BRIDGEPORT—When fences become walls that divide us, we turn our back on God as well as our neighbor, Bishop Frank J. Caggiano said in his homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
In his online Mass from the Catholic Center chapel, the bishop offered a reflection on the two great commandments in the Gospel of Matthew (22: 34-40)
“37 He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.38 This is the greatest and the first commandment.39 The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
He began his homily by noting there is much wisdom to the adage that “Good fences make good neighbors,” and he noted that in the Brooklyn neighborhood of his childhood, everyone had fences made or iron or stone.
He said the fences between neighbors draw necessary boundaries of privacy and respect that are protective and civil.
“Fences are Necessary in all human relationships because they create boundaries that are welcoming and appropriate. Fences are an important part of your life and mine.”
Yet when fences become impermeable they violate the spirit of the Gospel.
“When fences become walls so that neighbors become strangers or even perhaps enemies, they lose their essential purpose. They become deeply destructive and even deadly.”
Describing our world as one that “is busy making fence into walls,” the bishop said that this kind of division should “give us all pause, particularly in light of this Gospel.”
In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus brings two powerful commandments together—love of God and love of neighbor—in a way that stumps the Pharisees and continues to teach us all a powerful lesson, the bishop said.
“By putting these two commandments together, he gives us a clue on how to love God precisely by loving our neighbor. The concrete way to love god is by loving our neighbor. As you and I create fences around ourselves to keep people out, we are not only failing to love our neighbor, but also failing to love our God,” he said.
Referencing the parable of the Good Samaritan the bishop said Jesus expanded the concept of neighbor to include something that is universal and all encompassing.
Jesus challenges the notion that a neighbor is only a certain part of humanity. “Jesus came for everyone to offer salvation to all,” he said.
“To love god is to love our neighbor and that neighbor is everyone– and that’s where the challenge comes. In our broken human failure and sin we are always tempted to make fences into walls to exclude those who don’t share the color of our skin, the language we speak or the economic status we have. All of this offends our neighbor and offends our God.”
The bishop ended his homily with a couple of powerful questions. “Will we still be neighbors after this election is over when we sit at table and disagree?” And are we capable of taking down the walls in our own lives.
“As I look upon our lives, I see far too many walls being built. Jesus is asking us to make a choice to tear them down one by one. In this coming week can we ask about what we plan to do with the walls we have created in my life and in yours?
After Mass the Bishop said that people throughout the diocese are in his prayers and that they pray for him and diocesan and parish leaders in these uncertain times as virus infection rates are climbing. He acknowledged that the safety protocols in place at Mass can be fatiguing but urged people to remain vigilant so that the situation does not deteriorate any further.”
He also invited people to join in weekly Family Rosary to find understanding, strength and Grace as we continue to face unforeseen challenges during the pandemic.
For more information on the Sunday Family Rosary every Sunday at 7:30 p.m. visit: https://formationreimagined.org/sundayfamilyrosary/
Bishop’s Online Mass: The Bishop’s Sunday Mass is released online every Sunday morning at 8 a.m. and available for replay throughout the day. To view the Bishop’s Sunday Mass, recorded and published weekly, click this link or visit the YouTube Mass Playlist.
