September 26, 2021

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time – B

“From Blessing to Pride to Correction and a Warning”

Deacon Kevin O’Boyle

Good morning:

Our readings this weekend draw a strong similarity—a journey that all whose mission is to spread Word of the Kingdom—that is all Baptized—should heed. Our first reading takes us from Blessing to Pride to Correction. Our Second Reading adds warnings, and our Gospel reflects the whole trip from “From Blessing to Pride to Correction and a Warning.”

In our first reading from Numbers, we enter a scene where Moses has asked God for help. He is getting on in years and complains that it is difficult for him to keep up with all the people. God understands and directs Moses to gather the Elders. He divides some of the spirit on Moses over the 70 Elders assembled. Except that two of the Elders, Eldad and Medad did not make the meeting, but Joshua finds them prophesying. He goes back to Moses and urges him to stop the two since they were not in the meeting. Moses corrects Joshua and says it would be great if everyone prophesized. Was it pride that pushed Joshua to try to silence Eldad and Medad. Did Joshua want to preserve a specialness for himself and the others who attended the meeting? Moses corrected this and in doing so reminds us to respect others who are correctly revealing God’s message.

Our second reading is nothing more than a series of warnings to those who wrap themselves in wealth at the expense of others. There is nothing wrong with having wealth. It is having wealth at the expense of others, unfairly, that will earn God’s wrath.

Moving then to our Gospel. In a story strongly resembling our first reading, John complains to Jesus that someone who is not of their company is driving out demons in the name of Jesus. John tells Jesus that he tried to stop him. But, like Moses before him, Jesus says “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak il of me.” Once again, we must ask if there is a sense of pride showing its face here. Did the Apostles feel they were special, and that outsider was robbing their specialness? Jesus put a quick end to this. Like Moses, by encouraging all who did good works in His name. But he also adds several warnings. He condemns anyone who would cause a little one who believes in him to sin. Perhaps this warning would be a caution to those who go about talking about Jesus, without knowing what they are doing. If they speak wrongly, and so lead someone to sin, things will not go well for them.

Jesus goes on to tell through exaggerated language what we should do if our hand or foot or eye causes us to sin. I don’t think Jesus is really suggesting that Christians become a band of blind cripples. What he is saying is that it is important that we identify those things in our lives that lead us to sin—and to find ways to avoid them. And perhaps that warning should extend to sins of inaction as well.

There are things going on in our world today that are evil, plain, and simple. For example, legislation has been proposed on both the Federal and NJ State levels to allow completely free access to abortion at all stages of pregnancy. Worse yet, doctors and other practitioners who have deeply held convictions against abortion may be forced to refer women for them or even participate in them. And of course, law and rule changes would have our tax dollars now going to pay not only for US abortions, but some foreign ones as well. October is Right to Life Month, and you will be hearing a lot about this issue in the coming weeks. We are all blessed with the ability to find the Truths present in all aspects of Right to Life. Abortion is but one of the aspects to Right to Life. Others include, End of Life Issues, and various problems sometimes introduced in health care. You may ask how big a problem abortion really is. Well, thankfully it appears the number of annual abortions is down—the past few years saw only about 620,000. Think about those 620 000 human lives snuffed out, often painfully. But compare that to another major problem in our country today—COVID. This year, sadly, about 687,000 US COVID deaths have been reported to date. But consider that we have suffered almost that much loss of life through abortion this year and have lost over 62 MILLION babies to abortion since 1973. It is our responsibility as Christians who believe in the Right to Life, to bury our representatives’ offices in calls and letters demanding that these new, terrifying abortion liberalization laws fail. News on them is easily accessible on the internet.

God calls each of us to stand up for what is right and good. We should praise others that do so as well – not be concerned about what group they are part of. Right to Life is not just a Catholic concern. We are free to learn the truth about the evils of abortion. We are called to be the voice of Truth in the world. God has warned us that if we do not stand up for Truth, and as a result others are drawn to sin, we will be held accountable. Increasing availability to abortion is increasing a serious occasion for sin. Our parish Right to Life Committee will be actively looking to increase our membership. Now that is something not only to think about this week, but on which to take action. God Bless.