Fifteen Sunday in Ordinary TimeIt seems like we are perpetually in an election cycle, with politicians running for this or that office. And already we are now in presidential election mode, even though the day for voting is one year away…from November. I don’t know about you, but it can sure get exhausting for me, watching all the ads, seeing all the coverage of the debates, and the back and forth between our two dominant political parties (though, it’s important to note, there are more than just Republicans and Democrats!).
As Catholics, we are often at odds with both parties in particular ways, which makes it tough, and which gets a lot of Catholics into arguments with other Catholics and even within their families. I know I wish that there was one major party that we could wholeheartedly embrace, but that’s not currently the case. And even if there was, the recent general practice has been to preach about issues, not parties or candidates, which can be wise.
I bring this up because Jesus today talks to us about loving our neighbor, which is precisely the realm of politics: how we treat our neighbor. If we ignore our religion when it comes to our political activity, then we can’t really say that we’re loving our neighbor as ourselves, because our belief in what God has revealed to us about who we are, how we are to live, and how we are to treat others affects the make-up of society.
As Moses said, though, it’s not that you have to be a genius to understand what God has revealed about how we are to treat our neighbor. We don’t have to go up into the sky, or go across the sea. God has revealed it through His Word in Sacred Scripture, and through the teaching of the Church, to which we owe religious submission of will and intellect when it comes to the doctrines of the Church.
So in our own day, we are challenged in how we are to love our neighbor. Jesus instructs us to love those who have a homosexual attraction. They are created in the image and likeness of God and deserve respect, courtesy, and love, just like any other person. We should not discriminate against people with homosexual attractions. But, at the same time, God created marriage between a man and a woman, and we cannot support any other definition of marriage. Nor can we accept sexual acts between two people with homosexual attraction, as sexual acts, are reserved for marriage. Just as Jesus challenged the Jews with His parable, we are challenged to love persons with homosexual attractions, even without supporting the choices those persons may want to make.
We are challenged to love our neighbor when it comes to immigration. We cannot support any action which is contrary to the dignity of any human person, no matter where they come from, or how they entered our country. We are called to welcome those who are fleeing violence and oppression in their countries, especially when that oppression is based on a political view or a religious belief. At the same time, we are allowed to have legal ways to enter the country, and make sure that those who wish to enter the country are not trafficking in illegal drugs or even trafficking human persons, and we can even utilize physical barriers at the border. Just as Jesus challenged the Jews with His parable, we are challenged to love the immigrant, both legal and illegal, and respect their human dignity, even while we defend our border and the legitimate laws of how to enter the country.
We are challenged to love our neighbor when it comes to the infant in the womb. We cannot support any legislation or any politician who supports the killing of an innocent human being, simply because it’s in the womb of the mother and is not desired, or not “convenient” to the lifestyle that the parents want. If an innocent human being in the womb can be killed, then no innocent human being is safe. At the same time, we are also called to care for and support mothers who often have difficult decisions to make to bring their child to birth, as sometimes they have no support from the father of the child, or from their own family. We should remind them of the beauty of life, and of the opportunity to give their child up for adoption for those couples who cannot conceive. Just as Jesus challenged the Jews with His parable, we are challenged to love the infant in the womb and all life from natural conception to natural death.
Love of God and love of neighbor is not complicated to say. But the practical applications of how we love our neighbor need to be based in what God has communicated to us, and can often be complicated. Hopefully we will strive, not only to know that we need to love God and our neighbor to be happy, but also to put that love of God and neighbor into practice as members of God’s chosen people, the Church.
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy, either. Jesus’ example of the story of the Good Samaritan would have challenged the Jews in Jesus’ day. Samaritans were pagans, and not just any pagans, but pagans who used to belong to the Chosen People. They abandoned their worship of the true God to worship pagan gods. In the parable, the priest and the Levite (one of the lower members of the priestly class), leaders of the Chosen People, walk on the opposite side of the victim. But the Samaritan, who knows no loyalty to a Jew, cares for the victim and even spends money to nurse him back to health.