Homily for July 13th, 2020:
Matthew 10:34-11:1.
We hear many voices reminding us that
in today’s dangerous world we need a strong military defense. We hear less
about the need to repair our moral defenses.
All the military might in the world will not save our country, however, or any
country, if the moral fabric of our national life is rotten. Examples of this
rot are not difficult to find:
Schools that are awash in a sea of
drugs, physical and general lawlessness; where parents are willing to have their
children driven many miles to attend better schools; and where many who would
like to be teachers instead of wardens are quitting in disgust. Lying, cheating,
and taking unfair advantage of others at every level: in business, government,
in labor unions, and in the so-called learned professions. A retired lawyer
said to me recently: “When I was admitted to the bar, you could take another
lawyer’s word for it. Now you had better get it in writing.”
The indiscriminate and legal killing
of unborn children in our country, because their birth might be an
inconvenience. There are now 800,000 abortions a year in our country.
That is one tiny human life snuffed out every thirty seconds of every hour, day
and night, day in and day out.
Those examples
are just the tip of the iceberg – only a small part of the evidence of moral
sickness in our society. There are, thank God, also many beautiful signs of moral
health, especially in the idealism and willingness to sacrifice of many of our
young people. But all this good evidence cannot cancel out the bad. A moment’s
reflection discloses part, at least of the reason for this moral sickness:
placing private gain ahead of public good; seeking happiness through getting
rather than through giving.
Pointing out
such examples of social rot is called unpatriotic, or silenced with the
simplistic slogan: “America
– love it or leave it.” Anyone who has experienced that kind of hostility knows
what Jesus means when he says in today’s gospel: “Do you think I have come to
establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” The price of
following Jesus Christ is high. How
could it be otherwise, when the One we follow found that the price of his
discipleship was death – but beyond death – for Jesus as also for us if we are
trying to build our lives on him – eternal life.
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