Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Fratres, Nolite Deficere Benefacientes [1]

Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Februarius ix, MMXIV

Parish of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (Rosa Road)

Rev. Michael Taylor

For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish,

According to His good will.

And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations;

That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof,

In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation;

Among whom you shine as lights in the world. [2]

            The words of our Gospel are of course well known to us and so I would like to take a careful examination of these words, to see what depth we might be allowed to fathom, if God, in His mercy, deem it fitting for us to do so.

You are the NaCl of the Earth

You are the salt of the earth

For the Jewish people what would this saying have meant? First, what did it mean to ancient people in general? Salt was life giving, necessary for day-to-day living. Salt was also precious. It was as valuable as gold, and indeed, many were actually paid in salt. It’s where we get the word “salary” from the Latin word for salt, sal. It cured meat so that they would keep long into times of hardship. Salt is what gives food its vibrancy. To this day, almost every recipe calls for salt because salt breaks down cell walls of ingredients, thus releasing the flavors contained therein. Thus, salt is always at the service of something beyond itself. It does not exist as valuable unto itself but rather for how it makes better that which it comes into contact with. Thus our Lord’s admonition that salt must maintain it’s flavor. Yet to maintain its saltiness, it requires a conformity, a dying to itself for the sake of its task.

Fortunately our Lord did not say, "You are the salt lick of the earth."
We are very grateful.

Again we are told, you are the salt of the earth.

For the Jewish people, salt was heavily involved in the act of sacrifice. In Leviticus, we read whatever sacrifice thou offerest, thou shalt season it with salt, neither shalt thou take away the salt of the covenant of thy God from thy sacrifice. In all thy oblations thou shalt offer salt.[3] Salt thus became a sign of the covenant,[4] the relationship between God and His people.[5] Thus, if you are called the salt of the earth, then you have been instituted into the realm of sacrifice. We must have humility to die unto ourselves, and show humility before God, following the promises we have made to Him. This is no surprise for us. In the Old Testament we read Offer to God the sacrifice of praise; and pay thy vows to the Most High.[6] In the New Testament, our Lord Himself states, Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground  and dies, it will remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth much fruit.[7] So this is what we need to understand our Lord to be saying; you are the salt of the earth. By this He means that we are to be distinct and that in order to be distinct requires sacrifice, a dying of the self for the sake, the service, of the world. If we are not willing to do this, we lose our purpose, our identity. The failure to do this is severe; if salt loses its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing more than to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men.[8] To understand why our Lord is so severe on this, we must move on to the next simile used by Christ.

Unless a seed die to itself...

You are the light of the world

It is important to remember that this is not a general speech being given by Christ. It is an address to those who are considering the path of discipleship. The Beatitudes that begin Christ’s sermon marks the goal that the rest of the teachings allow us to attain. When Christ says blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the clean of heart, blessed are the peacemakers, this is not the starting point of the Christian life, of Christian discipleship. These beatitudes are the marks of holiness, and thus the rewards for holiness, for being a saint, are that theirs is the kingdom of heaven, they shall possess the land, they shall be comforted, they shall have their fill, they shall obtain mercy, they shall see God and they shall be called the children of God. Christ is fulfilling in his teaching what was laid out in Leviticus, where God continually exhorts, Be holy, for I am holy.[9]

Pictured: The Blesseds 

Again, you are the light of the world

We become the light of the world when we image the icon of Christ. In John’s Gospel, Christ says I am the light of the world; he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life.[10] This becomes a call to living a life of heroic virtue. Christ has come into the world, and He is the way, the truth, and the life.[11] If we want to be Christian disciples, then we really need to be serious about the “how” of “how we live.” Do we believe that faith in Christ is transformative? If we do, then are we living lives that are markedly happier, more at peace, more charitable, than those who have no faith? Where is the fruit of that faith, for it is that fruit that becomes the light of the world. It has been said, and will be said again, that the greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips on Sunday, and then walk out the door and go down by their lifestyles. This is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.[12] Saint Peter, in his second epistle, writes For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment given to them.[13] The Apostle exhorted the faithful that the night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences.[14]  Do we believe that the life that Christ has laid out for us,[15] with all its moral precepts, with all it exhortations to pray without ceasing,[16] with his command to care for these the least of our brethren,[17] is worth living out?

