Deacon Tom Writes,
“Making It Real”
In today’s Gospel
Jesus makes this point speaking of the scribes and the Pharisees, “do and observe all things whatsoever they
tell you, but do not follow their example”. What a remarkably scathing
comment! Simply put, the religious leaders knew the law inside and out. They
just chose not to exemplify it in their own lives. Rather, they put the burden of
practicing the law upon the shoulders of others without lending a hand to help
them.
Looking at the
readings for today we see the Prophet Malachi asking the question, “Why do we break faith with one another,
violating the covenant of our fathers? Malachi is reciting God’s unending
complaint against His people, Why do you turn you back on me? When we look at
the Responsorial Psalm we hear the very deepest longing of the human heart,
which is to find peace and rest in the Lord.
Reduced to its most
basic element, the purpose of religion is to guide us into a meaningful relationship
with the Almighty. “Salus Animarum” the
salvation of souls, is the mission of the Church, the raison d’etre -its
very reason for being. The religious leaders of Jesus’ time seem to have set
that thought aside for their own aggrandizement. They did not understand their
purpose was to shepherd God’s sheep, follow the law, and demonstrate its value
by way of example. Instead they left the serious work of being in relationship
with the Divine for the people to figure out on their own, without any visible
encouragement from their behavior. Simply put, the religious establishment was
not taking any input...from the prophets, from Father Abraham, or from Jesus.
Now it would be a
mistake to think that a rigid mindset like that demonstrated by the religious
leaders was confined to antiquity. That simply is not the case. 500 years ago
this past Tuesday a German Augustinian monk posted his “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” known as Ninety-five Theses on the door of the
All Saints’ church in Wittenberg, Germany. The monk, of course was Martin
Luther. The document that he posted began as follows:
Out of love and concern for the truth, and
with the object of eliciting it, the following heads will be the subject of a
public discussion at Wittenberg under the presidency of the reverend father,
Martin Luther, Augustinian, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and duly
appointed Lecturer on these subjects in that place. He requests that whoever
cannot be present personally to debate the matter orally will do so in absence
in writing.
The document
contained ninety - five statements criticizing the Church for corruption in
Rome, including the buying of ecclesiastical privileges, nepotism, usury, and
the selling of indulgences that would mitigated the temporal punishment that
was the residual effect of sins that had been committed. Consensus is that
Luther had no intention of setting off a revolution. As stated in the opening
statement of his Disputation, he, a qualified and appointed authority was
looking for a debate into what he saw were corrupt practices within the church.
But...
We know that what followed was one of the most violent upheavals in
history, the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation inaugurated by
the Council of Trent. Amazingly, the passage of these many years has not seen
much progress in the areas of reconciliation and healing. What witness does
that provide our modern world? To Jesus’ point to the scribes and Pharisees
today: you know what God demands of you...why are you not doing it?
Our human legacy of division and conflict can be traced back to our
readings today. Turn away from God, intellectualize His “Statutes and Precepts”
and we are bound to encounter hardships and difficulties whose consequences
will be difficult to overcome.
Jesus is instructing the scribes and the Pharisees that religion must
be “authentic”. It must be “genuine: it must be real; there must be tangible evidence
that it is being practiced and leading one to an elevated state of life. For us
Catholics it falls upon us to do our part in bearing witness to our faith. It
means that we model the example of Jesus and not just give intellectual consent
to his teaching. It means that we must personally mimic Jesus’ actions and
incorporated his teachings practically into all aspects of our lives. And by the way, all of this is much
easier said than done! Which, undoubtedly, is something that the scribes and
Pharisees also knew which is exactly what subjected them to the criticism we
hear from Jesus today.
I am always amazed
that scripture composed so many years ago sheds valuable light on our human
condition today. It is then I recall Paul’s words to the Hebrews, “Indeed, the
word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword,
penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to
discern reflections and thoughts of the heart”. (Heb 4:12)
We are, as some say, a “work in progress”. When it comes to our faith
that is not such a bad thing. It means that we can always become a better
person; we can always grow to become a better version of ourselves; we can be
less self-absorbed and more sensitive to the needs of others and become more
Christ-like.
With God’s help we can all grow to become the people He has envisioned
us to be.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
Photo
Credit: Lutheran Archbishops Munib A. Younan (L) and Martin Junge (R) during
Monday October 31, 2016 ecumenical service in Lund cathedral, Sweden. . TT
News Agency/Jonas Ekstromer)
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