Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In her book entitled Now This, longtime ABC News correspondent Judy Muller writes about how, in struggling to establish her career and raise two teenage daughters alone, she found herself slipping into alcoholism. With the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, she was able to deal successfully with her problem.

While most members of AA choose to keep their problem confidential, Ms. Muller gave up her cloak of anonymity when confronted with a different sort of choice.

One day, shortly after becoming sober, she was covering a political convention. There, she met with a group of women correspondents for breakfast and to swap short stories. Someone in the group started joking about 12-step recovery groups and the others joined in.

Ms. Muller wrote of the incident: "At that moment I suddenly knew I had a choice to make: I could laugh along, or I could say something that might alter the way these women thought about the subject and, more importantly, the way they wrote and reported about it.

And so, Ms. Muller joined the conversation and said, "I know these groups must seem silly, with what you call their bumper-sticker philosophy. And I'm certainly not the kind of person who gets caught up in new-age, self-help, sentimental sop. But I'm here to tell you that these groups save millions of lives." The group was silent and then Ms. Muller plunged on. She said, "I know because one saved mine."

Ms. Muller said that glib remarks gave way to genuine remorse and then, genuine interest. She said that she never regretted the choice of speaking up that morning or the choice that she makes every day, to live fully the life that God has given to her.

When we possess the love of Christ, we are able to see life through Christ's prism of love, humility and mercy. And that makes a big difference in the manner in which we respond to the people around us — even when they are acting rudely and in ignorance. Just as AA became "bread" for July Muller, just as Judy became "bread" for others in her gentle defense of AA, the breath of God's life in us enables us to become "bread" for others just as Jesus was "bread" for us. Jesus, the "Bread of Life,” gave life to the world through His selfless compassion and humble service toward others.[1] We can do the same thing when we embrace the spirit of Jesus. And when we do this, we look beyond our own needs and desires to the needs of the less fortunate among us, those that live in material or even spiritual poverty.

We are called upon to be the Body of Christ on earth, to give others spiritual nourishment in the name of Jesus who first gave to us the Bread of Life. To do this, we need to treat others as Jesus would treat them. We need to have the eyes of Jesus, that we may see past the things that might impel us to turn away from others; to see the goodness and the dignity that dwells in each person, that we might see in every person we meet, the image of God, and that we might help them to see the Spirit of God dwelling within themselves.  

 

[1] Cormier, Jay, Ed., Connections, MediaWorks, Londonderry, NH, August 2000, p2.