Tuesday of the Seventh week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings are…awkward. They are awkward for a very specific reason: the state of the American Catholic Church. Right now things don’t seem very bad but come the next election, we will once again remember just how divided our Church has become. We argue at our dinner tables and water coolers, maybe even in the church parking lot or vestibule. We yell and say mean things, all in the name of whatever person or party we think best aligns with Church teaching. There is a little solace when we realize that obviously the early Christians and even the Disciples had their own disagreements and conflicts. But this consolation quickly passes when we hear the challenge of today’s readings.
When we read both the epistle from James and the Gospel from Mark, we should feel a bit uncomfortable. We know all too well about the “wars” and “conflicts” among us that James is writing about. And we see too clearly in the Disciples that we too have tried to present ourselves as the best--the most intelligent, the most pious, the ones who know what God really wants from our country and communities. James calls the early Christians to task, and we are swept along with them in their failings. “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you,” he writes. Humbling oneself takes immense courage and strength. Imagine, though, what our families, workplaces and neighborhoods would look like were this our mantra. How radically different would October be! We would have to admit that we don’t know everything. We’d have to admit that we could learn from each other. We would have to admit that we have the same source, and it is only by his abundant love that we know anything at all.
Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus’ response to all of this posturing is to present the Disciples with a child. Doing so seems to do two things for the Disciples: first, it subtly allows them to realize they’re acting like children. Secondly, it challenges them to accept even those people whom they would pass over as unimportant or lacking in the knowledge they are so sure they have. Were we to accept each other as fellow children of God, our internal divisions might be more like lively conversations and mutual exchange and less like the deep wounds inflicted with the weapons of rhetoric. Although today’s readings make us uncomfortable, we must really hear them for how relevant they have unfortunately become.
- Katherine Schmidt