Homily: Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time: 2007

Brothers and sisters, "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force." (Matt. 11:12) (or, in more literary terms -- like Flannery O'Connor's "The Violent Bear It Away").

And there's two different ways to take this. I read that some say "men of violence take it by force" means men who do violence to themselves who fight the world, the flesh and the devil. But I think that's doing quite a bit of verbal gymnastics. I think it's not unlike Muslims who said, "No, no, no; you've got it all wrong. 'Jihad' means spiritual jihad -- war against one's own passions."

I think it is more of a statement than an approbation or command. I think it's a reaction to John the Baptist's political imprisonment (and imminent execution) -- and an acknowledgment of the struggles of the "kingdom of heaven," the Church, here on earth. We used to point to this fact by calling it the Church Militant. We are fighting -- and it does surely look like we are outnumbered and outgunned, especially when we read about widespread persecution . . . or even martyrdom.

But it's important to make the connection, like Habakkuk did, between the lines 1:3 and 2:4. Yes, "I cry out to you [Lord], 'Violence!' " but "The rash one has no integrity, but the just one, because of his faith, shall live."

And what exactly does it mean to have "no integrity"? Well, that's one of the easiest questions on earth to answer. We see it every day, nearly everywhere we look. We see it in the reprehensible "musical chairs" of our economy -- "just let me get mine, and let the other man fend for himself. Who cares?" It means deliberately covering up and withholding information from those who need to know it -- but the ignorance of which is to our advantage. Like selling that used car with the mechanical problems you know about but don't want to -- or can't -- fix. Like taking money from people who can't afford it by playing on their irrational hopes and fears. Like backing someone into a corner and then jumping on them for doing so. The list of cheating, lying, selective vision and hearing, falsity and egregiousness just goes on and on. For heaven's sake, don't be like that! "The just one, because of his faith, shall live."

So, yes, "the children of the world are more clever when dealing with their own than are children of the light," but that doesn't mean throw in the towel and join them. It means stick it out . . . "the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint . . . it will surely come." (Habakkuk 2:3).

Let us now profess our faith . . . etc.