The Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany

February 15, 2009

Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass

of the

St. Thomas More Society

celebrated at

St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church , 1013 Wood Street

Scranton, PA

Mark 1:40-45

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

            If we are tempted to imagine that all of the people who were on the receiving end of Jesus’ miracles are saints, this morning’s Gospel gives us a different perspective.  While it is true that faith is necessary to be healed by our Lord, the leper from today’s passage from St. Mark’s Gospel exhibits a rather immature faith.  That is, he had faith enough to be healed, but his faith was not strong enough to make him obedient to Jesus’ word.

            We heard in our Gospel how Jesus healed his leprosy, but He told him not to tell anyone about this miracle.  Instead of obeying Jesus’ command, the man went out and spoke openly about how Jesus with a word had healed his leprosy.  The result was that Jesus no longer was able to enter a town openly because so many people knew about the power of the Son of God that they all wanted a piece of Jesus for themselves.

            Jesus had good reason to demand that the former leper keep his miraculous healing to himself.  Jesus knew that people would have a hard time seeing Him for who He is if they just saw Jesus as the great healer or the amazing miracle worker.  Jesus desired to preach the Kingdom of God, but people hardly would be interested in His works if all they really wanted was to get well.  Like the leper who disobeyed Jesus, such people would think about what Jesus could do for them, but give nary a thought about what they were called to do for Jesus.

            The former leper’s fault, therefore, was not only disobedience but also indiscretion.  His lack of discretion had consequences he had not foreseen; so this morning I am going to talk about why discretion is so important and propose three benefits of being discrete, three reasons we ought to practice the virtue of discretion.

            St. Paul points to the first reason we ought to be discrete in today’s epistle.  Very simply, we should be discrete because indiscretion causes scandal.  St. Paul knew that some people were scandalized by the eating of meat that had been offered to idols.  Even thought there was nothing wrong with eating such meat, as these idols did not really exist, St. Paul said we ought to take into account the welfare of our brothers in Christ.  Thus, he said that if eating meat would cause his brother to fall, he never would eat meat so that the weaker brother’s faith was not scandalized.

            Here St. Paul gives an example of how doing something right can cause scandal, but the principle applies to doing wrong, as well.  For example, when relating stories of his past life, the convert to the Catholic faith must always practice discretion to avoid scandal.  If one has led a life of licentiousness and drunkenness before Jesus changed him and made him a new man, the convert must be careful not to share the details of his sinfulness, if he does not want to scandalize his listeners.  If he does, his hearers may concentrate only on his vice and not his new virtue, and they even may doubt the sincerity of his conversion, if he makes his sin sound glorious.  Most of all, the scandal he causes will draw attention to him.

            This is the second reason we want always to be discrete.  When we practice the virtue of discretion, we are able to make Jesus the focus rather than ourselves.  For example, we all know about St. Paul’s conversion to the Faith, how he once persecuted the Church.  Yet in relating this fact, St. Paul gives us precious few details about what he actually did.  We know from the Book of Acts that St. Paul participated in the murder of the first martyr Stephen, but only because St. Luke wrote it down.  Paul himself gives us no details at all, and the effect is that we focus on how Jesus changed his life and made him a better man rather than dwelling on the incredible acts of brutality that Paul may or may not have committed.  Paul, in other words, is not the focus.  Because Paul does practice discretion, does not point to himself, Jesus is always at the center of Paul’s story. 

            The third reason we want to practice discretion has to do with our purpose.  The reason we want Jesus at the center of every story and not we ourselves, is that we want to draw people into the Church, not repel them from it.  Who, after all, wants to get to know someone better when the first thing he finds out is that this Christian once was a brutal murderer?  That is, if St. Paul had given salacious details, indiscrete details, of his life as a persecutor of Christians, the most common reaction from people would have been one of fear.  Killers are scary, so are playboys, drug addicts and alcoholics.  The Gospel imperative to share the Good News with our neighbors does not include the requirement that we share the bad news of our past life of sin.  And if word of our past life will be helpful in relating our story, anything that might cause our listeners to run from the room, or even never come back to hear more, really should not be spoken.  Our discretion in what we say about ourselves—and what we say about others—will go a long way toward making the Church the welcoming place it is supposed to be.

            How then do we know that we are being discrete?  Obviously, if we are not causing scandal, drawing attention to ourselves, and driving people away from the Church, then we know we are being discrete.  But often this question comes up before we open our mouths.  We ask ourselves, “Would telling this fact be somewhat indiscrete?”  I will tell you quite plainly—if you wonder whether or not you should say it, do not say it!  Keep it for another day, mull it over, and consider whether Jesus will be glorified by what you say, or if your words, like the words of the healed leper, are about to make Jesus’ job a whole lot harder.

            If you still do not know, ask Jesus.  I can tell you that confessions are not all that happens in the confessional.  I often am presented with people who desire the seal of the confessional, yet simply want the anonymous advice of a priest, of an alter Christus, another Christ.  Avail yourself of this resource.  Take advantage of this gift that the Lord has given His Church.  The discretion you learn and the discretion you keep may well help save your neighbor’s soul.