The Hero with the Sword

 (Homily for Sunday September 10^th)

1.  In the first reading, if the prophet Ezechiel does not speak to the sinner, then the sinner dies, the sinner is not saved. St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, tells us that the whole law is to love one another: now, if you love your neighbour, you don’t let your neighbour die, you try to save them. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that fraternal correction is an act of love. If your brother, after sinning, listens to you and repents, you have won over your brother, you have saved a brother. Sin kills your brother or sister: if you take away sin from your brother or sister, you give them life.

Speaking against sin is perceived, sometimes, as imposing one’s own views on other people. Correcting another person’s moral wrongdoing might be seen as taking away their free choice or, perhaps, as not respecting another person’s freedom. Now, if I know that my friend’s opinion will get him killed and I love him, I will do everything I can to prevent him from following his own opinion. I respect his opinion, but I cannot live without him so, if I have to choose between his opinion and his life, I have no choice: he will have to listen to me! How can you keep silent when you see your friend going down the cliff?

In the Scriptures, God’s word is portrayed as a sword, as a weapon (Cf. Ephesians 6:17). This fact has given some people the excuse to hurt people with the word of God, that is, to use God’s word not to correct people out of love, but to vent one’s own anger against the people who do not do what we want. So let me tell you in what sense God’s word is a sword, so that we may take advantage of this weapon in our own warfare of love.

There are two swords: the word of Truth and human anger. Today, let me say a few things the good sword, the sword of God’s word.

2.  The sword is a sign of power: the word of God is a power of illumination, it is a weapon of light. It liberates people from the darkness of ignorance. The word of God empowers people: it shows them the way to eternal life, it gives people the opportunity to know God and follow his way, so that they can be happy. The word of God is like a weapon by which we are subdued to God, not though as slaves are subdued, but as children or, even more, as lovers.

When we understand something, when we see that something must be so and so, then we cannot think otherwise and nobody can convince us otherwise: we see it, period. We are subdued by the truth we see, we are powerless, unable to think otherwise. Now, this “powerlessness” is not slavery but freedom. It is like a boy who says, “Uhf, I cannot eat more!” He cannot eat more, not because there is no more food, but because he is full: he has what he wanted and he does not want anything else. He is satisfied. Now, this satisfaction gives him energy to play the whole day: it makes him strong.

So God’s word is a power because it allows us to see with our own eyes what is true and what is good for us. God’s word is a power because it allows us to choose what is best: if you do not know something you cannot choose it. God’s word empowers us to choose what is best for us. The word of Truth is a sword of liberation, not a sword of domination. “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). Those who want to dominate must hide the truth from people in order to better manipulate them. Jesus instead opened wide to us the treasures of God’s wisdom, so that we might be free.

3.  Does this word hurt? Oh yes, it does hurt. In order to penetrate our intelligence, the word of truth must cut through errors, deceptions, misperceptions, misjudgments and all falsity. This sword cuts through and destroys everything preventing the truth from being seen. But it cuts the bad, not the good. It cuts the tumor only, not the healthy tissue. The word of truth is a powerful sword which is not easy to master. This is why fraternal correction is not easy. If the cut is not perfect, we hurt the person, even when we were trying to cut the unhealthy tissue only.

God’s word dispels the darkness of ignorance, frees from error and opens the way to Life. This sword is the word of truth, not the truth alone: because the truth alone does not penetrate human intelligence without the word. This is why the Word became flesh, God became man so that we may be able to listen to his words and understand the truth. As we read in the book of Revelation, the sword comes from the mouth of Jesus (cf. Rev. 19:15), from the Mouth of Truth. This sword breaks the silence about God and about his will for human beings, destroys lies and misconceptions about God and human being and opens the way to Life.

Nowadays, correction and speaking up look like swords to our fellow human beings. The word of truth is like a sword which they fear. I wish we could show them that this sword is a sword of liberation, a weapon of light against the enemies of their own happiness. They are not happy and they do not know why, because they do not have this sword. They are enslaved to addictions and despair, to hatred and self-hatred, to anger, greed, lust and existential void... They are waiting for their hero: a hero wielding a sword of liberation to put an end to their misery.

In order to be their hero, you need to buy the sword (cf. Luke 22: 36) and learn how to use it. To buy the sword is to learn the truth... But, do you know how you wield this sword? There is only one technique: love. You have to love sinners in order to tell them the right thing in the right way.