Howdy, Holy Family! I want to let you know I’m taking a few days off Thanksgiving week. This last year has been especially life giving and challenging for me and Fr. Le’s arrival here is nothing less than a miracle as far as I’m concerned. I’ll be out for a bit, getting some rest and trying to rebuild. I’ll be out from Monday, November 23rd, until Saturday, November 28th. For my article this week, I wanted to share last week’s homily “Your Oil is for Shining Christ” with you:
Oil is the means by which we shine Christ’s light to the world. Think of oil as our gifts, our talents, our passion.
The oil is the way we power the light of Christ in us. God created us to use that oil to shine Him in our own unique way. When we do this, the world around us changes.
The Devil hates the light that comes from us, but knows he cannot put it out. What he can do instead is tempt us to use our oil for something other than shining God’s light. He can tempt us to use our beautiful, valuable oil for something transitory, something…less.
For example, the first and perhaps most common temptation is often for us to use our oil exclusively for ourselves; and when we do this, Christ’s light in us becomes obscured and we become defined by our brokenness, instead of our redemption. But that is not my focus today. My focus today is on the other temptation the devil utilizes: he wants us to use our oil for second best solutions. In this case, politics.
Now, I want to be clear right in the beginning that I don’t intend this to discourage us from the political process. Participation in the elections in our country is a must for any good Catholic. We need to enter the political process so that we can transform it.
The problem is, we have let the process transform us and that’s what we are going to talk about today. There are people who want to take your beautiful heart, your energy, your passionate love for what is right and exploit it for their own gain. They want to use your oil. They want to use your oil, not to shine Christ, but to gain power. They tell you to be afraid. They tell you to be angry. They tell you “we have to stop this person!” or “we need that person to save us!” Because we are so broken, because everything is so loud and so persuasive, we’ve bought it.
They tell us that the only real solution to abortion is politics. They tell us that the only real solution to poverty is politics. They tell us that if you don’t stand with them, everything will collapse.
They don’t tell you this because they believe it, they tell you this because they want your oil and they want it for themselves.
Politics are not the answer. Politicians are not the answer.
Jesus Christ is the answer.
You and I using the oil he has given us in order to shine out in the darkness is the answer and no politician, no political party that stops you, unless you choose to let them.
And we have let them. We let two political parties exploit our passion, our hunger for justice, our care for the unborn, our concern for the immigrant…we have let them take all that is best and most beautiful about us and exploit them for power. We’ve let them use our oil to shred our family relationships, We’ve let them use our oil to manipulate Church teachings, In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke the spirit of politics & I enjoin each of us with all the love and strength my heart can muster to do the same. You and I were meant for so much more than this.
We don’t need a politician we voted for or agree with in order for us to place all our resources at the hands of expectant mothers. We don’t need a politician we voted for or agree with in order to welcome the immigrant and tell them that our family once came here with a dream of a better life. We don’t need a politician we voted for or agree with to commit our money and energy to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked or visiting the sick.
The oil that Jesus placed in you is meant to fuel us to care for the least, not sacrifice and serve the powerful. As lovers of God, our tools are not government or politicians, our tools are our hands, our hearts, our love…our tool is our oil. No government, no politician is needed for us to use our oil to shine Christ. People of low moral character on both sides of this equation have taken your beautiful oil and used it.
I guess what I am asking is that all of us stop exporting all of our oil to politics and politicians. That oil belongs to the unborn, the poor, the vulnerable. It should be placed at the service of Christ, not people who use his name. Jesus does not want to exploit you. Jesus does not want you afraid. Jesus wants to show you how very brightly and beautifully you can shine if you let him.
For my part, I beg your forgiveness for those clergy who, with great intentions, exploited the Sacred Dignity of the Mass to get you more involved in their politics.
I urge you, in the name of Jesus Christ to consider who you are and what you were made for. You are beautiful. You were made for Christ. You were made for service to the least. Let your beauty shine in your care for the unborn, for the poor, for the immigrant, for the least.
Let’s commit today, here and now to rejecting the exploitative nature of politicians and embrace those who need our oil just to live. Our oil was given to us by God so that we can shine for Christ. Let’s use that oil to transform our politicians and stop letting them transform us.
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