human dignity – deacon rudy's notes

Today’s readings give us some fascinating insight into the work required of us as disciples of Jesus Christ. There are two aspects of that work which I want to discuss today.

First, we begin with the second reading from 1 Thessalonians. I think this is an important passage for us to consider because it speaks about the end times. St. Paul is clear that there will come an end, but we do not know when that will happen. So, we need to be prepared, he tells us. But the implication is that we shouldn’t be so stressed that we become paralyzed by our fear and worry. I think that is an essential message for us today.

As I prepare my homily, there is so much uncertainty in the US presidential election. We can look at the increase in conflicts around the world and natural disasters and think, “well, this is it, isn’t it!” And yet, if we scan history, we find many points in time filled with war, terror, natural disasters. But the world kept moving forward. Will the world end? Yes, we believe that to be true based on scripture. But we cannot allow ourselves to be so totally paralyzed with anxiety that we do nothing. When we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by anxiety, anxiety becomes the center of thoughts and perhaps even our world. In a way, anxiety becomes like a god.

But we disciples of Christ Jesus know the rest of the story. Jesus rose from the dead on Easter, overcoming death itself. Death has no hold over us, and that should give us some reassurance. So, what to do in the meantime?

We work! Let’s look at that interesting reading from Proverbs today about the “worthy wife.” This is an important description for all of us! The passage describes an industrious and creative person who is robed in strength and dignity. Through this person’s hard work, they can care for their family and help the needy.

This idea that dignity flows from work – physical labor and intellectual labor – is an often-overlooked element in Catholic Social Teaching. Of course, we meet the need before us. But Catholic Social Teaching asks us to reflect on the reasons behind the need. We advocate to transform the circumstances, so it doesn’t happen again. Basically, we might give someone a fish today, but we need to teach that person how to fish so that they can feed themselves tomorrow. We act, reflect, and transform. This is called the “ART” of Catholic Social Teaching: act, reflect, transform.

This is a very misunderstood part of Catholic Social Justice. Catholic Social Justice is not about socialism or communism or Marxism, or for that matter, not about fascism either. Why does the church approach social justice in the ART way? Because as our first reading from Proverbs reminds us, dignity flows from our work. Catholic Social Justice is about protecting the dignity of the human person and about promoting human flourishing. In other words, we need to help people become the best version of themselves – to be what God called us to be in this world. You might also think of this as following God’s will for your life. If you follow God’s plan, then you will flourish – not to be confused with monetary wealth and success. So, we work toward our flourishing, and we offer help to those who need some help. That’s very important. We’ll speak more about that next week when we discuss the rubrics for salvation.

Actual work is essential for us – both physical work and intellectual work. Our dignity flows from work, and that helps us flourish. What’s the second aspect of work I mentioned at the beginning? We see that in today’s Gospel message. In this interesting passage, some very wealthy man entrusted his servants with these “talents” and said he would return to collect in the future.

One way we can look at this passage is that God gave each one of us specific gifts and blessings. We disciples received the gift of faith. We received the Good News of Jesus Christ! The work of disciples is to share the Good News – the great story of Jesus with everyone! Another way to say it is that our goal is to get to heaven and to bring someone with us! We can’t just hoard the Good News for ourselves and bury it away.

Why?

Because the Gospel says the owner, let’s call him Jesus, will return. And when Jesus returns, he is going to ask us what we’ve done with the Good News – our gift of faith. Now, different disciples seem to have received a different capacity to share the Good News. Some clergy and laypeople are online, or speak at conferences, or are prolific writers. Others share the Good News in their roles through the parish. And still, others do their part to spread the Good News among their families and friends. To each is given a measure of faith, and each of us is called to respond in kind.

But if we don’t share the faith, if we make up excuses like “I’m too shy” or “I’m embarrassed” or “I’m not allowed to discuss religion,” then we act like the wicked and lazy servant who is cast outside where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth! (MT 25:26, 30)

My brothers and sisters, if we believe that what we receive in the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus, then it should change you, and it should change me! We are strengthened by the grace flowing through God’s creation and, in particular, through the Eucharist and the sacraments. God’s grace helps us to not only live as disciples in a world filled with so many luxurious distractions but also so that we can bring the hope of Jesus Christ to all the anxious people out there who aren’t sure what to make of these crazy times.

Homework! Transformed by the Word of God and the Eucharist, I ask you to reflect on the following two questions: First, how do my fears keep me from living the life God calls me to live? Second, how am I using my gifts to lead others to Jesus Christ?

Doing our homework will help us be the good and faithful disciples we are called to be. Do you got it? Do you get it? Good! Now go make disciples! May almighty God bless you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! +Amen!

Image Credit: Artist unknown. Sharing the Good News. JPG file.

Notes: Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible quotes are taken from The Bible: A Study Bible freshly translated by Nicholas King. Buxhall, Suffolk UK: Kevin Mayhew, 2013.

References:
1. Eubank, Nathan. First and Second Thessalonians. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2019. Kindle.
2. Mitch, Curtis and Edward Sri. The Gospel of Matthew. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2010. Kindle.

Catechism References http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm:
1. Our works manifested at the Last Judgment, 1038-41
2. Keeping busy as we await the Lord’s return, 1048-50
3. Marriage in the order of creation, 1603-05
4. Different gifts for different people, 1936-37
5. Our merits for good works come from God’s goodness, 2006-11
6. Dignity of woman, 2331, 2334

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111520.cfm
Lectionary: 157

Reading 1
Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
When one finds a worthy wife,
her value is far beyond pearls.
Her husband, entrusting his heart to her,
has an unfailing prize.
She brings him good, and not evil,
all the days of her life.
She obtains wool and flax
and works with loving hands.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her fingers ply the spindle.
She reaches out her hands to the poor,
and extends her arms to the needy.
Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting;
the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her a reward for her labors,
and let her works praise her at the city gates.

