Fr. Michael Williams
"Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice."
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
St James tells us in his letter, “Pure unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world”. When religion is lived like this it is something beautiful that ennobles our fallen world. Religion lived as St James describes it reflects the love of God in the world; It brings love where there is hatred; it brings light, where there is darkness; it brings joy where there is sorrow.
Religion lived out well, is reflected in the lives of the Saints. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta is a good example. She tells the story of an elderly aboriginal man that she visited in Australia. She says, ‘He was completely ignored by everyone. His home was disordered and dirty’, and so she wanted to help him: ‘Please let me clean your house, wash your clothes and clean your bed’. He initially refused saying, ‘I’m okay like this’. But Mother Teresa persisted, ‘You will be still better if you allow me to do this for you’. He eventually agreed. So she cleaned his house and washed his clothes. When cleaning the house she discovered an eye-catching lamp covered with dust and she said to him, ‘Don’t you light that lamp? Don’t you ever use it? ‘No’, he said, ‘No one comes to see me. I have no need to light it’. Mother Teresa said, ‘Would you light the lamp every night if the sisters came?’. He said, ‘Of course’. The sisters came to visit him and enlightened his life each day.
True religion also demands speaking up for what is right in our society. The scribes and the Pharisees in today’s gospel were told by Jesus, “This people honours me only with lip service, while their hearts are far from me…They put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions”. Our Lord’s criticism of religious hypocrisy is quite stark, yet it was, and is necessary. Jesus demands that those who practice religion understand what its objectives are, namely : “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength and to love your neighbour as yourself”.
Mother Teresa, like Christ, would speak out fearlessly for what is right in the presence of vested interests. In 1997 at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, attended by the President and First Lady, Mother Teresa said, “What is taking place in America is a war against the child. And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another”. Strong words, but the words of someone imitating her Lord. Mother Teresa was speaking up for the new orphans- unwanted children, and she was speaking up for the new widows- woman who are often left abandoned and isolated by men who don’t take fatherhood seriously. The Church has an obligation to support such woman and children.
True religion, as Christ and His Apostles and His Saints teach us, is to care for those in need, and to stand against the spirit of the world, which often attacks the true dignity of men, women and children. St James, took on board the teachings of his Master, when he says, “Pure unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world”.
Let’s pray that we will always use our religion to ennoble and beautify our society.