Dealing with Hatred

I can't recall ever encountering so much hatred in our nation as seemingly exists today. Certain groups, apparently founded on and continuing to espouse Marxist principles, simply cannot abide the presence of any contrary beliefs. For example, Black Lives Matter "protesters" who openly support the looting and burning of businesses in American neighborhoods are now invading restaurants, creating physical havoc by upending tables and chairs, all the while demanding that the diners support them. 

This video was taken in Rochester, NY and shows the tormented tots of BLM storming a local restaurant. Don't they sound like little 5-year-olds in the midst of a tantrum because mommy and daddy didn't give them the toy they wanted?

Here's another, in Washington, D.C., a bit more placid but still remarkably stupid. Watch this collection of spoiled white kids who never learned a thing from their equally ignorant professors. Their poor parents paid tens of thousands to colleges and universities that failed to educate their children. How sad for them all...except the schools. As a result all the little ones are able to do is parrot the inane words screamed into a megaphone by their verbally challenged  "leader." Again, how sad. Not an original thought in the group.

These, of course, are among the more "peaceful" of the BLM and Antifa demonstrations now plaguing our nation. Believe me when I warn you that your city or town, your neighborhood, could well be next. These yahoos have no intention of limiting their violent activity to the big cities. Right now, those cities, run by equally stupid far-left mayors and city councils, are the neo-barbarians' best hunting grounds because they know the police won't challenge them. But because they're not very bright, they'll begin to think themselves invincible. That will be their mistake. The folks who live in America's heartland won't tolerate what you saw above in unarmed cities like Washington, DC and Rochester, NY. If the barbarians get really stupid they will suffer stupidity's unintended consequences. One can only hope things do not go that far.

But how should we Christians respond to all this? If we turn to Sacred Scripture and Church teaching, we can find some good answers. 

Some Christians maintain that we must tolerate those who want to do us harm, that any resort to violence is no better than the violence that threatens us. The Church, however, has never taught this and has, indeed, always supported the human person's right to self-defense. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says quite a bit about this right, which for many becomes even a duty. I've extracted only a few paragraphs

2263 The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. "The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one's own life; and the killing of the aggressor...The one is intended, the other is not."

2264 Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one's own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow...

2265 Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.

2266 The efforts of the state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people's rights and to the basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of safeguarding the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and the duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. When it is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation. Punishment then, in addition to defending public order and protecting people's safety, has a medicinal purpose: as far as possible, it must contribute to the correction of the guilty party.

Church teaching, then, is clear: we have a right to defend ourselves against those intent on harming us. We can also use less than lethal defensive measures to prevent those prohibiting us from exercising our God-given human rights.

Some, however, seem to believe that evil does not exist, or that people cannot be overcome by evil -- that such people are simply misunderstood. They are decidedly wrong, as the history of humanity shows us. Overcome by the presence of evil, men and women soon forget God, who is the personification of goodness and love. They become habituated to the presence of sin in their lives and disorder fills them -- disorder of body, mind, and spirit. We see this in those who have ravaged our cities. They cannot accept the freedom of others. They cannot tolerate that others find happiness and joy in God's creation, in His gifts, and desire to live only in peace. These others they accuse of causing their own self-generated failures. 

What are we to do? Well, in addition to defending ourselves, we must confront evil with the truth. Interestingly, the readings for today's Mass (23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A) address this beautifully. 

The psalmist reminds God's people that many will ignore God, and in doing so, will turn to evil. Even their fathers had fallen prey to this failing:

"...your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works" [Ps 95:9]. 

Yes, even living in the midst of God's creation, surrounded by His wondrous works, we can forget His presence:

"You are the God who does wonders; among the peoples you have revealed your might...and no one saw your footprints" [Ps 77:15,20].

Evil exists, and driven by ignorance and self-worship it must be confronted by the truth. In today's first reading the prophet Ezekiel reminds us that by warning those who do evil, we are doing God's work:

"But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself" [Ez 33:9]. 

