Matthew 10:26-33
Last week, we heard about Jesus
picking the twelve apostles from among his disciples! This week we hear some of
his instructions to them as he sends them out! We’ve got to give Jesus some credit! After
calling his disciples to follow him, he certainly did not promise any of them a
rose garden! In today’s gospel, part of a longer passage we are reading over
several Sundays, Jesus tells his disciples “not to be afraid,” not once, but
three times! He speaks about “killing the body,” not once, but twice! It is
part of a longer instruction to them before he sends them out to preach and to
heal!
I don’t know about you, but if I had
been there, I would have smelled a rat, big time! Who needs to get involved in
that kind of bad news? I hate to admit it, but I may have run like hell!
However, in spite of all the mistreatment that Jesus warns them about, he also
tells them that they will be taken care of! “Are not two sparrows sold for a
small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
So don’t worry; you are worth more than many sparrows. Even the hairs of your head are numbered.” He sums up his
instruction by telling them to be sure to acknowledge God before others during
the best of times and the worst of times!
Faithful Catholics, as a member of his
church, Jesus sends us out as well and asks us to acknowledge our faith in the
best and worst of times. For the church today, these are some of the most
unsettling of times we have seen for a long time, which makes acknowledging our
faith very difficult on some days! These are rough times, yes, but one of the
good things that has come out of this time of trial is that it has forced every
Catholic to reevaluate his or her faith!
Embarrassed, some Catholics have no
doubt, thrown in the towel on the church! Even though I find that tragic, I can
understand their response - and I don't find it surprising! What
really surprises me is the fact that many of you are staying
and are working through all of this uncertainty! You are the
people who keep me going! I have said more than once, I can see that
your faith is well placed. Your faith is not, nor has it ever been, in the
church's messengers! The church has always referred to you as “the
faithful,” and so you are! You have loved your priests, no matter
how quirky and weak they have been, and I believe that most of you still do!
That’s what makes this so painful for you: the realization that someone that
you have loved so much could, in their sickness, do harm to children! The
revelation of these events has no doubt shaken some of your faith, but not
destroyed it. Your faith is built on solid rock! It will stand! Jesus asks you
today to acknowledge your faith to others in the best and worst of
times just like he asked his original followers to do!
Jesus has sent me out, as well as you,
and has asked us to acknowledge our calls in the best and worst of times! I can
still remember the days right after the sexual abuse scandal broke into the
open here in Louisville. I caught myself one day putting my hand over my Roman collar at a stop
light so nobody could see it. I was embarrassed to be a priest! My feelings were published in America Magazine in 2002 in an article I submitted called "Collateral Damage: How One Priest Is Feeling These Days." It still
saddens me to remember how I felt writing it in just about an hour on my front porch!
In my 56 years of priestly ministry, I
have also seen some great times. As a priest, I have experienced some
incredibly marvelous things, things I could not have imagined being part of
when I was growing up! Yes, I have a few set-backs that I thought I would not
live through, but they have been so few compared to the numerous wonderful
things, even incredible things! As I trudged through that sexual abuse scandal
a few years ago, everything went through my mind. For the very first time, I
caught myself imagining what I would do if I were not a priest! It was only
momentary, but still it is significant that my mind even went there to begin
with! What was shocking, even to me, is that I had even felt a twisted kind of
envy, yes envy, of those who were forced out! I knew that some of my brother
priests who had lost everything because of their twisted behaviors and were
dismissed also experienced a great freedom: with their whole lives exposed,
they were finally free of the heavy burden of other people’s expectations,
something that those of you who have never been in our shoes as a public
person, may not understand. In spite of those painful days, when all
was said and done and when I came to the end of a day’s worrying, I always
returned to the fact that that pain was good pain! Children
must be protected! Priests must be trusted and those of us who remain must, as
St. Paul puts it: “Preach the gospel in season and out of season, whether
convenient or inconvenient!” As for me, I am hopefully here to stay, even though
I cannot say that I have always been without fear. I am trying to carry on and
not be afraid. With God’s help and with the finish line in sight, fear will
hopefully not overwhelm me the rest of the trip!
I served the archdiocese as the
Vocation Director during the height of that scandal. When I was the local
Vocation Director, what did I say to those who might feel called to priesthood?
To them, I simply said this. "The church needs you now more than
ever!" To any would-be-priest, in all honesty, I would say this
even today! "If you fold in face of every crisis and you collapse every
time you face a set-back, you probably should think twice before getting into
this way of life!" It has always taken some kind of courage to be a
priest. I believe that it will take even more courage in the future. As
scripture says, “My son, if you seek to serve the Lord, be ready for a battle!”
As one-about-to-be-ordained seminarian was quoted in NEWSWEEK magazine a few
years ago when a reporter asked him if he was hesitant about going into the
priesthood, he said this. "This is the priesthood today -
to suffer for things you did not do!" If he was ordained, that young man
is no doubt making a fine priest somewhere! Going into it, he was
obviously aware of the warning Jesus gave the first group of disciples that he
sent out in today's gospel!
I learned a long time ago that
priesthood, whether it is your baptismal priesthood or my ordained
priesthood, is actually healthiest when it isn’t a bed of
roses! As the old saying goes, “Whatever doesn’t kill you will make you
stronger!” For me, priesthood has seldom been a bed of roses, but in my book,
it has definitely been worth it! Many of you could say the same thing about
being a parent. It may not have been a bed of roses every day, but it has
certainly been worth it!
My friends, we live in trying times
when it comes to remaining faithful Catholics. Many have simply walked away
from the church. Being faithful Catholics, we are sometimes attacked and
ridiculed for our fidelity. There are indeed many thorny issues dividing us,
but in spite of our fear I have met so many fellow Catholics who are trying
their best to hang on! They inspire me to hang in there with them!
I once heard a great preacher compare
the church today to being a gigantic egg. I have shared that story with you
many times before. He said that some days we wake up and that egg is covered
with small cracks - ever widening cracks! Many simply run away for the ensuing
mess. Others are running around with tape and string and ladders yelling that
it is falling apart and we must do something to hold it together.
That great Catholic preacher
suggested, on the other hand, that when the egg starts cracking like that, we
need to stand back and let it hatch! We are not dying! We are giving birth! I
grew up on a farm and I know that he was right. I know that the dumbest thing
you can do when an egg is about to hatch is to try to prevent it! In trying to
prevent it from cracking, you can actually smother the new life that is
struggling to get out!
Sending them out, Jesus said to them: "Fear no one! Do not be afraid! Have no fear!
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