Homily
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 30, 2020
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Jeremiah 20:7-9
Psalm 63:2-6, 8-9
Romans 12:1-2
Matthew 16:21-27
In
the novel entitled The Great Divorce, written by C.S. Lewis, we read a
unique story that depicts a visit to Heaven by a group of strangers from hell. Lewis
depicts these strangers as empty and translucent and because of these qualities
they are referred to as ghosts. In contrast, the angels and saints of
Heaven whom the ghosts encounter are solid, and thus Lewis refers to them as solid
people. In one encounter between a ghost and a solid person, there is a
little, ugly lizard sitting on the shoulder of the ghost. The lizard is
constantly speaking into the ear of the ghost, manipulating it, and drawing the
ghost’s attention away from the beauty and truth of heaven that surrounds him.
At one point, the solid person, an angel, asks the ghost, “would you like me to
kill the lizard?” The ghost is first confused so he just gives a passive nod of
approval, not truly understanding to what he has just agreed.
The solid person, an angel, takes a step
forward and at this the ghost is taken aback and does not understand what is
about to happen. So, the angel asks once again, “may I kill the lizard?” This
time the angel touches the lizard slightly which causes the ghost to writhe in
pain. The ghost once again stops what is happening, now repulsed by the pain he
has just endured. This prompts the ghost
and angel to argue, the angel always asking the same question, “can I kill the
lizard?”
Finally, the ghost surrenders and allows
the lizard to be killed by the angel. Immediately a few things happen: the
angel grabs the lizard and throws it aside and the ghost writhes in pain due to
the suffering he experiences at first from the loss of the lizard. However, very
soon afterwards the ghost begins to turn solid — starting from the shoulder
upon which had previously sat the lizard — until his whole body finally becomes
whole again.
The ghost in C.S. Lewis’ story only
becomes solid due to this interaction with Heaven. In his free will, the ghost
could have said no to the angel, and the angel would have let him remain with
the lizard. The angel, being faithful to God the Creator, would not violate the
ghost’s free will. Instead, the ghost decides to cooperate with the angel and
then goes through the pain and suffering that is the only way for him to be
healed and released him from the sin he carried around with him. In so doing,
the ghost comes to understand the love of God and enters heavenly glory.
The color of the lizard is not
important. We know from our experience that these lizards that perch on our
shoulders come in all colors. There are blue lizards and there are red lizards.
There are purple lizards and there are green lizards. There are even
rainbow-colored lizards. But they each act the same way: chatter, chatter,
chatter, distract, distract, distract. Compromise and be free of pain.
Our readings today are all about the
relationship between Christ’s love and suffering. We too often divorce these
two realities in our own minds, frequently choosing a passive love, the easy affection,
the affection devoid of sacrifice, the affection that brings the complacency of
a fleeting pleasure.
Jeremiah’s
prayer in the first reading hardly sounds like a prayer. “You duped me, Lord, and I let myself be duped. You were too strong for
me and you triumphed.” Jeremiah was mocked, laughed at, derided, and
persecuted. He finally told God that he had had enough, but to no avail. “The word of God is like a fire burning in my
heart, imprisoned in my bones. I grow weary holding it in, and I cannot endure
it.” The gift and vocation of prophecy that Jeremiah had received from God required
great courage and perseverance that Jeremiah decided to exercise freely.
Saint
Paul echoes Jeremiah in our second reading today when he speaks about being a
disciple of Christ. Saint Paul writes to the Church in Rome, “Do not conform yourself to this age and this
world but be transformed by grace so that you can know what God’s will for you
is.”
The Gospel shows us that Peter,
the rock of the Church’s faith, had a hard time persevering in the call of the
Lord. Immediately after Jesus makes him the Rock on which Christ builds His
Church, Peter is unwilling to accept the suffering and cross Jesus predicts for
Himself and His followers, especially Peter. St. Peter at first divorces love
from suffering, “God forbid, Master that anything like that ever happen to
you.” Then Jesus begins to show Peter continuously that the Father has wed divine
and human love in the Son’s faithfulness to the cross, a faithfulness that enables
Peter and each of us to embrace and to live.
We
learn from Jesus today that following Him is never without suffering. When we decide
to follow Him on this path, we let go of the plans we have made for ourselves
in order to make ourselves available to the Holy Spirit for God’s plans. We
accept the situations and people in our lives who offer us challenges that help
us grow in the practice of living the Gospel. We come to know the will of God
for us in these situations and through our relationship with these people. Our
perspective is no longer what we want but how can we be of service. Our
attitude changes from one of self-concern and self-preservation to one of
compassion and charity and we soon find that Christ has removed the lizards
from our shoulders as we have asked Him to do.
This
is not what the world tells us to do (most obviously in commercials and through
social media, but also in the way we see others live). The world is always
trying to convince us that it is reasonable to befriend the lizard. The world
tells us to avoid pain at all cost, to make sure that we are always
comfortable, that things and possessions are indispensable for life, that being
chaste is impossible, that there are no such things as lifetime commitments
like matrimony or a religious or priestly vocation. The world wants us to be
distracted and to buy into wealth, power, and privilege, and frequently we do
this resulting in our being emptied of the solidity of God’s love. In the eyes
of the world, our faith is at best useful for a politically partisan agenda and
at worst it is just stupid self-destruction.
Peter
thought that Jesus’ prediction of suffering and the cross was foolish, but despite
his error Peter did not give up. Peter followed Jesus to Jerusalem even though
he was afraid. Peter followed Jesus in his Passion even though he had denied
him, and he came back to the tomb even though he had run away from the cross. Our
prayer is that we may decide to have the same courage and perseverance in
following Jesus that Peter ultimately had. As
Christ announces His passion, death, and Resurrection to His disciples and to
us, we are faced with a decision, we either fully accept Christ or reject Him.
There can be no indecision. Pope Benedict XVI preached in 2005 on Good Friday:
“Evil draws its power from indecision and preoccupation for what others will
say about us.”
Following
Christ crucified means we cannot subordinate our faith to any other human good
or the esteem of the world — especially the esteem of the world on Facebook and
social media, no matter what the lizard tells us. Following Christ crucified is not about passionately
and emotionally launching into a spiritual or cultural battle, no matter what
the lizard tells us. Following Christ
crucified is not about attacking others and criticizing their errors as if we are
more important than the unconditional love of God and the fullness of the truth
revealed in Christ, no matter what the lizard tells us. Following Christ
crucified is about remaining steadfast in suffering and in love for Jesus Christ
in every relationship of our lives, no matter what the lizard tells us.
To
keep the spirit of faith is to decide to place Christ first in our love for God
and other persons through committed actions to refuse to see things in any other way than through the eyes of faith.
In doing this, we will suffer but we will truly love only if Christ is first, with
our neighbor second, and ourselves third because suffering and love are united
in His cross that He shares with us and helps us to carry and to love as He
loves. After all, “what will it profit us to gain the esteem of the world if we
forfeit our eternal life with God? For whoever would save his life will lose
it, and whoever loses it for love of Christ will find it.”
