Stay Or Leave

HOMILY NOTES

FR. TERRY RYAN, CSP

Joshua 24, Ephesians 5: 21-32, John 6: 60-69

August 26, 2018, Snowmass Trappist Monastery

The questions asked in Joshua and John are the questions many a Catholic are asking themselves today.  Joshua asks, who will cross the line and join me?  Jesus asks Peter, “Do you also want to leave?”  Catholics are asking themselves theses questions about their church.  I too had to ask and answer this question for myself some years ago.  

I was 13 and an altar boy.  One of the priests was kind of “icky.”  I did not much care for him but he one day invited me to his room to see something that must of been of interest to me.  So I went.  As I was sitting as a desk he stripped down to his shorts and tank top.  When he did not change into some other pants, I thought that this might be a time to go.  So I did.  Years later, I heard that he had been found out and disbarred or whatever they do to priests.  Another fellow, a layman, wanted to start a summer boys day camp.  He seemed like a nice guy and it was cheap.  I enjoyed it, but found out years later that eventually “something happened” and he was not allowed to ru the camps anymore.  Finally, there was a fellow in town not connected with church at all, who helped local boys baseball teams, with equipment, league organization and such.  I met him once and he seemed like a nice guy though I never joined in the teams.  Years later he was tried and found guilty I believe.  This all happened in the 50s. 

But I decided to stay with the church just as did Peter in the gospel.  He did not say, “Where should we go” as in going to some other place, but rather he said, “To WHOM shall we go.”  It is about relationship with Christ.  I have this relationship with Christ that is fed by the Eucharist and this holds me.  But if I am going to cross the line as Joshua challenges, there is more that I must do.  Joshua says, “Decide whom you will serve.”  He did not say that by crossing the line, anyone would get power, control, complete authority.  No, he said “serve.”  Jesus was about service. 

If you want to join, or lead, you had better be of service, such as washing feet of disciples, rejection by people in power, crucifixion and such.  Which brings me to the letter to Ephesians.   Paul calls us Brothers and Sisters.  We are all interconnected in this.  We are supposed to be subordinate to one another that is, to serve one another.  If you are the head, as the husband is supposed to be in marriage, as in this reading, you are the first servant of your wife.  Being a leader in the Christian community is not something you seek.  The first are last.  The church lives in a hierarchical model based upon the Roman government.  The top guy has all the power.  No checks and balances.  In Jesus’ community the top is the bottom.  But families developed with the idea that the male is boss, that is, in charge to get his way.  Jesus did not come with that model.  The only reason you break from being servant is if your partner does not love their flesh, which includes the other person, you.  “The two become one flesh” in the bible.  If one person is on drugs and alcohol then you have to take charge, or if they hurt you, you have to take charge.  

In AA, leaders are servants.  If you lead a meeting, you serve the needs of all at that meeting.  If you sponsor someone, you give up of time and energy to help the recovering addict through the steps.  Meetings give you comfort, but being of service gives you sobriety.  This is more what Jesus had in mind than the top down power grab of Roman rule.  

It is correct to be outraged and want some change, but the question that might be asked is the one I had to ask myself some years ago.  Do I have a relationship to Jesus Christ that is fed by the Eucharist, becoming one with his flesh, and am I willing to be of service?  I have found the being of