Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Back in 1983, a movie was made called “The Scarlet and the Black”.  It tells the true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, an Irish priest who worked at the Vatican during World War II.  Monsignor O’Flaherty (played by Gregory Peck) leads a group priests, nuns and lay people who help
downed allied pilots and prisoners of war escape from Nazi occupied Rome to the allied lines.  Colonel Herbert Kappler (played by Christopher Plummer) is the commanding officer of the Gestapo in Rome and has been put in charge of finding out how all those POW’s are getting out.  He soon suspects that the Monsignor has something to do with it, but because Ireland was neutral, and because O’Flaherty lives and works in the Vatican City which was also neutral, the Germans can’t arrest him.  Colonel Kappler even gives orders to shoot Monsignor O’Flaherty if he is spotted outside of Vatican City.  Despite the danger the priest responds by coming up with fantastic disguises so that he can continue to get people to safe houses and to check on others.  The are other ways in which he shows his courage as well.

In a memorable scene, Monsignor is dressed in his usual cassock and is out in the middle of St. Peter’s square.  He knows that there are German snipers watching him and he walks right up to a white line that the Nazis had painted to show the border of Vatican City.  A German soldier come up and stands opposite him on the other side of the line.  Monsignor O’Flaherty then slowly walks right on the edge of the line, just tempting the Germans to do something.  He walks for awhile, then stops and slowly turns so that his leg is out over the line like he’s going to step over and then slowly continues to walk in the opposite direction.  The German soldier follows him.  Colonel Kappler is standing next to one of the snipers, some distance away and sees this.  He grabs the rifle and looks through the scope.  The crosshairs rest on the priest’s head. O’Flaherty sees the Colonel aim at him and he stops again and looks back at him through the scope.  They stare, and the Colonel’s finger is on the trigger, but he can’t shoot him.  He can’t break that neutrality.

Word eventually comes to Kappler that the allies on marching towards Rome.  The troops are moving out, but before he leaves he arranges one last meeting with Monsignor O’Flaherty in the ruins of the Coliseum.  Monsignor bravely shows up.  Kappler admits that nothing would give him greater pleasure than to shoot him right there, but he has one last request of the priest.  His wife and two children had moved to Rome with him.  Now he is afraid of what might happen if the Italian resistance finds them.  He wants the priest to get his family out of Rome the same way he sneaked the POW’s out.  O’Flaherty can’t believe what he hears.  After all the evil that he has done in the name “following orders”: terrorizing innocent people in the city; killing many people, including priests and others associated with Monsignor’s work; forcing Jews to pay exorbitant amounts of money to avoid being deported.  “You’ve turned the city into a concentration camp!” the priest says.  “It’s what you
believe”, Kappler says.  “That’s what I want from you, priest”.  In disgust, the Monsignor leaves, without saying whether he would do it or not.  “No! You’re no different than anyone else,” Kappler yells. 

In the final scene, we see that the Colonel has been captured and is being interrogated.  They ask him how he got his family out of Rome.  He says he doesn’t know what they are talking about.  “You’re playing games Colonel!  Your wife and children disappeared.  They were smuggled into Switzerland, as you well know.  How was it done?  Who helped them?”  As they say this, a look of realization and relief comes on the Colonel’s face.  “I do not know” he says. 

The film’s epilogue informs us that Kappler was sentenced to life in prison for war crimes.  While in the Italian prison he had only one visitor.  “Every month, year in and year out, O’Flaherty came to visit him.  In 1959, the former head of the dreaded Gestapo in Rome was baptized into the Catholic faith at the hand of the Irish priest.

Our readings today focus on how we are to be holy as God is holy.  The Gospel tells us to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.  What does that even mean?  How can we hope to be as holy as the Most High God?  How can we hope to be as perfect as God who is the most perfect?  I myself am a perfectionist.  I am reminded multiple times a day of how far from perfect I really am.  But this call
to perfection and to holiness is not as impossible as it might seem.  Perfection in this case is not about never doing anything wrong or never coming up short on our goal or expectations.  It’s about learning to love as God loves.

After telling us to be holy, Leviticus tells us to not bear hatred for our brother or sister; to not incur sin because of another; do not take revenge.  Rather, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”.  To be holy is to love, because God loves infinitely.  The Gospel takes this a step further and tells us that God loves perfectly and we are called to love like Him.  Jesus asks us, “If you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same?”  Anyone can love those who love you back, but God loves everyone, even those who do not love Him back, even those who hate Him.  He is calling us to do the same.  And no, this is no easy task.

That is why I brought up the movie “The Scarlet and the Black”.  It is a great example of loving someone who clearly does not love us back.  If you have never seen the movie, I encourage you to do so.  Gregory Peck as the priest clearly does not want to love his enemy.  He would have rather turned away and let him suffer, and no one would have blamed him for it.  But at some point after he stormed away from that meeting, he realized what he needed to do.  Notice that these two friends do not become friends over night.  The one simply starts out by caring for the other in his time of need.

To love our enemies is not easy.  But if it helps, remember that God is the one asking us to do it.  He never asks us to do the impossible.  We simply start by caring and doing what is right.  Ask God.   He will help with the rest.