The “Dones”: The 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

                                                           The “Dones”:

The 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

September 3, 2023

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Jeremiah 20:7-9; Psalm 63; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27

 

Jeremiah speaks plainly about his disappointment in ministry, and he feels embarrassed to have been led astray by God when he only intended to do good and follow God’s commands, but he feels isolated and disconnected, and God is not providing much support. Jesus also warns of difficult feelings and experiences as he tells his disciples that he is going to suffer, and they will witness this. He lays down the costs of discipleship so they can be forewarned about the peril in which they find themselves.

 

Let’s talk for a minute about being duped and suffering because I’m hearing a lot of it in daily conversations. Jeremiah writes, “I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more,” but that God stays in his heart, and he cannot quit God. We have a category of people who are referred to as the “dones.” They are the people who, like Jeremiah, still believe in Christ, still consider themselves to be Catholic, but feel let down by the Church and no longer attend worship services. They have left for a myriad of valid reasons, and they are satisfied that they still keep connected with Jesus through prayer. They just cannot quit God. Some do not find the Church relevant because it takes the wrong side or a distasteful tone on moral issues, or it is out of step with reasoned theological arguments, or it presents a closed attitude on having conversations, or that it trends in some parishes to a medieval European model of yesteryear, or that the priest makes himself inaccessible by clothing, physically, or by attitude. It is a Church that has told good people that they are no longer concerned for them; they are concerned only for those who come into the church and attend their liturgy. Are we just to let them walk? And if we successfully invite them back, what are we offering them as a reason to stay? We cannot give them the same old routine.

 

The long and short of it is that these people are suffering. They want to belong to the Church, but they want it to be meaningful and relevant. To know the reasons for staying away, we must ask them. We cannot presume we know the answers. Once we know what they need, we must be able to make necessary adjustments to retain them as valued members of the community. This is tricky because it means the pastor, the office staff, and the whole community must learn what it means to be open and welcoming. An open attitude is not one in which people are invited to come back if they agree with the priest’s interpretation of the faith. Truly being open means to listen to the person’s story and to go out of the way to make accommodations. Until that happens, the person remains a “done,” a person disconnected from the institutional church. We can do better than that. The stakes are high because a person’s soul is at risk. And let's not forget about the "nones," those who have not been brought up in any faith tradition. 

 

In many churches, attendance is dwindling, and the church does not look like it did twenty-five years ago. Collaborative parishes have names that people do not use, and many churches are paired up with other churches of a different character. The pastor of today needs to leave the church office and go into the community simply to encounter and to listen. That’s the only way we are going to learn. We cannot sit in the church and wait for them to come. This period of church requires a total reimagining of the way we are hospitable and welcoming, and it means we must be open to new ideas and ways of proceeding. We must go back to what the Romans would say of the early Christians, “Look at them. They are curious. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord is welcomed and treated with mercy. Look how they love one another.” We need to move past laws and texts and regulations. We need to learn how to love one another. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

Monday: (1 Thessalonians 4) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.

 

Tuesday: (1 Thessalonians 5) The day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.
When people are saying, "Peace and security," then sudden disaster comes upon them,
like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

 

Wednesday: (Colossians 1) We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the holy ones because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. Of this you have already heard through the word of truth, the Gospel, that has come to you.

 

Thursday: (Colossians 1) From the day we heard about you, we do not cease praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will
through all spiritual wisdom and understanding to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God.

 

Friday (Micah 5) You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.

 

Saturday (Colossians 1) You once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds; God has now reconciled you in the fleshly Body of Christ through his death,
to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him, provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Luke 4) Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

 

Tuesday: (Luke 4) Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

 

Wednesday (Luke 4) After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them.

 

Thursday (Luke 5) While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.

 

Friday (Matthew 1) Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah,
whose mother was Tamar.

 

Saturday (Luke 6) Some Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry?

 

Saints of the Week

 

September 3: Gregory the Great (540-604) was the chief magistrate in Rome and resigned to become a monk. He was the papal ambassador to Constantinople, abbot, and pope. His charity and fair justice won the hearts of many. He protected Jews and synthesized Christian wisdom. He described the duties of bishops and promoted beautiful liturgies that often incorporated chants the bear his name.

 

September 7: Stephen Pongracz (priest), Melchior Grodziecki (priest), and Mark Krizevcanin (canon) of the Society of Jesus were matyred in 1619 when they would not deny their faith in Slovakia. They were chaplains to Hungarian Catholic troops, which raised the ire of Calvinists who opposed the Emperor. They were brutally murdered through a lengthy process that most Calvinists and Protestants opposed.

 

September 8: The Birth of Mary was originally (like all good feasts) celebrated first in the Eastern Church. The Roman church began its devotion in the fifth century. Her birth celebrates her role as the mother of Jesus. Some traditions have her born in Nazareth while others say she hails from outside of Jerusalem.

 

September 9: Peter Claver, S.J. (1580-1654) became a Jesuit in 1600 and was sent to the mission in Cartegena, Colombia, a center of slave trade. For forty years, Claver ministered to the newly arrived Africans by giving them food, water, and medical care. Unfortunately, he died ostracized by his Jesuit community because he insisted on continuing the unpopular act of treating the slaves humanely.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• September 3, 1566. Queen Elizabeth visited Oxford and heard the 26-year-old Edmund Campion speak. He was to meet her again as a prisoner, brought to hear her offer of honors or death. 
• September 4, 1760. At Para, Brazil, 150 men of the Society were shipped as prisoners, reaching Lisbon on December 2. They were at once exiled to Italy and landed at Civita Vecchia on January 17, 1761. 
• September 5, 1758. The French Parliament issued a decree condemning Fr. Busembaum's Medulla Theologiae Moralis. 
• September 6, 1666. The Great Fire of London broke out on this date. There is not much the Jesuits have not been blamed for, and this was no exception. It was said to be the work of Papists and Jesuits. King Charles II banished all the fathers from England. 
• September 7, 1773. King Louis XV wrote to Clement XIV, expressing his heartfelt joy at the suppression of the Society. 
• September 8, 1600. Fr. Matteo Ricci set out on his journey to Peking (Beijing). He experienced enormous difficulties in reaching the royal city, being stopped on his way by one of the powerful mandarins.
• September 9, 1773. At Lisbon, Carvalho, acting in the king's name, ordered public prayers for the deliverance of the world from the "pestilence of Jesuitism."