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| Prime Minister David Cameron with Pope Benedict XVI last year |
(Twenty-eighth Sunday of the Year (A): This homily was given
on October 9, 2011 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly
Between August 6th and
August 10th of this year, there was widespread rioting, looting and
arson in several cities in England.
Most of us saw the frightening
footage on the cable news stations: the people engaged in this activity were completely
out of control. They indiscriminately
destroyed the private property of others, and caused good, law-abiding citizens
to fear for their safety and their lives.
The world was shocked—although,
according to the Prime Minster of England, David Cameron, the world—and that
includes the people of Great Britain—should not
have been shocked!
They should not have been at all
surprised.
Listen now, to a few of the
things he said to the citizens of his country in a speech he gave a few days
after the chaos was over:
[He began by saying] It
is time for our country to take stock.
Last week we saw some
of the most sickening acts on our streets. . . .
[Then, a few lines later, he got down to the
‘nitty-gritty’:] So as we begin the necessary
processes of inquiry, investigation, listening and learning: let's be clear.
These riots were not
about race: the perpetrators and the victims were white, black and Asian.
These riots were not
about government cuts: they were directed at high street stores, not
Parliament.
And these riots were
not about poverty: that insults the millions of people who, whatever the
hardship, would never dream of making others suffer like this.
No, this was about
behaviour...
...people showing
indifference to right and wrong...
...people with a
twisted moral code...
...people with a
complete absence of self-restraint.
Now I know as soon as
I use words like 'behaviour' and 'moral' people will say - what gives
politicians the right to lecture us?
Of course we're not
perfect.
But politicians shying
away from speaking the truth about behaviour, about morality...this has
actually helped to cause the social problems we see around us. [Pro-choice Catholic politicians in this
country need to read this speech!]
We have been too
unwilling for too long to talk about what is right and what is wrong.
We have too often
avoided saying what needs to be said - about everything from
marriage to welfare to common courtesy.
marriage to welfare to common courtesy.
[After giving some reasons why this is the case, he added] In this risk-free ground of moral
neutrality there are no bad choices, just different lifestyles.
People aren't the
architects of their own problems, they are victims of circumstance.
'Live and let live'
becomes 'do what you please.'
Well actually, what
last week has shown is that this moral neutrality, this relativism - it's not
going to cut it any more. [Sounds a
lot like Pope Benedict XVI, does it not?
He’s always talking about moral relativism and its consequences. This is yet another example, my brothers and
sisters, of how the Church is way ahead of the world! The Church doesn’t need to ‘get with the
world’; the world needs to ‘get with the Church!’ Well maybe that’s finally happening—to some
extent at least—over in England. Cameron
continued,]
One of the biggest
lessons of these riots is that we've got to talk honestly about behaviour and
then act - because bad behaviour has literally arrived on people's doorsteps.
And we can't shy away
from the truth anymore.
So this must be a
wake-up call for our country.
Social problems that
have been festering for decades have exploded in our face.
God bless Prime Minister David
Cameron, for making it clear to his people that we are all human beings with
free will, who have the power to make moral decisions which have definite consequences—consequences
for us as individuals, as well as consequences for our families and for the
society in which we live.
It’s a message that people in
England and the entire western world need to hear more often.
And, of course, as Catholic
Christians we would add that our personal moral decisions also have eternal repercussions: What we do here on earth will ultimately
determine who we are and what we are and where we are for all eternity!
Our gospel readings for the last
few weeks have reminded us of this truth.
Notice that in today’s parable the wedding guests are all invited to the celebration (the
celebration here is a metaphor for heaven!).
They are not compelled; they are not coerced; they are not unduly
pressured. They are simply ‘invited.’ (Did you catch how many times a form of the
word ‘invite’ was used in this text?)
The king wants them there for his
son’s wedding (in other words, God wants all people to be saved)—in fact he
goes so far as to send messengers to personally extend the invitation (the
messengers symbolize the prophets in Old Testament times and the
representatives of the Church in New Testament times: the Pope; the bishops in
union with him, etc.).
Unfortunately, many who get the
invitation make the personal decision either to ignore it or to attack the
messengers (that, of course, still goes on today with respect to those who
constantly attack the Church and her teaching).
But it’s not enough to decide
that you want to go to the eternal wedding feast of the king’s son, Jesus; you
also have to make the decision to dress properly for the occasion by putting on
a ‘wedding garment’. In modern Catholic
terms, that garment is a symbol for being in the state of grace. It’s a sign of the fact that the moral
choices a person made during his or her life were the right ones, preserving
baptismal innocence; or, if they were the wrong ones, it implies that the
person repented of those sins and was absolved of them before death. Those in
this last category are like the ‘bad’ people in the parable who got invited at
the end. They changed and put on wedding
garments before they arrived at the celebration—with the exception of that one,
bad dude who thought he could get in without changing his dirty, sin-stained
clothes. That, as we heard a few moments
ago, didn’t cut it with the king. He was
not impressed!
I think Prime Minister Cameron
would like this parable, because it contains a message about personal
responsibility and accountability—a message that far too many people in his
country (and ours!) have tried to ignore for several decades.
Let me close now, by quoting a
few more lines from his speech on August 15, which illustrate this very
point. He said,
Just as people last week wanted criminals robustly confronted on our
streets, so they want to see these social problems taken on and defeated.
Our security fightback must be matched by a social fightback.
We must fight back against the attitudes and assumptions that have
brought parts of our society to this shocking state.
We know what's gone wrong: the question is, do we have the
determination to put it right?
Do we have the determination to confront the slow-motion moral collapse
that has taken place in parts of our country these past few generations?
Irresponsibility. Selfishness. Behaving as if your choices have no
consequences.
Children without fathers. Schools without discipline. Reward without
effort.
Crime without punishment. Rights without responsibilities. Communities
without control.
Some of the worst aspects of human nature tolerated, indulged -
sometimes even incentivised - by a state and its agencies that in parts have
become literally de-moralised.
So, do we have the determination to confront all this and turn it
around?
I have the very strong sense that the responsible majority of people in
this country not only have that determination; they are crying out for their
government to act upon it.
Of course, it’s a mistake to
think that government alone can change these things, Mr. Prime Minister. Hopefully you realize that. The change must begin with us—with each of
us, individually, examining our lives, converting our hearts, and changing for
the better—every day!
Do the people of England have the
determination to do that? I pray they do. And on this Columbus Day weekend I pray that
we in the United States do as well.