Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Despite religious leaders collapsing into a frenzy, Jesus heals a deformed man on the Sabbath. Their obsession with the letter of the law trumped the needs of a hurting neighbor, an outcast and a pariah who was probably maltreated throughout his life.
People who are different need kindness most of all but attract those who show kindness least at all. Bullies zero in on easy targets. In our day some politicians, even at the highest levels, have made fun of the handicapped but still got elected to high office. The adoring crowds laughed along. Startling.
Having laws is necessary. As a teacher my classroom had to have clear expectations. Societies without laws know chaos. Without traffic ordinances we'd be taking our life in our hands whenever we got in a car. Healthy relationships must have clear boundaries supporting mutual respect.
The issue here isn't regulations or laws in and of themselves. The issue here is rules for rules sake.
Baby Boomers recollect our pre-Vatican II church. We did a lot of hair splitting back then. Did that piece of pork floating in the can of beans put the whole can off limits? Arriving at mass after the Gospel wouldn’t count. One parish even had a red and a green light in the sanctuary. Women panicked if they forgot a hat or chapel veil.
Rigidity weaved itself into the fabric of Catholic life. Some kids in our neighborhood were forbidden playmates from divorced homes. In the height of Beatlemania, our monsignor railed against the Fab Four because they weren’t Catholic. Or even worse, Paul McCartney was baptized Catholic but didn't practice. You can't make this stuff up.
As the world's bishops made their way to Vatican Council II, my family attended the wedding of a cousin in a Methodist Church. I protested because the good sisters had drilled into us that entering a Protestant church was a mortal sin. My father said I was going. My choice was hell or Jack Cronin’s wrath. My eight year old self chose hell. (Some relatives stood outside the church and refused to enter.)
One gift of the council is that we are now invited to live our faith like adults. This makes life messy sometimes but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
If we are honest, though, we all have a pharisee or two lingering about. We all have withered hearts at times. Here are some signs of the pharisaic within:
- Presuming the motives of others.
- Viewing God as the great policeman in the sky.
- Projecting our inadequacies and imperfections onto others.
- Creating God in our own image and likeness.
- Claiming to know the mind of God.
- Deciding who’s in God’s favor and who’s not.
It's enough to make the Church Lady blush.
How do we restore blood flow to stiff hearts? Our model is Jesus himself who saw a hurting member of his community and healed him.
And we know that the letter of the law doesn't heal or restore anyone. Only Jesus can.
Stretch out your hand.
-Timothy J. Cronin