In today's second reading, St. Paul reminds the Romans and us that our attitude toward others -- even those who do evil to us -- must be grounded in love:

"Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law" [Rom 13:10]

And then, in today's Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus doesn't pull any punches. Our attitude and approach to those who stray, who generate disunity in the Body of Christ, must be one of love. But the one attitude we must always avoid is that of indifference. God desires reconciliation and peace among His people, and to allow disunity is to reject the will of God. We must, therefore, take positive steps to restore the unity God desires. 

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector" [Mt 18:15-17].

Here we encounter a deeper understanding of the teaching found in Old Testament, a teaching that immediately precedes God's command to "love your neighbor as yourself."

"You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason with your neighbor, lest you bear sin because of him" [Lv 19:17].

Like Leviticus, Jesus places the responsibility to act on the offended party. So often today, when we are offended or treated badly -- when someone "sins against" us -- we ignore those first three steps and immediately jump to the last. We just toss the other person out of our lives. But Jesus instructs us to make every effort to "win over" our brother. Indifference, then, is not permissible. 

Jesus, of course, took this same approach in His dealings with those who obstinately refused to follow God's revealed Word. He never allowed the Pharisees to get away with their willful and self-centered attitudes and behaviors. And yet, at the same time, Jesus' rebukes and questions were always consistent with His long-suffering desire to bring about the conversion and redemption of all. 

Jesus, then, remains the Good Shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep to bring him back into the fold. His teaching here is one of those highly practical teachings to help His Church deal with the reality of the world in which it must thrive. 

St. Paul, who focused so much on needs of the early Church, never tired in reminding us that love must always be joined to truth. Aware of our own weaknesses, we must still:

"...preach the Word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching" [2 Tim 4:2].

Yes, indeed, love married to truth. That is our challenge, but always remembering:

"What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?...No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through Him who loved us" [Rom 8:35,37].

(A friend just reminded me that I had written about fraternal correction some years ago and should provide a link to it. For what it’s worth, here it is: Fraternal Correction)

Homily: 3rd Sunday of Lent (Year C)

Readings:  Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15; Ps 103; 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12; Lk 13:1-9
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A priest friend, the retired pastor of a parish in midtown Manhattan, once told me that sometimes, after he'd heard confessions for several hours at a time, he didn't just get tired, he got bored.

"There's Nothing more boring," he said, "than hearing the same sins again and again, hour after hour." But then he added, "Fortunately, repentance doesn't bore God. He enjoys forgiving."

Long Confession Line

Hearing that I couldn't help but recall those words at the end of the book of Micah, the prophet:

"Who is a God like you, Who removes guilt and pardons sin...Who does not persist in anger forever, but instead delights in mercy"  [Mic 7:18].

God certainly delights in mercy and forgiveness. And that's a good thing, isn't it?

Jesus stressed this when He told the scribes and Pharisees: 

"I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners" [Lk 5:32].

Well, if He came for sinners He must love to forgive. Indeed, God knows us far better than we know ourselves. He knows we all have our particular sins. He understands our weaknesses. Because we're naturally disappointed in ourselves, we're tempted to think: Hey, that little sin's really not so bad. It's a part of me; it's just the way I am.

I've even heard some people make the excuse that God made them this way. How can He expect anything better? Blaming our sinfulness on God! That's even worse than joining Eve [Gn 3:13] and Flip Wilson by saying, "The devil made me do it." 

(If you're under 55 you probably don't know who Flip Wilson was. Just Google him...)

But these rationalizations only weaken our sense of guilt and our fervor for repentance and change. They lead us to make false compromises with our weaknesses, and cause us to choose mediocrity over striving for the perfection God desires for us.

We can grow through our faults, but only if we don't settle for them, but instead learn to live always on God's forgiveness. Listen again to the psalm Dawn just sang:

"He pardons all your sins, heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction, crowns you with kindness and compassion" [Ps 103:3-4].

Yes, those are the fruits of repentance: forgiveness, kindness, and compassion. Forgiving, then, is no big thing for God. He delights in it, because forgiveness is the completion of love. Have you ever considered that?

In forgiveness, love reaches its greatest purity, its greatest depth.

In forgiveness, love is at its strongest.

In forgiveness, love, especially God's love, generates new life.

