Homily for Dignitas Humana Eucharist
An old Bob Dylan song has the lyrics:
You may be ambassador to England or to France
You may like to gamble or you may like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
or you may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord,
but you're gonna have to serve somebody.
As only Dylan can do,
the lyrics go on to include state troopers,
rich and poor, blind and lame, and more.
That seems to be what Paul is getting at in this passage from Romans 6.
Paul is urging that we are no longer under the law,
that by being baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ, we are now under grace.
This being a slave, a doulos, of obedience,
leads to righteousness.
Paul, of course, is not naive about the power of sin,
and the way we brush up against sin in our lives;
sometimes by playing fast and loose,
seemingly not wanting to understand that we are choosing sin;
sometimes rationalizing our choices,
investing a lot of energy in explaining our decisions to ourselves
and to others;
sometimes simply deceiving ourselves.
We just don't see the path.
Futhermore, we resist either/or choices - A or B.
In the marketplace we are presented with options A to Z every day.
We promptly detect situations in which the middle has been excluded.
We are "both-and" people, "win-win" people.
So sometimes it is hard for us to realize
that we have to choose to serve and obey God without any reservation,
that we have to place our trust in a world of grace.
Baptism and Eucharist bring us
into the closest possible relationship with Christ.
To choose obedience to Christ is to choose life.
To choose obedience to Christ is to choose true freedom.
To choose obedience to Christ is to choose our full stature as human beings.
Abbot John Klassen, OSB
October 22, 2003
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