The 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 9, 2014
Click here to listen to this
homily (mp3 file)
A parishioner remarked to me not long ago, “You sure seem to talk a lot about
Pope Francis these days.” All I could say was, “Guilty!” The truth
is that it’s hard not to talk about Pope Francis. He’s gotten the world’s
attention, hasn’t he, not by making dry, pontifical pronouncements, but in
easily accessible, down-to-earth conversations that come from someone who seems
to breathe the same air as we do, who understands us and our struggles, relates
to our world and to our lives. And it’s not just the Pope’s words that get
our attention, is it? It’s what he does: it’s his lifestyle, simple and
scaled-down; it’s his spontaneity, his human warmth, his obvious compassion, the
delight he takes in people, reaching out to them, taking time with them, even
calling them on the phone!
So you won’t be surprised when I tell you that Pope
Francis came to mind when I reflected on today’s scriptures. I thought of
him when I read the words of St. Paul in the reading from First Corinthians: “I
came to you in weakness and vulnerability…and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of Spirit and
power.” As I reflected on those words, the first image that came to my mind was
of Pope Francis standing before that immense throng gathered in St. Peter’s
Square right after his election – bowing low before the people, humbly asking
for their blessing. Talk about coming in weakness and vulnerability, in
Spirit and in power! And it has continued that way. Think of the interview
he gave last summer to the editors of Jesuit publications from around the world.
When asked the question, “Who are you?” the first words on his lips were “I am a
sinner!”
But thoughts of Pope Francis didn’t stop with the
Letter to the Corinthians. The Pope came very much to mind in the first reading
where Isaiah exhorted the people to share their bread with the hungry and to
shelter the oppressed and the homeless. That sounded a lot like Pope
Francis to me, too!
A little background about that reading from Isaiah
might help. Isaiah was railing against the people for their hollow
religiosity, their counterfeit piety. They were up to their ears in
religious rituals – ostentatious prayers, rigorous fasting -- but it was really
all about themselves. They went through the motions of offering prayer and
sacrifice to God while turning their back on the poor people, the hungry and the
dispossessed who were all around them. It was against that background that
Isaiah challenged the people to share their bread with the hungry, to shelter
the oppressed and the homeless, and to clothe the naked. Only then,
he told them, would their light break forth like the dawn, their wounds be
healed, their prayers be heard. Only then, he said, would the Lord listen to
them when they called on him for help.
And there’s
even more here. When Isaiah talks about sharing one’s bread with the
hungry, he’s talking about more than just giving alms to the poor, tossing some
money in their direction. That can be too easy. No, the word “share”
has a communal, personal dimension. It’s the difference between giving
food to a food drive and actually sitting down to break bread with a poor
person. And that’s where things can get kind of scary, isn’t it!
Challenging for sure. I know it is for me.
A little personal story to illustrate the point.
I got stopped one day on the street by a homeless fellow. Nothing usual there.
It happens quite often. But I was in my usual hurry and the fellow seemed to
have all the time in the world. Before long, I looked at my watch and asked him:
“Do you need some money?” I’ll never forget his response. “I guess I could
use a little help,” he said, “but I’d rather talk.” That’s the difference
between giving alms to the poor and sharing one’s bread with the poor. Pope
Francis puts it this way: “Poverty,” he says, “is learned by actually touching
the flesh of Christ in the humble, the poor, and the sick.”
This is something the wonderful people who volunteer at
the Cathedral Kitchen day after day, and those who faithfully staff our
overnight shelter, know only too well. They don’t just make a meal available to
folks and they don’t just give them a place to sleep for the night. No, they
welcome people with love, talk with them, listen to them, laugh with them, offer
them hospitality, become family to them for a time. You get the idea.
So does Pope Francis. He says that the Church must
leave its comfort zone, get out on the periphery and actually be with the poor
-- not just give to the poor. And he calls us to go even further: to use our
voices and our votes to address the causes of poverty – the manifest injustices
that are woven into the very fabric of our economy and our society.
And the great thing about Pope Francis is that his own
personal record of serving the poor and advocating for them gives him
credibility. It makes believable those stories, true or not, about him
roaming the streets and back alleys of Rome by night ministering to the poor.
My friends, in today’s gospel Jesus told us that we are
the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and there are many ways for us to
be that but none better, I think, than by putting the poor first. That,
more than anything, is living the gospel and preaching it.
Pope Francis gets the last word here: “When we are
generous in welcoming people and sharing something with them – some food, a
place in our homes, our time – we are no longer poor, we become rich.” He does
give us a lot to think about, doesn’t he!
Father Michael G. Ryan
