Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 426

To this end he has also called you through our Gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm

and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.

After the culture wars of the 1960's, when the word traditional aroused strong feelings and stronger discussion, I think most people, secular and religious, appreciate the worth of tradition. It's not a bad thing. If I lose my memory I lose my identity. Even my name is a relic of the past, connecting me with those who named me and knew me by that name. 

Likewise, a church, city or nation that loses its history cannot imagine or prepare for its future in any realistic fashion. They might say, "Here's where we need to go!" but without the collective experience of their strengths and weaknesses, possibilities and limitations, their planning is unfounded pipe dreams.  

Unfortunately, ideological thinking begins with an idea and then uses that idea to sift through memories, repressing some and celebrating others. Differing ideologies may share the same past but have radically different histories, and find little agreement. 

The Pharisees, apparently, were ideologues. Their thinking began with the Roman occupiers, whom they feared more than God. Jesus found their teaching oppressive. He railed at them, "You have nullified the word of God for the sake of your tradition."

Saint Paul, in the second oldest Christian document, urged his congregation to stand firm and hold fast to the traditions you were taught. Even at that early date, when the Christian church was barely twenty years old, he was concerned about their traditions. 

Scholars believe Paul's Thessalonian church was predominantly gentile though their leadership was Jewish. United by their faith in Christ, the leaders would help the church understand and connect to their "Old Testament" roots. The knew that no one can know Jesus without a basic understanding of his Jewish tradition and ancestry. Without that he is only a "Lone Ranger;" they might ask, "Who was that masked man?" and receive no answer.

The Church continually calls us to remember our past, and not just the thirty-plus years of Jesus life. We should remember the saints. Many of their feast days fall on the anniversary of their death. No Franciscan can approach October 4 without remembering the life of the joyful saint and the sadness of his disciples when he surrendered his soul to God. We cherish his writings and teaching and stories; and reflect on them as if they were "The Gospel according to Saint Francis." Benedictines, Dominicans, Carmelites, Jesuits and many other communities celebrate their traditions with equal fervor. 

When I was appointed as pastor of a parish I called for a story-telling session. I asked the members to "Tell me about your church." Only then did I begin to appreciate their suffering under my predecessor, and the affection they had for this parish and community. Their healing began with telling stories, but it became "our healing" as I became a member of that church. 

As we study the scriptures we also learn to appreciate our sinful past. The Bible does not hesitate to remember the infidelities of God's people. We can do that too, in our parishes, and homes and personal lives. These sinful traditions --like violence, racism, sexism, alcoholism -- must be honored with appropriate acts of atonement. 

I like to think of the promise that Julian of Norwich heard, "All will be well; and all will be well; and all manner of things will be well." There will come a day when even the bitterest, most dreadful and distasteful memories will be remembered with gratitude. Our slavery in Egypt, the fall of Jerusalem, the crucifixion of Jesus, the enslavement of Africans, the Shoah. These and every other crime will be remembered with gratitude through the experience of God's mercy. 

With these traditional memories of triumph and defeat, of sin and reconciliation, of desolation and consolation  we can begin to comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth of God's wisdom.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.