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It\u2019s a sad fact of history While they were there at Dachau, These 2500 priests considered all of this, But that was not the complete question they asked. We must do better. He says, \u201cyour righteousness must surpass that The law is not simply to be observed, It is not enough to merely avoid murdering someone, he says, If you have conflict, resolve it. It is not enough to avoid committing adultery. It is not enough to avoid false oaths. This is what Jesus is telling his disciples. When we look at the world today, When we look at our nation, Even when we look inside our Church, The 2500 priests at Dachau who saw the need to do better Whenever we humble ourselves enough to serve others, When we serve others, So as the priests in Dachau I\u2019ve brought in this image of Jesus washing the disciples\u2019 feet, But the priests at Dachau intended something more. And so they began to think the time had come The priests in Cellblock 26 saw the need That is what those 2500 priests concluded, That decision is what allows me to stand before you, But when we look at the current conflicts in our world, So I ask you to find some individual or some group that you can serve; Christ the Servant went to uncomfortable places Today Jesus asks us to surpass the righteousness It is not easy; Today I urge you to find a way to serve others, With Lent approaching, The world desperately needs to see Christ, the Prince of Peace.
\nthat the largest religious community
\nthat ever lived together in the same place
\nin the history of the Catholic Church
\nwas at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany during World War II.
\nOver 2,500 Catholic priests became prisoners in Dachau,
\nin Cellblock 26, known as the Priestblock<\/em>.
\nThey were from 144 dioceses and 25 countries,
\nand they made up about a third of Dachau\u2019s total population.<\/p>\n
\nthe priests ministered to the other prisoners the best they could,
\nand they tried to strengthen each other, and give each other hope.
\nAs the days went by, they even held theological discussions
\nto try and make sense of what was happening,
\nnot only to them, but to the world.
\nThey talked about the holocaust that was happening before their eyes,
\nand the war raging across the world,
\nweapons of destruction worse than any other in history;
\nand all this coming after what had been called \u201cThe War to End All Wars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nand as they pondered,
\none question kept returning to them.
\n\u201cHow could this happen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe complete question, the full question, included a key phrase at the end.
\nTheir full question was,
\n\u201cHow could this happen in Christian nations<\/em>?\u201d
\nGermany was a Christian nation. Italy, France, Great Britain,
\nthe United States; even Russia had its Christian roots.
\nAnd these priests asked themselves,
\n\u201cHow could this happen
\namong people who professed to be followers of Christ?
\nWe must do better!\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\nAnd that is what Jesus is telling his disciples in today\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n
\nof the scribes and Pharisees.”
\nIn other words, \u201cYou must do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nit is to be lived.<\/p>\n
\nthat\u2019s not enough.
\nYou must do better.<\/p>\n
\nDisciples are not to call people fools or other demeaning names.
\nThese people you try to humiliate are my brothers and sisters.
\nBefore you even approach the altar with a gift,
\nif you have a problem with someone,
\ngo reconcile with them,
\nand then come back.
\nYou must do better.<\/p>\n
\nDon\u2019t even look at someone with lust.
\nThat\u2019s exploitation,
\nusing someone else for your own pleasure.
\nYou must do better.<\/p>\n
\nLive a life of integrity,
\nbe who you are at all times,
\nin public and in private,
\nso that your yes means yes
\nand your no means no.
\nYou must do better.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s what Jesus is telling us.<\/p>\n
\nthe escalation of conflicts between nations,
\nthe out and out war taking place,
\nwe must do better.<\/p>\n
\nthe polarization, the name calling,
\nthe attempts to utterly humiliate opponents,
\nwe must do better.<\/p>\n
\nwe see infighting, bickering, lack of charity between fellow Christians,
\neven, sadly, among Church leaders.
\nIs this reconciling with our brother or sister before coming to the altar?
\nIs this living a life of integrity where our yes means yes
\nand our no means no?
\nWe must do better!<\/p>\n
\nalso had discussions about how<\/em> to do better.