Responsorial
Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
R. (cf. 1a) Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.

Reading 2
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters,
you have no need for anything to be written to you.
For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come
like a thief at night.
When people are saying, “Peace and security,”
then sudden disaster comes upon them,
like labor pains upon a pregnant woman,
and they will not escape.

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness,
for that day to overtake you like a thief.
For all of you are children of the light
and children of the day.
We are not of the night or of darkness.
Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do,
but let us stay alert and sober.

Alleluia
John 15:4A, 5B
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Remain in me as I remain in you, says the Lord.
Whoever remains in me bears much fruit.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“A man going on a journey
called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.
To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one–
to each according to his ability.
Then he went away.
Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them,
and made another five.
Likewise, the one who received two made another two.
But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground
and buried his master’s money.

“After a long time
the master of those servants came back
and settled accounts with them.
The one who had received five talents came forward
bringing the additional five.
He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents.
See, I have made five more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master’s joy.’
Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said,
‘Master, you gave me two talents.
See, I have made two more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master’s joy.’
Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said,
‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person,
harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter;
so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.
Here it is back.’
His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant!
So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant
and gather where I did not scatter?
Should you not then have put my money in the bank
so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?
Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten.
For to everyone who has,
more will be given and he will grow rich;
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’”

Matthew 25:14-15, 19-21

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“A man going on a journey
called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.
To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one–
to each according to his ability.
Then he went away.

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Mass Readings
First Reading: Acts 1:1-11
Psalm: Psalm 47:2-3, 6-9
Second Reading: Ephesians 1:17-23 OR Hebrew 9:24-28; 10:19-23
Gospel: Luke 24:46-53

Today we celebrate Ascension Sunday. What is the Ascension? I suggest to you that today is one of the most poorly celebrated of the great liturgical days in the liturgical calendar. We’ve turned today into a sort of “bon voyage” party, as if we’re seeing Jesus off on his return trip home. This is not a particularly helpful image.

To better understand the Ascension, we need to go back to the beginning, but first I want to say that I’m pulling a lot from the theologian, Michael Himes, and his excellent book, the Mystery of Faith.<1>

In Genesis, Chapter 1, God creates everything. But as he’s going along, it’s all fairly quick and straightforward. God says, “Let there be…”, and it just becomes and it is good (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24).

But on the sixth day, instead of just snapping humans into existences like a superhero, God pauses. God deliberates. God plans. God decides to use a blueprint to create humans – the blueprint being God’s own self. This is an important theme in the Hebrew tradition. Mosaic law will forbid making any idols or images of God (Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:8). Why? Because its redundant. God had already made an image of Himself, and we are it.

Remember what we’ve discussed before on Origin Sin. The temptation is that Adam and Eve should eat the forbidden fruit, they will become like God. That serpent tells the first humans that God is great and powerful and majestic and wise. But humans, life as a human is so messy. To become God, he tells them, they need to abandon being human and to eat the fruit of the tree.

The origin of sin, according to the Hebrew tradition, is the rejection of the goodness of being human. Evil, then, is the refusal to accept the goodness of creation. It is the refusal to accept the goodness and rightness of being human. The acceptance of the serpent says instead of what God says is what leads to all the evil in history.

But there is hope.

Our hope is in the “mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now [as the prophets wrote] disclosed,” (Romans 16:25-26). The extraordinary claim of the hymn quoted in Philippians 2 is that God did not see being divine was something to be clung to, so He emptied Himself and took the form of slave, becoming like you and me in every way except sin.

This great mystery hidden for all generations and revealed in the Incarnation is God’s desire to be exactly like you and exactly me in every way except sin. This is the ultimate statement of being human. This is what human dignity is all about. Our understanding of human dignity flows from the teaching of the Incarnation and is at the heart of the Christian tradition.

If Original Sin is the rejection of the goodness of being human, then the Incarnation is the revelation of that goodness. When we read in the New Testament that Jesus has become like us in all things except sin (Hebrews 4:15), we are taught that our humanity unites us with the fullness of God’s glory.

Now, let’s consider the Ascension. The point of the Ascension is not the Jesus returns to the Father. The point of the Ascension, in the imagery of the Creed that we recite in the mass every weekend, is that what sits at the right hand of the Father is a human being just like you and just like me in every way except sin. What unites us with the fullness of the glory of the Father is our humanity. Being fully and authentically human means that you and I become more fully and truly like God, or to use another word, it means to become holy. Any form of spirituality that belittles humanity or de-emphasizes the goodness and dignity of the human person is a genuine obstacle to union with God.

Jesus gave us one commandment. To love God completely and to love our neighbor as ourselves is the same thing – it’s two sides of the same coin. The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium affirms this understanding that intimate union with God and the unity of all humanity are the same thing, (LG 1,1). That’s the point that we need to understand on Ascension Sunday.

Two quotes to ponder as we wrap up this reflection on the Ascension. The first is from John Paul II who wrote in his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, that Christianity is an attitude of “deep amazement at the human person’s worth and dignity.”<2> Saint Irenaeus, a second-century father of the church, wrote, “the glory of God is a human being fully alive.” And we’ll close with the image that what sits at the right hand of the Father is a human being just like you and just like me in every way except sin.

Homework!

If the glory of God is a human fully alive, when are you fully alive?
How does our true belief in the awesome dignity of humanity change the way we see the world?
How can the dignity of the human person change the world?

Got it? Get it? Good! May Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. +Amen!

Notes:
<1> Himes, Michael, The Mystery of Faith: An Introduction to Catholicism (Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2004), 303-413.
<2> John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1979), #10, 28.

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