HOMILY
Twenty-Second Sunday, Cycle B
September 2, 2018
DEDICATION
HOMILY
Jesus and the Pharisees are at it
again. This time over eating with
unclean, that is unwashed, hands. The
Pharisees are bent out of shape over things that are external, showy kind of
things.
Jesus is concerned instead about what
comes out of the person from within.
Purity is not a matter of ritual, but of what is in our heart.
The Pharisees emphasize the outside: the
rituals, the rules, the things that are obvious and can be seen.
Jesus
emphasizes the inside; "From
within people, from their hearts,
come
evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness,
envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All
these evils come from within and they defile.”
Today we are dedicating and blessing the wonderful renovation
of the exterior of our church and rectory, and the addition of a new lobby,
with handicapped accessible entrance, bathrooms, a new meeting room and renewed
nursery. Externally, on the outside, it
is really an improvement. Our exterior
has gone from being dingy and grody looking, and dangerous, even mistaken for
abandoned buildings, to now being noble and beautiful and note-worthy.
Many have contributed and worked on this
transformation and they all are to be thanked and commended. All those who contributed and worked on this
project can be justly proud of the results.
It is WONDERFUL!!!
But we are reminded by today’s Gospel that the
exterior is not what saves. What really
matters is the interior.
In our case as a parish, what matters is what
goes on here inside this church building, and even more importantly than that,
is what goes on within this church community, the people, the parish of St
Austin Catholic Church.
The exterior is beautiful. And we are justly proud. But that is NOT enough. How we are as a parish community, what we do
as a parish community, is the real proof and the critical issue. It is great that we look good. And we do look good. It is so great that after so long we look
really good.
But as wonderful as that is, it is even more
important that we, the parishioners, as a community, be constantly
renewed. It is what comes from inside
our community that is important and saving.
In this difficult time of increasing racism, nativism, xenophobia, of
exclusion of others, of wanting to separate into our gated communities of
people who are just like us, we need to be more catholic.
Catholic means universal. Catholic is inclusive. Catholic does not build boundaries and save
only those on the inside. Catholic means
reaching out to all types of people, becoming a sacrament of salvation of the
whole world. Catholic includes everyone
that Jesus cares about. Everyone that
Jesus wants to save. Everyone for whom
Jesus gave His life. And that is
everyone.
THAT is pretty inclusive.
We are happy to celebrate the blessing and
dedication of these improvements of our parish plant. But they are exterior things. The real task starts now, with how we use
these improvements to increase, improve, renovate our outreach to more and more
people.
We have to do the hard work of
renovating, not our buildings, but our community: to be more welcoming, more
inviting, more reaching out, more inclusive, more catholic.
In our second reading today St James, who tends
to go directly to the point and not be flowery and theoretical, but rather
direct and practical, states: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God
and the Father is this:
to
care for orphans and widows in their affliction
and
to keep oneself unstained by the world.
We should be justly proud of our accomplishment
in this renovation project. But we must
even more be motivated to be a Catholic community worthy of this beautiful
church building, a community that practices religion that is pure and undefiled
before God and the Father, which is to care for orphans and widows in their
affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world. That is our challenge. With God’s grace, we are up to it.
AMEN!
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