Homily for St. Louis,
Aug. 24, 2014: Is, 58:6-11; Col.3:12-17; Mt. 22:34-40.
In early 1764,
just 250 years ago, two men with French names still familiar to St. Louisans,
Pierre Laclède and his stepson, Auguste Chouteau, founded what would become the
city of St. Louis.
It was then hardly more than a group of wooden houses on the west bank of the Mississippi. The few
streets were unpaved, muddy in winter, and dusty in summer.
The two founders named the place
after the greatest king of their French homeland, Louis IX. In1226, at age twelve, he
was crowned king in the Cathedral of Reims in northern France in 1226.
He reigned until his death at Tunis in North Africa on August 25th, 1270. The present
Archbishop of Reims is in St. Louis
this weekend to help us celebrate our city’s anniversary. Visiting us also is a
blood descendant of the king, who might be wearing the French crown today, had
the French not abolished the monarchy in their revolution of the 1790s.
Even as a boy
Louis was generous to the poor. During his reign as king he invited a hundred
poor people to dine in his palace every day. Louis often waited on them
himself. He was declared a saint by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297, only 27 years
after his death. For over seven centuries he has been honored as a model ruler,
who displayed in a notable way the virtues mentioned in our first reading from
Isaiah: sharing bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the
homeless, satisfying the afflicted. And a moving letter which the king wrote to
his son and heir manifests the virtues mentioned in our second reading:
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. It’s worth
listening to his words. They apply to all of us, especially today, when we are
undergoing a time of tension and difficulty in our community.
“My dear son,”
King Louis wrote, “you must love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and
all your strength; unless you do so, you cannot be saved. … You must be ready
to undergo every kind of martyrdom rather than commit one mortal sin. … Be compassionate
towards the poor, the destitute and the afflicted … If God sends you
tribulation, you ought to endure it, giving thanks, realizing that it is for
your good, and that, perhaps, you have deserved it.
“Give thanks to God for all the gifts
he has bestowed upon you, so that you will become worthy of still greater
gifts. [Then come some words which speak directly to the tensions in Ferguson today.] Towards
your subjects, act with such justice that you may steer a middle course,
swerving neither to the right nor to the left, but lean more to the side of the
poor man than of the rich, until such time as you are certain about the truth.”
The king’s letter to his son
concludes as follows: “Finally my dear son, I impart to you every blessing that
a loving father can bestow on his son; may the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and
all the saints, guard you from all evil. May the Lord grant you the grace to do
his will so that he may be served and honored by you, and that, together, after
this life we may come to see him, love him and praise him for ever. Amen.”
Preaching at the Mass for Peace and
Justice that he celebrated in our Cathedral last Wednesday evening, Archbishop
Carlson said this: “In the face of brokenness and shame and heart break Jesus
calls us to come to him and encourages us that we do not walk away. The time
has come for us to acknowledge decades of hurt and mistrust and suspicion and
prejudices, and yes even a tragic death.”
The Archbishop went on to remind us
of how his predecessor Cardinal Ritter had desegregated the Catholic schools in
1947, and of how many of our priests, some still living, had marched with
Martin Luther King defending the dignity of every human person. And he asked
every one of us priests to offer a Mass for Peace and Justice. I shall do this here
at 6.30 Monday morning.
The Archbishop also reminded us of
how Mother Teresa’s heroic service to the poor was rooted in her daily hour of
silent prayer to God. And he quoted some words of Pope Benedict XVI on this
subject. “Prayer as a means of drawing ever new strength from Christ is
concretely and urgently needed. People who pray are not wasting their time,
even though the situation appears desperate and seems to call for action
alone.”
Let me close with some sayings of
Mother Teresa, now Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
"People are often unreasonable,
irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
“If you are kind, people may accuse
you of selfish, ulterior motives Be kind anyway.
“If you are successful, you will win
some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
“If you are honest and sincere people
may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
“What you spend years creating,
others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
“If you find serenity and happiness,
some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
“The good you do today, will often be
forgotten. Do good anyway.
“Give the best you have, and it will
never be enough. Give your best anyway.
“In the final analysis, it is between
you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."
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