Homily for Tuesday, 21 October 2014– Ferial

Tuesday of the 29th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Ephesians 2:12-22; Psalm 85:9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14; Luke 12:35-38

“The Lord speaks of peace to his people,” we respond to our Psalm today. Many of us may ask: How is the Lord speaking of peace to his people?

Much of what we see in our world; our communities; possibly even in our families and our homes is anything but peaceful. We see one in four children in Monroe County living in poverty; our city’s poverty rate now second-highest in this country among large cities after Detroit. We see violence in our city’s homes and streets, although there are small but significant victories like a forty-year low in annual homicides in Rochester reported in yesterday’s Democrat and Chronicle. We see homelessness; unemployment; hunger; a migrant and refugee crisis; family breakdown and discord; broken relationships… These problems are in addition to natural disasters; diseases like the Ebola virus.  How, when, and where is the Lord speaking of peace to his people today?

I do not mean to discourage us; quite the opposite. And yet within the last few days, here in our parish and beyond, I have spoken with people who lament a litany of problems in our world and closer to home. Some I have heard are angry. And then some wonder whether it is wrong of them to be angry at obvious instances of suffering and injustice. My response is that anger may be justified if it is based on compassion for those who are wronged; those who suffer. It hurts me to see my people; our people; people of God; disciples of Jesus Christ; people of our parish suffering; hurt; angry at the state of our world.

And yet there is hope. The words we hear in our readings today, in our Psalm, “The Lord speaks of peace to his people,” and in our first reading Ephesians, God “is our peace,” are words of hope. How does God speak “of peace to his people” today? How is God “our peace”?

Let us hear carefully the words of our Psalm: “Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.” Our Psalm speaks of kindness, truth, justice, and peace as though they are people: Meeting, kissing, springing “out of the earth” and looking “down from heaven.” These are action words; verbs of compassionate care for one another and for the world God has created and loves. How does God speak “of peace to his people” today? How is God “our peace”?

God “speaks of peace to his people” through us. God “is our peace”; we are instruments of God’s peace. We do well as instruments of God’s peace when we work for justice; work for reconciliation. Blessed Pope Paul VI, beatified this past Sunday, once said, “If you want peace, work for justice.” Let “kindness and truth” meet in and through us; justice and peace kiss; truth “spring out of the earth” and justice “look down from heaven.” In this way we will speak and act out God’s peace; we will be God’s “peace to his people.”