Homily for Tuesday, 9 September 2014– Memorial of St. Peter Claver

Tuesday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: 1 Corinthians 6:1-11; Psalm 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a, 9b; Luke 6:12-19

How does becoming Christian change who we are?

St. Paul is at his angry best in our first reading today from 1 Corinthians. Of all the churches to whom Paul wrote and served and brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Corinthians were the most troublesome. In St. Paul’s time, Corinth was a thriving double port city, a business hub in the center of the Roman Empire. Many Corinthians thought themselves to be self-sufficient. They were entitled, even, and this culture of entitlement spilled over to the baptized Christians in Corinth. Even worse, wealthy Corinthian Christians were bringing lawsuits against one another over petty disagreements. And so St. Paul confronts them with this reminder: “Now you have had yourselves washed; you were sanctified; you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” In other words, your Christian baptism has changed who you are. Live up to your dignity as a people “washed… sanctified… justified.”

Becoming Christian, a member of the Body of Jesus Christ; of the Church changes us profoundly and forever. Being chosen as Jesus twelve closest friends changed the first Apostles, of whose calling we hear in our Gospel reading today. They were no longer just Simon Peter, “Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the Son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.” No, now they were Apostles. By having been chosen by Jesus to be Apostles, who they were was changed profoundly and forever.

St. Peter Claver, whose feast we celebrate today, is known for having baptized thousands of African slaves in Cartagena, which is now in Colombia. In Christian baptism, the identity of these slaves was changed profoundly and forever. Slavery of non-Christians in Peter Claver’s time was accepted if not promoted; slavery of Christians was unconscionable. Peter Claver exposed the deep injustice of the slave trade by bringing the Gospel and baptism to the slaves of Cartagena. But this is not why the ministry among the slaves made so many, even among St. Peter Claver’s brother Jesuits, angry with him. Yes, baptism of the slaves of Cartagena changed who they were, profoundly and forever. The slaves became Christians, and so legally had to be freed.

But, more importantly, St. Peter Claver also brought to question how being Christian had changed the slave traders and traffickers; how being Christian had changed those who promoted the slave trade, knowing it was wrong; how being Christian had changed slave owners; how being Christian had changed all of us.

Our readings today and the example of St. Peter Claver are an invitation and a reminder to us: How has being Christian, professing the faith we do, change who we are? We are changed by our becoming Christian; by our baptism; by our continued profession of our faith, profoundly and forever.