(Trinity
Sunday 2017 (A): This homily was given on June 11, 2017, at St. Pius X Church,
Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.
Read John 3: 16-18.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Trinity Sunday 2017]
John 3: 16
That’s a biblical reference which even many
non-Christians know, because for years people have held up signs at
professional sporting events with “John 3: 16” written on them in very large
print.
I mention this this morning because the
very first line of today’s gospel text is none other than John 3:16: “For God
so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in
him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
This is a line of Scripture that we
should always associate with hope and life, not despair and death. But, unfortunately, some have done the latter
since April 19 of this year. That was
the day that former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, who was serving a life sentence
for murder, killed himself in his prison cell.
However, before he committed suicide by hanging himself with a bedsheet,
he wrote “John 3: 16” on his forehead with red ink and on the wall of his cell
with blood.
Exactly why he did it, no one
knows. Joseph Price, a professor of
religious studies at Whittier College, said (and here I quote), “it might have
been ‘an ultimate protest,’ a final act of defiance to use such an affirming
verse at the culmination of such a violent life.”
Others have gone so far as to call it “an
act of faith”—although if it was an act of faith it was definitely a perverse
and misguided one, because in his teaching Jesus Christ always connected faith
and love to obedience: “If you love
me you will keep my commandments.” One
of those commandments, of course, is “Thou shalt not kill,” which forbids you
to murder other people—or yourself!
But in either case—whether it was an
act of defiance or a misguided and perverse act of faith—Aaron Hernandez’s
suicide was yet another example of something we’ve seen far too much of in
recent years: THE MISUSE OF RELIGION.
Religious beliefs that are rooted in
truth move people to love God and one another.
They give birth to what we refer to as “the fruits of the Holy Spirit”: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness and self-control.
And because of that, religious beliefs rooted in truth are, without
question, the most powerful force for good that we have in the world—despite
what atheists will tell you.
But religious beliefs that are rooted
in lies and half-truths can be used (and are often used) to motivate people in
the opposite way—as we see with the radical Islamic terrorists who are wreaking
havoc all over the world at the present time.
Atheists, of course, will say the
problem here is “religion”. They’ll tell
you that religion itself is bad because it motivates some believers to do
horrific things. But that’s wrong. The fact that the misuse of religion
motivates some people to do morally heinous acts actually is an indication that
religion itself—that is to say, true
religion—is good. You see, when
something really good is perverted and becomes bad, it doesn’t just become “a
little bit bad,” it becomes really bad—really, REALLY bad!
The best example of this is the devil
himself. Remember, the angel who eventually
became the devil was created “good” by God.
He didn’t start off as Satan. His
name at his creation was Lucifer (which means “Light-bearer”), and he was one
of the most brilliant and powerful angels the Lord made. Consequently, when he rebelled and was thrown
out of heaven by St. Michael, he didn’t just become a bad angel who had fallen
from grace—he became the worst angel
of all, and the leader of all the lesser angels who followed him into
rebellion.
So don’t buy into the lie that religion
itself is the problem.
And, by the way, if an atheist ever
does tell you that religion is (and always has been) responsible for most of
the evils—and especially the murders—in the world, advise him not to keep
score. Because if he does, he’ll
lose! In the last century, for example,
the most horrific atrocities against innocent human life were not committed by
Christians, or Jews—or even Muslims. In
the 20th century the most evil mass murderers were either atheists
or ex-Christian pagans.
Here are three of them: Hitler, Stalin
and Mao-tse Tung.
Millions—actually it’s more accurate to
say tens of millions—died because of
the actions of those three scoundrels alone.
Religion is not the problem, but its
misuse is. Here we have to be honest
enough to admit that in the past 2,000 years some Catholics and other
Christians have also been guilty of this.
They’ve twisted the message of Jesus and his Church for their own political
or financial gain, or to try to justify some immoral activity that they were
involved in.
By the grace of God, may we never be guilty of that kind of
misuse in our lives.
I’ll leave you today with the words of
a saint—Pope St. John Paul II—who addressed this issue a number of times during
his long pontificate. Too bad more
people didn’t listen. The world would be
a much better place today if they had. For
example, in an address he gave to a group of Muslims in Syria way back in 1979,
our former Holy Father said this:
It is crucial for the young to be taught the ways of respect and understanding, so that they will not be led to misuse religion itself to promote or justify hatred and violence. Violence destroys the image of the Creator in his creatures and should never be considered as the fruit of religious conviction.
And then in 1998
(almost 20 years later) the pope gave a similar message to a group of Muslim
leaders in Nigeria. He said:
Religion can be misused, and it is surely the duty of religious leaders to guard against this. Above all, whenever violence is done in the name of religion, we must make it clear to everyone that in such instances we are not dealing with true religion. For the Almighty cannot tolerate the destruction of his own image in his children.
St. John Paul II pray for us and pray
for our world, that this destruction will finally come to an end, and that true religion and its fruits will
ultimately prevail. Amen.