July 10-11, 2010
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deuteronomy 30:10-14 Colossians 1:15-20 Luke 10:25-37
Now that the smoke has cleared from last week’s celebrations, ready for some more shock and awe? Jesus was not Roman Catholic! Also….Jesus was not an American citizen! Neither were Mary or Joseph, or God the Father or the Holy Spirit or any of the evangelists or composers of Scripture.
Obvious, right? Well, not always so obvious to some who like to overlap God and country on their sleeve as if the American way is God’s way…and God’s way must obviously be the American way. (In truth, this was part of the early discrimination and distrust about and toward ROMAN Catholicism in the United States….the Pope was based in Rome and not an American!)
Recognizing that our culture is quick to label those with whom we disagree, these sorts of musings run the risk of being labeled red-state/blue-state stuff or even the dreaded designation of being ‘Left or Right’…and once the label is attached it provides the labeler with plausible justification to ignore the conversation! Not wanting to disrupt the domestic tranquility amidst our congregation…still, the question hangs in the air….how do we go about being people of compassionate faith in the midst of so much insistence on viewing life through nationalistic glasses?
A few years back we had some parishioners leave the parish because they found out that papers were not being checked and some of the ‘homeless’ being fed by our Hands Across the County ‘might’ be illegal immigrants. In today’s Gospel story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus goes to great length to craft a parable in which the main characters are political/cultural opposites, Jewish and Samaritan….(read right-wing militia member versus illegal immigrant.) The individual with whom Jesus is speaking is seeking justification to limit his love of God to his own individualistic read of the Jewish law…and tries to weasel wiggle room for himself by pushing the question of ‘who is my neighbor that I am supposed to love as myself?’
Throughout our American experience, whenever we have been in turmoil or economic upheaval, the voices of fiery discord get raised, pointing the verbal finger at supposed culprits. The Chinese brought over to build the railroads became the perceived stigma for a while. The Italians, Poles, Irish and Germans had derogatory nicknames attached to them, were disenfranchised…and were the reason the Parochial School System got started by Elizabeth Ann Seton. In recent years the Vietnamese migration following the war was seen as poisoning our culture and now the ‘illegal Hispanic’ is the target of the finger-pointers. In wrestling with the assorted issues of immigration, education, taxes, health care, etc. etc. how do we balance our approach to be both American and Roman Catholic?
Do we ignore one or the other so as to make our choices easier? Granted, not quick and easily resolvable issues…but worthy of consideration in light of the Good Samaritan parable. Oh yeah…one final thought….all those folk that are always pointing fingers at different groups and saying that we ‘Americans’ should be afraid of them….hmmm….wasn’t it Jesus who continually told people: ‘Be not afraid.?’ To which voice do we give more credence?
Thank you for joining with our Corpus Christi Community on this summer weekend. The team for La Cena is outside after all our Masses this weekend selling reservations for the summer’s FIRST LA CENA SUPPER next Saturday evening. Please make sure you make your reservation so we can have a place set for you at the tables! The Bulletin has news of other parish events coming up…especially our POPs Angel Game happening in a few weeks. Please take a copy of the Bulletin with you….thanks. As you settle into the rituals of summer, remember, use SPF at the beach, cook your chicken thoroughly, avoid cross-contaminating food…and always, remember that you are loved. FKB
