Homily

Hope and the View that the World is a Machine
Commentary on Spe Salvi, nn. 4-5

Sunday, December 9, 2007, 2nd Sunday of Advent, Cycle A
Ss. Cyril and Methodius Parish, Sterling Heights

Last weekend, I introduced the Pope’s new encyclical, published near the start of Advent this year, an encyclical about hope. I had mentioned that the Pope clarified that hope is “not a mere concept.” For hope transforms our lives, the Pope says, it is “not just ‘informative’ but ‘performative’.” (n. 4) It is not a concept, “information,” but  a rule of life by which we “perform” good deeds, exterior and interior, of love of God and neighbor.

Today I wish to continue discussing the Pope’s encyclical (paragraphs 4-6), to build up your hope, you who live in the world, but are not of the world, because you belong to a Master who “knows you, loves you and awaits you,” and this Master is Jesus the Lord.

            Continuing in the encyclical, to paragraphs four and five, we see the Pope begin to refute certain heresies against hope. Today we shall consider two of these arguments of despair and the Pope’s refutations of them, and they are these: first, putting hope in political liberation; and second, putting hope in chemicals (I’ll explain that, “in chemicals,” in just a moment).

            First, about hope in politics. We see many people, often priests, indeed bishops, not only involved in the political world in a disordered way, but often treating matters of doctrine and morals as political issues. For example, the same clergy who support the consecration of the blood of Christ in cheap and fragile glass instead of gold, who claim the Eucharist is not confected by the priest but by the congregation, who defend the most abominable misconducts on the part of the ordained, then stand up in the public square to defend illegal immigration and to honor pro-abortion political candidates. And our USCCB never ceases to publish “documents” on how Washington should run, always leaning to the leftist agenda. Those who hope in politics get consumed in matters of power and endless rhetoric. But those who hope in Christ follow Christ’s moral teaching as regards their political responsibilities, without being so foolish as to put hope in anyone but Jesus.

            Pope Benedict writes, “Jesus … was not engaged in a fight for political liberation… [He] died on the Cross, brought something totally different: an encounter with the Lord of all lords, an encounter with the living God and thus an encounter with a hope … which therefore transformed life and the world from within.” (4)

            The second error the Pope refutes, as I said earlier, was “putting hope in chemicals.” This expression, “chemicals” and whatnot, is mine and not his. What I mean by it is this: that we all seem to think that the blind forces of nature, like chemistry, physical phenomena, hormones and gravity, are in charge of the universe. A humorous poster that reads, “Remember that you are unique… just like everybody else,” as if we were pieces of a big machine, and unoriginal cogs ourselves, and physics is our god.

Examples of this type of false hope are plenty. So many blame their behavior on DNA. So many put their happiness in the latest health food trend. So many are slaves to impurity, and blame it on “how they’re made.” The shootings in schools and malls are immediately explained by cause-and-effect psychology. And so it seems the elements of the universe are in control, that Jesus is not in control.

But to this the Pope writes as follows: “Paul illustrates the essential problem of the religion of that time [referring to the fatalism of the ancient Roman world, hopeless “without God”] quite accurately when he contrasts life ‘according to Christ’ with life under the dominion of the ‘elemental spirits of the universe’ (Col 2:8)… It is not the elemental spirits of the universe, the laws of matter, which ultimately govern the world and mankind, but a personal God governs the stars, that is, the universe; it is not the laws of matter and of evolution that have the final say, but reason, will, love—a Person.” (5)

            Now during Advent, we think of the three Magi, who brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to the new-born Jesus; for during these days of Advent, we travel with them spiritually to the encounter in the stable, for there was no room for the Holy Family in the inn. Curiously, the Pope exemplifies the point that evolution (etc.) is not God, by referring to these three Kings. He says, “Saint Gregory Nazianzen … says that at the very moment when the Magi, guided by the star, adored Christ the new king, astrology came to an end, because the stars were now moving in the orbit determined by Christ.” (5)

            In summary: Politics will not save you, Jesus will save you; he offers no political revolution, but an encounter with God in person. Again, evolution and DNA will not save you, but the Holy Trinity will save you, for God is the creator of all things, and is all powerful, all beautiful, all knowing and all true, and he alone is the one who governs the universe, and no one can take his dominion from him. It is he who knows you, he who loves you, and he who awaits you, so put your trust in him, and live as those who have hope in the resurrection of the dead. Amen.