HOMILY – 25TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
ST. ANTHONY CHURCH & FURMAN UNIVERSITY
SEPTEMBER 24, 2006 - 8 & 11AM & 8:30PM
May the Lord give us His peace.
The patience of Muslims and the Pope, ambitious passion, great humanity.
The patience of Muslims and the Pope. We are in a very difficult time in world history. Most Muslim people are being radically misunderstood, and so has Pope Benedict the XVI. The book of Wisdom reveals that proofs of gentleness will be demanded, patience will be “tried.” I thought it would be good for us to acknowledge that the vast majority of Muslim people have read the Pope’s remarks which he gave in a university lecture and find them understandable in context, and that most Catholic people, not having read the lecture, find him disappointing. We are victims of the sound bite and need Wisdom which produces and requires patience. At least, we need the facts. Here are Pope Benedict’s words in partial context, you will see the goal was respectful dialogue, not slander.
“I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of the dialogue carried on - perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara - by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both. It was presumably the emperor himself who set down this dialogue, during the siege of Constantinople between 1394 and 1402; and this would explain why his arguments are given in greater detail than those of his Persian interlocutor. The dialogue ranges widely over the structures of faith contained in the Bible and in the Qur'an, and deals especially with the image of God and of man, while necessarily returning repeatedly to the relationship between - as they were called - three "Laws" or "rules of life": the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Qur'an. It is not my intention to discuss this question in the present lecture; here I would like to discuss only one point - itself rather marginal to the dialogue as a whole - which, in the context of the issue of "faith and reason", I found interesting and which can serve as the starting-point for my reflections on this issue.
In the seventh conversation (διάλεξις - controversy) edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. The emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: "There is no compulsion in religion". According to the experts, this is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Qur'an, concerning holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels", he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness, a brusqueness which leaves us astounded, on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God", he says, "is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably (σὺν λόγω) is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death...".
The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature.”
Our Holy Father gave an example he was trying to refute as a way to proceed not to promote as a way to proceed. The lecture sponsored unity. To read it otherwise is other than wise, untrue and without the patience and peaceable heart called for in it.
Ambitious passion. Ever want something really bad? Could be anything from a jelly belly jelly bean to a car. But if you want it really bad, you step in doo to get it. Under the passion of ambition we can be found thrashing even family. You can see it when a will is read, when there are only 2 cookies left for 5 people, when you say “it’s business” as an excuse rather than an example. Ambitious passion has no place in the kingdom of heaven. It is not balanced, considerate, fair or fun. It creates hate.
The letter from the Book of James encourages the ambitious one to shift to creating a common good, a peace and a justice that makes that peace. We ought to be clear about God’s will here in this house. It pleases God to see us all come to Him because He has chosen us all, Jesus dies for all, how can we walk on or past some?
Ambitious passion will have you do that to feel and be successful. It’s no measure.
Great humanity. Jesus overhears the ambitious passion and offers a vision. A vision of great humanity. Wanna be greaaaaat! Like Tony the Tiger says? (Jesus ate Frosted Flakes for breakfast). Try this he says… “be a servant of every person.”
Some can’t wrap their minds around it. Mothers do it, garbage collectors, firemen and women, teachers, fathers, maybe even friars and sisters. Hear Him! Think about your day, your nights. Who is being served most by your decided way? By mine? It is sobering to think on it. BUT! If we want great humanity, we serve. Jesus named some folks who need to be served, poor, lonely, sick, without food, shelter, clothes. Rich folks get troubles too, they lose meaning, hope, vitality.
Serve them to be a great person. It sounds so simple, but what if we all did it?
It requires HUGE patience, no ambitious passion and a whole latta doin.
But that is the way things are in the Kingdom.
People there are patient, slow to anger, and busy loving you.
Want to join them? Begin today.