“He
unrolled the Isaiah scroll and found the passage….” Lk 4:17
From
Praise to Precipice
January 27
and February 3, 2013 - 3rd & 4th Sunday of Ordinary
Time
First
reading from Jeremiah
The Lord said to me, “I chose you before I gave you life, and
before you were born I selected you to be a prophet to the nations.” And I
answered, “Ah, ah, ah, Lord God. Behold I cannot speak, for I am but a child.”
But the Lord God said to me, “Do not say that you are too young, but go to the
people I send you to, and tell them everything I command you to say. Do not be
afraid of them, for I will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
The word
of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Glory
to you, Lord.
From praise
Lk.
4:14-21 - 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C
Jesus came to Nazareth,
where He had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood
up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where
it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring Good News to the
poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind;
to set free the oppressed,
Rolling up the scroll, He handed it back to the attendant
and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were
fastened on Him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in
your hearing.” All were full of praise for Him. All were amazed at
the beautiful words that fell from his lips.
To precipice
Lk. 4:22-30 – 4th
Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C
But then the hometown
folks started to wonder among themselves and ask, “How can this be? Isn’t this
Joseph’s son?” But Jesus, knowing their
wonderment said to them, “I expect you will quote this proverb to me,
`Physician, heal yourself’ –meaning,
`Why don’t you do miracles in your hometown, just like those we hear you did in
Capernaum.’” He replied, “I tell you the truth, a prophet is not accepted in
his own hometown. Indeed, I tell you, there were many Jewish widows in Israel
in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for
three and a half years, and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was
to none of these that Elijah was sent, but he was sent to a Gentile widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many Jewish lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the
prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman, a Syrian Gentile.”
All the people in the synagogue were
infuriated when they heard this. They rose up, drove him out of the town, led
him to the edge of a precipice on which their town had been built, and were going to hurl
him over it. But He slipped through the crowd and walked away.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
St. Luke: a very favorite evangelist for many
Today is the third Sunday of Ordinary Time in Cycle C. The
evangelist for Cycle C is Luke who for many is their favorite evangelist. In Luke’s
gospel are found the greatest of Jesus’ parables. In Luke only is found the
parable of Lazarus starving at the gate of a rich man who is eating sumptuously.
(Lk.
16:19-31) In Luke only is found the parable of a Prodigal Son returning home to
a father who is prodigal with forgiveness. (Lk. 15:11-32) In Luke only is found
that mother of all parables -- the Good Samaritan who stops to pour the oil of
compassion into the wounds of a poor man waylaid by robbers on the road between
Jerusalem and Jericho. (Lk. 10:25-37)
A prophet in his own hometown
One Sabbath Jesus went to the synagogue in his hometown
of Nazareth. Being a local son, the people in the synagogue obviously knew Him
well. Jesus rose to do one of the readings, for any adult man could be
permitted by the president of the synagogue to read the scriptures. Jesus
unrolled the Isaiah scroll and read from the passage
where it is written: “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad
tidings to the poor. Etc.” Rolling up the scroll,
He said to the
congregation, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Then He sat
down, and all in the synagogue were deeply impressed.
But not for long. After all, this hometown
boy was simply one of them. The local folk were puzzled and asked each other,
“Isn't this Joseph's son?” (Lk. 4:22) Evangelist Mark expands upon their
puzzlement: “They said among themselves, `He’s no better than we are. He’s just
a carpenter, Mary’s boy, and a brother of James and Joseph, Judas and Simon.
And his sisters live right here among us.’ And so they would not accept Him.” (Mk.
6:2-3)
At
this point, Jesus reminds the local folks that a prophet never gets a good
reception in his own hometown. In fact, they fare much better far away from
home, as did the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Jesus’ allusion to himself as a
prophet who receives bad treatment from the local folks infuriated the whole
congregation. They sprang to their feet, grabbed Him by the nape of his neck,
dragged Him to the edge of a precipice, and were going to throw Him over it.
But He slipped through the crowd and walked away. (Lk. 4: 29-30)
The scriptural prophet
The scriptural
prophet is not one who foretells the future. Rather, he is one who “lifts up
his voice like a trumpet and tells the people their sins.”(Is. 58:1) The
scriptural prophet is one who tells the people something they need to hear but
don’t want to hear. Or he tells them something that disturbs their comfort. Or
he tells the people something that makes them think, when they prefer not to think.
Or the prophet tells the people something that ruffles their old patterns of
thought.
