Deacon Tom Writes,
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B
Aretha Franklin’s recent passing filled the airways with one of her blockbuster hits, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.” One simple word behind which summarizes the basic obligation and duty we own not only to one another but to the entirety of creation around us.
In the calling forth creation Genesis recounts this majestic moment when, after naming all the animals God created and finding no suitable partner for “man”, God creates “woman”. If we were to travel to the end of the cosmos and, arriving there, find an ancient text that recorded these same words, I wonder how we back on earth would interpret those words today in the fuller context of the same passage of our first reading.
That there was no suitable “partner” for the man is telling. Man’s partner does not come from all prior life that man was given dominion over. Rather, man’s partner is “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” How difficult would it be to see the creation story of this distant world organized around a partnership between two created beings, sharing the same flesh and blood, whose purpose in life was to become “one flesh?”
I suspect that if this distant civilization evolved from with this understanding of partnership and purpose it would have would have built a society much different than ours who have this same text as our foundational narrative. Our interpretation is much different and we are just coming to terms with the problems our poor judgment has sewn throughout time memorial.
Respect is a duty we owe to one another. It is the profound recognition that we are “created beings” whose origin is same beneficent creator who has made us “little less than god” Ps 8:6 in the sense that we are all destined to share in His very being for all eternity.
If we only understood the meaning of the word “respect.” If we only knew the meaning of the Creation Story, what a different world we would be living in. Fostering respect for one another is the way out of many of the problems we confront in our society today. This is certainly rich soil to cultivate. Interestingly, in a recent article in America Magazine online confronting the negative caricature facing Georgetown Prep in the aftermath of the Judge Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court, Fr. James Van Dyke, S.J. the school’s president remarked, “the problem facing the larger culture among both men and women that we sadly cannot seem to address—a fundamental lack of respect for persons as such”.
Today’s readings urge us to reflect on not only how we treat others but how we view them. For in Christ, we are all “One body”.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in as the three deacons engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer to those on the threshold, those thinking of joining our Catholic Community or walking away from it.
OTHER RESOURCE
Recommended Reading: Why God? by Richard Leonard, S.J. is a collection of stories and is divided into four parts: Church; Liturgy and Sacraments; Society; and Faith and Spirituality. Through these very personal and engaging stories, the author provides insights into the way God works through people and often unexpected places and events. These true stories speak of the power of God working in creation and through the unlikely individuals and places that we discover God's transforming love.
Recommended YouTube Video: Fr Richard Leonard, S.J. YouTube Presentation, "Why God?", Stories to Inspire Faith
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