some of these issues may be difficult to face, my desire is that each of us look within ourselves and ask ourselves and ask how we can show respect to
the dignity of all humanity. In doing so we fulfill the two great commandments: Love of God and Love of neighbor.