Homilies

Seattle, WA – St. Joseph Mission, October 1, 2006

THE GOLDEN RULE
(LUKE 6:31-36)

Bidding farewell to the old Administrator, Father Charles Kattan, and welcoming
Father Samir Abu-Lail as the new Administrator

THE HOMILY - The Golden Rule, "Do to others what you would have
them do to you." (Luke 6:31)

When we are born, says an old Greek legend, we are given a double bag
hanging over our shoulder. In the front side we put always our virtues and the
back side our vices. In the front side we put our rights and people's obligations
and in the backside we put people's rights and our obligations. So we are seldom
aware of our rights, but we often forget our obligations; we see our virtues,
because they are in front of us; but we are not aware of the virtues of others;
because they are in the back bag. However, it is very interesting to note that,
when we put our defects behind our back, they are then more visible to others,
while we do not see them ourselves.

In the early sixties, we had a good friend of St. Basil Seminary from Boston. He
was active in St. Basil’s Men’s Guild. Our friend, whose name was Philip,
underwent an open-heart surgery, a very rare operation at that time. A month
after his recovery, he visited us at St. Basil’s. He drove his own car. As we were
surprised to see him drive his car so soon, he told us that his Doctor allowed him
to drive, provided he does not go over 30 miles an hour. That was quite
reasonable for us. He could not take any chance for an accident. On the
following week, I was taking a ride with a priest from St. Basil’s Seminary to Boston
on the old Route 28, a two-lane road at that time. A driver was in front of us. He
was driving so slow, he drove us crazy. My driver friend, very annoyed, would
have sworn at him if he knew how. “He has no business driving if he goes so
slow,” he commented. I said gently, “suppose that was our friend Philip following
his Doctor’s orders not to exceed 30 miles an hour?” As you see, we use often
different rules for us and our friends on one side and for others on the other side!

About sixty five years ago, we read in our school book a story of two brothers who
shared the same threshing field. They had their respective shares of the harvest
side by side in bundles before it was trodden. One night, the older brother who
was married said to himself, "My brother is single. He needs the money more that I
do. So he went during the night and carried some bundles from his harvest and
put them in his brother's lot. At the same time, the single brother said to himself,
"My brother is married. He has little children to feed and educate. He needs the
money more than I. So he sneaked out during the night and took some bundles
of his harvest and put them in his brother's lot. Both of them kept doing their
secret good deed every night, and both of them were surprised to see that their
own share was not decreased. Until one night they discovered each other trying
to outdo one another in generosity. We would be in a much better world if all of
us imitated these two brothers. "Each of us," says St. Paul, "must consider his
neighbor's good, so that we support one another. Christ did not indulge His own
feelings, either." (Romans 15:2-3)

There are two kinds of people in the world: the givers and the takers. If everyone
wants to be a taker, there would be no givers. If everyone rushes to the bank to
get his/her money and no one goes to deposit, they'll drive the bank to
bankruptcy.

Let us ask ourselves, are we the givers or the takers? Are we creating a richer
world through our generosity or a poorer world through our greed? Are we a gift
of God to humanity or a burden on society? If we "do to others as we would have
them do to us," then we would be creating a better world to live in; we would leave
the world better than we found it when we came in; we would be the children of
our heavenly Father who is merciful and from whom all blessings come.

When we are in need, don't we wish someone comes along and helps us? So let
us seek and find someone in need and help him or her, today, before the day is
over. "Make someone happy, and you will be happy too," says an old song. And
Our Lord tells us: "Anything you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do
it to me."

Do you remember the story of the mother who gave her little daughter an apple
and told her to divide it with her brother in a Christian way? "What is the Christian
way?" asked the little girl. "The Christian way," said the mother, "is to divide the
apple in two halves, then to give the bigger half to your brother." The little girl
took the apple and the knife and went to her brother. She said: "Mother says,
take this apple and divide it with me in a Christian way." We certainly like others
to be generous to us. Are we willing to be as generous to them?

The Golden Rule, "Do to others what you would have them do to you." is
the way to peace among brothers and sisters, among neighbors and among
nations as well. Earth would be like heaven if we treated each other in "the
Christian way," that is giving the larger share of good to the other; if we outdid
each other in kindness like the two brothers whose story we just heard, and if we
looked at everyone whom we meet as if they were dear to us as our friend Philip,
the slow driver. Let us do it today and every day. God's love to us should be the
measure of our love to others. As we heard at the conclusion of today's Gospel
reading: "Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful." (Luke 6:36)

To Him be glory and praise and to the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen

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