God delights in each of us. He rejoices over us and shows His love without inhibition. But so many see God as a kind of Almighty Umpire, focusing on punishment rather then forgiveness. Maybe that's why we cringe when Jesus relates the parable of the barren fig tree, especially when we hear those words "...cut it down"  [Lk 13:7].

Hard words...and so we try to convince ourselves that a loving God wouldn't deal with us so severely. It's about this time that guilt creeps in, especially in this season of Lent, this time of repentance. But guilt is just a warning and should never lead us to despair.

Yes, God will judge us, but He's also a forgiving God, a truth Jesus' disciples had yet to learn. Although they'd never played baseball, they too saw God as the Almighty Umpire. When an evil struck someone, they just assumed God had punished that person. This simply reflected what they'd been taught: If one lives a good life, good things happen, but if one leads a bad life, well, God will get him. It's amazing how many people, even many Christians, still think this way.

A few days ago, a parishioner asked me how God could reward a certain wealthy celebrity with so much money when he lived such an immoral life. I just suggested that God's attitude toward money and possessions is evident by the fact that it's spread around pretty randomly among both the faithful and the faithless. We'd be a lot better off if we focused on our own attitudes toward material things, and prayed for those blessed with wealth, that they use it well, for God's glory.

By adjusting our image of God to His reality, we can better understand how He wants us to live. This is exactly what Jesus does in our Gospel passage. He has to set the disciples straight. In the parable of the fig tree, Jesus readjusts the disciples' image of God and, if we listen carefully, He can help us do the same. 

"Leave it another year..."

The parable really doesn't focus on the vineyard owner's order to cut down the fig tree. No, Jesus highlights the three years of patience that preceded this decision. And the real emphasis is on the plea of the vinedresser: "Sir, leave it another year" [Lk 13:8]...one more year of hoeing and fertilizing, one more year of gentle care, one more chance...patience extended beyond reason.

This, then, is the key to the parable: that Jesus, Our Lord, is the patient gardener, the patient vinedresser. He's the worker who trusts our souls will blossom over time. He's the patient God who trusts in us even when we lose confidence in ourselves.

Yes, God is patient. What appears to the world as dried up and useless, He views differently. To Him we're always on the brink of producing fruit or brilliant blossoms.

But you and I...Well, if we're honest, we're probably more like the hardnosed vineyard owner. It doesn't take much for us to write off others when they don't seem to measure up to our self-defined Christian expectations. The truth is, we still harbor that childish notion of God wielding His figurative ax. But that's not the Father Jesus describes.

We're called to thank God for His patience, to thank God for a life measured by all those Lents where we ended up no better than when we started. God doesn't dwell on the past. He looks only at this Lent, calling us to a deeper relationship with Him. Jesus speaks to us as the vineyard dresser speaks to the vineyard owner.

God is patient with us because He has a plan for each of us; and he hopes we will accept His gift of grace so we can fulfill that plan. The question is: can we be patient with ourselves?

When we feel dry and lifeless...

When our lives seems to be spinning out of control...

When our relationships are marked by bitterness and strife...

When the death of a loved one drives home the fragility of life...

When our children seem to be slipping away from us and from God...

When all these things generate unanswered questions in our lives, that's when we need to trust in our God, our God who is patient and forgiving. Brothers and sisters, God wants nothing but good for us. What did He say to Moses on Mount Horeb?

"I have witnessed the affliction of my people...and have heard their cry...so I know well what they are suffering" [Ex 3:7].

"I have heard their cry..."

And yet, despite God's gift of freedom, the Israelites turned against Him again and again. But God, Who knew well their suffering, continued to extend His patience and forgiveness.

Jesus, too, knows how we suffer because He, too, suffered, and through that suffering, freed us from the slavery to sin. And so, when St. Paul tells us to be "Be imitators of God" [Eph 5:1], perhaps this Lent we should begin by imitating God's patience, by being patient with each other.

Can we treat each other with the same tenderness we see in Jesus...even when the wait takes every shred of patience, even when we're ready to shout, "Cut it down!"

To celebrate Lent well is to challenge ourselves by asking, "What's my image of God? Is He a cosmic umpire, or a patient loving Father? Whom shall I imitate?"

Our answer makes a huge difference.