The night is passed, and the day is at hand...

A city seated upon a mountain cannot be hid

We are called to be salt and light because we are called to be a community; but not just any community, bur rather the very people of God. When you look back in scriptures, the city of Jerusalem, Mount Zion, was meant to be that city on the hill, the light of God as a beacon to the nations of the earth. In the psalms we read, Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. With the joy of the whole earth is mount Zion founded, on the sides of the north, the city of the great king.[18] The prophet Isaiah foretells that Mount Zion will be the mountain that all the nations shall come to give praise to God.[19] Indeed, Mount Zion becomes the fount of the salvation of the Lord, as the prophet Joel writes, and it shall come to pass, that everyone that shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved: for in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem shall be salvation, as the Lord hath said. [20]

The Earthly Mount Zion

            So when Jesus tells us that we are a city upon a hill that cannot be hidden, he is telling us that he is establishing a new Mount Zion. Now this new community, this new people of God, the Church, it will be distinct, set apart from the world. Because of this, the world will always be at odd with us, to varying degrees. As our Lord said, If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.[21] Thus we must be vigilant to conform ourselves to the light of Christ and not the darkness of the world. There is much anxiety in the world today about how do we know what is truth? So often is the thought that what is true for me might not be true for the next person. Yet we have assurance in Christ because of his death and resurrection. He has promised us that ye shall know the truth and that the truth shall set you free.[22] We must be mindful to be obedient to the will of God. When we try to lessen that distinction between the world and us, we become hypocritical. When we say “I think the Church needs to change this teaching” or “I think that this teaching is outdated” we judge not the law, but the lawgiver, who is God Himself. This is pride. As the Proverb warns, humiliation followeth the proud.[23] What is even worse though is when we claim the identity of Christian, of Catholic, and then do not live the life that others expect someone claiming so lofty an identity, a name, to live. As Saint Paul writes, confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness…do you who boast in the law, do you not dishonor God by breaking the law? For it is written that “the name of the God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” [24] Let us then dedicate ourselves to becoming saints. Let us spend time in study of God’s Word and His guidance. Not just for our sake, but for the sake of the world of which we are called to be of service to as salt and light.

The Heavenly Mount Zion

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[1] II Thessalonians 3.13: Brethren, never tire of doing right

[2] Philippians 2.13-15

[3] Leviticus 2.13

[4] cf. II Chronicles 13.5: Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave to David the kingdom of Israel forever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

[5] cf. Numbers 18.19: All the firstfruits of the sanctuary which the children of Israel offer ot the Lord, I have given to thee and to thy sons and daughters, by a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord, to thee and to thy sons.

[6] Psalm 49(50).14

[7] John 12.24-25a

[8] Matthew 5.13

[9] Leviticus 11.44

[10] John 8.12

[11] John 14.6

[12] DC Talk. “Jesus Freak.” Jesus Freak. 1995…yes, that’s right. You get Latin and an evangelical rap group from the mid-nineties. Because I’m complex like that. This footnote is made possible from a national endowment to seminaries from the Archdiocese of Military Services, from the Diocese of Albany, and from readers like you.

[13] II Peter 2.20-21

[14] Romans 13.12-14

[15] cf. Matthew 5.19

[16] I Thessalonians 5.17

[17] cf. Matthew 25.40

[18] Psalm 47(48).2-3

[19] cf. Isaiah 37.32

[20] Joel 2.32

[21] John 15.18-19

[22] John 8.32

[23] Proverbs 29.23

[24] Romans 2.19, 23—24; Isaiah 52.5

Redimentes tempus, quoniam dies mali sunt

Homily for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

October 6^th, 2013

Saint Joseph’s-Troy NY

Rev. Michael Taylor

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,

making the most of the time, because the days are evil.[1]

            What do we mean when we speak of morality in general, Christian morality in particular? Often spoken about today is this decline in morality. Indeed, we, as a society come at this question from multiple faiths, no faiths, and there is much confusion in our conversation. Most people will agree that it is important for us to be a good person. Yet what definition would we give the idea of “a good person”? And, more importantly, why is it important to be a good person? We as a society are in trouble not because we are morally slipping. We’re in trouble because we don’t even know how to begin the conversation.

