Cutting off the limbs of self-interest
Reflection on the Readings for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B
By Fr. Maximilian Buonocore, OSB
There was a man who was a member of several Catholic societies and was very active in his parish, serving as lector, Eucharistic minister and usher. One Sunday, when he was scheduled to serve as usher, he was on his way to church and was running late. Ushers needed to get there early. As he was driving, a car with a young man suddenly changed lanes cutting him off and then was going very slowly. He started blowing his horn and raising his fist. Then he changed lanes to pass the car and, as he was passing, he opened his window and yelled some obscenities at the young driver. Suddenly he sees the flashing lights of a police car behind him and the sound of the loudspeaker telling him to pull over. He pulled over and the police officer came over to his window and asked to see his license and registration. He gives him his license and the vehicle registration and the officer returns to his vehicle to run a check. He comes back and hands the license and registration back and says, “you’re OK, you can go.” Confused, the driver asked the policeman why he had stopped him to check. The officer replied, “Well, I was driving behind you and I saw the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the ‘I love Jesus,’ and the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper stickers, the 'Follow Me to church' bumper sticker, and the crucifix hanging from your rearview mirror. Then I saw you blowing your horn impatiently, shaking your fist, and yelling obscenities. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car." Deeply embarrassed, he arrived at the church, much humbled, and started carrying out his usher duties.
The incident with the policeman that had occurred on the way to church was a real eye-opener for that man. He was “exposed,” as my students would say. What was exposed is that, even though he was very religious and an active member of his parish community, he had not yet fully donned the habit of his baptismal consecration. Christian virtue was still lacking in a certain significant way.
The story about the usher was a fictional story, but I have a true story of something that happened to me very recently. I was driving along Avenue C in Bayonne with my friend Nagui in the passenger seat. I started feeling very frustrated because of what seemed to me a very slow speed that the cars ahead of me were driving. I even turned to Nagui and complained about the slow speed of the traffic. Some distance down the road I realized that at the head of the cars was a police vehicle. Then I looked down at my odometer and noticed that the traffic was moving right at the speed limit. I was exposed!
There is a danger for religious people: to have the expectation that membership and active participation in a religious society or group guarantees that they are virtuous. As a member of a Benedictine religious community, I engage in daily exercises of prayer and work with the expectation of growing in grace and virtue. I wear a habit made up of a tunic, scapular and hood. It serves as a strong symbol of what I strive to be as a monastic consecrated religious. But none of this guarantees that I am virtuous. My wearing of the habit and all of the ritual exercises that I perform every day, alone do not serve as guarantors of my virtue. These daily exercises must be accompanied, as Jesus advises in the Gospel today, by authentic inward efforts at cutting off the limbs of vice which cause me to stumble, and cause my heart to turn away from the light of Christ and toward the darkness of sin. I must daily pluck out the eye of envy and jealousy and prejudice which color my perceptions and cause me to react in sinful ways toward others, and, as I myself, my inner vision darkened by sinful self-interest, act as a child of darkness, rather than a child of the light and of the day, as St. Paul says (1 Thessalonians 5:5). I may thus cause others to turn their hearts from the lighted path of the spirit. I must daily cut off the hand of anger which causes me to ignore the presence of Christ in my brother or sister, and causes me to “return evil for evil; rather, always seek what is good for each other and for all” (1 Thessalonians 5:15); resulting not only in myself not being at peace, but also preventing me from promoting peace among my brothers and sisters. I must daily cut off the foot of pride which causes me to walk in the way of self-advancement and self-building, at the expense of the interests and advancement of others, causing me to stumble along in the drunken stupor of illusion of control, and not only prevent my own heart from dwelling in heaven, but turn my brother’s or sister’s heart from the heavenly path. I must always be conscious of how my calling as a Christian, in general, and as a monastic, specifically, is meant to give inspiration, and help people to come to an awareness of God’s presence and of his loving mercy. As a Christian and especially as a monastic, my heart must continually dwell in heaven through contemplation even as my body and mind dwell on earth engaged in the business of the world, transforming that business into loving service that transmits heaven into the daily lives of myself and others. I must always be aware that bad behavior on my part, especially as a monastic, serves, as Jesus said, to put a stumbling block before the little ones who believe in him. It is through people like me and you that they come to a knowledge of Jesus. What impression of Jesus am I giving them? Therefore I must strive daily to don the true religious habit: the most beautiful habit, and the most authentic habit. That is, the habit of faithfulness and charity. This is the most beautiful and authentic habit that a religious person can put on. It is a habit that one does not put on from the outside, but it is put on from the inside. It radiates outward, and it radiates with the love of Jesus!
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