We Must Do Better! Homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

It’s a sad fact of history
that the largest religious community
that ever lived together in the same place
in the history of the Catholic Church
was at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany during World War II.
Over 2,500 Catholic priests became prisoners in Dachau,
in Cellblock 26, known as the Priestblock.
They were from 144 dioceses and 25 countries,
and they made up about a third of Dachau’s total population.

While they were there at Dachau,
the priests ministered to the other prisoners the best they could,
and they tried to strengthen each other, and give each other hope.
As the days went by, they even held theological discussions
to try and make sense of what was happening,
not only to them, but to the world.
They talked about the holocaust that was happening before their eyes,
and the war raging across the world,
weapons of destruction worse than any other in history;
and all this coming after what had been called “The War to End All Wars.”

These 2500 priests considered all of this,
and as they pondered,
one question kept returning to them.
“How could this happen?”

But that was not the complete question they asked.
The complete question, the full question, included a key phrase at the end.
Their full question was,
“How could this happen in Christian nations?”
Germany was a Christian nation. Italy, France, Great Britain,
the United States; even Russia had its Christian roots.
And these priests asked themselves,
“How could this happen
among people who professed to be followers of Christ?
We must do better!” they said.

We must do better.
And that is what Jesus is telling his disciples in today’s gospel.

He says, “your righteousness must surpass that
of the scribes and Pharisees.”
In other words, “You must do better.”

The law is not simply to be observed,
it is to be lived.

It is not enough to merely avoid murdering someone, he says,
that’s not enough.
You must do better.

If you have conflict, resolve it.
Disciples are not to call people fools or other demeaning names.
These people you try to humiliate are my brothers and sisters.
Before you even approach the altar with a gift,
if you have a problem with someone,
go reconcile with them,
and then come back.
You must do better.

It is not enough to avoid committing adultery.
Don’t even look at someone with lust.
That’s exploitation,
using someone else for your own pleasure.
You must do better.

It is not enough to avoid false oaths.
Live a life of integrity,
be who you are at all times,
in public and in private,
so that your yes means yes
and your no means no.
You must do better.

This is what Jesus is telling his disciples.
It’s what Jesus is telling us.

When we look at the world today,
the escalation of conflicts between nations,
the out and out war taking place,
we must do better.

When we look at our nation,
the polarization, the name calling,
the attempts to utterly humiliate opponents,
we must do better.

Even when we look inside our Church,
we see infighting, bickering, lack of charity between fellow Christians,
even, sadly, among Church leaders.
Is this reconciling with our brother or sister before coming to the altar?
Is this living a life of integrity where our yes means yes
and our no means no?
We must do better!

The 2500 priests at Dachau who saw the need to do better
also had discussions about how to do better.
In the face of the great evil they were experiencing,
they had an insight,
perhaps even the