Homily – July 11, 2021 15th Sunday (Year B)
Title: Broken Windows
[__00__] In
the 1980’s and 1990’s, several police departments including the NYPD New York
City Police Department started talking about the need to focus on the fixing of
little things such as “broken windows” in a community in order to promote
public safety. In other words, if you take care of the small stuff in a
community, then everyone will feel safer. And, similarly, if you address the 1
or 2 windows broken by vandalism on a building, this repair will reduce further
crime and further broken windows. or It’s a theory about “public safety” and
has been successful in some areas. For some people, the theory and practice
remain controversial. Nevertheless, “broken windows” is a powerful metaphor for
public safety.
I would like to apply the “broken
windows” theory to personal salvation and example on my own faith journey. I
broke a window … once. It was on my own house. Here is the story.
[__01__] When
I was about 8 or 9 years old, I arrived
at around 3 pm on school day at the back
door of my house, after having walked home from school. It was winter. I was
feeling cold. I wanted to be inside as soon as possible.
Being 8+ years old, I did not yet have my own
key for the house and had to rely on a very “analog” mode of communication
called knocking on the door, to gain entry
At least, I was supposed to knock on
the door and wait for my mother to open the door.
However, on that particular day, I did
not knock on the door but banged on the door and then with my hands fully
covered up in winter gloves, I banged on the window.
I was not actually trying to break the
window, but nevertheless I broke the glass.
It was a good thing I was wearing gloves.
I was absolutely shocked to see the
broken glass. Needless to say, my parents were not happy about the glass!
Had I been older than 8 or 9, I
probably would have had to participate in the clean-up. The end result for me,
at the time, was to get in the house and stay there.
[__02__] It
was also a moment I recall, now, with an adult mindset and understanding that I
was actually “repenting” of something I had done wrong.
What I mean by this was that I could
replay the incident in my head to every detail and how I could have and should
have behaved differently.
If I could do it again, I would
certainly not bang on the glass. There was absolutely no reason to be so
impatient.
[__03__] Does
this mean that I have – since the age of 7 – never been impatient, never become
angry, never gone overboard? I wish I could say YES. I have done all of the
above.
Yet, I remember that particular
incident at 7 years of age in its detail – what the window looked like, that it
was winter, that the gloves were wool knit gloves and they were brown, because
I can – at least of that particular moment – reject and repudiate what I did as
wrong.
Sometimes, we think of “repentance” as
a DEFENSE mechanism. In other words, if I admit that I am wrong, before anyone
else notices and take full responsibility, then I can defend or preserve my
reputation to others.
[__04__] Here
is a definition of repentance from Padre Pio …one that invites me to consider
that repentance is not about cleaning up of broken glass or gain advantage
after the damages –and a reminder that it’s OK for me to think about the window
that I should not have broken.
Nevertheless, I cannot go back into
the past and un-break the window. I can only live in the present moment.
[__04__] Padre
Pio quote:
“Try your best, without excessive
anxiety, to do with perfection what you ought and what you would like to
do. Once you have done something,
however, do not think about it anymore.
Instead, think only about what you still must do, or would like to do,
or are doing right then.
Walk
in the ways of the Lord with simplicity, and do not torment yourselves. You should despise your shortcomings but with
calm rather than with anxiety and restlessness.
For that reason, be patient ….”
[__05__] Once
the glass was broken and needed to be cleaned up, I had some reflecting to do,
which was this – was I really so impatient and so insistent that about my
mother’s arrival at the back door that I would need to put my hand through a
pane of glass?
Or, to put it another way, who did I
have faith in, who did I believe in – me and my impatient view of the world …or
in my parents?
If I said that I only believed in
myself, I would probably have to move out of the house. Now, of course, I am
looking back on the incident with an adult mind.
Nevertheless, I was being invited as a
young person to put my trust, my faith – in the authority and wisdom of someone
else.
[__06__] But,
we are also called to do this as adults, the person we are called to put our
trust and faith in is Jesus as our Savior. And, we are called to live in the
present moment with his mercy rather than simply dwell on our past actions.
The sacrament of confession is the
important means that enables to say – out loud – our faults (what we did) then
move on.
Repentance is – in my view – not
simply about what is broken or disconnected, but what is still whole and worthy
of connection.
There is an old saying that in you –
God made someone beautiful and worthy of love – St. Paul expressed it this way
–
“For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from
works, so no one may boast.
For
we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has
prepared in advance, that we should live in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
There are moments in our lives when we
are called to recognize that our own efforts are not sufficient.
This is, in fact, the Catholic / Christian
view of being called by God, for example, in the call to live as a married
person, as husband and wife together in matrimony.
At some point, hopefully early on the, the
couple recognizes that their marriage is not a blessing based simply on their
own skills and merits.
And, as Catholics, we bring God into marriage
and idea of repentance into marriage because we are recognizing that there will
be far less tension about “who is in charge in the marriage” when we recognize
that God is in charge in the marriage.
I read this about what it means to take
religious vows and live in a monastery. I think it also applies to being
married.
Because, in the monastery the community
always speaks about how they wish to not be influenced by the outside world,
and how perfection must come from within and from God, not from some outsider.
Does not the same apply to being a spouse, a
parent, a child in family?
“Risks are always involved when our aim is
high …. The critical choice must be made: either choose God and accept that
perfection must come first and foremost from within or leave open certain gates
to the world so that [those other me ans] play a part in one’s life…” (The
Wound of Love: A Carthusian Misceallany, “Ch. 3 Beyond the Absolute”,
p. 33)
These days, we as a family members and
spouses – whether married or single – need to recognize that there many
attractions and distractions that can draw us from God who is our true aim.
And, I just share this with you, because on a
daily basis we are called to REPENTANCE, not to enhance our reputation or
image, but to recognize that in God alone is our true standard of goodness,
honesty, justice.
We will not be judged for broken glass, but
we will be called to account for how we put the pieces together afterwards in
our lives.
As we read in the 95th psalm about
repentance and having an openness to change:
“If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart. ” [__fin__]
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