Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. How providential is it that, a week after another horrible shooting, this time in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, our Gospel wants us to focus on anger.
Our Lord begins with the commonly-known prescription that we are not to kill. It is important to note that, while in English we say kill, the meaning behind the original word is closer to “commit homicide,” or kill and innocent person. We might also use the word murder. But Christ says that the prohibition against murder is not sufficient for being in right relationship with God. Indeed, I imagine all of us here can say, without equivocation, that we have not murdered anyone. But beyond murder, and really, leading to it, is anger, hatred, and de-humanizing the other.
Again, the word anger, like kill, needs a little unpacking. Anger, St. Thomas Aquinas says, is the reaction to a perceived injustice. When we talk about the emotion of anger, we have very little control over that feeling. Whenever we feel that someone acts unjustly toward us, that emotion appears. That, in itself, does not merit blame. But when we take that emotion and use it to attack, demean, or belittle the other, that is when anger can be thought of as a sin. So, as one calls another a name, or puts another down, whether in thought, word, or deed, we start to walk down the path to murder, to killing the innocent.
We may think of putting others down as a far cry from murder (and it certainly is), but demeaning another is the first step on the path that leads to the destination of murder, if those actions of anger are not quenched. Indeed, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope St. John Paul II, the fifth commandment not only includes treatment of intentional homicide, abortion, euthanasia, and suicide, but also treats respect for others (and the sin of scandal), respect for bodily integrity, and working towards peace. Gossip, in its own way, is also connected to this, as a way that we speak ill of others, killing, as it were, their good name.
But how do we stop what are becoming regular acts of violence, often mass violence, in our society? How do we work to thwart other people not only demeaning others, saying cruel and harmful things about others, but even the taking of innocent life?
Like so many things, it will start in small ways, especially in the family. The change from a culture of death to a culture of life will not often gain wide notice in the press. Like the mustard seed that starts as the smallest of seeds but becomes a large bush, the transition from death to life will fly under the radar until it breaks forth in a way that cannot be ignored.
Starting in the family, then, is the respect for human life. Two grave offenses against human life have run rampant in our country for decades, and are even widely promoted by some. Those two offenses are abortion and pornography. Is it any surprise that there is a disregard for some lives by members of a society that often trumpets the killing of an innocent and defenseless baby in the womb? Is it any wonder that human life can be snuffed out so easily by some when another human being is used merely as an object of pleasure to satisfy personal lust?
Society cannot fix these problems, the recent Supreme Court ruling that abortion is not a constitutionally protected action notwithstanding. While governmental action can help, at the end of the day respect for each human life begins, is sustained, and finds its greatest success in family life. The family knows best how to show respect for life, even from a young age.
I think of a family I know rather well, and one of the adult children recently had a baby. The toddler sees the baby, and often wants to hold that baby, like the adults do. The adults, for their part, allow the toddler to hold the child (while supervised and supporting the baby’s head and neck), and in doing so are teaching the sacredness of human life in a way a toddler can understand. As toddlers grow, they can become a bit more aggressive, especially with siblings, when they don’t get their way. Teaching children that they can’t simply hit or kick a sibling (let alone an adult) when that other person gets in the way is teaching the sacredness of life.
As children grow into teens who have more freedom and make more decisions on their own, even as they face more temptations, the lessons become even more important: not to tease others because they are awkward (as every teen is at some point); not to drive in a way that puts others at risk, especially under the influence or even simply with a phone; not treating another person, whether a classmate or as communicated through social media or the internet, as a way to satisfy the desire for sexual union. All those ways and more promote the dignity and sanctity of life.
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| Fr. Anthony as an 8th grade graduate (left) |
For us adults, we can work on watching how we talk about others, what we say to others, and how we communicate when we don’t get in our own way. It seems like many more adults are living like toddlers: when I don’t get my way, I yell or destroy stuff, whether it’s at a customer service representative for a company, or in riots when a government decision isn’t what I wanted it to be.
If we want to end these mass shootings, there may be political action that could help. I’m not a political science expert, so I’m not going to weigh in on what can be done in this forum. But I do have knowledge about the human person, as revealed to us through Jesus Christ, and how the practice of religion helps society. And so I can say, without hesitation, that if we want, not only to stop the symptoms, but stop the disease of the lack of respect for human life, it will start in our homes, in our families. Have dinner together as a family, without phones. Show love for your spouse and for your children in concrete ways. Monitor video game, internet, and phone usage. Support each other in the family. The perpetrators in these mass shootings often do not have a strong family life, do not have a support system to reaffirm their dignity when others do put them down, and often turn to violent video games as the first place they vent their anger. I’m not here to blame this or that factor, but only to say that we can do better, and it starts in the family.
Christ teaches us today that murder does not begin at that drastic action. There are many smaller actions of anger that precede the more notorious tragedies. One tried and true way to stop these mass shootings is to teach the dignity of every human being, from natural birth to natural death, which happens best when a family communicates by what they do and by what they say, the love of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
