Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 107

Woe to the shepherds
who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture,
says the LORD.
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
against the shepherds who shepherd my people:
You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.
You have not cared for them,
but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.

People who hear our first reading today from the Prophet Jeremiah might assume he is talking about clergy who take advantage of vulnerable people in their congregations. Gullible children, lonely women, anxious men, disabled persons: to wicked men their needs look like invitations to use, abuse, overcome, and destroy. The innocent are often violated sexually, emotionally, or financially by powerful persons who avoid and deny all responsibility. When the stories come out the victims, rather than the perpetrators, suffer shame, blame, and guilt for what happened to them. 

But our just and merciful God stands with them. He sends the prophets to sound the alarm and warn everyone of the hellfires that await perpetrators. 

But Jeremiah's complaint includes more than the priests and Levites of ancient Israel. He condemned secular authorities; the kings, royal families, governors, and officials who used their authority to feather their own nests, and not to serve God’s people. Swindling merchants, unscrupulous tax collectors, and thieving slaves also twisted systems, and cheated honest men and women. Fraud, corruption, and shady deals don't belong only to the elite, sophisticated, and wealthy. There’s more than enough evil to be shared by rich and poor, healthy and sick alike. Any fool can think he's smart enough to cheat other people and get away with it.

In 2024 we can add to that list, political strategists who create propaganda for whichever party pays them more. They have no political agenda, but they can and will persuade voters to believe whatever they're hired to promote. These so-called “hired guns” use anxiety and fear like a musician uses a trumpet or a percussionist, a drum. If Tweedledee wins you should fear the loss of your privilege and entitlement; if Tweedledum wins he'll take your freedom, liberties, and rights. "Now you don't want that to happen, do you?"

And then there are the politicians who read the polls like Sacred Scripture as they surf the waves of popular opinion. Their ambition is power, and like Pontius Pilate, have never wanted or needed to know the truth. 

And so-called influencers hired to make cheap junk look like hot fashion, and modeling agencies with their unsexed men and women. Where an actor says with her face, “Love me!” a model says with her body, “Buy me!”  

Jeremiah's false shepherds include teachers who tell our children that the miracles of the Bible never happened and could not have happened, and therefore the Bible is nonsense. In fact, they say all religion is nonsense and will soon disappear from the Earth. Science is the new religion and the only truth is facts. 

Our children must learn STEM -- science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. They don't need civics, history, literature, or music; and nobody needs philosophy. We tell children what to think; we teach them how to think – which is precisely like everyone else. 

The same teachers give our college students comparative religion, and tell us that all religions are good and no religious doctrine is bad. They’re like blind men groping an elephant; and no religion can say anything reliable about God, least of all our Catholic Church. Buddhists are better; Hindus are holier; and Muslims make more sense because they don’t have all that mumbo jumbo about three persons in one God, incarnation, transubstantial and consubstantiation. It sounds insubstantial to us. If your priests can’t say it in plain english, it means nothing at all.  

But there is no point in blaming politicians, merchants, or teachers for the compromises of our culture. Rather than argue with them, I want to sound the alarm like John the Baptist in the desert. We must realize what their propaganda does to our families, neighborhoods, churches, and homes. Their hostile questions and insinuations cast doubt and uncertainty upon everything that must be certain. 

If you know what we believe and what we stand for, there are many among your loved ones who don’t. If you know who you are and to whom you have given your life, many around you are confused; and that may be by the confusing signals you send. 

If you believe in God, why are you investing in a state lottery? If you believe in marriage and the holiness of sexuality, why are you watching sexualized entertainment? If you mean no harm, are you sure you’re doing no harm? 

Have you asked your family about your gambling, your drinking, your smoking, your shopping, or your guns? What exactly do your tattoos mean, and who gave you the right to needle diabolical signs onto the temple of the Holy Spirit?

Saint John the Baptist reminds us that our faith begins with the practice of penance. Every time we recite the Our Father we admit we have sinned. We begin every mass by confessing that we have sinned. We have sinned; we and our fathers have sinned.

And now, more than ever, we must return to that practice of penance. If you don’t like the way your world is changing; if you don’t like what this world says about your faith in Jesus, your response is not protesting, or complaining, or whining about how awful it is. Our response is penance, atonement, and gratitude that the Lord has opened our eyes and turned us away from the idiocy and nonsense that is all around us. 

We do penance by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We have many forms of public and private prayer. We fast by eating carefully, buying only what we need,  by moderating our use of social media and entertainment, and by living simply. We give alms with time, talent, and treasure. 

We don’t know where the nation is going, or the world, but we do know where we’re going because we’re going with the Man who has died to save us from this world, and from our complicity with it. 

P.S. Kudos to Father Michael Schmitz who preached penance to the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis on Friday!