Word to the Wise
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - Thursday in the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time (late because of computer glitch)
[1 Corinthians 8:1B-7, 11-13 and Luke 6:27-38]Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, sharken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you. (Luke) Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, that I may not cause my brother to sin.
These words about generosity from the "sermon on the plain" in the Gospel of Luke could be used as a "filter" to look at the situation in the first scripture from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. There the issue is one of scandal. Food that was used in pagan worship would be consumed at a banquet as part of the occasion. St. Paul is dealing with a question that we Catholics deal with in this country as well: a pluralistic society. Corinth had all kinds of religious groups. It was hard for a Christian to avoid being invited to various events where behavior could be misinterpreted. A faithful Christian might be able to do the mental exercise of saying, "It's great food and I don't care who they offered it to first since I know there is only one God and one Lord Jesus Christ and I don't believe in those pagan idols." Someone who knows the Christian and is struggling with living up to the new demands of Christian life might say, "Why are you here and eating food that is part of pagan worship?" The problem, simply put, is one of asking why one's conduct should be dictated by someone else's conscience? It really is a matter of generosity. Even if we know our conduct is above board, we refrain from a particular action because we know it could be or probably will be misinterpreted in such a way as to bring bad repute on our family, our church our particular group or even on our own reputation. The traditional response of some folks is, "Scandal is in the eye of the beholder!" There is a grain of truth in that, but it doesn't address the question of generosity of spirit that can recognize a "preachable" moment. Jesus himself gave this example when he paid the temple tax even though he believed himself exempt by virtue of his identity as son of God. It may be difficult to measure "generosity of spirit" but the gospel promises a big return on generosity. To avoid doing something one knows to be perfectly OK because someone else arbitrarily or for other reasons thinks is wrong, requires great generosity of spirit. AMEN
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