            Let me take a step back. I was reading this article by Alan Jacobs in the periodical First Things, wherein he writes about the TV show Girls found on HBO which apparently has garnered not only critical acclaim but a significant following for its realistic portrayal of life among twenty-something year old girls. I’ll spare you the details of the show, but it is sufficient to say, that one of the protagonists’, Hannah’s, boyfriend, Adam, commits a series of acts which would seem to fit the category of “a bad person.” Yet rather than say it as such, she, Hannah, admits that while Adam’s behavior is “patently ridiculous and degrading [to her]” she goes on to say “but who among us hasn’t had our artistic judgment eroded by love?” [2] Now let us stop to think about this for a moment. While this is seemingly an absurd line of logic (which it is), it is far more useful in how revealing it is of our society’s concept of not only love but of our ability to discern morality in general. Cultural critics of the show have made excuses for Adam’s erratic behaviors, abhorrent fantasies, and abysmal treatment of his girlfriend, by pointing to the fact that he’s an artist and that art can excuse excesses of passion. Clearly we have a crisis of aesthetics.

            This is not an abstraction either. If our culture defines life in general as art, yet the criteria of that art is completely determined by each individual, then we can begin to understand how we can no longer converse on topics of morality in the classic sense. Jacobs’ article contrasts the fictional world of Girls to Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. Jacobs points out that “the great theme of Mansfield Park is moral education: the difficulty and necessity of pursuing it, the stability and patience it yields to those who have been given it, the terrible price paid by those lacking it, who therefore find themselves at the mercy of a mind unused to make any sacrifice to right.’” [3] Yet in the contemporary landscape, the idea of a moral education is not only antithetical to the dominant discernment process for determining right morals, but the terms themselves, “moral education” have become incomprehensible, leaving only subjective “artistic judgments” eroded by our giving into our passions.

            Aristotle noted that the distilment of virtue was to be the foremost goal when considering the reason for education, writing “the things that tend to produce virtue taken as a whole are those of the acts prescribed by the law which have been prescribed with a view to education for the common good.” [4] Now we can begin to see how far we are from the traditional mode of discerning truth. If you ask the modern person, what is the purpose behind education, you will not find listed among their reasons the idea of instilling virtue, because virtue requires that there be an objective goal towards which we can agree on. Since the modern person determines beauty is within the individual’s inviolable self to discern, our education system has no goal to present our young with, and our young in return, have nothing objectively beautiful to offer.

            The Catholic faith though offers us a different way of looking at the question. First our Jewish roots provides us the idea of the moral life being a faith-filled life which in turn is a beautiful life. In Deuteronomy we find faith and education tied together, hearing Moses instruct, hear, O Israel: “The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children.[5] For the Jewish person, the law was the objective standard of the beautiful life, as we see written in the Psalms, Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day.[6] Yet it is not the law by itself, but the ancient affirmation[7] of the relationship between God and man, of a man walking humbly with his God,[8] as again noted in scripture, I have chosen the way of faithfulness, I set thy ordinances before me.[9]

            In the person of Jesus Christ, this relationship becomes perfected. Rather than dry words written down, we are given the model of a fully human being, who had come not to abolish them [the law and the prophets] but to fulfill them.[10] Simply put, Christ is the beautiful icon towards which all our hopes of virtue must be oriented towards. As it is written in Hebrews, we run the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus as the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,[11] no longer walking blindly, but following out the commands of what the beautiful life looks like. As Saint Paul affirms, finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.[12] The moral life for the Christian becomes the one that is ever conformed to the person of Christ Jesus.

            And now, let us contemplate truly the beauty that exists before us. As we mentioned before, the hypothesis given to us by the culture is that life is art, and yet somehow  art undermined love. Yet life in Christ is art, and when grounded in Christ, love becomes the song of the art of our life. Christ is the groom and the Church is the bridesmaid, whom the groom’s heart is enflamed for with attraction to her. Consider in the Song of Solomon when the groom, upon seeing his bride, says, Behold, your are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful! The groom is moved beyond himself, considering only the beauty of the one for whom he loves. The bride, responds, My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.[13] The bride, in responding to the groom’s love, is brought out of herself, being called behind the harshness of winter, true love allowing us to escape subjective isolation and respond to that which is beautiful before us. Now consider this in light of Saint Paul’s words, husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up to her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[14] The pursuit of the moral life, of the virtuous life, must be grounded in love and the joy that comes from such love. As Saint Thomas noted, “joy is a passion. Therefore justice cannot be without passion; and still less can the other virtues be.” [15] Christ helps us to tame our passions, ordering them to be virtuous by the witness of sacrificial love, and producing as its fruit, joy. Consider this in light of our Savior’s words, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.[16]

