outside the box

Homily
Monday of the 2nd Week of Ordinary Time
18 January 2010
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
MLK Jr Day
St. Lawrence Chapel at the University of Kansas

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Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel that he will not fit into any preconceived categories that others try to put him in. Jesus will not fit in any box. He is a category breaker, an extremist, as we might label him today. A radical, not a moderate.

Those of us who belong to Jesus must also break categories. We must transcend expectations. We must live in such a way that people ask about us the same thing they asked about Jesus. Why does he do that? There are many people who are quite capable, and quite good, of putting Catholics into a box. It’s not like Catholicism is a new idea. There are many who say there is nothing new in Catholicism. We need saints that even as they adhere strictly to the tradition of the Church, are freed by that same tradition to transcend expectations. Jesus’ disciples must be category breakers like he is, fasting if we need to, in order to bind ourselves more closely to the one who sends us into his world to be his saints, the true conquerors of this world.

Today our Church honors a man who stood out because of his courage and faith. As we honor the memory of Martin Luther King, and the ongoing quest for justice, we remember that the world is changed the most by those who are most radical in their pursuit of and commitment to truth and love. It is not non-conformity for non-conformity’s sake, but for the sake of truth and justice and love. This is what makes saints, who change the world the most.