The true measure of holiness

Good News Reflection
Tuesday of the 26th Week of Ordinary Time
September 28, 2010

Today's Readings:
Job 3:1-3,11-17,20-23
Ps 88:2-8
Luke 9:51-56
http://www.usccb.org/nab/092810.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_09_28.mp3

The true measure of holiness

How do we react when someone blocks us from doing the work or ministry that we want to do, or persecutes our faith, or makes our life difficult in any way? Normally, we want to retaliate. In today's Gospel reading, the disciples wanted to retaliate against the Samaritans. But Jesus rebuked them, because holiness means doing good in spite of the bad.

In the today's first reading, poor Job despaired because he lost nearly everything that was dear to him. Satan had told God that the only reason why Job was holy was because God had surrounded him with goodness. This story was written to teach that true holiness is the desire to do good in spite of the bad.

Opportunities for practicing holiness arise every day. Christ's disciples and the Samaritans whom they wanted to destroy all loved the same God. Seven centuries earlier, Jews who lived in Samaritan territory had intermarried with pagans, and when the "pure" Israelites rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem after their Babylonian captivity, the Samaritans offered to help, but they were rejected because of their racial impurities. Thus began a long-lasting prejudice and bitter misunderstandings from both sides.

Are we any different toward Christians who don't worship the same way we do?

During the Protestant rebellions of the Reformation – a reformation that was sorely needed – both sides handled it with battles and cruelty. Thus began long-lasting prejudices and stubborn misunderstandings, which have prevented the restoration of unity in the Body of Christ. Vatican Council II instilled in the Catholic Church the truth that Protestants love the same Lord and Savior as we do (see paragraph 818 in the Catechism), but sadly many Protestants still cling to 16th Century prejudices. Misunderstandings about Catholicism are rampant, and the spirit of prejudice is revealed in an unwillingness to listen to the truth about us.

And how do we Catholics feel about this? How do we handle it? Do we retaliate? Or perhaps we avoid Protestants who want to “save” us, which is a passive form of retaliation.

One of the most profound statements I ever heard was from a Protestant preacher who prophesied: "Mourn and weep, for the Body of My Son is broken."

Jesus reprimanded his disciples for wanting to do battle. Despite having the power to punish those who were religiously impure, he retaliated not at all.

Prejudices are cured through love, not force, through mercy, not punishment. It's harder and slower to make changes this way, but nothing else is holy. Nothing else reveals the true nature of Christ.

© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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