LET HIM THAT STOLE STEAL NO MORE

A MESSAGE FOR THE 19th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

We are constantly bombarded by bad news.  Setting aside the political and international disputes and the natural disasters that seem to be hitting us with abnormal frequency, we are left with numerous accounts, some of them devastating and others less serious, of man's ill-treatment of his neighbor.

The abuse and neglect of our neighbor is, of course, nothing new.  From Cain's murder of his brother Abel to today's murder epidemic in Chicago, the story is always the same.  Crimes against our fellow-man seem to be inevitable and never-ending.  They are very serious in the eyes of God, defying his second greatest commandment, which is to love our neighbor as ourselves.

To combat these offences, the State establishes a complex catalog of laws, most of them in harmony with God's commandments.  But we must remember that laws are nothing more than deterrents:  commit such and such an act and you will be punished.  And deterrents, unfortunately, are not always enough to prevent us from hurting those around us.  The Church meanwhile, takes a higher road, emphasizing that if we love God we will keep his commandments, in this case by loving our neighbor.  But as man's love of God is so lukewarm, this too is often not enough to prevent us from putting ourselves first, ahead of our neighbor.

If there were an easy answer that would prevent the millions of sins against charity that are committed every day, we would surely have figured it out by now.  We tend to simply rely on Church and State to continue reinforcing the laws of God and man.  However, if we listen to today's epistle, we might learn a way to improve our approach to this question.

"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."  In other words, St. Paul invites us into a cycle of grace, in which we use the effects of our work for the support of our neighbour, thereby giving us the inspiration to work harder so that we can do more good.

A moment's thought about these words will make us realize what potential there is for the world to be a better place, if only we could draw people into this cycle.  It matters not where they begin, it matters only that they begin.  Some may be drawn in by natural means such as more meaningful and productive employment, which in turn would create in them a greater sense of responsibility for the welfare of others (beginning with their own family).  Others may receive the grace of a more direct calling, by which they already want to provide for others, and thus persevere unflinchingly in the quest for a solid means of doing so.

We should not think of this as the failure of the highest road of all, which is simply to follow Christ's commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.  There are times when God uses natural means to bring people to his grace, rather than by more direct intervention.  This godless world is full of people, alas, who may be more easily drawn to grace by the impetus of making money (for the right reasons) through gainful employment. If the desire to care for their family inspires them to a life of diligence so they can produce the means to do so, why should that trouble us?  It is so often the necessary road to religious inspiration and commitment, which with a little help from God, will come later.

This is but one example where St. Paul's cycle of grace could be productively applied. If we are to use our good fortune "to give to him that needeth," we must first have the good fortune.  The Church's social commitments must rely on this premise, not the over-simplified tenets of socialism!  Charity is our final goal, just as it is the means to the goal.  Hatred cannot be fought head-on, it must be replaced by charity, and in turn the charity we show to our neighbor will eventually produce charity in our neighbor.  Thus, the cycle of hatred in our sad, mad world may be replaced by the Cycle of Grace. 

Let's take an example and apply St. Paul's advice on how we could find a better solution.  The current opioid epidemic that has so infested the youth of our nation is a good example how both civil law and the Church's directly religious apostolate are proving ineffective.  Sure, we can enforce our drug laws more forcefully (and indeed we should), but would it not be a more permanent solution if our young people were given better opportunities to find jobs in which they could learn a sound work ethic?  We know that the devil finds his workshop in the idle mind, and so the obvious remedy to this danger is to keep the mind and body active with inspiring, productive, and worthwhile pursuits.

The poverty of our inner cities is a recipe for disaster, and when it is reinforced by the divisive politics of the left there is no wonder that we end up so much racial tension, violence, crime, and hatred.  If people's lives are aimless, they will create aims to try and make themselves happy.  And if they can't find true happiness and peace in their lives, they will generally take out their frustrations on those around them.  The murder rate in Chicago is a typical and logical conclusion of such a situation.