(Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.)
St Francis admonished his brother to spend two years living with a people before preaching to them about Christ. He wanted them to know the people, their customs and heritage.
St Paul did this also. He spent time on the streets of Athens before he spoke his message. He did not upbraid them for their idolatry or their stance on contraceptives. Rather he congratulated them on their religious spirit. After he had set the groundwork in their culture, he preached to them about the resurrection. The result was that some did believe while others did not, but no one ran him out of town.
When I listen to the news around me, I hear bad news, not good news. I hear more things like, “You (members of that political party, or group, or nation or its peoples) are basically bad and horrible people.” That is not proclaiming good news; that is not inviting dialogue and discussion, but rather, accusing and causing conflict.
For about four hundred years after the Protestant Movement, Catholics tended to consider all Protestants as enemy, and Protestants returned the favor. During the Second World War, the chaplain corps had to deal with all kinds of Christians and others on the battlefields. Catholic chaplains could not minister only to Catholics and Protestant Ministers could not minister only to their own. Each had to assist all soldiers. This spirit of cooperation bore fruit in the Second Vatican Council when the Catholic Church officially dropped the spirit of hostility and recognized the good that was present in all other religious expressions.
We have this same spirit here on the base and in this hospital. This is not a Catholic chapel, but a chapel open for all no matter what the faith of the people who come here. Our sharing of this place is like what Paul did in Athens. From our sharing we gain new perspectives, we fertilize each other’s relationship with God and we give thanks to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.