McTeigue: Are we exempt from the blindness that has ruined other communities?

October 8, 2014 at 11:54 am · Filed under Ave Maria Florida, homily and tagged: Ave Maria chronicles, Ave Maria Oratory Parish, Catholic college, Charity, Cornerstone, Exaltation of the Cross, Father Robert McTeigue SJ, Humility, Jesuit

Ave Maria’s Father Robert McTeigue, S.J., preached a wonderful homily at Mass on the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time:

Do you think that God has a sense of humor?  I think that He at least has a sense of irony.  After all, He has a city boy like me regularly preach about wheat, seeds, sheep and fish—all things I’ve not spent a lot of time with.  And now, I, whose experience in construction does not extend beyond nailing two boards together, have to preach to you about why buildings fall down.

Jesus said, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”  The cornerstone is the first element of a building’s foundation.  The rest of the foundation flows from the cornerstone.  In other words, if you mess with the cornerstone, the whole building will come crashing down around your ears.

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We have to sound the alarm.  We have to offer alternatives.  We have to offer shelter to those who may be fleeing the collapse.  And…we have to look in the mirror.

Here in our little home of Ave Maria—in our schools, our town, our parish, our neighborhoods and families, and within our own souls—we have to ask ourselves:  “Is Christ the true cornerstone?  Are we faithful and fruitful stewards of God’s gifts and God’s favor?  Are we exempt from the blindness that has ruined other communities, nations and even civilizations?”

These hard questions have to start within the sanctuary of each soul here. And then with humility and charity we need to begin to have that conversation with one another.

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Click below to read the entire homily.

Father McTeigue is currently finishing a collection of homilies and essays on preaching entitled, I Have Someone to Tell You: A Jesuit Heralds the Gospel. He recently began writing a weekly column. He earnestly seeks your prayers that his life and work be to God’s greater glory – and he invites your comments.

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