With the start of school approaching, many of you already have your school supplies. One of my favorites for the start of school (which should also be required for High Schoolers . . . because it could ease many stress issues) is a box of crayons. [Reveal a box of Crayons] Oh that was so exciting! A fresh box! Look at how nice, bright and clean they all look.
As you heard, the gospel reading today focuses on rules and laws. I would like to suggest that a box of crayons help us understand the rules/laws of the Church.
All of them look good now, but after a while . . .
some of the crayons get used more than others (just like some laws get used more than others), some crayons get broken but they are still usable (some rules get broken but we carry on),
some crayons grab our attention because they are so flashy (just like some rules)
some crayons seem dull, but are important (just like rules)
some crayons simply go missing (just as some rules do)
some crayons lose their point (just as some rules do . . . and we don’t know the purpose)
Each crayon here in my Crayola set has a name on it (actually these names are in English, Spanish and French). Some of the names had to be retired, because they are no longer appropriate. For example “Prussian Blue” “Indian Red” or “Flesh” color. Whose flesh? Mine? President Obama? Maybe some rules need to be retired, or at least updated . . . ?
I declare that everyone should own a box of crayons . . . to help relieve tension, to help express yourself . . . and simply to have fun. There probably were not crayons back in Jesus’ time, but he could have used a box to give to the Pharisees. Because as you just heard in the gospel, Jesus is ticked. He is not happy with how they approach the rules. For they accuse Jesus and disciples of not obeying some of the simple rules, like not washing their hands before meals. And Jesus says, “Are you kidding me? You are going around promoting these simple little man-made rules and forgetting the commands that God is directing us.”
I would say that we should send a box of crayons to all the Church personal today, who get so “hung up” on little rules and forget God’s great commands.
Perhaps all those Bishops who say they are protecting children, but kept reassigning abusive priests need a box of crayons (and need to go to jail).
Perhaps those of us who want to exclude divorced and remarried Catholics from joining us at Mass need to listen to Pope Francis. As was quoted in our Diocesan newspaper (August 14 edition). Pope Francis says, those divorced and remarried are NOT excommunicated. He says, “we must have the heart of a mother, a heart that, animated by the Holy Spirit always seeks the good and the salvation of persons.” Perhaps those who want to throw divorced people out should receive the crayon named “Macaroni and Cheese”
Or the folks who want all gays barred from working in the Church should listen to what the 23 Dioceses in Germany passed in April (and became effective August 1): that they will no longer have a discrimination personnel policy for those who don’t live according to the Church’s moral teaching. Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Colgne said, “The point is to limit the consequences of remarriage or same-sex unions to the most serious cases.” To those who refuse to see any good in same-sex unions, perhaps they need to draw with some “Unmellow Yellow.”
Or the biggy, as Pope Francis revealed his important encyclical “Laudato Si” (or as some have called it the Environment Letter) . . . that we in the developed countries need to re-think our dominant orthodoxy that all of creation – soil, water, animals, genetic material, other persons, even our own bodies – is just “raw material” which can be manipulated for personal gain, often at the expense of the poor and vulnerable. Pope Francis refers to this mentality as the throwaway culture.
Why is this letter so important?
-well, it’s a Pope leading the charge, finally in easy to understand language.
- and we can’t keep ignoring the scientific evidence that climate change is happening and human
activity is causing it.
-so to those think that Catholic morality only applies to “bedroom issues” well they have better get on board with this new leader. Perhaps they should receive crayons named “Forest Green” and “Wild Blue Yonder” and “Razzle Dazzle Rose.”
For the Pope is not asking us to respond to rules about the environment (although he has lots of suggestions, which were in a bulletin insert a few weeks ago) but Pope Francis encourages us to trust in God and a powerful Spirit that can renew the face of the Earth. This encyclical is remarkable in that it does not depend on fear to motivate people to care for the Earth; rather he emphasizes love as the motivating force.
Some people worry that Francis will be changing Church Doctrine. I don’t worry about that, for his intend is not to change any Doctrine but to get us back to what our Church Doctrine really is about. For decades we have thought that our Doctrine was about on sin, but now we are to return to our original Doctrine . . . which is about Christ.
Pope Francis is reminding all the people in the world . . . that just like crayons, even though we are all of different colors and names . . . we are all in this same, big and wonderful box together.