Deacon Tom Writes,
RESPECT
Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B
Aretha Franklin was arguably one of Rhythm and Blues top female vocalists. Referred to as the “Queen of Soul”, one of her many blockbuster hits was, “RESPECT.” It became the US’s No. 1 hit in 1967. The following year it won two Grammy Awards. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it at No. 5 on their list of “The Greatest Songs of All Time” securing its place in music history for all time.Besides being a musical blockbuster, the very title of Franklin’s music expresses, perhaps, the most fundamental obligation and duty we owe not only to one another but to the entirety of creation around us. Why is that?
In calling forth creation, Genesis recounts this majestic moment when, after Adam named all the animals, God found no suitable partner for him. That there was no suitable “partner” for the man from all that God had made is telling. Man’s partner does not come from all prior life that he was given dominion over. Rather, the man’s partner is “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” How unique that this creation story is centered around a partnership between two created beings, intimately sharing the same flesh and blood, whose purpose in life was to become, as it was to begin, “one flesh?”
This is our foundational narrative. This is the Creator’s plan from the beginning, a plan that would manifest itself in the unity and equanimity of the man and the woman that would extend to all of creation they were to govern.
Respect is a duty we owe to one another and all creation. It is the profound recognition that we are “created beings” whose origin is from the beneficent Creator who has made us “little less than god” (Ps 8:6) who are 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 experience. 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. We are living in a time when respect for one another has all but disappeared. Worse, we are living at a time of disrespect for individuals, institutions, laws, any moral authority. Don’t tell me what to do!!! Don’t try to limit my freedoms!!! Such disregard for others can only produce outcomes that will lead to further division, strife and alienation from one another.
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 members of the “One body”. And people of faith treat one another with RESPECT.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
