Hi everyone, and welcome to Weekly Homilies with Father Mark Suslenko, Pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. We are part of the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. I'm Carol Vassar, parish director of communications, and this is Episode 25 of Season 6 for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time: June 25, 2023. Our Gospel reading is from Matthew, Chapter 10, verses 26-33

Jesus said to the Twelve: "Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father."

The Gospel of the Lord. 

“Beyond the Box: Leading With Our Souls,” by Father Mark S. Suslenko, Pastor, SS. Isidore and Maria Parish, Glastonbury, Connecticut

Jesus came into a world of boxes, a world of boxes. Everyone had their box. The wealthy had their box. The Sadducees had their box. The Pharisees had their box. Tax collectors had their box. Lepers had their box, the poor had their box, and the list goes on and on of various categories and boxes. These boxes were so intricate that the relationship of one box to another was very clearly specified. Those in the Samaritan box were not allowed to associate with those in the Jewish box. Those in the leper box could not be a part of the general community box but had to be marginalized and removed. These boxes came with very specific ways that one person could relate to another, depending upon what box they found themselves in.

These boxes served a purpose. They gave people security. They clearly defined what were considered roles and expectations. These boxes presumed to divide the world into principles of black and white, right and wrong, depending upon the interpretation of the time. These boxes offered a great amount of security, but these boxes are also an illusion.

These boxes can create great division, separate people, pigeonhole people into being one way or another and limiting human freedom and expression. These boxes were based on roles and expectations and little else. 

Human beings like these boxes. We continue to use boxes today, and sometimes those boxes look pretty genuine, and some of those boxes look very acceptable. The box of our home, the box of our family, the box of our work, and the various other boxes we place ourselves in. It is those things that we depend upon at all costs, those things we seek to protect, and those things that we're afraid of having taken away. It's those boxes that can insulate us so that others don't see our true self so that others don't see the deeper secrets of our lives. And we like to go into our boxes and sometimes pull the shades down so that I can be safe and secure and I don't have to deal with the intricacies of the world. And I stay in my box, clinging to my fear: the fear of change, the fear of the different, a fear of the new, a fear of failure. 

And Jesus very clearly said that these boxes we create for ourselves are really just a lie because they're formed from human construct and human design and really have no basis in truth. And so Jesus took great strides in tearing down the box's walls and seeing the person inside the box. He says it's not the box that's important to maintain but what has been placed within that box. And so he went to the woman who was in the box of adultery and reached out a hand to her as a person. He went to the tax collector who was placed in the box of being a tax collector and sat down and dined with him. He went to the leper, who was placed in the box of being a leper, and healed him. 

You see, Jesus broke all the rules by breaking down all of the boxes. And he says, of all things in life, what is ultimately important is the human soul. It's the person inside the box. And what changed people's lives was the fact that perhaps for the first time, they were seen through the lens of themselves and not the box in which people placed them. So Jesus saw the soul of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus saw the soul of the tax collector. Jesus saw the soul of the leper and anyone else he encountered and touched. In breaking down those boxes, healing occurred, and new possibilities were encountered.

He told his disciples to go out into the world leading not with the constructs of your mind or not with your ideologies, not preaching a theology per se, but proclaiming the truth of going forth with one's soul out into the world to preach the kingdom of God that Christ has died, that Christ has risen, that Christ will come again.

He told them: leave your box home. Don't take anything from your box. Only take what you absolutely need to walk out that door and go forward and go out. And by the way, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of what anyone will say to you. Do not be afraid if you're going forth costs you your life. Just simply go and lead with your soul.

And so they went. Because Jesus uncovered a truth about each and every one of us, and that is, is that the truth that really defines us, what truly claims us as the person I know myself to be, isn't found in the box that I've created for myself. It's not found in the box that I place others in. The truth of who I am as a person is found in my soul, and when I come to know my soul, I begin to touch that part of myself that is beyond time. It is timeless and eternal. I begin to touch that part of myself where God alone dwells; that part of myself that God knew before I even put one foot on the ground of this earth; that part of myself that God knows and sees from his eyes, my potential of who I can be, not who I think I can be or what my box determines me to be.

And so our boxes can be divisive. Our boxes can keep us from being the person God made us to be. Our boxes can separate us from one another and pigeonhole people into behaviors that are exclusive. 

And so we go out into the world with our souls. And the disciples knew that in doing so, they were being stressed; that the message of the Gospel, the good news of salvation, always comes with a price because people wanna hold on to their boxes. People wanna secure what they have, and they most certainly don't want to change. And so when that opposition is encountered, Jesus says, do not be afraid.

And so we live in a world of boxes, and the takeaway from today's lesson is that whatever box we may think a person is in, whatever box the world places them in, let us always remember that it is not the box that is important, but the person underneath that box; that it's one soul to another, one person to another, to listen, to embrace, to encounter, and to offer compassion and love regardless of what we may think, regardless of what we may believe; that is the voice of the Gospel, and that is the Good News. And so we go forth today, go out into the world, not with our mental constructs, not with our ideologies, not leading with our passions, but leading with our souls.

Father Mark Suslenko is the pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Learn more about our parish community at www.isidoreandmaria.org. And follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Our music comes free of charge from Blue Dot Sessions in Fall River, Massachusetts. I’m Carol Vassar. Thanks for joining us.