            Now I have gone through all of this so that we might gain an understanding of our epistle this morning. Saint Paul writes saying, Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.[17] I would offer to you two solutions in spending our time wisely. The first is to contemplate the lives of the saints. It is one thing to look at the perfection of Christ and admire it. It is another things to realize that it’s possible to receive the promises of Christ, as one witnesses how the power of Christ’s graces can transform the human life. The saints lets us know that it is possible. This is why it is written in Hebrews, we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who inherit the promises.[18] The saints also help keep us grounded in the truth of Jesus Christ, not allowing us to be deceived by passing trends or popular diversions, as again it is written, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith. [For] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led by diverse and strange teachings.[19] So read the lives of the saints. Contemplate on how they carried themselves. How did they spend their time? How did they speak to one another? How did they pray? In imitating the saints, we will find ourselves imitating Christ Jesus who transformed his saints.

            Secondly, spend your time developing friendships with one another. Let the Christian count as his close friends those who walk the same journey of faith. As the Apostle exhorts us, let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.[20] Saint Gregory of Nyssa wrote, “If you try to outdo one another in showing honor, your life on earth will be like that of the angels.” [21] I think we become discouraged about the moral decay of our society because we do not spend enough time with each other. Looking into the abyss, it can seem impossible to live a moral life. Yet if we form groups of friendship, we find comfort in times of adversity. As it is written in Sirach, a faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure…a faithful friend is an elixir of life; and those who fear the Lord will find him.[22] Let us support each other while it is still today, for indeed, the days are evil.

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[1] Ephesians 5.15-16 [All Scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition (RSV-CE) unless otherwise noted.]

[2] Alan Jacobs. “Lena Dunham’s Inviolable Self.” First Things. May 2013,  p. 78

[3] Jacobs, p. 85

[4] Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Book V.ii

[5] Deuteronomy 6.4-6

[6] Psalm 118(119).97

[7] cf. Jeremiah 6.16: Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.”

[8] cf. Micah 6.8: He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

[9] Psalm 118(119).30

[10] Matthew 5.17

[11] Hebrews 12.1b-2

[12] Philippians 4.8

[13] Song of Solomon 2.10-11

[14] Ephesians 5.25-27

[15] Saint Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologia I-II, Q59, a5. I answer that, if we take the passions as being inordinate emotions, as the Stoics did, it is evident that in this sense perfect virtue is without the passions. But if by passions we understand any movement of the sensitive appetite, it is plain that moral virtues, which are about the passions as about their proper matter, cannot be without passions. The reason for this is that otherwise it would follow that moral virtue makes the sensitive appetite altogether idle: whereas it is not the function of virtue to deprive the powers subordinate to reason of their proper activities, but to make them execute the commands of reason, by exercising their proper acts. Wherefore just as virtue directs the bodily limbs to their due external acts, so does it direct the sensitive appetite to its proper regulated movements.

Those moral virtues, however, which are not about the passions, but about operations, can be without passions. Such a virtue is justice: because it applies the will to its proper act, which is not a passion. Nevertheless, joy results from the act of justice; at least in the will, in which case it is not a passion. And if this joy be increased through the perfection of justice, it will overflow into the sensitive appetite; in so far as the lower powers follow the movement of the higher, as stated above (17, 7; 24, 3). Wherefore by reason of this kind of overflow, the more perfect a virtue is, the more does it cause passion.

[16] John 15.10-12

[17] Ephesians 5.15-16

[18] Hebrews 6.11-12

[19] Hebrews 13.7-9a.

[20] Romans 12.9-11

[21] St. Gregory of Nyssa. From a book on Christian Formation. [Taken from the Office of Readings. Saturday, October 5, 2013.]

[22] Sirach 6.14, 17