This Sunday’s scripture gives us a description of what should define one’s religion. Namely, it is to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world. Let’s translate what, exactly, that means. As ever, we need to go beyond the literal meaning of what we read in scripture. In this case, we’re NOT being told to just look after widows and orphans. The reference includes them but is a way of referring to those who are most neglected and poor in society. “Widows and orphans” is “code” for the marginalized and “have-nots.”
You can see how this definition might upset some people—because many dismiss these underdogs by saying “God helps those who help themselves!” Or, “Charity begins at home.” Or, “We take care of our own” (and no others). There are different ways we can let “the wretched of the earth” remain wretched, but Jesus taught us to “feed the hungry” and “clothe the naked,” and that has defined Christian philosophy since its beginning. There’s a quote from a 3rd-century Roman historian that says: “The Romans feed the Romans and the Jews feed the Jews, but the Christians feed everyone.” So you can see how early those outreach roots were in identifying our ancestors’ behavior.
Speaking of which, this past week saw two feast days observed—one devoted to Saint Monica and the other to her son, Saint Augustine. They lived around the year 400, and just for good measure, John the Baptist’s feast day also took place this week (he lived in the 1st century). All three are relevant to scripture this weekend and to each of us in attendance.
St. Monica was a devoted mother who prayed and prayed for her son to turn his life around. She never gave up on him, but instead did all she could to help her son make better choices—choices that were grounded in the Gospel and not in his self-interest. She is like the mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers in the parish here—praying for their young to have a “conversion experience.” She never gave up, and eventually saw the day come when Augustine was one of the greatest theologian-preachers in early Christendom.
A sidebar to Augustine’s story is that the Augustinian congregation—founded a few hundred years after Augustine was alive once included the Catholic priest we know in history as Martin Luther. Luther tried to reform the Church and make innovations that eventually were adopted by Rome. He was, however, excommunicated and is associated with what we know today as the Lutheran division of Christianity. Centuries before Catholics offered the Mass in English, Luther was a proponent of Mass (and the Bible) in the language of the people.
Like everyone, he made mistakes, and one was his hostility toward Judaism. He also had the gall to argue for the Letter of James to be dropped from the canon of New Testament books. Coincidentally, our second reading today is from that very letter. Christians had been reading it as part of the canon for 1500 years when Luther argued that it be dropped, but this was one argument he did not win.
After he led a life of debauchery (recorded in his religious classic The Confessions of Saint Augustine), this “Doctor of the Church” influenced Christian thought regarding “original sin.” Jewish tradition did not think of Adam, Eve, and the serpent in terms of the devil tempting our “first parents” with fruit (the “apple” was not in the biblical story but became the popularly imagined fruit many centuries later). Instead, a first-century writing titled The Life of Adam and Eve conjured up Satan as the snake causing humans to commit the ORIGINAL sin.
Perhaps because he led such a sinful life, Augustine focused on the sinful aspect of our human identity. Our Jewish relatives, however, read the story as one of original BLESSING. Augustine’s legacy combined with Luther’s to see branches of Christianity emphasize our fallen human nature—a famous colonial writing by Jonathan Edwards capturing the mindset of many Christians who thought we all were “Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God.’
And this takes us back to today’s Gospel. It gives us a list of behaviors we should do our best to avoid. We are tempted to express these behaviors at different times, so it is good that we spend some time reflecting on how they influence our thinking. Take some time and spend a period of reflection on how these non-Christian thought patterns arise in our everyday lives.
Three topics cited in the Gospel are already familiar to us in the 10 Commandments. We’re told to NOT steal, murder, or commit adultery. If you’ve not committed these deadly behaviors, how might you have done so metaphorically, or figuratively?
We’re then asked to consider the role of “greed” in our lives. Our intense, selfish desire for more money or power can destroy lives. We hear of inflation being high but how many of us write food corporations that have been making 300 or 400% profit—the only reason grocery prices are high is because the CEOs and Boards can price gouge! What makes one seek 100% profit, then 200, then 300, then 400? Greed! No trait of Christian behavior.
What simmers within us when we want to see something unpleasant happen to someone? “Malice” is not a Christian attitude. As with “envy,” this trait pulsates with ill will and serves no good end. How often I’ve harbored malice or envy, or seen it within others, and later learned that the target of this hostility was forced to carry much heavier crosses than I ever did. How dare I be upset that they experienced something nice or fell prey to some hurtful event?
Or imagine if everyone practiced “deceit” on everyone with whom they interacted. All of us would have to cope with lies that ensnared us in bad products that hurt us in some way. When truth is misrepresented to us, we are forced to make poor decisions, or just stand on shaky ground all the time. The Russians celebrated in 2016 when their candidate for the U.S. presidency won. They spent millions of dollars flooding social media with lies that many Americans believed were truthful reports (even using actors to portray Americans praying that Hilary Clinton not win). We didn’t even know we were being duped by Russians!
Today’s Gospel also cites licentiousness as a behavior that only brings trouble via lewd conduct. One would think that the many deaths and damage done by venereal diseases would scare us away from this behavior—but Augustine was qualified to tell us that this behavior produces no good result. Nonetheless, most advertising has a sexual component to it that casts a reptilian appeal to us “poor souls.”
Or how about the trait known as “folly?” It refers to our lack of good sense when acting a certain way. For example, you see something that casts appeal. You can’t afford it but you get it anyway “because I wanted it.” Meanwhile, the roof is leaking and your costly purchase will affect your home life and the health of your family. You act on impulse and do not use the good sense God gave you to make good decisions. You wanted something and you took it—as when someone grabs another sexually and thus becomes a predator. You want something and you act solely on your basest instinct. Not Christian. So what do we do about this?
Spend a day on each of these “traits” of human behavior that affect us so negatively. Take each one separately and ask God to help you extricate it from your life. And at the same time, take to heart a quote of Augustine that might help calm your frustration in dealing with the void you feel even when things are going your way. The doctor of the Church knew that “Our hearts were made for God, and they will not rest until they rest in God.”
In the meantime, think of the 3rd saintly feast day of this past week—that of John the Baptist. He was someone who knew that he was not, and would never be, the Messiah. He always pointed to Someone greater than himself, and so lived his life trying to give glory to God (and not himself). We’re raised to put ourselves at the center of attention and be recognized as someone great—and we are (in God’s eyes). But our role in everyday experience is always to thank the One from whom all good things come. Our role, as the Letter of James tells us today, is to be doers of the Word and not just listeners of it.”