Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

There is no place in the Christian community for “othering.” Whether it’s calling immigrants thugs, murderers, or worse; calling panhandlers lazy, druggies, or worse; calling people committed to the social Gospel socialists, Communists, or worse; calling someone who disagrees with you the “enemy.” To cast a person as “other” labels the person as “not one of us,” someone who cannot be trusted, someone who needs to be ostracized, or worse. It happens in families, in our neighborhoods, in our parishes, and on the national political scene. It is unbecoming of a disciple of Jesus.

And Jesus had something to say about it. Check out today’s Gospel. Jesus gives a clinic in what psychologists call “projection.” He cautions his disciples about noticing — or worse, derisively judging — the “splinter” in the other’s eye and choosing to ignore the “wooden beam” (hyperbolic irony) in one’s own eye. Don’t be a hypocrite, Jesus says forcefully.

It is noteworthy that the Saint we commemorate today, Saint John Chrysostom, famous for his preaching and teaching, was also known for being critical of the hypocrisy of religious and political leaders. In one of his commentaries on the “Our Father,” he waxed eloquently on the virtue of humility.

In his book The Whole Language, Father Greg Boyle, SJ, has this marvelous line: “To the scapegoated and demonized, the hope of the mystic is to offer a radiant and attractive witness of kinship” (page 200). Indeed, Jesus calls us to tenderness, compassion, and respect.

At each Mass, we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us, asking to be forgiven for our own “projections” and to forgive those who offend us in any way. May we each find the path to tenderness and a sense of kinship when encountering someone who “offends” us.

Let Us Pray:

Lord, even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest to put her young. In your kingdom, this earth. How much more are each of us made in your image and likeness? Guide us to your tender love for all creation.