The scriptural
prophet, however, does not relish being a prophet. In the first reading,
Jeremiah was frightened when the Lord God called him to be a prophet. He stuttered
and stammered: “Ah, ah, ah, Lord God. I don’t know how to speak; I am too young
to be a prophet.” But the Lord God
replied, “Do not say that you’re too young, but go to the people I send you to,
and tell them everything I command you to say. And don’t be afraid of them, for
I will protect you.” (Jer. 1:7)
Fr. Bourgeois – watching the SOA & ordaining women
Fr. Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest for
45 years, is a great prophet who “lifts up his voice like a trumpet” and tells
the people and even the Church their sins. He was and is a courageous Catholic voice for peace and
non-violence. He is the founder and leader of The School of the Americas Watch (SOAW); its task is to watch the United States Army ‘s School of the Americas (SOA) located at
Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia. SOA trains South and Central American police forces in the
techniques of torture, repression, and counter-insurgency. This courageous
voice for peace has spent over four years in Federal
prisons for his non-violent protests and for illegally entering Fort Benning.
But
Fr. Bourgeois is known not only for watching the SOA
but also for ruffling a
very old pattern of thought in the Church: he publicly supports the ordination
of women! That prompted the Vatican to send a letter to the superiors at Maryknoll,
informing them that Fr. Bourgeois had 30
days to recant his statement of public support for the ordination of women. If
he does not recant, he would be automatically excommunicated.
Bourgeois’ fearless
response
Fr.
Bourgeois’ response to the threatened excommunication is fearless, and it reads
in part:
To the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
I was very saddened by your letter dated October 21, 2008, giving me 30 days to
recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in
our Church, or I will be excommunicated. I have been a Catholic priest for 36
years and have a deep love for my Church and ministry.
When I was a young man in the military,
I felt God was calling me to the priesthood. I entered Maryknoll and was
ordained in 1972. Over the years I have met a number of women in our Church
who, like me, feel called by God to the priesthood. You, our Church leaders at
the Vatican
Conscience is very sacred. Conscience
gives us a sense of right and wrong and urges us to do the right thing.
Conscience is what compelled [prophet] Franz Jaegerstatter, a humble Austrian
farmer, husband and father of four young children, to refuse to join Hitler’s
army, which led to his execution. Conscience is what compelled [prophetess] Rosa
Parks to say she could no longer sit in the back of the bus. Conscience is what
compels women in our Church to say they cannot be silent and deny their call
from God to the priesthood. Conscience is what compelled my dear mother and
father, now 95, to always strive to do the right things as faithful Catholics,
raising four children. And after much prayer, reflection and discernment, it is
my conscience that compels me to do the right thing. I cannot recant my belief
and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church.
“Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with
you to protect you,” said the Lord God to Jeremiah in the first reading today. If
Fr. Bourgeois was “afraid of them,” he
soon got over his fear, as he drove to his hometown in Louisiana. There he told
his 95-year-old father, his 3 siblings and 13 nieces and nephews about the
threatened excommunication. Fr. Bourgeois recalled that his father cried a
little, but then said, “God brought Fr. Roy back from the war in Vietnam Bolivia El Salvador
An
obviously disproportionate punishment
On
Monday, November 19, 2012, the Maryknoll Society refused to stand by its son Fr. Roy Bourgeois. Instead, it issued an official statement saying
that the
Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had ruled on October 4, 2012 that Bourgeois had been canonically dismissed both from Maryknoll and the Roman Catholic priesthood, thereby `reducing
him to the lay state.’ That
punishment of excommunicating Fr. Bourgeois and expelling him from Maryknoll for
his stand on the ordination of women is obviously disproportionate, when we
consider that priests and bishops who have sexually abused children are not excommunicated.
In the NCR, Nov. 20, 2012 Tom Roberts
writes:
Ah, they finally got him, as we all knew
they probably would. Eventually. And with a press release it was done: Fr. Roy
Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest for 45 years, was told that the Vatican
"dispenses" him "from his sacred bonds." And the Maryknoll
Fathers and Brothers, caught in the culture that finds advocating for women's ordination such a grievous and
unpardonable offense, "warmly thanks" Roy "for his service to
mission, and all members wish him well in his personal life."
Bourgeois' case is a prime illustration of
what, today, the institution can and can't tolerate. Bourgeois' major offense,
the sin that is unforgiveable in the eyes of the institution, for which penalty
is removal from the order which he has served for nearly half a century and
dismissal from the community, was advocating for women's ordination.
Conclusion
Holy Mother Church, show us the way!
The Lord God tells the stammering Jeremiah not to fear being a prophet
– not to fear telling people something they need to hear but don’t want to
hear. (Jer. 1:7) And Jesus tells us to give welcome to the prophet God sends us. (Mt. 10: 41)
Oh
holy Mother Church, show us the way! Show
us that you‘re not afraid to be a prophet who tells us something we need to
hear but don’t want to hear. Show us also that you’re not afraid to give welcome
to the prophet whom God sends you. Then we, the People of God, will
follow your great good example: we also will not be afraid to be prophets, and we
also will give welcome to the Fr. Roys whom God sends us.
[1]The gospel reading
for this 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C (Lk. 4:14-21) is
truncated. If we read it in conjunction with the gospel for the 4th Sunday
in Ordinary Time Cycle C (Lk. 4:22-30) then we have a full rounded off story. That’s
what we have done today. So there will be no homily next Sunday.
[2] Isaiah 61: 1--2
