ICF Convention—September 4, 2005

Homily by Bishop John T. Steinbock

All three readings of the Mass today speak of us living in community. We are the people of God, brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are family, the family of God.

God created us out of love, love for each and every person in this world. And God sends into our hearts the spirit of his love. This is who and what the Holy Spirit is all about. We possess the very spirit and power of God’s love. And God sends us this spirit so that we may witness to his love through our living in community and as family. It is by us living in unity and love that we proclaim to the world that Jesus is the Son of God, who suffered and died so that we may receive forgiveness of our sins and be empowered to live as children of God in a world that so often denies and ignores its very creator.

The readings today speak of our responsibility to love our brothers and sisters and lead them back to God if they are straying. Every parent knows of this responsibility with their own children, and it can be a hard and difficult role, sometimes not appreciated, but something that must be done always out of love and with love.

In our world today, there is the phenomenon especially with many politicians, journalists, radio and TV commentators to criticize, condemn, exaggerate all for the sake of a particular agenda. People are defamed and condemned, often with innuendo and suspicions, not with the purpose of correcting but for the purpose of promoting one’s own agenda. The greater publicity of the condemnation, whether it be true or not, the more a person believes his agenda is being moved, and that agenda has nothing to do with the love, forgiveness and compassion that the Lord Jesus calls us to in the Christian community. We must be careful we do not allow this phenomenon of public condemnation to become part of the life of the Christian community, or it will destroy the unity and love that God calls us to as his people, and we cannot effectively give witness to God’s love and call to salvation.

Without the love of Christ, we risk speaking out of self-righteousness, being judgmental and out of feelings of superiority. And this risks causing hurt and shame in the Christian community, which does not lead people to Christ. St. Augustine once said that “the less men concentrate on their own sins, the more interested they become in the sins of others… and that they then seek to criticize, not to convert.” Mother Teresa wisely said: “if you judge people, you have no time to love them.” Our Lord Jesus said, “judge not, less you be judged.” We can only see the exterior of a person. We can never look into the soul. We are meant to correct a person privately if we see some wrong, but we cannot look into that person’s relationship with the Lord, and convict that person of sin. This judgment is left to God alone.

It’s important to note that in the context of the Gospel passage today, immediately follows the passage we will be hearing next Sunday—Peter asking how often he is obliged to forgive—seven times? and the Lord responds with the words seventy times seven. Today’s Gospel passage cannot be taken apart from our Lord’s merciful, forgiving and compassionate love, which is the center of the message of the Gospel.

St. Paul in the second reading also gives us the context on how to correct our neighbor. “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love on another… Love does no evil to the neighbor”

But before we correct, we must pray a great deal and look into ourselves. Often what we can so easily criticize in others may be very much in us. We can easily have one way of looking at ourselves and another way of looking at others.

He is cowardly; I am prudent.

He is timid; I am patient.

He is stingy; I am thrifty

He is a spendthrift; I am generous

He has no tack; I am frank

He is always criticizing; I call them as I see them

He is negative; I am honest

He is a faultfinder: I offer constructive criticism

He is prejudiced; I am a good judge of character

He is stubborn; I am firm

He talks too much; I say what’s on my mind

He is obstinate; I am persevering

He is wishy-washy; I am flexible and lenient

He refuses to compromise; I am steadfast

On and on we could go….

Just maybe what we may be criticizing in others may be within ourselves. A wise man once said: “Judging others may be a dangerous thing; not so much because you may make mistakes about them; but because you may be revealing the truth about yourself.”

We are called to community, to love one another, to care for one another, to reach out and serve the needs of one another. We truly are our brother’s keeper. And let us never forget our brothers and sisters are the unborn, the homeless, the migrant, the campesinos working in the fields, the imprisoned, the refugees throughout the world, especially now the refugees within our own country because of hurricane Katrina. We are called to love all because God loves all, especially the sinner. This is the reason Jesus died on the cross, and this is the love we are called to witness through our lives.

I do want to say a word of thanks to all the members of the ICF from all the dioceses represented here. I myself have been in relationship with the Italian Catholic Federation in four different dioceses here in California. In every diocese you have been a tremendous gift of God not only for the fraternity and support you give one another, but for the support you show your bishops and priests, your tremendous help for supporting seminarians, and because of your reaching out to the less fortunate and those in need. You are a great gift for your parishes and for the church at large. I encourage you to continue to promote the Italian Catholic Federation in every way possible, as you witness to the values of faith and family in a society that seems to be adrift so often devoid of faith, of values and moral principles which alone can give meaning and purpose and direction in life. Thank you for all you does. God bless you all.