Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of
the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may
use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change
or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies
is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some
aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from
glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).
No Herbicide, Please!
On March 12, 2000 Pope
John Paul the Second led the asking of forgiveness from God for the sins which
the sons and daughters of the Church had committed over the last 2000 years,
Five cardinals and two bishops confessed specific sins committed by these sons
and daughters. The sins included the killing of heretics, those who disagreed
with official church teaching.
Last June 22, 2015
Pope Francis in Turin, Italy asked forgiveness from the Waldensians on behalf
of the Catholic Church, for the un-Christian and even inhumane positions and
actions taken against them. These actions included murdering the Waldensians
for their heresies or ideas which were contrary to our Church's teachings.
Then in January 25,
2016 Pope Francis asked Protestants for forgiveness for persecution in the past
centuries. This persecution included killing these Protestants for teaching and
promoting beliefs different from those taught by our Church.
The killing of these
heretics, Waldensians and Protestants is the opposite of what Jesus commanded
in our Gospel reading today. He never wanted them to be killed, to be uprooted
even if they were as they were supposed to be by Catholics children of the
devil for holding on to these heresies or different doctrines.
For us who live in the
twenty first century and who do not witness these religious persecution of
non-Catholics we do not feel the enormity of these sins. But for the people
affected during the time of persecution it was a terrible experience. Here is a
passage about what happened during those years of persecution by members and
leaders of our church. I will read now excerpts from a passage which depicts
these atrocities.
“In the year 1209,
When the King of France refused to lead the pope's Crusade, Pope Innocent III
put his legate, Arnald-Amalric, the General of the Cistercians (or
"Trappist") monks at Citeaux, in charge of the "Christian"
forces. On their way to the Holy Land,
they made a stop at the French town of Béziers.
"Arnald called on
the Catholics in the town, an Albigensian, (that is heretical,) stronghold, to
hand over the 200 or so known heretics.
If they didn't they would suffer with them. The townsfolk decided to stand together
against these foreigners.
“The townsfolk took
refuge inside the cathedral and the great churches of St. Jude and St. Mary
Magdalene. . . The command went out from
Arnald: 'Kill them all: the Lord will look
after his own.'
“Behind the locked
doors of St. Mary Magdalene's, the clergy tolled the bells, while celebrants
vested in black for a requiem. The
churches, places of sanctuary from time immemorial, were crammed. In that church alone there were 7000 women,
children and the elderly. To the sound
of priests chanting Mass was added that of axes splitting the timber of the
doors. When the doors gave way, the only
noise in the church was the Latin of the liturgy and the babble of babies in
their mothers' arms.
“The invaders, singing
lustily Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit) spared no one, not even the
babies. The last to be cut down were two
priests in the sanctuary. It was, said
Lea, in his book The Inquisition in the Middle Ages, 'a massacre almost without
parallel in human history'.
“The crusaders then
destroyed everything in the town, including the cathedral. 'All that was left of Béziers was a
smouldering heap under which all the citizens lay dead.'
“In the cool of the
evening, the monk Arnald settled down to write to his superior (the Pope). 'Today, your Highness, 20,000 citizens were
put to the sword, regardless of age or sex.'
Slaughtering babies was bad enough, but it was an unspeakable crime to
cut priests down as they celebrated the ritual sacrifice of Calvary. It has been reckoned that in the last and
most savage persecution under Emperor Diocletian, about 2,000 Christians
perished, throughout the empire. (Yet)
In the first vicious incident of Pope Innocent III's crusade, ten times that
number of people were slaughtered. Not
all were Albigensians or heretics, by any means. It comes as a shock to discover that, at a
stroke, a pope killed far more Christians than (the pagan emperor) Diocletian.”
(from jesuswouldbefurious.org)
Now, let us listen to
Jesus in our Gospel reading about these people who were murdered by Catholics.
'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let
them grow together until harvest.' In other words Jesus wanted them to live and
grow together with the Catholics. But the Catholics had uprooted them from the
earth, murdered them by burning them or drowning them or by other ways of
torture.
It was indeed a great
sin for Catholics to have persecuted and killed thousands of non-Catholics or
people who held different beliefs than us. And the two popes, John Paul the
Second and Francis, asked forgiveness for this great sin which we have
committed against them and against God.
