Homily for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Exodus 19:2-6; Psalm 99; Romans 5:6-11; Matthew 9:36-10:8
18 June 2023
We’re back to the Sundays in Ordinary Time. Being Year A in the liturgical cycle, we are back, following Matthew’s gospel. When Jesus first missions the Twelve in Chapter 9 of Matthew’s gospel, he tells them: ‘Do not turn your steps to pagan territory, and do not enter any Samaritan town; go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ It’s only after his resurrection that he sends them on to Galilee and tells them to go forth making disciples of all nations.
Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-18623
So it behoves us to look first to our own backyard, as the community of believers and as the citizens with primary responsibility for our own nation in a globalised world. But to do it with a universal commitment to justice, truth and respect.
These times seem anything but ordinary times. Or if they are, God help us. ‘When Jesus saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.’
Just think of the past week in our federal Parliament.
Truth, justice and basic human decency seem to be in very short supply. The week started with all sorts of assurances that Parliament House was now a much safer, more respectful workplace for women. The week ended with present and past women members of parliament chronicling allegations of sexual harassment at the hands of their fellow parliamentarians. And all week, members traded barbs across the chamber about who had and who had not weaponised an allegation of rape in Parliament House, and about who was and who was not telling the truth. If you’re like me, you’ve given up trying to reckon with where the truth lies in all of this, or on which side of the chamber moral propriety is more lacking.
The Aboriginal senator Lidia Thorpe struck a cord with some people, even with many of us not attracted to some of her past antics, when she surmised that some politicians took her complaints more seriously when another woman who’d been a Senator but of a different ‘colour’ and of a different party made a similar complaint. Ms Thorpe said: ‘It’s been horrible. I … became the perpetrator. I became the person that was demonised … And I had a media pile-on, that day. And it wasn’t until a white woman stood up and said, “Yeah, this happened to me, too”, that the media took notice.’[1] When we no longer universalise truth, justice and respect, we forfeit them.
On Thursday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, sounded very loud alarm bells about the state of our world when it comes to climate change. Addressing the failure of countries to meet promises and commitments, he identified the very same root causes of failure that we have seen with the domestic issues in our parliament: ‘I see a lack of ambition. A lack of trust. A lack of support. A lack of cooperation. And an abundance of problems around clarity and credibility. The climate agenda is being undermined. At a time when we should be accelerating action, there is backtracking. At a time when we should be filling gaps, those gaps are growing.’ [2] Describing a catastrophe, he observed that ‘the collective response remains pitiful’. Trust, support and co-operation are not possible without a universal commitment to truth, justice and respect.
Yahweh’s proclamation to the Chosen People through the mouth of Moses consoles us in such ordinary and dreadful times:
‘You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own, for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.’
A renewed commitment by each of us and by our leaders to truth, justice, and respect for each other, including those who are ‘other’, and those who are on the other side of the debate or chamber – whatever the issue or forum – might renew us with the confidence that we are being carried on eagles’ wings above and beyond the sordid, dissembling self-interest that has been on display in our parliament and in our media this past week.
Then we might look beyond, taking a fresher, broader and truer perspective. Doing so, we can recall that today we commence Refugee Week with the theme ‘Hope away from Home. A world where refugees are always included’.[3] We pray:
Lord,
No one is a stranger to you, and no one is ever far from your loving care.
In your kindness watch over refugees and asylum seekers, those separated from their loved ones, those who are lost, those who have been made destitute and those who have been exiled.
Bring them safely to the place where they long to be, and help us always to show your kindness to strangers and those in need.
Let’s pray that hope, inclusion and kindness to those in need will feature more prominently in our Parliament in the coming week, the last week of sitting before the long winter break, and the last week for the Parliament to consider the proposed change to the Constitution on the Voice.
Fr Frank Brennan SJ is the Rector of Newman College, Melbourne, and the former CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA).
[1] See https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/lidia-thorpe-parliament-not-a-safe-place-for-women/102487072
[2] https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/press-encounter/2023-06-15/secretary-generals-press-conference-climate?_gl=1*1cf7v5p*_ga*NjczNjg4OTQ1LjEzMDgzOTcxMTY.*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*MTY4Njg5MjMzNS4xLjAuMTY4Njg5MjMzNS42MC4wLjA.
[3] See https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/refugee-council-of-australia-kicks-off-refugee-week-celebrations/