\nIn the face of the great evil they were experiencing,
\nthey had an insight,
\nperhaps even the grace of the Holy Spirit inspiring them.
\nThey realized that in the ministries of the Church
\nthere were images of Christ the King
\nand images of Christ the Priest,
\nbut there was a need for images of Christ the Servant.
\nAnd this could help us do better.<\/p>\n
\nwe encounter Christ in them
\nand they encounter Christ in us.
\nIn the words of Pope Francis,
\n\u201cThe more we serve,
\nthe more we are aware of God\u2019s presence,
\nespecially when we serve those who cannot give anything in return\u2026\u201d
\nAnd when we see Christ in those we serve,
\nwe are more likely to treat them with dignity,
\nwe are more likely to build friendships with them,
\nwe are more likely to want to reconcile with them
\nin peaceful and loving ways.
\nConflict and disagreement are always going to exist.
\nBut the way we resolve those conflicts
\nand address those differences with others
\nought to grow out of an understanding of their dignity as children of God.
\nWhen we serve others, we are less likely to call them fools,
\nhumiliate them,
\nor exploit them for our own pleasure.<\/p>\n
\nwe do better.<\/p>\n
\ncontinued thinking about the important of service,
\nthey saw the need for more images of Christ the Servant.
\nBut they weren\u2019t thinking necessarily
\nof more icons or paintings of Christ the Servant
\nbeing put up in churches and homes around the world,
\nalthough that would be wonderful.<\/p>\n
\nbecause that\u2019s who Jesus was and is, a servant.
\nContemplating icons like this one
\ncan certainly help us remember Christ the Servant,
\nand our own call to serve others.<\/p>\n
\nThey saw the need for living<\/em> images of Christ of the Servant.<\/p>\n
\nto bring back permanent deacons.
\nIn the 1940\u2019s, and for centuries before,
\nthere were no permanent deacons,
\nas there had been in the early years of the church \u2014
\ndeacons like St. Lawrence and St. Ephraim.
\nPermanent deacons existed in the Church for many centuries,
\nbut for a lot of complicated reasons they declined in number
\nand eventually disappeared.<\/p>\n
\nfor the return of permanent deacons,
\npermanent images of Christ the Servant,
\nwho would animate the people to service.<\/p>\n
\nand they wrote their thoughts down in notes,
\nand those notes were eventually published in a book
\nthat was one of the influences on Pope Paul VI
\nwhen he decided to re-establish the permanent diaconate in 1967,
\nafter the Second Vatican Council.<\/p>\n
\na permanent deacon,
\ntalking to you about serving others.
\nGod always knows how to make grace come out of any suffering.
\nThat horrible experience of the 2500 priests in Cellblock 26
\nlead to the renewal of the permanent diaconate,
\nso that now there are almost 49,000 deacons in the world,
\nand the numbers are increasing each year.<\/p>\n
\nthe divisions in our nation,
\nand even in our Church,
\nI must do better,
\nyou must do better,
\nwe must do better!<\/p>\n
\nsomeone who cannot give back,
\nsomeone you disagree with or have a conflict with;
\nor some individual or group that makes you feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
\nlike Samaria and the Decapolis.
\nHe ministered to people who made others uncomfortable,
\npeople on the fringes of society,
\nlike tax collectors, prostitutes, and those with leprosy.
\nWho would he minister to today, if he were here among us?
\nThose are the very people he is asking us to serve.<\/p>\n
\nof the scribes and Pharisees
\nand do better.<\/p>\n
\nbut when has the Christian life ever been easy?
\nthe Christian life is the way of the cross.
\nAnd through the grace of our baptism,
\nstrengthened in confirmation
\nand nourished here at the Eucharistic table,
\nChrist gives us the strength to carry that cross.<\/p>\n
\nfor in doing so you will find Christ;
\nand others will find Christ in you.<\/p>\n
\nmaybe this can be part of your Lenten sacrifice.<\/p>\n
\nBecause what we Christians have done so far,
\nas good as it has been,
\nhas not been enough.
\nWe must do better.<\/p>\n