Incidentally one of
our best theologians, a very great doctor of the Church, unfortunately has
taught something opposite to what Jesus commanded in our Gospel reading today. This
great Church doctor is held up as a model theologian by the Church. He is the
Patron Saint of theological studies. His name is St. Thomas Aquinas, a
Dominican. It is most unfortunate and very sad that this passage is found in
his writings: "Wherefore if forgers of money and other evil-doers are
forthwith condemned to death by the secular authority, much more reason is
there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only
excommunicated but even put to death." (Summa Theologica).
Jesus completely
disagrees with such statement of St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the reasons why our
recent Popes have asked pardon for the killing of non-Catholics or would be
non-Catholics. This statement of that Saint had sanctioned the killing of
thousands of heretics.
But we must be fair.
This is not the sin only of our leaders and brothers and sisters in our Church.
The Non-Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans and Lutherans and others had also
killed Catholics for believing differently than them. We rightly expect that
they too reciprocate the actions of Pope John Paul the Second and Pope Francis
by asking forgiveness from us for killing our Church leaders and members.
The Lord Jesus does
not want to spray us with herbicide in order to kill the weeds among us. He
wants the weeds to grow with us.
This parable of Jesus
is very instructive because in Palestine the wheat and the weed called darnel
look the same as they grow. The Forerunner Commentary says that wheat and
darnel are exact in their appearances during growth. Both plants are lush green
and can be distinguished only when they mature and produce fruit: Wheat berries
are large and golden, while darnel berries are small and gray. Thus, if the
farmer attempted to uproot the tares before maturity, he would wreak havoc on
his wheat. (bibletools.org)
And that is the real
situation among us. The real Christians and the fake Christians are very
difficult to distinguish. Both are baptized. Both receive the sacraments. Both
do good works. Both appear to love their neighbor. Both seem to be children of
the Kingdom of Jesus.
The great difference
which cannot be seen is in the heart. The real Christians are motivated by love
of God. They do everything for the glory of God. While the fake Christians are
motivated by love of self. They do everything for themselves. Both of these
Christians may dress the same, even the smile may be the same, but their hearts
are worlds apart. Since the difference is in their hearts we cannot really
distinguish them.
Sometimes we can
distinguish them, but only by their fruits. As the Commentary we cited said,
the grains of the wheat are large and golden, while those of the darnel are
small and gray. The real Christians are meek and good mannered, while the fake
Christians are irritable and abrasive in their manners. But who are we to judge
and decide who are the fake and the real?
The message of our
first reading is very clear: to have mercy, even on the fake Christians. It is
a prayer addressed to God. It tells God that he judges with clemency, and with
much lenience governs us, permitting repentance for our sins. He is indeed a
God who does not desire the death of the wicked as the Bible tells us.
Some of these fake
Christians may be sitting beside us now. They may even be daily church goers.
But they do this to be seen by men and to be honored as religious so that on
election time people will vote for them.
Jesus tells us, Have
mercy on them. Do not kill them as churchmen had killed heretics before. In our
parlance Jesus would have said, do not spray them with herbicide. You may kill
the real Christians along with the fake Christians.
And that is what
actually happened. People have killed saints. King Henry VIII killed Thomas
More, venerated by us as a saint. Pope Innocent III killed thousands of real Christians
in the time of the Crusades.
And our Responsorial
Psalm confirms this view of God. We said to God, Lord, you are good and
forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Our second reading
tells us that it is God who knows what is inside us, for he searches hearts and
knows the intention of the Spirit. He only, knows who are the wheat and who are
the darnel among us. He alone knows who among us are the children of the
kingdom and who among us are the children of the devil.
Let us pray as we bow
our heads.
Jesus, you want us to
live with disciples who are fake, as you lived with Judas whom you called a
devil. May your Spirit bring to fruition your life in us so that we will later
on be gathered into your barn after we have lived with those who claim they are
yours but are not. Amen.
- - - - - - - - - -
Note for the readers:
The Mass readings are from the New American Bible Revised
Edition (NABRE). This is where our Lectionary gets the readings.
NAB stands for New American Bible (before it was revised). This
is the translation I use. Unless otherwise stated the text I use is from this
translation.
AV stands for Authorized Version of the Bible. It is more
commonly referred to as the King James Bible. It is the version most used in
English literature, therefore it is the one known more by the English speaking
world.
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