Word to the Wise
Monday, July 14, 2008 - Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha
[Isaiah 1:10-17 and Matthew 10:34 - 11:1]Your new moons and festivals I detest; they weigh me down, I tire of the load. When you spread our your hands, I close my eyes to you; though younpray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your ain: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow.
When religious worship takes on a "life of its own" apart from the ethical conduct of a community, worship becomes an empty show. In the worst scenarios, the worship life becomes part of the corruption and perhaps a primary symbol of the systemic rot! The old Latin proverb comes to mind: Corruptio optimi pessimus! (The corruption of the best is the worst of all!) Isaiah really unloads on the "temple system." He is not condemning the sacrificial nature of the worship, but the corruption that has gotten into the way if is carried out and the magical notions that surrounded it. This corruption is of a piece with the societal corruption outside the temple precincts. Hmmmm.....sounds a bit like the Protestant reformers in the 16th century, doesn't it? Well, history has a way of repeating itself. Can we afford to let our worship life assume some kind of sacred dimension that removes it from the poverty, violence, environmental degradation, sexual obsession, economic and political scandals of our day? What integrity walks into the sacred assembly? Is it no wonder that Jesus himself advises that reconciliation must occur before liturgical offering? (Matt. 5:23-24). Worship is neither a refuge from the surrounding society nor a part of it. True worship is the expression of the Body of Christ which should be living the ethical dimensions of the gospel both inside the temple and outside of it, just as any true Christian should be living the gospel both interiorly and exteriorly! We will probably never enter the church in perfect condition, unstained from the hurly-burly moral relativism of our day, but it shouldn't be because we want it that way or have given up trying! AMEN
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