26th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

For those who use the new lectionary, we have some interesting readings for Sunday. The Old Testament reading is from the Books of Moses. Josue was jealous for Moses' sake. Two men, Eldad and Medad, were prophesying. This did not trouble Moses. The Gospel reading has Marcus quoting Jesus, "And whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me; it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and he were cast into the sea."* If the homilist was willing, he could be very anti-clerical. The church police would be very offended (scandalised).

The Epistle reading is from the first of the Catholic Epistles, James, the book Luther could not tolerate.

1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are motheaten. 3 Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days. 4 Behold the hire of the labourers, who have reaped down your fields, which by fraud has been kept back by you, crieth: and the cry of them hath entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5 You have feasted upon earth: and in riotousness you have nourished your hearts, in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and put to death the Just One, and he resisted you not.

The fourth verse, i have written on one of my tool boxes. It has been retouched whenever the marker ink wears off. It has been there almost twenty years. There are four sins that cry out to heaven for divine justice (murder, sodomy, defrauding labour, cruelty to widows and orphans). The Jacobean verse is not in isolation, when Moses the Lawgiver spoke for God, he also did say, "But thou shalt pay him the price of his labour the same day, before the going down of the sun, because he is poor, and with it maintaineth his life: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be reputed to thee for a sin."

I have always understood Jesus to be the Friend of labour:

Come to me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is sweet and my burden light.—Matthew xi. 28-30

There are several such passages in the Bible. The words of the prophets were not enjoyed by all. Jesus was a trouble maker in the eyes of the Pharisees. Some rich, and powerful people go to church. Do they hear these words? Would they quote these words on the campaign trail? You know not in the boardroom.

Whoever is the lector in church that reads these words, read them loud, clear, slow enough, and with feeling, so they will be heard by the congregation. Some listeners may be agitated, they will be like the proverbial "nervous whore in church". And if anyone contradicts these words moments after, pray the congregation notices the discrepancy.
________________
*That was the Douay-Rheims version. In the US, currently the NAB is read, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." The Latin has 'scandalizaverit' (tempt to evil; cause to stumble).

nota bene: About bishops and other Catholic Republicans: party platforms are propaganda documents to satisfy noisy, pushy people in the party. The public does not read these, and they are not binding. Previous action by parties and politicians are a real guide to future action.  Did the Republican party say in their 2000 platform, "We will steal this election, start expensive and unnecessary wars based on lies, increase national debt, and make the rich richer, and the poor poorer, and do everything we can to hold on to and gain power"?

The propagandist that came up with "intrinsic evil" versus "prudential judgments" is a casuistic prevaricator. We know what you mean by the first, and it has become the status quo, and it is a false political issue to divert us from other issues. It is tangentially a political issue. It makes for much noise, motivates some people, is a good fraud to pull on people and to see nothing change.  The second one says, sinisterly, cynically, perversely, banefully, "Yes we know what is right, you know what is right, but if you say something else is right (and we know it is wrong), and do what is wrong, we will not interfere." It would be so nice if Republican bishops were to read the Bible and the doctors instead of shilling for the moneyed establishment. Make you a prudential judgment, when you weigh such words from such men.

The episcopal scrupulosity about clerical misbehaviour is not as stringent. "And whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me; it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and he were cast into the sea."
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
postscriptum:  There is at least one internet petition calling for the resignation of such a bishop:

Petitioning President, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
This petition will be delivered to:
His Eminence Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan President, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops     Most Reverend Joseph E. Kurtz Vice President, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops     Rebecca Summers Dir. of Communications - Diocese KCSJ
Bishop Robert Finn Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph, MO     Bishop R. Daniel Conlon Chairman, USCCB Committee on Child Protection    
Bishop Robert Finn: Resign as Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph, MO.

by Jeff Weis
Kansas City, MO

Bishop Robert Finn is head of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. He is also the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic cleric to be convicted in a decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.

In September of 2012, a judge found Bishop Finn guilty on one misdemeanor charge after he failed to report a priest who had taken or possessed hundreds of pornographic pictures of young girls. Even though Finn was found guilty in a court of law, he remains the Bishop of the Kansas City – St. Joseph Diocese. Now, many members of our community feel he is unfit to lead and should resign. He is currently the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic cleric to be convicted in a decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.

This isn’t a new problem. Only three years ago, Bishop Finn settled lawsuits with 47 plaintiffs in sexual abuse cases for $10 million and agreed to a long list of preventive measures, among them to immediately report anyone suspected of being a pedophile to law enforcement authorities.

I’m from Kansas City, MO - born and raised Catholic in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. As a Catholic, I believe in forgiveness. But I also believe that forgiveness and change can exist together and that’s why I feel it’s necessary for Bishop Finn to immediately resign. The spiritual, emotional, and moral pain that this issue has caused to Finn’s fellow clergymen, diocesan employees, volunteers, parishioners and faithful must begin to come to an end.

Begin the healing by resigning.