Download Homily 4th Sun. Easter A

Rev. Robert Johansen
Homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter, cycle “A”
When I first read today’s gospel in preparing my homily, I was
struck, and even troubled by it, because it seemed to me that it was directed
more at me and my brother priests than it was at you. For Christ’s words
about his own identity as the Good Shepherd, and what it means to be a
shepherd, have powerful ramifications on our priestly ministry. For indeed,
when Bishop Murray laid his hands on me last August, I was configured to
Christ as shepherd, and made a sharer in the bishops office of shepherd of
souls. And when he anointed me with the sacred Chrism I was configured
to Christ as High Priest and shepherd. But I was not only configured to
Christ as shepherd, but to Christ as Lamb of God, offered as victim for you.
So I must bear your burdens, and suffer for you, even as Christ himself did.
Now, this is a grave and serious duty, and sometimes a weighty
burden. And there were times, while I was in the seminary preparing for
ordination, that the thought of what I was undertaking made shivers run up
and down my spine. For my duty as shepherd is to speak with the voice of
Christ. My duty as shepherd is to speak the truth, both in season and out of
season. My duty as a shepherd of the Church is to speak for the Church,
with the voice of the Church, for when the Church speaks, when the Church
teaches, she does so with the voice of Christ, for she is Christ’s own body.
When I die, and I appear before Christ to be judged, I will be called to
account for every one of your souls. I will be judged on whether or not I
spoke the truth to you. Now make no mistake, each of you will have to give
an account of your own life. But because the office of shepherd has been
given to me, I will have the greater accountability. I will be judged on
whether I spoke with the voice of Christ. I do not want to hear Christ ask me
“Rob, why didn’t you tell them? Why didn’t you speak the Truth?” So I
must speak the truth, even if it is painful, or unpleasant, or unwelcome.
And the truth is this: unfortunately, we have learned that some of our
shepherds, some of those entrusted by Christ with the duty of tending to his
flock, have gone so far as not only to neglect to feed and pasture their flock,
but have themselves turned to become predators: to prey upon Christ’s
flock. And perhaps even worse, some of their chief shepherds, rather than
rebuking them, or removing them, have protected them. I shudder to think
of the judgment that awaits those men when they have to answer before
Christ. For two months now I have been thinking and debating on whether
to say anything about this, and if so, what to say: and now I believe the time
has come to speak.
Now a great deal of blame and opprobrium has been heaped upon
those men who betrayed their sacred trust, and for the most part
deservedly. But a lot of blame has been cast too broadly about, but not
always justly, and sometimes in a misguided way. About two months ago a
woman approached me after Mass, she did so to express her displeasure
with my homily. She told me that she agreed with the first part of it, but that
she was disappointed with the direction I had taken. She thought that I
should then have addressed the scandals, and issued some sort of apology
on behalf of the priesthood and the Church. She then proceeded to tell me
that, in her opinion, nothing would happen to repair these scandals until
there was “real change” in the Church: by real change she meant allowing
priests to marry, the ordination of women, recognition of “alternative
lifestyles”, and a whole host of other things. Now, I believe I answered her
politely, but I confess that I was angry, and I was angry for two reasons:
first, I was angry because I thought, “holy cow, I was just ordained last
August, I didn’t have anything to do with this nonsense, most of which goes
back 20 or even 30 years ago. I thought, “What do I have to apologize for?”
But then I remembered that when I was ordained, I was configured to Christ
as Lamb of God, and Victim. And if that means that I must share some part
of the burden of shame and guilt brought on by my brother priests, then so
be it. It goes with the job, as they say. But I was also angry because that
woman, as well intentioned as I’m sure she was, was misguided, and was
placing the blame, and her hope for a solution to these scandals, in the
wrong place. And there’s a lot of that going around these days.
