Father Thomas Welbers' Homily	Jump back to Homily Index
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 31, 2003 Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8 James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27 Mark 7:18, 14-15, 21-23	Listen to Audio

The Italians have a word for it: “bella figura,” meaning “no matter how devoid of substance something is, it has to look good.” Back in the seventies, I lived for two years in Italy, so I am very familiar with this obsession with “looking good” as more important than being good. But it’s obvious that this obsession with external appearances over internal meaning is by no means unique to people in Italy. Just look around us. And, if we are honest, look within us as well—both as individuals and within our culture as Americans. Don’t our priorities so often revolve around “how things appear,” “what will others think?”, and putting a “spin” on things so that we look good?

This is what Jesus addresses in the Gospel reading today: does what is inside match what is outside? This isn’t a judgment we can make on somebody else. It is a question we can only ask ourselves.

Jesus speaks in general terms, calling us to look inside of us – at our motives, at our prejudices, at our habits, at our ways of thinking and deciding – to discover the possible sources of evil. The real battle with evil is not outside, against some external threat whom we can demonize or characterize as a “godless enemy.” The real battle with evil takes place in my heart and in your heart. There is an enemy inside me, and you, right now, whispering, “all that stuff is all well and good, but be practical, it doesn’t work” or “surely Jesus didn’t really mean that,” or “put yourself first – take care of Number One, let others take care of themselves.” The huge gap between what we pray and profess here in church, and the way we actually live our lives out there in the world – that gap is the real battleground.

For four out of the next five Sundays, we are going to be subjected to the Letter of James as the second reading. I use the word “subjected” intentionally – it’s not easy or comfortable listening. And yet James, in warning us to “be doers of the word, not hearers only, otherwise you are deluding yourselves” is challenging us to look inside ourselves in a way that cannot help but be uncomfortable. In coming weeks, we will hear him put flesh on this challenge. He knows it is not easy; he knows that the true following of Jesus Christ involves wrestling with our inner demons of pride, greed, lust and blindness to the dignity of our fellow human beings. We know too, that we can meet this challenge only by grace.

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be hearing and seeing a lot about a “retreat for everyday life.” I’m not going to say much about it now, except to invite you to pay attention when you hear more about it. A true spiritual retreat is a way of allowing the Lord to give you the graces he wants to give so that you can grow in your relationship with him in the spiritual life, as well as draw on his strength and help to confront the spiritual battles we just spoke of. But most of us don’t have the luxury of going away for an extended period of time. This is a way of making a retreat, and seeking the graces of a retreat, right in the midst of your busy lives. If this sounds attractive to you, please check out my Pastor’s Desk column in the bulletin this week, and keep your eyes and ears open for more information. God may well be speaking to you in this way.

© Thomas Welbers 2003