Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest,
and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs
September 20, 2023
Today’s Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092023.cfm
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings lead us in prayer to the concept of responsible membership in community, specifically the Church.
Paul counsels Timothy in this regard, reminding the Ephesian community, whom Timothy shepherded, how profoundly graced they are in their Church membership :
… you should know how to behave in the household of God,
which is the Church of the living God,
the pillar and foundation of truth.
Undeniably great is the mystery of devotion,
Who was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated in the spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed to the Gentiles,
believed in throughout the world,
taken up in glory.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus assesses the “membership potential” of the surrounding crowd and finds it wanting. He compares them to a gaggle of immature children taunting and gossiping in the streets:
Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’
Membership in any community is a serious commitment. It requires our sincere and charitable investment in the daily give-and-take of life.
As a creature of God, Who exists in the Trinitarian Community, every human being – even a hermit in the desert – subsists in some dimension of sustaining community. We live, and exchange life, in our families, neighborhoods, countries, world, and universe. We choose communities of faith, ministry, political belief, philosophical understanding, and social interaction. We have a bearing on the lives of those with whom we share the gifts of time and space.
These commitments, to be life-giving, demand our sincere, honest, and reverent participation. Community is never a perfect circle, but more like an interlaced wreath requiring courage to navigate, as David Whyte describes here:
Courage is the measure of our heartfelt participation with life, with another, with a community, a work; a future. To be courageous is not necessarily to go anywhere or do anything except to make conscious those things we already feel deeply and then to live through the unending vulnerabilities of those consequences.
Pope Francis has called all of us to a “culture of encounter”, a way of living together in compassionate community:
An invitation to work for “the culture of encounter”, in a simple way, “as Jesus did”: not just seeing, but looking; not just hearing, but listening; not just passing people by, but stopping with them; not just saying “what a shame, poor people!”, but allowing yourself to be moved with compassion; “and then to draw near, to touch and to say: ‘Do not weep’ and to give at least a drop of life”.
Pope Francis, in a 2016 homily on the Gospel of the Widow of Nain
Pope Francis has also said that the most common and insidious way to kill this culture of encounter is the evil of gossip:
Gossip is a weapon and it threatens the human community every day; it sows envy, jealousy and power struggles. It has even caused murder. Therefore, discussing peace must take into account the evil that can be done with one’s tongue.
Sometimes we become so used to gossip that we don’t even recognize it in ourselves and others. Sometimes our motivations, unexamined, seem innocent enough. However, consider this:
Some bad motivations are more wicked than others. Backstabbing gossip bent on revenge is birthed in malice and threatens to sink whole fellowships (2 Corinthians 12:19–13:2; 3 John 9–10). That kind of gossip is worse than being a busybody who is too interested in other peoples’ business (2 Thessalonians 3:11; 1 Peter 4:15). Yet Jesus said that we will give an account for every careless word we have spoken (Matthew 12:36), not just for the malicious ones.
Matt Mitchell, author – Resisting Gossip: Winning the War on the Wagging Tongue
We don’t want to be like the thoughtless children mocking and teasing in the streets. I know that, for me, it warrants taking a good look at myself, my investment in my many communities, and the reverence of my conversations about them.
Poetry: A Word by Emily Dickinson
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
Music: Neighbor, Neighbor – Jimmy Hughes
While this song presents a rather isolationist interpretation of relationships, it still has its valid points — and definitely a great beat to wake up your morning. 😉
Neighbor, neighbor, don’t wonder what goes on in my home
You’re always lookin’ for somethin’ to gossip about
You’re goin’ around from door to door
Runnin’ your mouth about things you don’t know
Neighbor, neighbor, don’t wonder what goes on in my home
[Verse 2]
Neighbor, neighbor, don’t worry how I make my bread
‘Cause my success is drivin’ you out of your head
You got in those troubles, my trouble, too
Something bad’s gonna happen to you
Neighbor, neighbor, don’t worry what goes on in my home
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 3]
Neighbor, neighbor, don’t worry how I treat my wife
Quit tellin’ ev’rybody we fuss and fight ev’ry night
You’re sweepin’, peepin’ through the hall
Keepin’ your big ears glued to my wall
Neighbor, neighbor, don’t worry what goes on in my home
[Verse 4]
Neighbor, neighbor, don’t worry who knocks on my front door
You’re walkin’, a-talkin’, a-pacin’ all over the floor
You’re sweepin’, peepin’ through the hall
Keepin’ your big ears glued to my wall
Neighbor, neighbor, don’t worry who goes in and out of my door
Lavish Mercy 