The Church is the New Ark. As Noah led the animals and his family into the ark to save them from the flood, so we have been led into the ark of the Church for safekeeping until this boat reaches its final destination, Heaven. The flood is the world outside. Sometimes the waves lap, and sometimes they come crashing against the ark. But they have never overwhelmed her. They have never – even now – capsized her. She cannot be capsized.
Then there are the people in the boat. Each in their own way, they play their part to care for the boat and operate all of its parts. I am referring to you and me with our different vocations, talents and gifts. We all play our proper part. But some of the sailors may not perform their duties as well as they could. Some will do their part with only half the effort. And this would slow down the operations of the boat. Some have harmed their fellow sailors, even to the point that those harmed have thrown themselves overboard and given up being part of the crew. And this is awful. Others remain part of the crew but suffer horrible wounds that keep them from being fully alive and 100 percent part of the crew operations. Even worse is when the other officers knew about these crew members and do nothing. Worse yet is when some of those causing injury are officers themselves, and the other officers do nothing.
A few things must be done to remedy this situation. First, the officers who perpetrated the criminal violence against a crewman must be dealt with severely. While he cannot be thrown overboard, he must be stripped of his rank and tied to the mast. His freedom to move about the ship and function as part of the crew must be limited as much as possible. This is for punishment and the good of the crew. The officers and crew should see him there as a warning to anyone who would dare to act contrary to the good of the ship. The other officers who knew about it must also be disciplined according to the level of their cooperation. And the captain must do this himself to make a demonstration that he cares for the whole crew.
What must the crew do? The crew is left to pick up the slack. With many unworthy officers reduced in rank, thrown in the brig, or tied to the mast, crew members who have proved themselves loyal to the ship’s captain and his crewmates must be raised in rank.
The crew will never be the same, though. Those who were injured still suffer and try to heal. Those who threw themselves overboard must be searched for. When they are found, no effort can be spared in pulling them back into the boat and resuscitating them. Those who have been half-hearted in their work must pick up the slack of those crew members who cannot work to their full potential because they are hurting and injured. All in all, those who are healthy must rededicate themselves in a new way to the ship and shipmates under the direction of the captain.
My dear brothers and sisters, we are the ones who must rededicate ourselves to the ship. Reparation is about turning undividedly toward the Lord and plead for mercy on behalf of the whole Church. “Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo.” “Spare, Lord, spare your people: Be not angry with us forever.” It is about making expiation with Jesus for the sins of our leaders. It is about making atonement and satisfaction for our countrymen who do not believe, do not love, and do not hope in God.
It is about our own hearts being moved to weep for our own sins and the sins of others in the Church. It is about a promise to our God that we will never consort with the Evil One. It is about being restored to grace through the merits of Christ’s death, which grace enables him to add his prayers, works and trials to those of Our Lord “and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24). It is about satisfying God’s justice and anger by penance, prayer and mortification.
St. Catherine of Sienna said of the evils of her own time: “We have been anointing everything with the ointment of mercy, when we have needed the knife of justice.” Everything today is acceptable. In our relativistic society, no one dares speak the truth about God creating man and woman for a purpose. Instead, we glorify perversion and the over-sensualizing of our culture. Even the virtue of modesty is laughed at as being “out of touch.” Worst of all, the complementarity of man and woman written into creation is doubted, denied and scorned. And all of these things anger our God and those who truly pertain to Him. So, we call ourselves back to His purpose for creation: nothing but His glory made known on earth.
It is time for a spiritual renewal in the Church. It is time that we look at our own hearts and identify anything that keeps us from Him, and we turn it over to His throne for Him to dispose of. We must call ourselves back to a true interior life that integrates self-denial, penance, prayer and mortification. All this for God’s glory and our sanctification.
We must willfully offer our sufferings for those victims who still hurt and are in need of healing. We must unite ourselves, for them, to the cross of Our Lord. We must accept them and love them within our community. We must listen to their sorrows and pains, knowing that there is no way to truly understand the evil they have suffered. We must walk beside them and, many times, carry them on our shoulders.
We must allow Christ to renew our hearts, our families, our parish, our Church and our nation. We can make no more excuse to choose anything other than the will of God and those things in creation that bring us to Him. Because of our sins and the sins of our fellow Catholics, we deserve nothing from God. But may He have mercy on us. As He caused water to flow from the rock, may He bring forth from the hardness of our hearts tears for our sins, and merit to forgive us through His Son.
Father Noah C. Carter, parochial vicar at St. Mark Church in Huntersville, delivered this homily during a Mass of Reparation Aug. 22.