Upside-Down or Right-Side-Up? - Homily for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (ExForm, 2021)

 In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. + 

One of my favorite quotes of GK Chesterton—and I paraphrase here—goes like this: The world is upside down. But God is in the business of making it right-side up. 

A lot of our world is upside down. Even in some sectors of our Catholic communities, things are upside down. Those who are watering down the faith and sowing confusion are often extolled as so faithful and so forward thinking whereas the devout are so often ridiculed as Pharisaical. Talk about love, and those who have no definition of it other than that it can mean anything—including the union of that which is opposed to God (who is love)—they are up held as so loving, whereas those who stand and say that Love is defined and that it really is one man and woman in marriage—well, they are said to be unloving. And freedom: so many say that freedom is doing whatever one wants. And those who have large families—well, they are just rabbits and their free choice to have many children is a large carbon footprint that enslaves future generations.

I could go on. But you get the point. Something is upside-down. Evil is taught as good; good is taught as evil.

In the Gospel this morning, we see Jesus praising (through a parable) the dishonest steward. This seems upside down. And it is. So why is Jesus praising the dishonesty? He is doing so to prove that the world is consistent in its praise for the upside-down. The world, of course, as the Epistle points out, is totally enamored in the flesh, and is enslaved to the flesh—and is upside down. But it thinks that we are upside down. 

Celibacy? Upside down. Large families? Upside down. Latin Mass? Upside down. Keeping the commandments while also being generously charitable? Upside down.

Of course, those things are right-side-up. But the world doesn’t see it that way—precisely because, to the world, The Cross is upside down. The Cross is a stumbling block to the world. The Cross is a scandal, a folly, an absurdity. And that’s all because the world is corrupt in its carnal desires—and has no room for the spiritual and the transcendent. 

If we should be making a "dishonest" exchange in our stewardship, it would be confessing our sins and exchanging the fires of hell for the mere pittance of a Hail Mary in penance.

Indeed, for many in the world this exchange in the confessional-- the right-side-up exchange-- is upside-down. So foolish is God's love in the eyes of an upside down world!

That said, I know that this year has been tough for you. And some ecclesiastical news has made things even tougher. The way that I have come to understand and find consolation in these days is by looking in Sacred Scripture. There, I remember the experience of the Israelites in the Exile. The Exile is the period where the Temple is destroyed and everything is taken away from the Israelites. Their worship, their way of life, and to some degree their identity—it is destroyed and they are carried off into Babylon and Assyria. The Exile. 

But the reason for the Exile was for their hearts to be torn open and a renewing of zeal and worship and faith to enter in. For some—some—this happened. And they returned singing and praising God with all the more zeal and praise. It was a time that was totally upside-down, but God made it right-side-up again. 

[As an aside, in the Novus Ordo, the first reading is taken from the Exilic period: from Jeremiah:

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. 
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock
from all the lands to which I have driven them
and bring them back to their meadow;
there they shall increase and multiply. 
I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them
so that they need no longer fear and tremble;
and none shall be missing, says the LORD.

I am convinced that the same is going on here. And God will make things right-side-up again. That’s His business.] 

Yes, for those who know about the Motu Proprio: the Successor of Peter has spoken. It seems upside-down. Indeed, Peter has spoken before—on one occasion, he was praised by the Lord for his great act of faith (“Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah!”). But on another occasion, he was chided and corrected by the Lord for his upside-down thinking (“Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking as God does, but as men do.”) 

So, Peter has spoken. But we await Jesus’ response. 

In light of that, we continue in charity and zeal, but not anger. We may grieve, for there is great loss, great disappointment, and another exile—but not without hope. We must never despair! And we may question—but not in doubt, but in faith. 

Indeed, it is often the case in human history that those who are beloved of Christ are the first to suffer the Cross. John the Beloved Apostle; Mary, the Mother of Jesus; Mary Magdalene—they were all so, so beloved. And they were at the side of Jesus Christ, experiencing the pain of the Crucifixion as our Lord was crucified. 

Peter and the rest? Cowards who fled. 

But note: at the end of Peter’s life here on earth, at the end of his earthly pilgrimage, he was crucified. And he was crucified upside-down. 

Upside-down in crucifixion, but right-side-up in the eyes of the Lord. 

And that’s how we will be. The world may look at us as if we are upside-down, but we know the reality. We know The Way, and the Truth, and The Life. We know what is right-side-up, even if it leads us to the folly of an upside-down crucifixion. 

So long as we stay in communion in the Catholic Church and close to our Lord in faith, in hope, and in charity, we will be right-side-up and straight-away into heaven! 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. +