Parish of St. Edward the Confessor Daily Lenten/Easter Reflections

shephard
Sunday
April 13, 2008

By

Fran Szpylczyn

 shephard

Reading 1
Psalm
Reading  2
Gospel

April 1, 2006
Text of Reflection:  

(It is Good Shepherd Sunday. I don't say so much about that specifically, but of course the theme of God guiding us as shepherd is implicit throughout this piece.)
We live in challenging times, but the older I get, the more I can see that all times are just challenging. They tend to be challenging in different ways and we as humans tend to view memory through a less than objective lens. I just read a line written by Richard Rohr, OFM, that really struck me. It reads, "Catholicism has a rather optimistic view of human nature (contrary to popular opinion!)." That is so true in my own experience. However, we as American Catholics can sometimes lose touch with that idea. As you probably know, the word Catholic means universal. That brings to mind the words of James Joyce, "here comes everybody." The problem with everybody means just that- we have to welcome everybody as if they are Christ. Umm... yes- that means everybody. Look around you in church - here sits everybody. Even in our suburban and more heterogeneous parish it is true. No doubt these words ring true for us all, "Simul iustus et peccator" - simultaneously saint and sinner. Widen the scope from beyond our own pews and it will really be clear. We should be able to see the truth of this if we watch coverage of the Pope Benedict's visit to our country this week. "Here comes everybody." Back to Richard Rohr for a moment. In this article entitled "Eight Good Reasons For Being Catholic", Rohr and co-author, Joseph Martos say this:
"There is an old poem that reads: "Wherever the Catholic sun does shine, There's music, laughter and good red wine. At least, I've always found it so: Benedicamus Domino!" The last line is Latin for "Let us bless the Lord!" And this poem captures a very basic Catholic sensibility: that creation is good. It represents God's wisdom as God looked out on the world just after its creation and pronounced it "very good" (Genesis 1:31).
As Catholics, we begin with the notion of the good first, then we deal with what follows. This foundational piece is very important in our catholicity and should not be forgotten. In our culture and in our society, it is very easy to be divided. We might see a lot of depravity around us- it is there. We want to eliminate it or push it away. We might want to decry it or deny it altogether. However, that is reminiscent of pulling weeds only at the surface. These are responses that make sense at some level. However, I believe that our Catholic faith and wisdom invites us into the mystery of what is wrong. There are many examples of this in Scripture. Look at how Jesus continually uses the stranger, the ill, the infirm, the disenfranchised, the stranger, the outsider, the broken and the needy, to bring about the Kingdom. It is about the notion that we cannot be healed if we don't embrace the leper - or any of the others that did not seem to fit in, we ourselves can't be healed. And that is because we are all the broken, the needy, the disenfranchised, the stranger, the sinner, etc. Each and every one of us. I mean, can you really recall any moment where Jesus turns His back on anybody? Jesus may decry the Scribe and the Pharisee for their commitment to law over love, but He is always ready to welcome anyone who will transform themselves with love. So if we are Catholic, if we are optimistic, if we are as whole as our name tells us we are, what do we do? This brings to mind the story of St. Francis embracing the leper. These words come from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
"One day, while crossing the Umbrian plain on horseback, Francis unexpectedly drew near a poor leper. The sudden appearance of this repulsive object filled him with disgust and he instinctively retreated, but presently controlling his natural aversion he dismounted, embraced the unfortunate man, and gave him all the money he had."
In these times, I think it is more important than ever to turn towards rather than away from, all that would disturb us. That is not to say that we are to become it, be it or undertake those paths. The reality is that if we are honest, we have done some of what repulses us, or it might not be so repulsive. We must as Jesus, as St. Francis and as so many others have done, open our arms in the embrace of love, not the crossed arms of rejection. In our wholeness and optimism that are the foundational blocks of our Catholic Christian faith, we are invited by God to open our hearts to what disgusts or disturbs us. That is what God does for us every single day. That is really hard stuff. It is for me anyway. In fact it makes me weary and so often I fail at it, but we are all invited anew to turn our minds and hearts towards God and healing. So today, if you can, try one of these things...
  • If you are tempted to judge or marginalize someone, can you imagine embracing them?
  • If you are tempted to apply a label to a person or a group in order to disenfranchise them, can you imagine embracing them?
  • If you are tempted to reject someone or something, can you imagine embracing them?
  • If you are disturbed deeply by what you find in your own heart, can you imagine embracing yourself?
I will try to to this today and I know it is the last point that is the hardest for me to deal with. It is a daily journey, a journey made only with an open place- actually a broken place in our own hearts. It is only in that very broken place that Christ can come in, ablaze with light, to embrace us, to help us and to heal us. Embrace Him back. It is the only Catholic, universal, whole and healing thing to do.