Homily

Of all the people who know you, plus all the people that might not know you but you are out there, with them, in public, of all those people, what percentage of them would you say are very much concerned about your well-being and want only what is best for you? 90%? 43%? 3%? Anybody? Now reverse the focus: of all the people you know, plus the people you will interact with on any given day, what percentage of them would you be concerned for, wanting only what is best for them? Can you possibly imagine what it would be like to step out of your house knowing that everyone else you would run into would care about your welfare and your needs more than they would for their own, and you would do the same for any of them? Now, and I know I'm stretching it here, what if that even happened in your own home with your family?

Why isn't our world so wonderful that this kind of generous selfless caring for others isn't found all the time, everywhere? Even in our own family life, we don't see this 100% exercise of loving care and concern 100% of the time. The answer is sin. It is sin that divides us, one from another. It is sin against family members and other people, it is sin against our community, our state and our nation, it is sin against the Church, the Body of Christ, and sin within the Church and within our family and community and country that divides us. It is always sin that divides us. That's why we must lock our doors, use passwords, don't talk to strangers, call the police, don't open strange emails, drive defensively, and get patted down in our socks at airports, and get a lawyer.

It is difficult to even imagine a world where people do not sin against each other, because we accept the reality that is in front of us as though it must be like this, and none of it can ever really change very much. We have times when we are upset, sad, or angry about the divisions we may find in our families or communities, or the divisions that may come up between ourselves and other people. We may work to heal those divisions and do what we can to repair them, but at the same time we expect the world to remain a place where people have to be careful and guard their interests and their safety against those who would wish to harm them. I think of the angry speeches and talk that came out of the "Occupy Wall Street" camp, and others like it, some weeks ago, but in all those many, many speeches, comments, and words, I never heard the word "sin." And, dear friends, that is always what divides us. It's my sin, your sin, their sin — these sins are the crowbars that pry us apart from each other and wound and work against the God-given unity we were meant to live in.

St. Paul writes to us in today's epistle, "to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, careful to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, throughout all, and in us all."

What a strength, what a blessing, what a comfort and a liveliness can be shared when people live in unity; but we cannot live in perfect unity without the grace of God; and we cannot live in perfect unity unless we are ready to give up our own sins and work with grace, so that as we strengthen our virtues, we repair the damages between ourselves and others, and we give power to the ties that join us together. We become more open to being united with other people, if our desire is based in the love of Christ, Who has called us together here today as His Body, to receive His Body, to give Him thanks and praise, and then to go forth each of us along our own way but still united in Him. We have the power to bring families closer together and that is in the power of Christ's love. We have the power to bring peoples closer together, and that is in the power of Christ's love.

It is true that we cannot force other people to live in peace and harmony with us, and with Christ. They have free will to do as they choose. Yet how much better it would be if we ourselves choose to look and work for harmony rather than living in fear and suspicion. We shouldn't allow the fear of failure to keep us from working towards harmony with other people.

And, within our own selves, we represent and reflect the disunity of the world around us. In our owns hearts we struggle with conflicting desires and goals, between good and bad, between virtue and sin. We are not united within ourselves. But here too it is the love of Christ, if we surrender ourselves to Him, that can make us whole. That, as some of us heard Fr. Barron say last Monday, we do not have any ambiguity in our hearts; that we continue to grow more deeply in union with Christ as the single greatest desire we can ever hope to fulfill.