The Word Of Peace
Homiletic Reflections On Peacemaking

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

"Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped." C. Collidge

"The relativization of all moral norms, the crisis of authority, the reduction of life to the pursuit of immediate material gain without regard for its general consequences...do not originate in democracy but in that which modern man has lost; his transcendental of spiritual anchor, and along with it the only genuine source of his responsibility and self-respect."

V. Havel 1997

"Our concern for the poor must be translated into concrete action...including reform of the world monetary and financial systems."

Pope John Paul II

This brief series of quotes underlies a central concern of the Lord-- that we worship and respond to the Lord, not to any other pretender to this divine prerogative. Throughout life our attention and loyalty is constantly be sought after by a number of deity "wanna be's." They make themselves so attractive, and their cases so compelling, that it is often difficult to see through the illusions they create.

Jesus seems to offer some very tough words today. "Turn our backs on our mothers and fathers, children and spouses ?" If we did not know better we might think Jesus is advocating the dissolution of the family, and our responsibilities to the family, in order to follow him ! But that can't be it, if it means rejecting them ! Just what is he at ?

Well, as we listen to the rest of the gospel we hear a call to be wise, in the biblical sense, of putting God first. Putting God's reign before anything or anyone else will create the harmony we seek in family life, in society and with the environment. That is illustrated so well in the third movie of the "Godfather" trilogy. Don, Michael Corleone, now older and in frail health wants to get out of organized crime. Yet he cannot, his ties are too strong, too long lived to simply break away. He expresses his frustration at this when he states in the film: "Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in." This led to the break up of his marriage. In an attempt to reach some kind of rapprochement with his wife, and to try to explain why he led the brutal and violent life that he had he states to her: "I was only trying to protect my family !" Sounds good on the face of it, but upon closer examination a trail of murder and violence was the legacy. In the end, he could not protect his family, for the vile forces that he gave his allegiance to in life were too big for him and they ultimately claimed the life of his daughter.

Wealth and power can become gods. They can become a source and goal of individuals and groups' driving ambition. Such can become ends in themselves--competitors for God's reign. Seldom if ever, does any good come from such ends. Often such ambition destroys relationships between individuals, others and the earth. What our Lord is getting at here, is that if people want to experience wholeness, if people want to know something of God's wisdom--put the Reign of God at the center of your lives--make that one's ambition ! In doing so we will be free. We will be free from the tyranny of accumulation for accumulation sake. By releasing ourselves in Christ, from the need to possess, we are no longer possesses by our possessions. And by being free from them we are free to follow the Lord of compassion, of justice and peace. The failure to do this leads only to injustice, violence and unhappiness in our world. The great economic philosopher, John Maynard Keynes put it this way:

"The love of money and power as possessions--as distinguished from the love of money and power as a means to the enjoyments and realities of life--will be recognized for what it is, a somewhat disgusting morbidity, one of those which one hands over with a shudder to the specialists in mental diseases."

We would go further. We would understand such a one as possessing a spiritual sicknesses well. The Lord then is talking about freedom ! This Paul understands quite well in his letter to Philemon. Paul is "wooing" him to let his slave Onesimus not to be seen as a slave but as a brother. Not a thing to be possessed, but a brother to love. From that a new behavior will flow from the new understanding. No longer we a person see another as a thing, but as a brother and sister in Christ. No longer will their humanity be debased and they be seen as an object but rather they will be seen as created in the image of God--invaluable, priceless!

The call to the cross, is the call to freedom. By even renouncing the right to the possession of our lives in the name of the Reign of God, in serving others and the common good we experience a foretaste of the absolute freedom in God's love of the Reign of God !

Today and everyday, God's Word issues a challenge to be free. Certainly, we are not being told that we ought to be living in grinding poverty--Oh No! God desires that the things of this earth be used responsibly and for the human beings to live humanly. But this is only possible is sharing takes ascendancy as the primary way of life for human beings, rather than a rapacious lust for possessions. Only when are hands release ourselves from our possession will they release us, freeing us to embrace each other and the beautiful creation we have been entrusted with.

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.
Uploaded January 14, 2000