HOMILY Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time CYCLE A November 5, 2023

 HOMILY   Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time   CYCLE A   November 5, 2023

I have found these readings for this Sunday difficult to preach on.  In the first reading from the Prophet Malachi, God lambasts the priests for failing to do their duty.   God addresses the priests: “I, therefore, have made you contemptible and base before all the people, since you do not keep my ways…”  

And in the Gospel today we hear Jesus criticize the Pharisees: “For they preach but they do not practice.  They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.”  And so on. 

These are perfect reading to rail and preach against the vice of CLERICALISM.  However, I am not motivated to do that.  Not that clericalism is not a major problem today in the church.  

Pope Francis frequently and fervently rails against the problem of clericalism in today’s church.   Just recently Pope Francis said: “Clericalism is a whip, it is a scourge, it is a form of worldliness that defiles and damages the face of the Lord’s bride,” the church.   The pope said. “It enslaves God’s holy and faithful people.”

Pope Francis described as “a scandal” the scene of young priests going into ecclesiastical tailor shops in Rome “trying on cassocks and hats or albs with lace.”  And more and more you see priests and nuns wanting to look more and more UNLIKE regular lay people, seeking to be distinctive in dress and appearance, not for service, but to stand out. 

And while clericalism is a contagious vice that also affects lay people, who want to put “Father” on a pedestal and keep him distant so that his teaching or the witness of his life does not touch them, none-the-less, clericalism is not, I am happy to say, a prevalent nor a very serious vice in this particular congregation.  Do you agree??  

So today instead let us address our Psalm response.  I don’t pay much attention to preaching on the Psalms.  Do you like the psalms?   Do you ever use them for prayer?   The psalms were Jesus’ prayer book, and the psalms form the basis of the Liturgy of the Hours which is the Church’s official prayer outside of the Sacraments. 

Our Psalm response today is simple, and yet profound.  “In you, Lord, I have found my peace.”      This is, I believe, peace of mind and of heart and of soul; Peace with who you are; and also peace with who you wish you could have been but weren’t.  And never will be.

This is Peace with what you have done, what you have accomplished, all the good and strong and right things you have done; and also peace with all the things you regret doing, or regret saying, or regret feeling and believing. 

This is peace with all that you left undone, the words and statements you wish you hadn’t left silent and unsaid, and also all the things you wish you could have done but never had the time, the energy, the skill, the resources to do. 

This peace heals all regrets, and that is wonderful.  Because this peace is based on the firm foundation of the Lord’s love for us, just as we are. 

“In you, Lord, I have found my peace.”    Simple, but profound.

“In you, Lord, I have found my peace.”      AMEN.