Homily for Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Oct 13, 2019

Homily for October 13, 2019

Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Outsiders Come In

            An interesting theme in today’s readings is how God gives His abundant grace and mercy to outsiders. Our first reading features Naaman, who is the chief military officer of the King of Aram, which was outside the Promised Land. In other words, he’s a pagan Gentile, who has nothing to do with the Chosen People – but God has mercy on his leprosy and heals him.

            Our Gospel features the ten lepers, one of whom is a Samaritan. Samaritans despised Jews, and vice versa – although they were both children of Abraham, Samaritans had intermarried with pagans and refused to worship God in the Temple of Jerusalem. Although this Samaritan is outside of the Chosen People, God has mercy on him and heals him of the leprosy.

            Both cures require a leap of faith, though, before God can offer mercy. Naaman had to believe that this Jewish prophet Elisha actually possessed the power of God to cure him (Elisha, interestingly, did most of his ministry in Samaria). The Samaritan leper had to make an even bigger leap of faith and overcome a deep-seated prejudice – when Jesus said to show themselves to the priests, that would require this Samaritan to travel to the hated city of Jerusalem and submit to the priests whom Samaritans reject. But he had enough faith to trust that this Jewish man Jesus had the power of God to cure him – so he was willing to rethink his rejection of the Jewish Temple and the Jews in general.

            And once God had moved in their life, they became full-fledged believers. Naaman swore that he would only sacrifice to the God of Israel – not to the pagan gods of his ancestors. To emphasize his newfound belief in the True God, he brings back two mule-loads of earth from Israel, because he could not offer sacrifice on anything less than holy ground. The Samaritan returns to Jesus, praising God and recognizing that Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah that both Jews and Samaritans longed for.

            You see, these stories are about so much more than simple gratitude. They are about outsiders having faith in God’s messengers, receiving His incredible healing and blessings, and then becoming full-fledged followers of the Lord.

            So – how do these stories apply to us? One of the questions I get asked most as a priest is, “Can non-Catholics or non-Christians go to Heaven?” Certainly receiving the grace of salvation – a free gift from God – is the greatest blessing He can give us. Can those “outsiders” – non-Catholics – be so blessed by God?

            The short answer is “yes…but.” Yes, God can bestow saving grace upon anyone He chooses. We are bound by the Sacraments, but God is not bound by the Sacraments. So He can certainly save those of other religions who sincerely seek Him as best as they know how.

            BUT…we have the obligation to discover what the true religion is – and once we have discovered it, we have the obligation to invite others into it. Recently a teen from a former youth group came to me and said, “Oh, Father, I’m sorry to tell you, but I’ve started going to a local Evangelical church.” I was pretty saddened and asked why. She told me that she felt more welcome there, they had better music and better preaching. But then I asked her if it was the true religion founded by Jesus – she looked flabbergasted, as if she had not given it any consideration! We have a duty to seek after the true religion – not the one we prefer, or enjoy more, or the one we find the most helpful to us personally.

            When I was a deacon, I was invited to lead a Holy Hour at a most interesting convent. Just outside of Baltimore was a convent of Anglican nuns – all of whom decided to convert to become Catholic nuns…except for one! One nun remained Anglican and explained that she was “too old” to convert. So when I came for the Holy Hour, I walked into the church to find all of the nuns in the main body of the church, praying to Jesus in the tabernacle – and the solitary Anglican nun off to the side of the church, praying before her Anglican tabernacle. But the Anglicans don’t have a valid Eucharist, since they do not have valid Holy Orders – so this poor elderly nun was kneeling before bread! It was an interesting contrast – the rest of the nuns are possessing the Pearl of Great Price in Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, while the elderly nun, out of a sense of convenience, had only bread that she knelt before.

            Yes, it costs something to find the truth – Naaman had to swallow his pride, the Samaritan had to overcome his prejudice. The saint who was canonized yesterday, St. John Newman, knew quite a bit about the cost of seeking the true religion. John Newman was a popular Anglican priest, always in demand for his preaching. He wrote extensively and was well-thought-of in the Anglican world. But as he continued studying the Scriptures and the Church fathers, he realized that the true church was the Catholic Church. It soon became inevitable that he become Catholic.

            Now, this was a crisis point in his life. To become Catholic was to lose his friends, his upbringing, his good reputation, his teaching position at Oxford. But he knew he had to become a full-fledged follower of the Lord – so he converted. In doing so, he received the greatest graces – the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the authority of the Pope and the Church to guide his theology, and access to all of Jesus’ graces to aid him on the way of sanctification. He is now known as St. John Newman!

            So, the sum of it is this: God can give incredible blessings – healing, mercy, salvation - to those who are “outsiders” – people “on the margins” of society. But He desires the “outsiders” to come in – into the fullness of truth, the fullness of grace, the fullness of life found most perfectly within the Catholic Church.