the Church a refuge for the wounded

Refuge for the wounded ~ Friday, July 21st "People ask that the Church be a refuge for the wounded and broken, not an institution for the perfect. They want the Church to meet people wherever they are, to walk with them rather than judge them and to build real relationships through caring and authenticity, not a purpose of superiority. (39) Luke 5, 27-32 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” Lou Holtz is a football coach, and by his record a pretty good one. He is the only football coach to have led six different teams to a bowl game and in 1988 he led Notre Dame in a 12 – 0 season and won the Fiesta Bowl. Lou Holtz is also a Catholic and he is always proud to profess his faith. At the last Republican convention Lou Holtz gave a speech that caused some controversy. He was talking about the candidate for the other party who also is a Catholic and he said, “he’s Catholic in name only.” I am not exactly sure what that means but I think it means something that he isn’t a good catholic, that he is less than perfect, that maybe he is a sinner, or he hasn’t followed all the laws of the Catholic Church. If that is what it means, I must be a Catholic in name only as well, because I am not a perfect Catholic, I have sinned, I don’t always follow all the laws of the Catholic Church and I am even willing to admit that there are some laws that I might keep, but I don’t necessarily agree with them. It is easy to say that Lou Holtz is a great coach and to compare his record to other coaches. It not so easy to say we are a good catholic by comparing ourselves to others. Our theme for today, the fourth day of the Novena is that the Church is a refuge for the wounded and broken, not an institution for the perfect. Thank God for that, because I am not perfect, so I guess that I belong. If you are not perfect, you belong. The Gospel that I choose for today is about the call of Matthew the tax collector. I know that nobody likes to pay taxes, but we don’t label tax collectors sinners in our day. We need understand a bit about tax collectors in the day of Jesus. First, Israel was under foreign occupation by the Romans, the taxes collected weren’t to pay for roads and to provide schools for the children. No, the tax money went to Rome, so Matthew was cooperating with a foreign power, it would be like we were taken over by the Russians and all our tax dollars went to Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Matthew made it worse because he was a Jew himself, so he was cooperating with the enemy. He would be seen as a spy and a traitor. Have you seen the series The Chosen? If not put it in your queue because it is very good. It is the story of Jesus that presents the followers of Jesus as very human people, people like you and me. In the Chosen they do a very good portrayal of Matthew and how much he was hated by the people. In the show Matthew collected the taxes from the people, and he had a few run ins with Peter because Peter was trying to hide his catch of fish to avoid paying taxes. When Jesus called Matthew Peter protested loudly. He mentioned how terrible he was and said, “You can’t call people like him!” Jesus turned toward Peter and said, “Get used to it, Matthew is the kind of person that we will be calling.” In those days associating with tax collectors was terrible, but Jesus was even worse. He didn’t just associate with them, but he also sat down and ate with them. He even invited Matthew to follow him. If you are bothered by sinners who are being included in the Church Jesus’ response to Peter is his response to you. “Get used to it!” Think for a moment of a group of people that you despise, people that you don’t like or at least you’d rather not been seen in their company. And now imagine talking with them, inviting them to your home, eating with them in your home. That is what Jesus was doing and the people at least the pharisees and scribes wanted no part of it. They didn’t want a Savior who would welcome sinners’ people they considered less themselves. Or as some would say, “Catholics in name only.” The criticism of the Church that welcomes sinners is the same today as it was in the day of Jesus, Jesus’ response then is the response for today. “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” Jesus has not come for the healthy and righteous but the sick and sinners. Now the truth of the matter is that in the face of Jesus we are all sick, we are in need of healing. We are all sinners in need of forgiveness. In the world in which we live everyone wants to be perfect. We want to hide our imperfections. We dye our hair, get plastic surgery we do anything we can to hide the fact that we are not perfect. A few years ago I began wearing hearing aids. I still am embarrassed when someone notices that I am wearing them. If I have hearing aids it must mean that I am getting old. It must mean that I am not perfect. And I am not perfect. In the face of Jesus, I don’t need to hide my imperfections. No, I can show my imperfections so that Jesus can heal me. So Jesus can take what is wrong and make it good make it better. The second part of today’s theme says that people are looking for a Church that meets people where they are, to walk with them and to build real relationships. This doesn’t mean that we ignore sin, and we say, “Do whatever you want!” No! this is not the position of the church, but rather it isn’t the starting point. We don’t start off proclaiming that you people are sinners. We don’t even say, “God loves the sinner but hates the sin.” The problem with that theology is still has its starting point the sin, rather than the person. To walk with the person to ask them where they are. People lament the fact that folks don’t go to confession like in “the old days.” I don’t think that we need to go to confession like in the old days. We don’t need to be scrupulous about our confession and try to remember the exact number of times we committed such a such a sin, but we still need to go to confession. It is a wonderful opportunity to receive the graces of the Sacrament. I believe that confession not only forgives our sin, but it also gives us the grace we need to live better lives. Confession is something that is done individually. We confess our sins to a priest and receive absolution. We can also celebrate the sacrament communally which we will do so today. We will end with that opportunity to confess and receive absolution but today we will make our examination of conscience together. That is so important because what an examination of conscious is like a medical checkup where we will find out what is wrong with us. You know sometimes we go to a doctor for a checkup because we have a pain in our knees and we want to find out what it is, other times we get blood work done or something and we find out that we sick even though we didn’t realize it. That is what we would like to help you to do today. To get some blood work done and to find out what it is that is ailing you. I hope that everyone will take advantage of Fr. Ted, Phil and myself this week and celebrate the sacrament. It is one practical thing that we can do as we prepare to enter the tent that Jesus has for us. At the end of the mass Fr. Phil will lead us in an examination of conscience and help us to prepare to celebrate the sacrament. At the end of the service, we will be in different places in the Church. Hopefully we have helped you to open your heart to how you need God’s mercy and love. Jesus did not come for the perfect, but for sinners. What a blessing to recognize our sins and to turn to God for his mercy and love.