First Reading: Numbers 11:25-29
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19
Second Reading: James 5:1-6
Gospel:  Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 

Homily:
Twenty sixth sunday in ordinary time

A few weeks ago, we observed the twentieth anniversary of the worst day in America in my lifetime, September 11th, 2001.  As we do every year on this date, we remember and memorialize the two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven people that died that day and now, the thousands who have died due to health issues and complications since.  We remember the chaos and confusion, the uncertainty, the conflicting news reports, the fear.  All etched forever in our memories.  But, what followed, I consider some of America’s best days.  One of the first things I did was to call home, I needed that family connection and assurance that they were ok, as did many.  Then I asked my son to put up our American flag, yeah, I needed that too, as did many.  In a few days, you couldn’t drive through a neighborhood without looking out over a sea of American flags, proudly waving in the breeze.  Honestly, despite the devastating cause, it was an amazing time; churches were full, candlelight vigils, families and neighbors gathering as we came together to console and support one another.  We reached out, we were kind to one another, kind to anyone we met.  When we discovered that not just Americans, but citizens of 78 countries died on that day in those attacks, we realized how small our world had become.  The world mourned with us and we mourned with the world.  We learned, the color of your skin, your religion, your national origin, your political views, none of that mattered, we were all hurting and we became one.  The words of Jesus in today’s Gospel echoed in our ears, “For whoever is not against us is for us.”  We came together and we vowed in no uncertain terms; “Never Forget”.
Now let’s fast forward twenty years to today; never in my lifetime have I seen us as a country so divided, so hateful, so divisive.  And I say this, having lived through the turbulent sixties and the seventies.  Cities burning with racial tension, the sit in’s, the peace rallies and demonstrations against the war in Viet Nam, the assassinations of many good leaders, all this and more; yes, they were troubling times.  Yet, all that I have seen and lived through does not compare with our world today.  Racial division and injustice, climate change, immigration, poverty, homelessness, inadequate health care, human trafficking, education issues, abortion, the rising suicide rate, especially among our teens and our veterans.  And now with the pandemic, what started as, we’re all in this together, has morphed into a battle over vaccinations and face masks.  The list seems to go on and on, doesn’t it?  It’s like, if you put two of us in a room, we will find something to fight about.  We pledge and profess to be one nation under God, yet God has been deemed unimportant, He’s been told He’s no longer necessary.  God has been removed from our schools, our public buildings, and heaven forbid, you pray at a graduation or before a football game.  God has been consigned to church buildings on Sunday morning and has been told to stay there, told, we don’t need you, we can do this on our own.  We have new gods called power, money, prestige, possessions.

Never forget we said in the days that followed 9/11, yet, when we stand by and allow this chaos to happen, I feel we dishonor their memory and the memory of everyone who has paid the ultimate price for truth and justice.  In twenty short years, it seems, we have forgotten.  We have forgotten the Gospel message of Jesus who tells us to love God and love our neighbor, regardless of the cost, for we know what it cost Him. 
But, enough doom and gloom, enough despair; probably not what you came to hear today.  So, let me ask a question:  Have we forgotten or are we just silent?  For you see, even with all the problems we are confronted with, all the challenges we are facing; I still have hope and I have faith.  I have faith in a God who has so much love to share, He is willing to send us His only begotten Son to show us the way, the truth and the life.  I have faith in the Gospel message of love as Jesus taught us.  I have faith in you, the good people of God.  I have faith in our generation of young people, that they will succeed where we have failed.  I believe there are still many good and loving people out there.  I don’t think the good people are gone; it is just that too many of them have gone silent.  You are the good people.  You are the ones who can step from the shadows of silence and tell the darkness, that can tell the evil, your turn is over; we are done with you.  You can send out a brilliant floodlight of hope, the light and love of our Lord Jesus, streaming into the places where it had been vanquished.  Saint Catherine of Sienna wrote, “Cry out as if you have a million voices, for it is silence that kills the world.”  We don’t have a million voices; we have seventy million voices.  Yes, there are over seventy million Catholics in the United States and it’s about time we all got on the same page and made some noise.  Our God is not dead, He has not been vanquished, God’s love, His grace needs to shine forth through us to all those in need of His mercy and love.  You see, these days it’s not enough just to be good.  We must be both good and loud.  We must be ready to take the risks, the insults of strangers, maybe even the disapproval and anger of family and friends.  To speak, to shout, if necessary, directly into the inflated and twisted face of hatred and bitterness until it hears us, until it knows, we will not go quietly into the night, we will not allow the darkness to overtake all that we love.  And don’t be compelled into believing that Love must always be in a tolerant, dignified defense posture; that it must be quiet and gentle in its work.  Love is the most powerful force on this planet.  Be gentle when you can, but if you must, wield it like a sword and cut deeply into the evil in your path.  Speak loudly for Justice, Equality, Unity until we are heard above the clamor and noise of hate, of division, of the culture of death we live in.  
Hear the words spoken by Moses in our first reading; Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!  Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!"
Through our Baptism we become an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God bestowed on us.  We are anointed priest, prophet and king.  Be a prophet of our time, and if necessary, be loud.  Let’s get loud.