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Circles
Have Two Sides
Alice Hinkel
Fr. George Smiga
25
May 2003
John
15:9-17
Admonitio:
The poet Edward Markum writes:
My enemy
and I came nigh.
He drew a circle that shut me out.
Heretic rebel and thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win.
We drew a circle that took him in.
To be
taken in, what a wonderful experience! What a magnificent
feeling to be accepted, received and welcomed. To know that
we belong to someone or something that is beautiful and true
is to know that we are loved. This is especially so when one
has been considered an outsider, an alien, perhaps even an
enemy.
In today's
first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we will hear the
story of Cornelius, a Gentile, and an outsider. The very early
followers of Jesus were Jewish, but now Peter, to the astonishment
of the other believers, comes to the realization that God
shows no partiality and that the Spirit has been poured out,
yes even upon the Gentiles. What joy Cornelius must have felt
at being found acceptable. At being drenched in the waters
of baptism. At being taken into the circle of the early Christian
community and belonging to Christ. Our own neophytes, those
baptized and received into our church just several weeks ago,
can perhaps relate well to the story of Cornelius that we
are about to hear. Indeed some of them have spoken of the
profound love and acceptance that they have experienced through
this community and their incorporation into Christ's body.
No doubt
we too can recall some moment of being accepted into a new
relationship-be that a family, a circle of friends, a professional
organization, the conferring of citizenship in this country,
a faith community or our own first communions when we approached
the Lord's Table for the first time. In all of these experiences
of belonging, of being included, we come to know that we are
loved.
Yet circles,
as our poet indicated, can also exclude. Perhaps we have lived
the hurt of rejection, the splintering of community, the wedge
that can be driven into relationships, when we or someone
we care about is found unacceptable. "Heretic, rebel
thing to flout, they drew a circle that shut me out."
Shut out because of our ideas or beliefs, our ancestry or
age, our gender or color. Shut out because of our economic
or marital status, our IQ, our sexual orientation, our disease
or our disability. Not being allowed in, being cutoff from
community, being isolated undermines love in a radical way.
Nothing
could be further removed from the commandment that Jesus holds
forth in today's Gospel. "Love one another as I have
loved you." Responding to this commandment requires an
expansive heart, a wide embrace, a circle whose circumference
is constantly growing-growing to take in all those we encounter
with love, with the love that has first loved us and with
awareness that all of humanity is created in God's image and
likeness. Nothing demonstrates love more clearly than inclusion.
Material gifts can wear out. Words can ring hollow and even
kisses can betray. But being included knowing we belong that
is a sure sign of genuine love. We do not and cannot count
on just our own resources and energies to extend ourselves
to one another in this way. Rather, we rely on the power of
God, a God who is love personified. But love and I, God and
I, had the wit to win. We drew a circle that took them in.
Homily
Jesus could not be more clear in today's Gospel. For in that
gospel He gives us His one commandment-not ten but one commandment.
It is this: we should love one another as He as loved us.
How has Christ loved us? By including us in His very life.
As Alice pointed our in her admonitio before the readings
today, the chief sign of Christ's love is its ability to include
what was excluded. As he hung on the cross, Jesus included
the thief hanging at His right side, even though the thief
did not deserve it. After his resurrection, Jesus included
Peter among His apostles, even though Peter denied Him. Jesus
included Cornelius as part of the early church, even though
Cornelius was a Gentile. Jesus has included us into His very
life even though we are weak and sinful. To love one another
then as Christ has loved us we must be willing to include
in our lives those who are excluded, those who are different,
those who have no claim to our love. Every time we reach across
a barrier, heal a hurt, forgive an enemy, we are following
the commandment that Jesus gave us.
Now of
course we cannot do this absolutely. Only Christ can love
absolutely. We might find a person we cannot love. There may
be a person who has hurt us so deeply, who is so manipulative
or untrustworthy that including him or her in our life would
be destructive to ourselves and others. If we find such a
person we have both the right and perhaps even the duty to
keep them at a distance. We can say to Christ, "You need
to love this person because I cannot."
But such
people are clearly a minority. For most of the people in our
lives we are challenged to love them as Christ loved them.
And we do this one person at a time. Is there a person in
your neighborhood or in your workplace who is different, who
you do not understand and who you could begin to reach out
to? Is there someone in your family from whom you are estranged
who you could begin to talk to again? Is there someone who
hurt you who you could begin to forgive? Each time we do any
of these things we are following the one commandment that
Jesus gave us.
Of course
following that commandment is not easy. The world is a hard
place where people will continually disappoint us and misunderstand
us and at times hurt us. But every time we are able to love
them as Christ has loved us, then Christ and we together will
have found the wit to win. For we will have drawn a circle
that takes them in.
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