Second Sunday in Advent

December 7, 2008

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 1:1-8

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

            Years ago, before I had even gone to seminary, I learned that a woman I had known since childhood had decided to leave her family to run off with another man.  Her behavior distressed me, and I mentioned to a friend of mine how upset I was.  His response was less than comforting.  He said to me, “You know, she is a grown woman.”

            This statement implies two things.  It assumes first that those who have reached adulthood know what they are doing.  Second, and less obviously, it implies that an adult’s decision automatically is beyond reproach, and a grown woman should not admonished, whatever her conduct.  This philosophy of irreproachable adulthood is the coward’s way out, for it absolves us of any responsibility towards the wayward sinner.  If we say, “live and let live”, what we really ultimately mean is “I am not getting involved because I don’t care enough about these people to spare them the agony of jumping off the precipice.”

            John the Baptist, about whom we heard in today’s Gospel, was anything but a coward.  He could see that his people, the Jews, were going astray; so he called them to repentance and offered them a baptism that symbolized a new beginning, forgiveness that issued in a new way of life.  This, after all, is what repentance means:  turning totally around one hundred eighty degrees from where we were before.  Not only do we cease doing bad things, avoiding the near occasions of sin, we also embrace virtue, and with the time we once used for our wicked deeds, we now fill it up with good works--acts of charity that benefit our fellow man.  Repentance does not mean shifting into neutral.  It means going from reverse to drive, from going backwards and away from God to going forward and back to our Father in heaven.

            Therefore, John the Baptist fulfilled the role of the Prophet which is not only to tell the people of things yet to come.  The role of the prophet also is to indicate to the people how they have gone wrong and to relate the promise of God’s mercy should they repent and return to the Lord.  In other words, John the Baptist cared very deeply about the people to whom he prophesied.  He cared so deeply about them that he wanted them not to remain in their sins and die, but they would turn from their wickedness and have life.

            One role each believer must play is that of prophet.  Having been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection and made members of His Body, we must do as Christ did.  Yes, we must offer ourselves sacrificially to benefit others.  Yes, we must lead by being servants to even the least of our brothers.  We must also be prophets.  We must tell of the glory to be revealed while not neglecting to name the sins that will prevent people from experiencing the privilege of worshiping before the throne of grace.  We cannot be prophets without admonishing sinners, indicating to our brothers in Christ and to society at large what choices we make will imperil our souls.

            All too often we Catholics, for fear of appearing judgmental, refuse to admonish people for doing things that clearly are wrong, actions that transgress not only the laws of the Church but also the moral law and the natural law.  I am talking about things that are pretty basic here, things about which we do not even need to be catechized to know they are wrong:  things like lying, stealing, committing adultery, and murdering the innocent.  Too often we remain silent while those we know victimize their neighbors and cause scandal by their poor witness to the truth.

            Yet as every Catholic school child should know, to admonish the sinner is the first of the seven spiritual works of mercy.  When we refuse to cop out, when we refuse to be cowards, when we tell those we love that they are going astray, this is not an act of cruelty any more than John the Baptist’s preaching was hateful.  Rather, when we admonish sinners, we act mercifully by gently reminding them that they are choosing death and we desire life for them.  To admonish the sinner is an act of love, because in doing so we make the hard choice to demonstrate how much we desire our brothers not to be lost.

            The truth is that we do not stop needing guidance as soon as we reach the age of eighteen.  Sure, we can vote and get married without our parents’ permission, but the wise adult seeks out the counsel of others, and he is open to criticism when those he loves and trusts tell him he can be still better.  Reaching a certain age does not make each decision correct.  We are right or wrong based on whether or not we have heeded the Lord’s call to holiness.  And just because we are an adult does not mean our decisions are beyond reproach.  The loving neighbor will call our sin a sin and will not back down just because we think the medicine he prescribes does not taste very good!

            Now understand that I am not asking you to seek out what your neighbor is doing wrong and then go tell him he is going to go to hell because of it!  Instead, I am asking you to seize those opportunities the Lord presents to you to tell those you love that their choices are harmful.  Your admonition must be offered in love, in a charitable way, and must never humiliate the person who has done wrong.  The purpose here is the soul’s correction and thus his salvation.  If your words are cruel, you will risk alienating a brother from the Church that was established by Christ to save him.

            In admonishing the sinner, we must also remember that we do the Church a favor, as well.  A wound to one part of the Body harms the entire Body.  One Catholic’s sin brings disrepute upon all Catholics.  If you don’t believe me, just remember the world’s reaction to the priests’ sex scandal a few years ago.  Most of us had done nothing wrong, yet we bear the shame of the perpetrators, and in many dioceses the people in the pews are literally paying for what these former clergymen did.  You can do a great service to Holy Mother Church if you correct the wrongdoer before his sin spirals out of control and we suddenly find the whole Body ailing because a stubbed little toe was not treated.

            Finally, in admonishing the sinner, in being the prophet you are called to be, remember also the seventh spiritual work of mercy, which is to pray for both the living and the dead.  Without prayer, how sincere can your concern be for the wayward brother?  How seriously can our love and mercy be taken if we do not appeal for help to the source of all love and mercy?  Every admonition must be matched by many more prayers for the conversion of those in need of God’s grace.

            I don’t know if anybody did reprove that woman who left her family for another man.  I know that I didn’t.  I was content to fool myself that she was, after all, an adult.  What I know then and know still now is that she was acting like a child, a very disobedient child, and I said nothing as she ran headlong to perdition and her family fell apart.  Maybe she would not have listened and my words would have made no difference.  But then, again, if I had had the courage to be prophetic, perhaps those words would have made all the difference in the world.