Sixteenth Sunday in OT (A) 

July 19th, 2020 

 “Come, Holy Spirit, anoint my heart and mind so that I might proclaim your Gospel with clarity, grace and truth!” 

Text: There is a theme of God’s forbearance and compassion running through our readings. The first reading tells us God is the standard; but, that he judges with forbearance. The responsorial Psalm gives us the same message, and the Gospel gives us a picture of how we should view the world; that we should live with compassion and forbearance. This homily is somewhat long and tedious but, I believe, necessary! So please listen carefully.  

Introduction: 

Our garden is full of weeds! In 2014 I did a homily on the same readings we had today. In my introduction to that homily I mentioned a book that was written in 1987 by  Professor Allan Bloom. The book was titled: “The Closing of the American Mind.” In the book he discussed how the scourge of relativism and political correctness in higher education has impoverished the souls of students by creating an attitude that everything is tolerable except intolerance.” Some of his colleagues were extremely critical of the book, but in their criticism they “let the cat out of the bag.” To them, anything is tolerable except for classical or traditional worldviews that differ from their own.  

This attitude of intolerance of things classical or traditional has carried over and is more prevalent now than ever. The perception of academia and the media is that the Catholic Church holds the most traditional position of all. This position is hated because it raises a standard against permissiveness, and is thought to be out of date. It follows, from their point of view, that Christianity, the Church and particularly the Catholic Church, is out of date and irrelevant; that Jesus and his teachings should be relegated to the dustbin of history and, according to them, is destructive. How far we have come in just six short years! 

Context: 

In our gospel reading, Jesus gives three parables and then goes on to explain to his disciples the meaning of the wheat and the tares, which we will call weeds for the sake of familiarity. When I gave that homily six years ago I mentioned that we could see here, operating side by side, both darkness and light; we could see, maturing simultaneously, the “weeds” of relativism and political correctness and the “wheat” of the gospel; something our Lord was referring to in his parable of the wheat and the weeds. However, we have now  “progressed,” or more accurately “regressed,” far beyond that point to where we can now see virtually only darkness! I saw it firsthand, happening all around me.  

In 1972, Doris and I returned from an extended tour in Germany. While overseas my primary concern had been the Air Force; making sure airplanes were able to take off on time and enjoying our assignment in Germany. During that period of time, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were all assassinated and we had the upheavals of the 1960s. The only somewhat limited way I was able to keep track of what was going on was through the “Stars and Stripes,” the overseas newspaper of the armed forces. 

Upon return to the U.S. I was assigned to a major well-known university as an ROTC instructor. There, I was assigned to the Faculty Senate, basically because no one else wanted the job. I had to listen to the squabbles of “progressive” professors who were continually bringing up “academic freedom” when, in fact, what they really wanted was academic control! I began to see the aggressive and pernicious nature some of these Marxist professors were teaching. I saw teachers, graduate students from schools all around that State, lapping up this garbage without question.  

That was almost 50 years ago and is now evident in the attitude of many of our present uninformed, misinformed, and misled college graduates who have little no knowledge of American History or Citizenship or the Christian faith. They have been fed a steady diet of propaganda and have little or no idea of the precious gift of the republic given to us by our founding fathers 244 years ago. It has given us the precious gift freedom of speech, freedom of religion that allows us to be here right now; and the opportunity to be what we will be. Generations of Americans have fought and died to preserve that freedom! 

Many young people have been indoctrinated to hate America. This is evident in the looting burning and violence that are taking place in several cities; a far worse plague than the Corona virus. Their Weeds have been sown in the soil their young minds largely by malicious professors. Our nation seems “hell bent” on trying Marxism despite all the lessons of the past that it has failed every time it has been tried. This may be a crude way of putting it, but It’s the primeval battle between God and the serpent that our ancestor Adam allowed himself to be sucked into.  

Christianity and Marxism are incompatible and can never coexist. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in his book “The Gulag Archipelago,” put it this way: “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts.” In sum, he is saying that it’s the condition on the human heart and not systemic anything.  

Application: 

Christians, on the other hand, see the imperfections and sufferings of the world as the results of acts by individuals who have failed to do good or chose to do evil. Social redeemers, Marxists et al, on the other hand, do not see individuals as agents of their own destinies. They see them as products of “social forces;” as objects of class, racism, gender, and religious oppression. It is the progressive notion that if human beings can be made to pursue lives that are politically correct, they can bring about a world of “social justice.” 

A malevolent darkness, of envy, resentment, hate, and chaos pervades our beloved America. The seeds of hatred for God by the serpent and sown by Adam in the garden, have now come to full fruition. We are reaping the bitter fruit. We have allowed God to be “airbrushed” from our founding documents; from our symbols and from our public discourse. Christians are now the target of this hate as Catholic Churches, statues and symbols, even a statue of our Blessed Mother, from Florida to California were burned and vandalized. 

In his parable of the wheat and weeds, Jesus distinguishes between “wheat;” i.e. people who are part of the Kingdom of God;  who are walking in his light and doing his will; and “weeds;” those who are walking in darkness. The final judgment will be the turning-point when the hidden activity of the evil one; which has been growing alongside the growth of God's kingdom; will be revealed and brought to an end. 

In his book titled: “If You Can Keep It,” Eric Metaxas, tells a story about a “Mrs. Powell” who asked Benjamin Franklin as he came out of the Congressional Convention: “Well, doctor, what do we have?” His answer: “A Republic; if you can keep it!” Our founders gave us a precious Republic. If we allow its flame to go out, it can never be re-lit. But, how can we keep something when we don’t know what we have? 

The only way that I can see to restore peace and tranquility to our land and keep our Republic alive is to follow the instructions of our Lord in Second Chronicles: “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chron. 7:14).” May God have mercy on our beloved America and may his people who are called by His name humble ourselves, repent, seek his face, and pray that he will heal our land. May God bless the United States of America! 

Lord Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto thine.