I was not supposed to be here today. But due to a small health problem and a quick switch of the schedule, here I am with you, giving thanks to our Lord for this civil holiday, remembering our Independence Day. Certainly, the United States of America has one of the most beautiful and poetic declarations of independence that places life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness at the center of our lives as individual citizens.
This week, I have been thinking about nations, countries, or homelands. According to ALEXA there are 193 nations recognized by the United Nations. In 70 years, I have visited 13 nations with five different languages. There are two additional countries where I only spent a few hours in the airport waiting to change planes. So, I didn’t include them in my list – Venezuela and Panama. There is also Ecuador. In the north of Peru, you can cross into Ecuador via a pedestrian bridge. No passport stamps, no immigration control – but you must return to Peru the same afternoon. So, I didn’t include Ecuador on my list either. Of those 13 countries, I have lived for extended periods in only three nations – three languages and a multitude of cultures of in each of those three nations.
I was born in northern New York State, surrounded by beauty – green fragrant pine trees, lakes, rivers, valleys, mountains, family, and friends. That was my starting homeland. But I learned to grow up in a different homeland called poverty, misery, despair, community, fraternity, hope, and friendship. I learned 3.5 languages. The “0.5” is for Navajo because I am not conversant in Navajo. I guess I am slow at learning. After 71 years and 3.5 languages, I can only say I grew up to see that I am a servant working in someone else’s field. A field, a place, a homeland that doesn’t belong to me. Even the parishes where I have worked belong to the parishioners, not me. I am just a servant, another temporary resident in the barrio. I am not from Lukachukai, Anderson, Mateo Pumacahua, Utica, Triangle, Otter Lake, The Bronx. I am not from here, nor from there. It doesn’t even matter where I am walking. I am not from here, nor from there. No homeland. Sometimes, I am no more than a useless servant in someone else’s homeland. I have always been a thief – my feet on the Way, procuring life to give to the poorest. At first, I was a sort of a beggar for the poor or a “vagabond Robin Hood”. After that the Way led me to call back the lost, the separated, the almost dead, and the distanced. Boundaries, legal limits, countries, and nations are not important. The Way back to our real homeland is important. The Way is our homeland. I am a “resident migrant” on the Way. Life is always the Way – not the place, not the boundaries.
In today’s Gospel, Matthew is a despicable, hated public sinner, a tax or toll collector. Matthew’s homeland was money, corruption, betrayal, greed, exploitation, isolation, loneliness, separation, fear, marked-off limits, boundaries, and public sin. In one form or another Matthew is all of us. Jesus inserted himself into Matthew’s life and invited him to leave behind the life that he had built for himself for a new life on the Way of the Cross. Matthew began to live the Way of generosity and joy and community.
So, here we are for another celebration of our nation’s beginning. As we give thanks to God today, let us ask ourselves: What is our homeland? Peru, France, USA, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, or El Salvador? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness at the cost and exclusion of others? The Gospel challenges us to reorientate our lives towards a new homeland, to grow into the Christian Way, the Way of the Cross.
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners
Piero De Benedictis – Born 1945 in Italy and raised in Argentina. Legendary singer and songwriter who is best known by his 1969 album Mi Viejo, which features the songs “Mi Viejo”, “Si Vos Te Vas” and “Llegando, Llegaste.” He is also well-known by his albums Pedro Nadie and Sinfonia Inconclusa En La Mar.
See song lyrics: Pedro de Nadie https://lyricstranslate.com/en/pedro-nadie-pedro-nobody.html
Facundo Cabral – Facundo Cabral (born Rodolfo Enrique Cabral Camiñas; May 22, 1937 – July 9, 2011) was an Argentine singer-songwriter. He was best known as the composer of “No soy de aquí ni soy de allá” (“I’m not from here nor from there”), “Pobrecito mi Patron” (“My Poor Boss”), and many other compositions.
SEE song & lyrics: No Soy de Aquí Ni de Allá https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khqgn1uiUfU&list=RDkhqgn1uiUfU&start_radio=1