|
Lifting up
Ministry in our parish introduces me to some threatening forms of power.
I see the pecking order for dominance and survival each day, even among
people who our society claims have no power. People who sleep in their
cars look down on people who sleep under the bridge. People living under
the bridge often ignore people living in doorways. People who are not addicted
to alcohol or drugs put down those who are stoned or drunk standing in
line at our church door.
Every day I observe the deep human need for people to look down on other
people. This moment of control defines so many situations. Power struggles
occur in prostitution, child abuse, drug use, gangs, wars, and even playgrounds.
Misuse of power happens in marriages, in workplace relationships, among
children of wealth, and among children of poverty. Struggles for control
separate the employed from the jobless, the well educated from the illiterate.
They lead to racial dominance. Battles for power happen among siblings
and between adult members of religious communities.
As I read the Gospel passages for Assumption of the Virgin Mary through
the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, I see Luke assessing our use of power.
Luke puts very strong words into the mouth of Mary, “He has cast down the
mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.” These prophetic
words place opposing people on the same plane, on the same level ground,
with the same view of life. To live a life of faith, then, we must be able
to look other people in the eyes, to recognize their worth, to honor their
dignity, to serve people, simply because they are human beings.
These passages help us all, even in the church, to sort out how we may
put other people down by our unkind words, knee-jerk reactions, obsessive
thoughts, and threatening gossip. Luke reminds us that when we think our
way is the only way, some who are last will be first and some who are first
will be last. Luke’s message is not just that we are to watch out for people
living in poverty but that we must stop putting down others who we think
are beneath us. He is asking us for a change of attitude, a conversion
of heart, a transformation of reaction, and a new way of living our faith.
Jesus invites people who have chosen the place of honor at a banquet
to sit elsewhere. He unseats the proud and haughty. He offers a new seat
of honor to the man who humbled himself. Jesus lifts up those who know
their real place in life. These stories are not reminders about proper
etiquette but invitations to deeper conversion of how we live our faith
in the world. These passages mold how we see the stranger at Mass and affect
the judgments we place on people who look different from ourselves. These
Gospel words form us into true believers when our automatic response is
to put others down. This changes our thinking that false power makes us
look better or feel more worthy or more acceptable.
Jesus says to us, “Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple” (23rd Sunday). Possessions are not only physical
but include negative thoughts, which cloud our judgment of people. Possessions
are not just items in our hope chests but other people’s dreams, which
we destroy by our prejudice, bigotry, sexism, and homophobia. Possessions
include all the ways that we talk about people, making them less than ourselves.
Jesus runs a mile for a lost sheep, leaving the rest. He expects us
to
search our homes for the lost coin and to run far and wide to embrace our
lost child. This is the real mystery of God, to ponder the unthinkable,
to retrieve the castoff, to reunite the lost, and to forgive when forgiveness
is unimaginable.
We risk letting go of false power because of Christ’s dying and rising.
The paschal mystery is not just a way of worship and belief for us but
a radical new way of thinking and treating other people. The power that
Jesus broke through was death itself, so that no other deaths — put-downs,
biases, threats, bullying, abuse, or neglect — will ever win. Our parish
communities must find our balance of power again after scandals, sex crimes,
and our judgments of people.
Every day I observe people striving to claim their place in life through
false power. As followers of Christ we can live beyond our instincts to
put people down, to put destructive labels on others to make us righteous.
My ministry among people living in poverty shows me the danger of these
power struggles and teaches me to love. ML
Rev. Ronald Patrick Raab, CSC, serves as an associate pastor at the
Downtown Chapel of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Portland, Ore. He hosts
the radio program On the Margins, a weekly Gospel reflection that
can be heard online at KBVM.com. His email address is raab@downtownchapel.org
What do YOU
Think?
Send an e-mail
to ML Editor or post an entry
on the ML Current Issue Discussion Board. (All
submissions become the property of RPI and may be edited for length.) |
|
