From the desk of the pastor — MLK Homily

By Fr. David Ruchinski

Yesterday afternoon, I attended Bishop Estevez’s listening session on racism over at St. Patrick’s church. I was saddened to hear from one of the participants that she had never heard a priest preach a homily on the sin of racism. I have preached on this topic before, but in light of the initiative of the US bishops in this regard, and of the national holiday we celebrate, let me once again reiterate that racism is a serious sin against charity and against the body of Christ and against the divine will expressed in Jesus’ high priestly prayer that “they may all be one.”

As a sin of thought more than action, racism may be difficult for our consciences to identify. But like other sins of thought — like lust, for example — if it is left to fester in the mind, it will eventually manifest itself in action. And like other sins of the mind — envy, greed, lust, etc. — the sin of racism, if left unchecked, can be a serious, even mortal sin, breaking off our relationship with God in the sacraments.

I do not, however, subscribe to the Marxist viewpoint that the solution to the scourge of racism is some government-controlled social engineering project, wherein we try to redistribute wealth and social privilege from one sub group to another. Racism is a sin, and like all sin it needs to be nailed to the Cross and Crucified with Christ. The true communion of the human family is not some man made classless utopia. It is the glorious mystical body of the resurrected Christ of which we become members when we worthily receive His body and blood in the Eucharist.

This is the wedding feast of which we hear in today’s gospel. This is the new creation we aspire to become. Jesus doesn’t tell us to “get woke” to the class conflict around us, but instead to beg to become “new wineskins” filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, that makes us — in all our glorious diversity — one body in Christ.