In last week’s Newsweek magazine, a column appeared by Anna
Quindlen. Anna Quindlen is a famous writer, and she is Catholic. In her
column she blamed the current scandals on what she calls the Church’s
“repressive” teaching on sexual morality. The problem, it seems to her, is
that the Church continues to teach against contraception, divorce and
remarriage, the “gay” lifestyle, and all kinds of other things. This, she
believes, is the cause of the scandals. And there are many people who have
bought into that line of thinking. But Ms. Quindlen, and those who agree
with her, however well intentioned they may be, are wrong. For when you
look at what she is saying, it doesn’t even hold up logically. She contradicts
herself. For what she, in essence, is saying is this: that the Church, by
continuing to hold steadfast to her teaching on sexual morality, by
continuing to say that certain things are wrong, is somehow responsible for
those people who violate that teaching. It’s as if we were to say that because
society continues to outlaw murder, and punish murderers, that society is
somehow is responsible for those who commit murder. It doesn’t make
sense.
The truth of the matter is that the problem is not the Church’s
teaching on sexual morality: remember that when the Church teaches, she
does so with the voice of Christ. The problem is that too many of her
members (and I’m not speaking only of priests here) have failed to live up to
it. Too many of us have failed to listen to the voice of Christ, telling us how
we must be holy, even as He is holy: the voice of the Shepherd, telling us
that we have been saved, and redeemed from sin, for Righteousness. Too
many have bought into the siren song of the world. For the world has been
telling us, for the last thirty years, that we must “loosen up” about sexuality.
We have to become more comfortable with our sexual appetites: we must
learn to embrace our appetites. They have been telling the Church that we
must get rid of our old fashioned, medieval, “repressive” ideas about
sexuality, we must learn to say “OK” to our appetites. But the problem is
that some people have very strange appetites. And many people within the
Church have bought into this way of thinking, even some priests. And that
shouldn’t surprise us: because whenever an idea or mindset as profoundly
permeates a culture as sexual permissiveness has permeated ours, some
members of the Church, even some of her shepherds, are likely to be taken
in. And we have seen the fruit of that sexual permissiveness in our society:
the breakdown of the family, skyrocketing divorce rate, HIV, illegitimacy,
disease, and misery. And that rotten fruit has now even poisoned the
Church.
The Church’s teaching on sex is of one piece: It’s like a piece of fabric:
when you try to pull one part of it away, the whole thing unravels. And we
have seen an unraveling in our culture. The problem with saying OK to
appetite is that once I say it is OK for me to indulge in my appetite, I no
longer have any firm foundation on which to say it isn’t OK for you to
indulge in yours.
The problem is not the Church’s teaching, but that too many of us
have failed to boldly preach and courageously live that teaching. Too many
of us have failed to heed St. Peter’s warning: to save ourselves from this
corrupt generation. For every generation of the world is, in its own way,
corrupt, and in need of redemption.
Now in a few minutes, these children will make their first Holy
Communion. They will take a profound step in their relationship with God.
They will be drawn closer in the embrace of Christ. And thank God for the
great gift He will give them, and has given to all of us. For make no mistake,
a spiritual war is going on, right now, for their souls and for ours. But we
know how the story ends: Christ has risen! Christ has conquered sin: all sin,
even the sins of some of her most trusted members. We have been
redeemed, and our Redeemer will save us, even now, in spite of the scandal,
and hurt, and injury.
I remain, and am hopeful. For my hope is in Christ. It is His name,
and no other name that will save us. I am hopeful, for I believe that Christ
will continue to provide for His Church, and that He will give us many holy
priests, whose desire is to serve you, and offer themselves for you, just as
Christ, the good shepherd did: He will give us shepherds to lead us out of
these difficulties. For in times of scandal and difficulty Christ has always
raised up great saints who lead the Church out of those troubles. As St. Paul
said, where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.
The gift of the priesthood has for me been the greatest joy I have ever
known. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I haven’t had a bad day since
I was ordained. It is Christ who gave me that gift of the priesthood, and
Christ our High Priest who will preserve and continue to guide His priests,
and His whole Church. We must be holy, and remember that it is Christ to
whom we must cling.
© 2002 Rev. Robert J. Johansen
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