(Fourteenth Sunday of the Year (A):
This homily was given on July 5, 2020 at Watch Hill Chapel, Watch Hill, R.I.,
by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Zechariah
9:9-10; Psalm 145:1-14; Romans 8:9-15; Matthew 11:25-30.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Twentieth Sunday 2020]
Life
is Beautiful is an Academy Award winning movie that
was released back in 1997. Pope John
Paul II saw it at the time in a private screening, and it quickly became one of
his favorite films. The story itself is
set in Italy, just before and during the Second World War.
About halfway through the film, the
main character, a Jewish Italian waiter named Guido, and his young son, Joshua,
are taken away to a concentration camp.
The remainder of the movie deals with Guido’s many attempts (some of
which are quite funny) to shield his son from the horrible reality of the
situation they’re in. For example, when
they’re on their way to the camp, Guido tells Joshua that his dad once took him
on a “trip” like this, and that if he stays quiet, and doesn’t cry and obeys
all the rules, he will win points. And
when he accumulates 1,000 points, he will win the first prize: a real tank that
he can ride on. Little Joshua believes
what his father tells him; consequently for the remainder of the movie he
thinks he’s a participant in a game rather than a prisoner in a death camp.
It’s a great story! It’s a great story of a man who loves his son
so much that he wants to protect the boy’s innocence—at
almost any cost. Guido doesn’t want his
precious child to be wounded and corrupted by the evil that’s literally all
around him, and so he does whatever he can to shield him from it.
We need more men and women today who
have this same protective attitude
toward young people, many of whom are having their innocence stolen from them
at a very young age: through what they’re exposed to on television, on the
internet, in movies, in popular music, in school, sometimes (tragically) in
church, through their friends—and, sad to say, even sometimes by what they’re
exposed to in their own families! As
Judie Brown, the president of the American Life League, has said in an article
she wrote (and here I quote):
On a daily basis, we see the innocence of children eroded. Television, Internet articles, and social media combine to allow children to enter a world of sexualization [and, I would add, a world of violence] at an earlier age – and adults and parents just seem to accept this. Indeed, even some embrace it and welcome it into their schools and their homes. When will we realize the damage we are doing? When will we say enough is enough?
She goes on in that same article to
talk about an America’s Got Talent
program that she and her husband had recently watched—a program in which a
12-year-old boy proceeded to come on stage, tell dirty jokes, and then get a
standing ovation from many of those in attendance. She wrote:
What's wrong with this picture? A 12-year-old child shocking only some and sending an audience of hundreds to its feet is perhaps a tiny peek into the culture we live in today.
Unfortunately, because our culture is
what it is at the present time, it’s nearly impossible to completely preserve a
child’s innocence—unless, of course, you lock that child up for the first 18
years of his or her life (which, incidentally, I am not advocating!). My point here is that even the best parents
and teachers and priests and friends can’t shield a young person from every negative influence that’s out
there right now.
Although we can do some things to limit
what children are exposed to (like restricting their internet access).
And we MUST do these things if we
really love our young people--because their relationship with Almighty God
hangs in the balance (both their relationship with him here on this earth, AND
their relationship with him in eternity)!
You see, Jesus makes a connection in the Bible between childlike innocence and openness to God. For example, in today’s gospel text from
Matthew 11 our Lord says,
I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,for although you have hidden these thingsfrom the wise and the learnedyou have revealed them to little ones.Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
Then later, in chapter 18 of Matthew,
Jesus says these famous words:
Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
According to Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Savior, innocence and openness are closely connected in the spiritual
realm—which is precisely why these assaults on the innocence of children are so
prevalent today! They’re not
coincidental. They’re part of Satan’s
strategy: his 21st century strategy against the human race. The devil knows that the more innocent a
person is—that is to say, the less influenced and corrupted a person is by
evil—the more open that person will be to God’s transforming grace. So he’s desperately trying to destroy
innocence in as many people as possible as
early on as possible, in order to gain a foothold in their lives.
Because he knows that if he can gain a
foothold—and keep it—he can eventually take their souls.
Which is always his ultimate goal.
So what about those who have completely
lost their innocence in this way—is there any hope for them? And how about the rest of us who’ve been
negatively affected by the day-to-day evil we’ve encountered in our lives? Is there any hope for us to be more open to
God?
Thankfully the answer to both those
questions is yes!
Here’s where the beauty and power of
the sacrament of Reconciliation come into the picture.
Confession, unfortunately, cannot
restore every aspect of childhood innocence.
That’s the bad news. You can’t go
back in time and start all over again.
But the good news is that confession can restore the most important aspect of
childhood innocence, namely, SANCTIFYING GRACE: that’s the grace that makes us
pleasing to God; it’s the grace that makes us open to God; and, most important
of all, it’s the grace that makes us ready for heaven!
So if you’ve lost your innocence to any
extent whatsoever, make sure you get to confession SOON—and have your innocence
restored, to the extent that it can be restored in this life.
