Homily for the Epiphany, 2023
“And having been warned in a dream
not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.”
In this
action of the Magi, returning to their country by another way, many Church
Fathers and Saints have seen this as a metaphor for what happens when EACH of
us encounters Christ…we take a new path after encountering Christ. And we all encounter Jesus Christ every time we come to Mass!
We live in a
culture that is saturated with gossip and slander…there are gossip tv shows,
gossip magazines, gossip websites, gossip newspapers and even entire cable
channels devoted 24 hours a day to celebrity gossip and slander.
All the
social media platforms reward you for gossiping and slandering other people.
I used to
gossip all the time…I would gossip and slander other people from sun up to sun
down. But I bought an audio version of
the New Testament about 5 years ago, and listening to it over and over again, I
was struck particularly by how so many sins committed with our speech, if left
unconfessed, the New Testament authors say those sins will keep us out of
Heaven.
Saint Paul
says in First Corinthians chapter 6 That slanderers will not inherit the
Kingdom of God.
Saint Paul
tells the Galatians that “The acts of the flesh are obvious: discord, fits of
rage, dissensions…I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The Book of
Proverbs talks over and over again about how those who spread gossip are
destined for calamity
Jesus says
what goes into the mouth does not defile a person, but what comes out of the
mouth is what defiles them.
Even
spreading something we KNOW to be true about another person is a sin if it
paints that person in a bad light…that sin is the sin of detraction. Of course we need to tell the proper
authorities if we see something happen that is a crime, but detraction is along
the lines of “You won’t believe what I saw Lysander do this morning…”
I have two
things to be particularly in rooting out the sins of gossip and slander from my
life:
1 Monthly
confession
2 Now, any
time I am tempted to gossip or slander someone, I stop and pray a Hail Mary for
that person in my head
The
Catechism says “everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and
reputation and to respect.”
In Ephesians
4 St. Paul says that we should “say only the good things that people need to
hear, things that will really help them”
I used to
come to my parents, and spend the first of couple of minutes “venting” to them
about all the “problems” but I also realized about 5 years ago that “venting”
1 Is not “saying
only the good things that people need to hear, things that will really help
them”
2 Does not
do any good for my family and friends, and wastes their time
Let us
resolve to totally change our course, like the Magi to take a new road home,
because our speech can often get us in trouble, and sins of gossip and slander
and detraction, if left unconfessed, will keep us out of Heaven.
Let us
instead commit to the new road home of saying only the good things that people
need to hear
