A link to a video of the Mass where I preached this homily is included below.
My father liked to walk, a lot, so we
Meyers walked a lot. Fortunately, I like
to walk a lot, too. One of my favorite
things to do when I was in school in Washington was walking around the city to
visit the many monuments and statues and learn something about historic figures
whose stories have faded over time. You
can imagine, then, that I’ve been following the controversy over taking down
statues pretty closely. I’m not going to
get into the politics or the emotions of all of that, but I do want to talk
about an embedded narrative that emerged earlier this week that speaks directly
to the message of today’s readings—our roles as Christ’s missionaries to the
world.
After statues of Saint Junipero Serra
were toppled in San Francisco, Ventura, and Los Angeles, the bishops of
California issued a strong letter condemning the actions as lacking the
discernment of Serra’s entire contribution to history. Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary of Los
Angeles, posted the letter on his social media sites and received many positive
comments. But there was also a notable
number of comments that essentially said, “Making a statement is all fine and
good, but what are you and the other bishops going to do about it?”[1]
Bishop Barron quickly responded on
Twitter, “That’s the laity’s job. You
are meant to sanctify the public space. . . .
Vatican II taught that the secular arena belongs to the laity.”[2]
What does he mean by that?
Whether clergy or laity, we’re all
baptized priests, prophets, and kings (or queens, if you prefer). As Saint Paul tells us in our second reading,
we die with Christ in baptism so that we may also live with him in the newness
of his life—his life as priest, prophet, and king. So in baptism, we’re given three jobs to do
for the rest of our lives—we’re called to sanctify, to teach, and to govern,
respectively the jobs of priests, prophets and kings. “Baptism is a life-changing event.”[3]
While both clergy and laity are priests, prophets, and kings, we exercise
our roles in different ways and largely in different realms—the clergy
predominantly in the Church, and the laity predominantly in the world. Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic
Constitution of the Church, is very clear on this point. I quote:
What specifically characterizes the laity is their
secular nature. It is true that those in
holy orders can at times be engaged in secular activities, and even have a
secular profession. But they are by reason of their particular vocation
especially and professedly ordained to the sacred ministry. . . . But the laity, by their very vocation, seek
the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according
to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is in each and in all of the
secular professions and occupations.
They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from
which the very web of their existence is woven.
They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function
and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the
world from within as a leaven.[4]
While the
responsibilities of clergy and laity overlap, the laity’s primary
responsibility is carrying the Good News of Jesus Christ into the world. You are Christ’s missionaries to the
world! You are called, as our Psalm so beautifully puts it, to “Forever
sing the goodness of the Lord” out in the streets. How do we do this? Let’s look at our readings.
Today’s Gospel is our third and final installment
from Matthew Chapter 10, known as the Missionary Discourse, where Jesus
instructs the disciples before sending them out into the world to proclaim the Good
News. In today’s passage, Jesus explains
the conditions and rewards of discipleship, and, together with our other
readings, gives us insight into what it takes to be Christ’s missionaries to
the world. “This reading is one of our many reminders that Christianity is much
more than an armchair activity or a prie-dieu proposition.”[5] Jesus explains that the life of the
missionary involves grand gestures, like taking up a cross—suffering, and
rejection—but it also involves simple acts of kindness, like receiving and
welcoming the stranger and giving a cup of cold water to the little ones. We see a great example of this in our first
reading. Sure, we all know that Elisha
is a missionary of God, but what about the Shunammite woman? She is too.
She welcomes the prophet, gives him food and drink, and even builds a
room for him so he’ll always have a comfortable place to rest as he continues
his mission.
Being missionaries of Christ isn’t a
matter of claiming turf or competing for airtime. It’s a cooperative effort where all of the
people of God use our respective talents and varied walks of life to order and
sanctify the world by living and proclaiming the Gospel in our daily lives.
Whether we’re doctors, lawyers, teachers, students, scientists, engineers,
stay-at-home parents, first responders, military, priests, or even deacons, we
all have a role to play as missionaries of Christ. At times, we’ll be called to take on big,
pressing issues—we seem to have no shortage of them these days. But we can never forget, that even the
smallest considerate gesture offers eternal reward[6]
and may well be the very first step in tackling those big, pressing issues.
I like to walk a lot, and I especially
like to walk early in the morning while praying the rosary. This past week, I walked along River Road in
Franklin Township, and over a 4-day period, I passed maybe 40 people in total,
two of whom were parishioners, the rest strangers, walking, jogging, or biking. Thirty-eight out of 40 of them, 95 percent,
greeted me as we passed each other. You’ll
be happy to know that both parishioners greeted me. Otherwise, they’d be the subject of a very
different homily. Some of the people said good morning to me; some waved; one
flashed me the peace sign; and two asked me to pray for them. I don’t know if it was my debonair good
looks, my alluring personality, or the rosary clenched in my hand that caught
their eyes, but I do know that they were Christ’s missionaries to the world who
offered me a moment of spiritual communion and a glimpse of God’s Kingdom in
their own unique ways. They made my day
and gave me great hope for humanity. That’s
the role of the missionary.
[1]
Robert Barron, “Why ‘What Are the Bishops Doing About It?’ Is the Wrong
Question,” Word on Fire, June 24, 2020, https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/article/why-what-are-the-bishops-doing-about-it-is-the-wrong-question/27757/.
[2]
Robert Barron, Twitter, June 22, 2020.
[3]
Elizabeth M. Nagel, Elaine Park, Mary Pat Healy, Workbook for Lectors,
Gospel Readers, and Proclaimers of the Word, 2020, Year A (Chicago, Liturgy
Training Publications, 2019), 204.
[4]
The Second Vatican Council, “The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church – Lumen
gentium,” Vatican City (November 21, 1964), https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html,
31.
[5]
Mary M. McGlone, “Love Makes Us Worthy,” National Catholic Reporter,
vol. 56, no. 18 (June 12-25, 2020), 19.
[6]
Nagle, Park, Healy, 206.
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