Homily
for July 23, 2006
Liturgical Year B - Cycle II
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Dcn. Ray Alcouffe Topic:
The Pursuit of Meaning
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Reading II Eph
2:13-18
Brothers and sisters:
In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood
of Christ. For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the
dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh,
abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims,
that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two,
thus establishing peace,
and might reconcile both with God,
in one body, through the cross,
putting that enmity to death by it. He came and preached peace to you
who were far off
and peace to those who were near,
for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“He
broke down the dividing wall of enmity ... that he might create in
himself one new person in place of the two.”
These words of St. Paul from today's second reading refer to
the wall that separated the Jews from the Gentiles (non-Jews). In the
temple itself, there was an actual physical wall beyond which Gentiles
were forbidden to pass, under pain of death. This temple wall was a
token of a whole system of separation that went into every phase of
life for the Jew at that time. The law itself was a protecting fence
that reinforced this separation such that no Jew could eat at the same
table as the Gentile or even enter their house without becoming
defiled. Nevertheless, Paul announces to us that through Jesus this
separation no longer exists - Jesus paid the price of reconciliation of
the people of God, who is one, and reconciliation among themselves.
Thus, the stage was prepared for all people to become one people of
God, one people of peace.
Has this happened yet? Obviously not. We have a whole
history of constructing physical walls of separation - the Great Wall
of China, the Berlin wall, the Israeli wall, the US-Mexico wall. All of
these were to keep undesirables out because of the danger that they
could destroy our ways and us. Do they work? For a while, they do their
job of physical protection but eventually they will fail to bring
peace. Only one thing will bring real peace and that is forgiveness and
reconciliation. St. Paul refers us to the cross of Jesus. However,
those of us sitting here in this church today are not going to be able
to solve these huge problems right now - at least not until we make
peace within ourselves first.
Even within ourselves, within myself, we/I have a separation
into two persons - the person I am and the person I want to be. These
two persons are just as separated as the Jews and Gentiles and the
walls of separation are just as strong. As I think about this, I
realize that just like those real walls, these two persons will not
become one before God, until I break down that interior wall of
separation. What is true for the person is also true for the community,
eventually encompassing the whole world.
So who is this person I want to be? A celebrity, a rich
person, a healthy person, a powerful person - one who all people admire
and fear at the same time - a person not to be messed with? If we are
serious and think about this a moment, we will conclude that what we
want to be is the happy person. I want to be one who has nothing but
happiness in my life. I think most of us would like that very much and
so we set about the pursuit of happiness! As Americans, that is our
constitutional right, isn’t it? The pursuit of happiness? As it turns
out, this is a fundamental need of a human being. Nevertheless, no
matter how much or in whatever way we pursue happiness, we will not
achieve it as an enduring state. You cannot be happy by trying to be
happy. In brief, happiness must ensue not be pursued. That means that
happiness must come from within us - it is not brought about by
exterior conditions. It is almost a paradox - a person in the most
miserable of circumstances can still be happy - even joyful, which is
the religious term for happiness. While a person in extremely favorable
circumstances is unhappy or bored. Therefore, if we are not happy,
something is keeping us from it; there is some wall or barrier that is
blocking happiness from ensuing within us.
Viktor Frankl, a logo therapy psychiatrist (from logos -
that which conveys meaning), tells us that a human being is not one in
pursuit of happiness but rather one in search of a reason to become
happy. This search for a reason to become happy is really a search for
the meaning of my life. It is the answer to the question - what is the
meaning of my life, for what purpose am I alive? If we do not have an
answer to these questions, then we cannot experience the
happiness/joyfulness that we so much desire. It is not a simple thing
to find meaning to my life because this meaning is always changing
depending upon what situation I find myself in.
Therefore, the pursuit of meaning is an ongoing process - we
will never, this side of heaven, be able to say, “I have arrived! I
will be happy forever.” all of a sudden our situation in life could
change - loss of job, crises in marriage or family, a debilitating
accident, or other health crises, and then old age which may be no
picnic at all. These things bring with them pain and suffering of some
sort but not necessarily the permanent loss of happiness. We can and
need to find a meaning for our life in all situations that life brings
us because as human beings we can transcend life’s situations, we can
transcend ourselves and in some way be a person for others not just
ourselves. God did not create us to simply exist. God created us with
the freedom to decide what our existence will be, what we will become
in the next moment no matter what the circumstances we find ourselves
in.
According to this logo theory, we can discover our meaning
in life in three different ways and each of them is dependent solely
upon our decisions. We discover meaning by (1) creating a work or doing
a deed (plant a garden, teach a child, discover a cure for cancer); (2)
by experiencing something, such as goodness or truth or beauty, or by
encountering someone and loving them; and (3) by the attitude we take
toward unavoidable suffering. This last one is where most of us stumble
because pain and suffering is for us a monumental disappointment, a
real tragedy in our lives. But that need not lead us to despair.
Suffering ceases to be suffering when I can find meaning in it. We can
transcend our suffering or transform suffering for some good - this is
especially true if we do so in God through Jesus. Can suffering have
meaning?
Consider this little vignette: a young girl was for the
first time given the responsibility of caring for the family chickens.
Every day she would peek into the nests to see if new chicks arrived.
One day she saw many downy, yellow chicks huddled under the mother
hens, but there were two eggs not yet fully hatched. She could see the
little bodies pulsing and struggling for freedom and so impulsively,
she decided to help one. She took the egg and gently pulled it open and
peeled away the shell to free the chick. She succeeded but the next
moment froze in her mind. As she finished the job, the baby chick
gasped, struggled and stopped breathing. Sensing something dreadful had
gone wrong, she ran for her mother. Her mother’s experienced eyes
immediately read the story so she with caring words explained that each
chick has to struggle to be free by itself. Through its struggles, it
becomes strong enough to live outside the shell. Finally she said,
“There are some things in life that other people just cannot do for
you, you have to do them for yourself.” The young girl never forgot
that so important lesson in life.
It is the same for us as we struggle to find meaning in
whatever suffering we undergo in our life. It is up to us to search for
the meaning and turn tragedy into joyful triumph. In this, we are not
alone. We have a shepherd who cares deeply for us and will teach us how
to break down the walls within us and even those between us. As St.
Paul tells us: “he broke down the dividing wall of enmity while
creating in himself one new person in place of the two.”