Saturday, September 26, 2015

Homily: 26th Sunday in OT 2015 - "If your right hand causes you to sin..."



You may remember from a few years back the story of a man named Aron Ralston.  Aron Ralston was a vigorous and adventurous outdoorsman who was given to rock climbing, hiking and exploring.  In 2003, he was exploring the canyons of Eastern Utah, and while lowering himself into a rocky crevasse, he stirred some rocks loose and fell to the ground and an 800 pound boulder crushed his hand and pinned him to the canyon wall.  He lay there in agony for two days, trying desperately to free himself from the boulder to no avail.  Finally, in his desperation, convinced he would die otherwise, he took his small pocket-knife, and began to cut off his own arm.  Despite unspeakable pain, he completed his task.

Aron Ralston then tied a crude tourniquet around the stump of his arm, so he would not bleed to death, and wandered through the desert until he came to a road and flagged down a car.
Some months after this incredible ordeal, Aron Ralston appeared on the David Letterman show.  And he told his story.  The audience was of course spellbound.  And when he finished, the normally lighthearted and sarcastic David Letterman became unusually serious.  Looking at his guest intently, Letterman said with great admiration, “You know something about life that I don’t.”

Why am I retelling this strange story? It should be clear.  In the Gospel, Jesus speaks with incredible bluntness about cutting off one’s hand, cutting off one’s foot, plucking out one’s eyes, if these things have become an obstacle to your salvation. “Better enter eternal life maimed, then to go to Gahenna, with all your limbs and members.” Hard words, no? Very stark, blunt, hard words. 

You’ve probably heard numerous homilies on this reading, probably saying that we should just interpret Jesus’ words as exaggeration, hyperbole, to prove a point.  Perhaps. But we shouldn’t be so quick to pass over this teaching because it is difficult. 

Perhaps, we can understand this teaching in light of Aron Ralston’s amazing story.  Aron Ralston found himself in mortal danger.  So desperate was his situation that he needed to do something very painful, very extreme, to save his life.  He knew something drastic had to be done, and he was willing, despite the pain, to do it.

Sure we might do something extreme to save our physical life, but Jesus teaches, we must be willing to go to extremes for the sake of our spiritual life.  We must protect our souls from spiritual death by abhorring sin, and keeping ourselves out of danger of sin.  For a soul, in a state of mortal sin, is bound not toward heaven, but toward hell. 

Now, of course, I’m not urging anyone to cut off their hands and feet or pluck out their eyes.  But each of us does have, a serious responsibility, to make changes in our life, if we are not living the Gospel as we should.

Jesus mentions our hands, our feet, and our eyes. And we should reflect on what each of these means in the spiritual life.  Our hands are used to grasp at things our egos want, but which God forbids: inordinate amounts of money, sex, power, material things.  All the way back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve’s sin was grasping at the forbidden fruit, grasping at a life God had not intended for them. 
Our Holy Father Pope Francis, yes, speaking with great gentleness this week throughout his Papal Visit to the United States, still offers the same warning as our Lord, that we will never build a just society, if we are worried more about grasping than serving and offering mercy.
Jesus, secondly mentions our feet.  The foot is the organ by which we walk.  We are meant, as disciples of Jesus, to walk towards God, along paths of righteousness.  God is the goal of our life.  Thomas Aquinas said, you want to find Joy? Then walk the path that leads to God alone.  What do most of us do, though? We walk down so many errant paths which instead of bringing us joy, takes it from us.  So many of our paths keep us isolated from real life-giving communion with God and with each other.

Last night at Madison Square Garden, in New York, Pope Francis talked about the isolation of living in a big city. Where we use our feet to walk past those most in need.  “There are forces pushing us to isolation and lack of concern”, the Pope said, “for the lives of others.” We are so often deprived of the joy of Christian service, because we are so busy walking passed each other, walking away from each other.  It’s hard to change directions when we are set on our familiar, comfortable paths, but we must be willing to follow the Lord out of the comfortable and into service. So if we are not walking in the path of righteousness, we must make the effort to change.

Finally, Jesus mentions the eye, the organ of vision.  Aquinas teaches that man is destined for the beatific vision, the sight of God face-to-face in heaven, but so often we find ourselves turning our gazes away from God.  The entire spiritual life is a constant process looking to the things of God, of purifying our hearts, that we may see God. But again, what do most of us do? We spend most of our lives looking for happiness in all the wrong places: the Glamour, illusion, sparkly, shiny things of worldliness, which keep us from prayer and service and knowledge of God.  How much time do you spend looking at a screen instead of looking to the cross, or seeking the face of God in quiet prayer?

At evening prayer, Friday night at St. Patrick’s cathedral, Pope Francis said, spoke of the danger of “surrounding ourselves with worldly comforts.” These things are dangerous he said because they “can blunt the power of God’s daily call to conversion, to encounter with him.”

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off, if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.  Jesus teaches to consider our spiritual life with great urgency.  St. Paul says, the athlete is willing to sacrifice all sorts of things to train and win an earthly prize; we must be willing to eliminate things which keep us from Godliness, in order to win that heavenly prize.

Pope Francis, Friday night, echoed the words of St. Peter, “you may for a time have to suffer the distress of many trials.” But he said, these words are essential, if we are to live our vocation in joy.  Not an easy Gospel today, not an easy message, but it’s a necessary one if we want to experience the fullness of life Jesus wants for us. It is always clear when we meet a saint who has striven to excise sin from his life, you get that sense, like David Letterman had towards Aron Ralston, “You know something about life that I don’t.” May our renunciations, sacrifices, and service lead us to experience that joy of God’s kingdom, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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