Audio of Homily
#150: “The Mercy of Christ v. the False Mercy of the World”
(With Focus on Parents of School & Parish Religious Education)
5pm School Mass
5pm School Mass
This past month in Super Bowl LIII (53), we saw the New
England Patriots play against the LA Rams.
One of those players in the LA Rams is a kicker named #4 Greg Zuerlein. As a rookie kicker, Zuerlein has an
impressive record with the skill to kick a football over 50 yards earning him
the nickname “The Leg.” (And, yes, even
though he defeated and shut out our beloved 49ers a couple of times by
converting some points for him team <sigh>, he is still worth mentioning
here.)
“The most important goal of a single Catholic man is
to get his soul to heaven, but the most important goal of a married Catholic
man expands to getting not only his own soul to Heaven, but also those of his
wife and children.” (REPEAT) Zuerlein’s shows
us that the real goal isn’t at the end of a temporary field that will decay,
but rather this kicker sows us that our ultimate goal post is to go to Heaven.
This leads to the 2 main points of this homily: (1) The
first is that the mercy of Christ means returning good for evil; (2) the second
is that the false mercy of the world returns evil for evil. So those are the 2 simple points: The true
mercy of Christ v. the false mercy of the world.
For the first point, in last week’s Gospel, we heard Jesus
announce the Kingdom of God in the Beatitudes.
Today, we hear Jesus continue to announce the Kingdom of God in his
Sermon on the Mount. In Beatitudes, Jesus
taught, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” “Blessed are the meek, for the shall inherit
the earth.” Today, he continues, “Be
merciful as you Father is merciful.”
The Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount reveal to
us how to go to Heaven. St. Augustine called
the Beatitudes the constitution for Christian morality (cf. Fr. Servais Pinckaers, O.P., on the renewal of Catholic moral theology after Vatican II with Sacred Scripture).. Just as Moses went up the Mountain to receive
the 10 Commandments, so too Christ goes up the Mount to give us the New Law of Mercy. But this needs to be understood
correctly. When Jesus taught about
loving enemies or blessing those who curse, or turning the cheek, Jesus taught
about revenge and retaliation. Jesus on
the Mount teaches us that we do not return evil for evil. Rather, today, he says, “Return good for
evil.” The teaching on mercy and
meekness does not mean let people walk all over you and don’t defend
yourself. “Blessed are the meek” means
that you have to defend yourself but do it in a way that is not evil. Do the right thing, even if nobody is looking. In my classroom, I used to have a sign that
my students told me they liked: Stand up for what is right, even if you’re
standing alone. Hear the Word of the
Lord in the First Reading from the First Book of Samuel where it is written
that David could have killed Saul, the first king of Israel. Saul deserved to die, but David did not kill
him with the spear. David was merciful. He did not return evil for the evil King Saul
did to him, but David rather returned good for evil and left with the spear. David teaches that we should not do evil that
good may come of it (cf. JP2, Veritatis
Splendor).
Christ teaches his followers to return good for
evil. This is how we are educated in
virtue and character. A virtue is a
habit do good. When we do one good deed
and another and another over time, that is a virtue. It builds character. There are many reasons why attending St.
Catherine’s School is a blessing toward education in virtue, character and holiness. Only 1 out of 10 children in the U.S. attends
a Catholic school, so know how blessed you are.
Last month, during Catholic Schools Week, Fr. Percy announced that St.
Catherine’s School took first place in the Religion Decathlon. That is really awesome! OMG! It
reflects well on our not only our teachers and principal and parish, it also
reflects very well on the parents that have made virtue and handing on the Faith
to their children Priority #1.
But let’s go to the second main point. We go deeper into the teaching of Christ by
seeing what mercy is not. False mercy is
when we let people or our kids do whatever they want, especially when we do not
correct them. If we truly love someone,
then we must say or do something about it; otherwise, it is not real love. For example, that is why parents and teachers
and guardians have to correct something that is not virtuous or not according
to the Catholic way of life. If someone harms
us or does something wrong, and we do not say what they are doing is wrong for
whatever reason, then we are actually complicit or even making things worse. If we show this false mercy by remaining
silent when we should speak, we may be perpetuating a cycle of evil with
another evil. Rather, let us be
pastorally vigilant overseeing the moral formation of ourselves and our youth, especial
any father figures who are called to be present in children’s lives. As Zuerlein said, once you make that vow,
your goal is to get not just you but your wife and kids to Heaven. God who is our loving Father corrects his
people, even if it hurts. It is merciful
love to correct someone in the truth. As
the Responsorial Psalm says, “The Lord is kind and merciful.”
So those are the two main points from today’s readings. First, the mercy of Christ is when we return good
for evil. Second, the false mercy of the
world returns evil for evil.
To close, keep this last point in mind. The head coach calls in a kicker when the
team is down and can’t score the full points.
So right now, let God the Head Coach call in his Son Jesus the Kicker for
the spiritual field goal. If we give our
lives to Christ the Divine Kicker, he will covert our football of our life, our
heart, to the Field Goal Post of Heaven!
May we too reach our goal of Heaven in the game of our
spiritual life and be merciful, not as the world is merciful, but as the
Heavenly Father is merciful and one day reach the Kingdom where the Blessed
Saints in Heaven who practiced mercy for they shall be shown mercy. This way, to use St. Paul’s words from today’s
Second Reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians, just as we are in the
image of the earthly one (the First Adam), we shall also bear the image of the
heavenly one, the Second Adam who is Jesus Christ. Go to Heaven!
Be a saint! What else is there?
Be merciful, just as your Heavenly Father is merciful. Amen.
