TWENTY FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
My Dad is 91 years old now. He lives in a retirement community in Oak Park, not far from one of my brothers. He has a nice apartment on the twelfth floor, with nice views.
But he’s not able to drive anymore, so his travels are pretty much limited to weekend dinners at the homes of my brothers and sisters. When he was younger, though, he liked to travel - an interest that he passed on to me.
My Dad always preferred vacations planned around beautiful places in nature, more than big cities. When my sister and brothers and I were all young, he and my Mom took us on several long holidays traveling from one National Park to another.
Later, he and my Mom went several times to Europe. He always preferred visiting the Alps of Switzerland and Germany, and they returned there, several times. On their last trip to Europe, my Mom had to insist that he take her to Paris, which he finally agreed to - reluctantly.
Now, when I visit him, we often reminisce about some of our favorite destinations -some of our happiest travel memories.
Years ago, when I was studying in Rome, my parents came to visit for a two-week trip. We saw a lot, traveling up and down the ‘boot’ of Italy, from the Amalfi Coast in the south, to the ‘Lakes Region’ in the north. We spent only three days in Rome which was more than enough for my Dad.
I was excited to show them St. Peter’s Basilica, and this is what I remember about that. If you’ve been, you’ll remember that right inside the front doors one finds Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta,’ behind glass now, to protect it from vandals. My Mom, Dad and I stopped for several moments to admire it, and say a prayer, and then turned into the basilica proper.
As we strolled up the main aisle, my Dad noticed the bronze plaques that are inlaid in the marble floor, every thirty or forty feet or so. Each one of these bronze plaques carries the name of one or another of the great cathedrals of Europe, and marks the reach that that church would have it if were set down inside St. Peter’s.
Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris would reach this far; Westminster Abby of London, would reach this far; Canterbury Cathedral would reach this far, and so forth.
As my Dad stood looking down at one of these plaques, I murmured, “I think they built St. Peter’s in order to impress!” Without missing a beat, my Dad replied, “Do you suppose they thought they were impressing God?”
“They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, 'What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest."
Ever since Cain and Abel, men have created reasons to compete…have created contests in which to compete…have created prizes and trophies over which to compete, in order to impress one another, as to, ‘who is the greatest.’ At their worse, some have tried to impress God, too.
Our own day is no different. Every second or third television show involves a game or a contest, and there are entire TV networks devoted entirely to sports coverage. It’s all meant to be exciting, and to draw-in viewers who care about the outcomes. It’s also meant to entertain, and maybe, sometimes, just to pass the time. But it’s risky to mistake it for life.
Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the servant of all.”
If they cared to try, how, do you suppose, might men impress God?
Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the servant of all.”
If we cared to try, how, do you suppose, might we impress God? Let us join Christ at the altar, where he will remind us how once again. – Fr. Brian
TWENTY FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” These words of Jesus from today’s Gospel story make it clear that crosses and the suffering we experience related to them are an inevitable part of being a follower of Jesus. But for us to fully understand what I want to say today about crosses and suffering, I have to make some distinctions between the different kinds of crosses that we all experience in life. As I see it, there are four different categories of crosses that come into all of our lives.
The first type of cross and related suffering is the kind that we experience at the hands of others, through no fault of our own. God has given us the gift of freedom. God allows people to make free human choices. And sometimes the choices that people make hurt us. When someone chooses to drink and drive and then is involved in an automobile crash that kills or injures others, this kind of cross and suffering are the result of the free-will of others. We have no control over this kind of suffering. This is not the kind of cross that Jesus is asking us to carry.
The second type of cross and related suffering is the type which seems random and is not directly caused by the actions of others. Injuries, illnesses and natural disasters like hurricane Florence fall into this category. The suffering caused by a diagnosis of cancer, by an injury from a fall or by a hurricane, a tornado, a flood, an earthquake or a fire are consequences of the natural world in which we live. We have no control over this kind of suffering either, and this is not the kind of cross that Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel story.
A third type of cross and related suffering is the kind that we experience when we do the wrong thing, when we act in unloving ways, when we sin. Every day we make many decisions, and some of our decisions are sinful and have negative consequences. These kinds of suffering could be called the consequences of turning our backs on God. This kind of suffering is one which we freely choose. Yet even though it comes as a result of our own fault, it can also have meaning for us. The suffering we experience as a result of our sinful choices can be an invitation for us to change our behavior. When we suffer in this way, God invites us to take a long, hard look at how we are living our lives and to reform and change our lives. However, this is not the kind of cross that Jesus is referring to.
There is a fourth and final type of cross and related suffering that comes from standing up for what we believe. When we give prophetic witness to what we believe, we will not always be accepted by the world. When we take a strong prolife stand or speak out on behalf of issues of justice, peace or immigration reform, we may experience rejection or ridicule by people in our world. Right now, we may feel called to a different kind of witness related to the clergy sexual abuse scandal, challenging the hierarchy of the Church to do a better job of protecting children and calling for accountability and consequences for bishops who have covered up instances of clergy sexual abuse of children or who have protected priests rather than children. This kind of suffering comes from the consequences of living out the Gospel. Our faith and our Christian values are a treasure we should all want to protect and to share with others. The suffering we experience as a result of our Christian witness is a cross that Jesus asks us to freely choose, and it also gives meaning and purpose to our suffering.
All my life I have heard that I need to carry my cross. It is a part and parcel of being a follower of Jesus. Crosses and suffering are an inevitable part of life. There are crosses and suffering that happen to us, that we have no choice over, that we struggle to understand and to find meaning in them. And there are crosses and suffering that we choose for the sake of the Gospel. This is the cross and the suffering that Jesus asks us to embrace in today’s Gospel story.
But there are also crosses and suffering that we can avoid. There is one cross that we are invited not to pick up, the cross that we bring upon ourselves through our own sinful choices. Today Jesus invites us to closely examine our free human choices so that we can better choose life and avoid the needless crosses and suffering that we bring upon ourselves and others through our own sinful words and actions. – Fr. Paul