Today's homily is dedicated to all of you who have shaken your head as you have watched the evening news the past several weeks, yet still come with head bowed to church every Sunday.
THE CHILD IN OUR MIDST
Numbers 11: 25-29; James 5: 1-6; Mark 9: 38-43, 45, 47-48
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child* will not enter it.” Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them. (Mark 9: 13-16)
“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18: 3-4)
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” (Matthew 18: 10)
Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” (Mark 9: 36-37)
“In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.” (Matthew 18:14)
From these passages gleaned from the gospels, it’s clearly evident the love that our Lord has for children and the special place he has for them in his heart. In addition, many of his miracles involved children: the nobleman's little son, the demonized son of the man at the Mount of Transfiguration, and restoring the life of the son of the widow on Nain and the daughter of Jairus. Jesus truly, as man and God, loves children!
In addition to the passages I just cited, in our gospel today, Jesus says this: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” A literal translation of Jesus’ words is whoever scandalizes one of these little ones who believe in me . . . To scandalize someone is to cause them to stumble—to shake the faith that they have in something or someone. We may have come to know the word scandal in our culture to be nothing more than juicy gossip that gives newspapers their cover story day after day — usually about a famous person’s private life. But in the biblical sense, the concept of a scandal is much more sinister. Jesus doesn’t leave any room for his people to be flippant about their behavior toward others, the little ones in particular.
Our Gospel passage today follows the events of the reading from last Sunday, in which Jesus took up a child in his arms and declared that whoever receives such a little one in his name receives him. This child is still in their midst today when Jesus warns against causing such a little one to sin.
We begin to understand the danger of scandalizing a little one when we come to realize the nature of a child’s faith. It is a faith that has not yet been subjected to the temptations of the world. A child is sinful by nature but doesn’t yet receive reinforcement of sinful behavior from others.
A little child receives God’s Word and trusts in him. He or she may not yet be able to understand the full meaning of all the words of the Lord’s Prayer or the Creed, but the faith of that child’s heart isn’t contingent on the ability of the mind to process it because that faith is of the heart and not of the mind. The faith of a little child is focused on Jesus and isn’t divided between him and other things. The little child believes and has not yet been taught to doubt. Thus, the faith of a little child is the strongest and purest of all.
Woe, therefore, to anyone who would damage the faith of these little ones! Jesus isn’t being dramatic when he speaks of a millstone being hung around one’s neck, mob-style, and being thrown into the sea. It truly would be better for such a scandalous person to have that happen, because at least in the bottom of the sea one would never be able to scandalize a child again.
Perhaps at this point, your thoughts might be focusing on the recent scandals involving individuals in the Church, priests and bishops, who sexually abused children and others or who orchestrated a coverup of these crimes against God and crimes against the innocent.
The media has reported all the intimate, scandalous and criminal details. You don’t need to hear a rehashing of them from me. I certainly offer you no justification or explanation for these acts, both the sinful crimes themselves, nor the all too frequent coverup by the hierarchy of the Church. Except to say this . . . Although the Church is a divine institution, founded by Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, the problem is that this divine institution was left by our Lord to mere flawed mortals as its members and as its leaders.
In the creed that we will profess in a few minutes, we will declare that we believe in the ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC Church. By saying the Church is catholic, we mean that the Church is universal. There are no pre-requisites to Church membership – you don’t have to be of a certain gender, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status to be a member of the Church. But also, you don’t have to be a saint either. And so, despite the Church being a divine institution, it is a Church of sinners – sinners seeking to become saints.
And the sinners in the church aren’t just those sitting starting with first pew in the front of the church and ending with the last pew in the back. Those that sit and stand before you three steps higher in a sanctuary of green marble are also sinners. Sanctity was never a prerequisite for acceptance into the seminary or diaconate studies, and not for ordination either. And so today, those of us up here, your priests and deacons, also acknowledge what we all did at the beginning of the mass in the penitential rite: “We confess to almighty God and to you, our brothers and sisters, that we have greatly sinned, in our thoughts and in our words, in what we have done and in what we have failed to do.”
And so, as you in the past have come to us in with contrite hearts to confess your frailty and sin, in the name 0f the bishops, priests and deacons of your Church, I too now come before you to acknowledge our personal sins, as well as the sins of the Church - past and present - and humbly ask your understanding and your forgiveness.
Unfortunately, as I look out from my lofty position here in the sanctuary, I notice a lot of empty seats, seats that used to be filled. And my fear is that they have become vacant over the last several weeks because good and faithful people have had enough and have given up on the church. To do so is a tragedy, because we are all more than our sins, and despite the embarrassing reports that make the evening news, there are many wonderful reasons to be proud of your Church.
For me, I could list its theology, its sacraments, its liturgy and its law. Our priests and religious have been with us tirelessly 24/7 to share with us our deepest joys and our most profound tragedies. In addition, I could mention that the Catholic Church, more than any other institution, has tried to make sure that the sins of the past never happen again, and so we require all those who minister in any way to children to participate in the program “Protecting God’s Children,” to be fingerprinted and have a criminal background check conducted on them.
Did you know that the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students every day at the cost to your Church of 10 billion dollars, and a savings on the other hand to the American taxpayer of 18 billion dollars. Our graduates go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92%, all at a cost to you. To the rest of the Americans it's free. The Church has 230 colleges and universities in the U.S. with an enrollment of 700,000 students. Did you also know that the Catholic Church has a non-profit hospital system of 637 hospitals, which account for hospital treatment of 1 out of every 5 people - not just Catholics - in the United States today.
The Catholic Church is certainly bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. But let’s walk with our shoulders high and our head higher. Let’s remember what Jeremiah the prophet said: "Stand by the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it, and find rest for your souls." Let’s be proud to speak up for our faith with pride and reverence. Be proud that you're a Catholic! And let’s pray that those millstones that Jesus talked about in today’s gospel can be cut, shaped and repurposed to become “living stones,” stones that lay the pathway toward becoming the Church, the People of God, that Jesus always intended us to be.
