February 23, 2010

Titus 2

You get a lot of things in homilies these days. Goodness knows, the Chips, Amanda and I are fleeing from St. Francis to get away from some of them. There's also a lot of politics in that church, which isn't very welcoming. But it seems like everyone these days is getting in on this act - politicizing the Church.

After talking with my mom today about what kind of book comes out of the salutation in the first chapter, I expected a debate on the Jewish/Christian traditions of the time - something deeply ecclesiastical and local and dated. Something political, in short. Instead, it's an exhortation to keep all that stuff in its proper place. What you preach and teach is how to be a good person. Morals, responsiblity, caring for one another.

I wonder when the last time I heard that homily was. Ironically, we all seem to want a simple answer - what to do to get into heaven, to be a good person. Maybe it's that we all know it - Golden Rule and all that. The stuff you needlepoint on samplers and hanging in Catholic school classrooms. Not the kind of thing to find in serious sermons.

It actually kind of pains me to talk about an argument against the nitty gritty of liturgical theology - because, after all, we do need to know why we believe and understand the reasoning of those who have spent their lives puzzling all of this out. But I do have a big question: when did these simple morals stop working?

Seriously - can we blame the Hallmark channel for it? You want to blame TV for something - I vote that. It's cheesy. It's too easy. It's not like real life.

Um...yes it is.

Decisions really are that simple sometimes. I believe firmly that you choose, every day, who you want to be. How you want to act. It's a hard won bit of knowledge, because I spent so many years insisting that I couldn't help my "reactions" to the people and world around me.

Yes you can.

I'm not saying I always do, but really, it was all a very simple message. And that's the one we should be sending. That's who a Catholic is - someone who cares about others and is reverent and faithful and takes care of themselves and others. A lot of the things that Paul says describing each group - older women, older men, younger women, younger men, slaves - seem more like conservative stereotypes now, but think about their time period's version of perfect womanhood.

Christians should always be the progressives in society. Not necessarily the liberals - but we are called to be in the world but not of the world. That means we should be the ones looking at the whole system and demanding - why? We could be doing this better. We could all be better. We should be the ones propelling the world in new directions, because the people of fifty (or sixty now) years ago did not have it right. No one has yet. We live in a Fallen World.

We should be the first to line up and change it. And our message should be just this simple. Don't get bogged down in all the politics or the theory of it - not if it keeps you from living your life as a good person, showing the world that this is what a servant of God looks like. This is the joy of serving God - the joy that fills you and the joy that you bring to others.

Check the politics at the door. None of the parties are putting forward the Christian agenda. They're not nearly progressive enough.