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| St. Charles Lwanga baptizing St. Kizito. Stained glass at Munyonyo Martyrs Shrine Church Archdiocese of Kampala, Uganda. Wikimedia Commons |
National Association of College Seminary Rectors
Saint Mary’s Seminary
Baltimore, Maryland
June 3, 2019
Acts 19:1-8
Psalm 68:2-7
John 16:19-23
When I entered seminary in August of 1980, I was introduced to the Latin language in Latin 101. During those four years of high school I came to learn Latin prose, Latin syntax, and Latin poetry. Among the poems I learned, one still stands out in my mind:
Latin is a dead language
Dead as dead can be;
It killed the ancient Romans,
Now it’s killing me.
Dead as dead can be;
It killed the ancient Romans,
Now it’s killing me.
Among the syntax I learned is something called indirect discourse.
Indirect discourse blurs the line between quotation and narration. It is a way of saying something without actually being man enough to own what you say. It was used in Imperial Rome to appease the Emperor but to be noncommittal enough as to not get ahead of the Emperor — to prevent the Emperor from taking a head.
Indirect discourse became a device used also in literature, not only in Latin but in other languages.
Indirect discourse, however, does not exist in the language of Christ’s Gospel.
“But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No,’ that you may not incur condemnation.” — James 5:12
Jesus spoke directly in today’s Gospel and people responded with faith. He did not use indirect discourse.
Saint Paul spoke directly and boldly with great fortitude in preaching the Gospel in the synagogue and in arguing with them.
He baptized them in Christ and spoke prophetically of God’s desires for His people. He did not “weasel word” the Truth. Neither, did Saint Charles Lwanga.
Charles Lwanga preached the Gospel and saved young men from homosexual predation in a hierarchical system based on power. He did not bring them into a different predatory system. It cost him his life and not just his career.
Evil is not bold and cartoonish. It’s seductive. It uses indirect discourse. The evil King Mwanga seduced vulnerable young men to give them a place at court; they were attracted because it made them feel important. It helped their families. It was the cost of getting ahead and having a part in power. St. Charles Lwanga told them the truth directly and saved them from a death-dealing fate even as they gave their lives in holiness as martyrs.
As Pope Saint Paul VI preached on October 20, 1964 at the canonization of Saint Charles Lwanga and companions, “These African martyrs open a new era, we do not mean certainly persecutions and religious struggles, but of Christian and civilized regeneration. Africa, bathed in the blood of these martyrs, the first fruits of the new era — and God willing that they be the last, because so precious and so great was its holocaust — it resurges free and redeemed. The tragedy that devoured them was so unprecedented and expressive that it offers sufficient representative elements for the moral formation of a new people, for the foundation of a new spiritual tradition.”
Indirect discourse cannot be the lingua franca of priestly formation. The current sufferings we are undergoing is an opportunity of grace for the foundation of a renewed spiritual tradition.