When I was a boy, I grew up in that transitional space right after Vatican II. The removal and separation of the altar rail, the congregation facing the priests, and the more approachable sisters at my home parish and Catholic grade school was eye-opening. My perception was revised as I saw then the more human side of these religious souls. Their holiness was found also in their humanness.
Now that I am one of those vowed religious, why should it come as no surprise that students in our Jesuit universities, or the people of God in our parishes or retreat centers, appear taken aback when they see priests and sisters sharing emotions, having something different than altar wine when breaking bread with friends, or when I am wearing a polo shirt and jeans instead of clerics. “What, these Priests and Sisters are human beings as well! I am shocked!”
One thing I have learned through the years is that what makes us holy sometimes comes from our being human. And our readings and Gospel for this day can shockingly enlighten us as Catholic Christians on how our humanness is bound up in our holiness whenever we choose to put God’s divine love into action.
Yet, how often out of that humanness we struggle to believe we can make a holy difference. The love that this holy and human Paul speaks about in the Letter to the Romans today is a love in action, a love that does only goodness, justice, kindness, mercy. Divine love can never be evil.
Jesus in today’s Gospel of Matthew speaks of this holy and human love as a sense of being righteous – which is different from being self-righteous. A love in action that is ‘righteous’ when we love ourselves and our sisters and brothers from the space of mercy and compassion rather than revenge, or of what can I get out of it. God’s love, God’s righteousness, is always then about mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. Sometimes in truth it is our humanness that makes us holy.
And doesn’t Ezekiel this morning, human as the rest of us, who lived his holy call of God, act from all that he is as a prophetic watchdog? Ezekiel gives voice and life to our hearts this morning of the power of divine justice and the call to make that holiness, that is God’s mercy, find ever greater life.
To love then as God loves isn’t easy but it is something our hearts, our neighbor’s hearts, our world’s heart so desperately needs. We are all human, and so we are beholden to one another, but we may sometimes fear to take that prophetic stand to the unjust powers that be, because we feel what the heck, I’m not perfect. I have no power, who’s going to listen to me.
As humans, with the love of God in Christ by our side, we are more powerful for the good than we can ever imagine. With this divine love of Christ in us and with us may we make our voices be heard, our loving actions felt, and with hearts on fire bring hope to the world. God calls us, us ordinary humans, to grasp our holiness as well, and out of that prophetic and holy courage to fully and finally, all of us together, make a holy and human stand for God, for Good.
Rev. Kent Beausoleil, SJ
Rev. Beausoleil, SJ, PhD, has lived in the Creighton Jesuit Community since 2020. Currently he ministers as the Market Vice President for Mission Integration (NE/IA) for CommonSpirit/CHI Health while continuing his ministry as a mission leader at five local area hospitals: Immanuel Medical Center, and Lasting Hope in Omaha, and Mercy Corning, Mercy Council Bluffs, and Missouri Valley in Iowa. Joining the Jesuits in 1997 and ordained in 2007 his Jesuit formation focused on three types of ministries: healthcare, spiritual direction and pastoral counseling, and higher education focusing on young adult spiritual development.
Rev. Kent A. Beausoleil, SJ has a PhD in Student Affairs from Miami University in Oxford, OH. He also possesses master’s degrees in public administration, philosophy, divinity and education. He loves to walk and be out in nature, cross-stitch and bake.
The ability to reflect on other contributors’ reflections as well as being able to provide a personal monthly spiritual reflection has become an important and integral part of my daily prayer.
