The Good Guys

Learning to see the goodness and grace on all sides

09/05/2018

1 Corinthians 3:1-9 Brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as spiritual people, but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ. I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were unable to take it. Indeed, you are still not able, even now, for you are still of the flesh. While there is jealousy and rivalry among you, are you not of the flesh, and walking according to the manner of man? Whenever someone says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely men? What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. For we are God's co-workers; you are God's field, God's building.

Boys and girls, sometimes we feel divided loyalties, meaning we can support both sides in a contest, or we can cheer for two opposing teams. Divided loyalties is not always a bad thing because we can see some good on both sides of the aisle. For example, last night the Trinity volleyball team traveled up the mountain to play the St. Joseph Panthers. How many of you cheered for Trinity? How many of you cheered for St. Joe’s? I cheered for St. Joseph because my niece, Isabella, plays for the Panthers. I felt divided loyalties and could cheer for both because I know there are good kids on both teams.

What about Northside and Southside high schools? How many of you will go to Northside and become Grizzlies? Maybe you plan to join the Southside Mavericks after graduating from Trinity? But every time I attend a game where Northside and Southside play each other, it feels like another Civil War to me because we have Trinity grads on both sides of the Mason Dixon Line, Buffaloes fighting Buffaloes. I feel divided loyalties because I love students on both sides of the contest. Good guys are not on one side and the bad guys on the other side. The good guys are on both sides.

What about when you come to Mass on Wednesday mornings? Sometimes Fr. Stephen celebrates Mass, sometimes I do. Raise your hand if you like Fr. Stephen’s Mass better. Now, raise your hand if you like my Mass better? I am going to expel all students who like Fr. Stephen’s Mass more. Even though we feel divided loyalties, I hope you can also appreciate that each priest has something special to share in his own experience of faith and his personal journey with Jesus. There is something good in every priest, even if you sleep through his sermons.

St. Paul tries to train the Corinthians to work through their divided loyalties so that the early Christian community is not torn apart with their own civil war. Some Corinthians said they belonged to the camp of Paul while others said they preferred Apollos. By the way, both Paul and Apollos were extraordinary preachers and crowds flocked to hear them speak, just like people drove to Christ the King to hear Fr. Tom Elliott, and then everyone came to I.C. to listen to Msgr. John O’Donnell. But Paul explains there is goodness and grace on both sides, saying: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” In other words, there is no need for a civil war and divided camps, arguing and animosity. Rather, realize how much good there is on each side and praise God whose grace makes any goodness at all possible. You can find God on both sides of every contentious contest.

Boys and girls, I mention this because you too can feel the tug and tension to choose sides and allow jealousy and rivalry to tear apart the fabric of faith that knits this school together. I love to see you making friends and belonging to groups and trying new activities and sports. It’s important to belong to groups as you develop your own individual identity. But don’t be like the Christians in Corinth and say, “We are the cool group and those are the mean girls.” Divide your loyalties and see there are good girls in both groups. The good guys are on both sides.

Some of you come from Christ the King, others from St. Boniface, others from I.C. and others from public schools. Don’t just hang out with the group from your last school and think students from other schools are bad or dumb or uncool. Divided your loyalties and see we are all Buffaloes and every student’s blood bleeds blue at this school. There are good students from every school and we are blessed to have each of you as part of our Trinity family. There are good guys on all sides.

Sometimes skin color or language can build barriers between Buffaloes, and you associate only with those who look or speak like you. But you can divide your loyalties and learn something new from every culture, like homemade Mexican food on Fridays, the gringo vendors during the week, and guys, you have not lived until you try some Indian chicken curry. God is present in every country and in every culture and it is his grace at work that makes any and all goodness possible. There are good guys on all sides.

Boys and girls, when we come to Mass, put aside your preferences and politics and try to see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. That is one reason we pray the Lord’s prayer, the Our Father, in Latin and not in English or in Spanish or in Vietnamese or in Laotian, in order to see and hear and feel our unity in Christ. For the length of that prayer, we are truly one. St. Paul said: “Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth.” God is the one responsible for the growth and goodness in each of you.

Praised be Jesus Christ!