Judge not the Lord your God!!!

A Homily given for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

at St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis

by the Reverend Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd, S.T.L.
on September 1st 2013

At the beginning of time when God first breathed the breath of life

Into man and woman, He gave us a choice.

God created from that first big bang (FIAT LUX Gen 1:3)

An explosion of existence out of non-existence:

light, heat, energy, matter, all things

Allowing the law of physics He established to do its work

He carved a space into nothingness where eventually

our planet would stand in the midst of the chaos,

well ordered and well-disposed to shelter life.

On that planet He used the laws of biochemistry to allow things to evolve to the point where all the things we need to prosper were in place.

And then when all was complete, on the sixth day,

awaiting only the reason for creation He created us.

Breathing reason and freewill, the essence of who He was, into creatures

And making them unto His image and His Likeness.

Having given us REASON and FREE WILL

He gave us a choice

Accept the gift of creation, as is, in humility,

Or doubt it, and its Creator, making ourselves His Judge.

Original sin is an act of PRIDE,

and so it should not surprise you that our Lord recommends humility

both in word and example, as the remedy to this sickness.

However, in our day and age, I think many people fall into a modern trap

of proudly judging the Church and other Christians,

and failing to realize that true pride starts and ends

with humility before God!

In the Gospel today the Lord speaks a parable about a supper,

and the place at table which we choose for ourselves at that supper,

Is the Lord talking about a dinner party primarily here?

Elsewhere in the Gospel you might remember

James and John also asking about seating arrangements,

When they asked to sit at Jesus’ left and right in the Kingdom

To which Jesus responds:

Can you drink of the Chalice from which I am to drink?

When they respond yes, Jesus says they will drink of it,
but to sit at His right and left are not His to give.

Of course all this talk of dinners make one think of the Last Supper,

And the image of heaven as a banquet, the Supper of the Lamb

Which is a constant theme in the Gospel.

And so we see that while Jesus may be giving sound advice about not exalting ourselves down hear, the fact of the matter is that,

What he is REALLY warning us about is not exalting ourselves in Heaven.

How often do you come across the Christian who judges the Church

Or individual Christians for their pride,

While assuming the best place for themselves in the Kingdom of Heaven.

I am always struck by the words of St. Peter,

which you hear over and over again,

repeated in the words and writings of the Saints:

DEPART FROM ME LORD, FOR I AM A SINFUL MAN

Most of the Saints understood what the heretic priest Palegius did not,

That man can not EARN salvation!

That no matter how hard we try,

we are all poor sinners in need of a Savior.

Paradoxically, that’s a good thing, because if we were not sinners we would have no need of or access to so great a savior.

And so at the Easter Vigil, when the Church sings the Resurrection song, the Exultet, she sings of the HAPPY FAULT, the HAPPY SIN, of Adam.

The Church does not rejoice in SIN, but in the remedy for sin.

How often today do we hear people presuming upon God,
that everyone and their brother is in Heaven.

REALIZE, that by saying this, we are essentially saying that if perhaps

someone is not in Heaven, that we think should be, then God’s a JERK.

We are making ourselves His judge AGAIN!!!

As Catholics we believe that Baptism,

and membership in the Church is essential to salvation,

that is why it is CHARITY to share our faith with others.

And while we do not limit God’s ability to perhaps work in some other way (than Baptism) to share the necessary grace of this Sacrament, what if God decided, no, I am not going to give salvation to so in so.

Would we really judge the God of Love and Justice, unjust? Would we really dare to tutor He who knows all things in the facts of life?

We work our salvation in fear and trembling,

St. Paul says to the Philippians,
because none of us are worthy of a place at the table.

Much worse than the outcome of the parable today is the predicament of being asked to give up the place of honor and finding no seat left for us to take.

And so humble yourselves before God,

DO NOT MAKE YOURSELF HIS JUDGE, but seek to do His will, on Earth as in Heaven, fearful of your unworthiness,  BUT ALSO full of Hope because of His Love.

"Not my will but your will be done."

I think you will find that when you focus on your own sinfulness, and unworthiness, the most remarkable thing happens, it becomes easier to be humble, loving, and understanding, to the rest of us poor sinners.