by: Deacon Paul Rooney (deaconpaul@cox.net)
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Cycle "C" - September 5, 2004)

Q. 283: In our Second Reading today (Phlm 1:9-17), Paul sends the runaway slave Onesimus back to his legal owner, Philemon. Is this his way of saying that slavery is "okay" for Christians?

A. 283: After the customary "greetings" and "farewells," this tiny letter has only twelve verses to make its message heard. And it reflects Jesus' own methods when it came to challenging the cultural "standards" of a "status society" (called an honor-shame society) such as the Mediterranean world of those days, when those standards impinged upon the dignity of humans.

The message is extremely potent and powerful, yet masterful in its subtle approach. Paul and Philemon live in a world where legal rights were dictated by a military power, such that one could not safely challenge the social structure and survive. So Paul is forced to appeal to Christian love: when it comes to the Christian community, we are to treat each other as blood brother and sister, not as a caste system of master and slave. That is a direct challenge to the existing cultural standards, because the slave owner is being asked "in the name of (Christian) love" to treat Onesimus as a beloved brother. Slavery as an institution is not even a direct issue; the human dignity of the slave Onesimus is the issue, as well as the response demanded by any and every Christian in such a situation.

That is a very high price for a slave owner to pay, in a society structured around honor and shame, where "control" was the top priority to preserve the status quo. Today is one of those rare Sundays when the Second Reading fits so perfectly, although unintentionally, with the Gospel (Lk 14:25-33). Jesus spells out very clearly the high price a committed Christian may be called to pay to follow him - - even at the cost of breaking with family and social structures that might insert barriers between humans who are all equal in God's eyes.

Know Your Catechism! The name "Onesimus" means "profitable" in Greek, and our Church teaches with utmost clarity that it is a sin against the dignity of persons to reduce them to their productive value or to a source of profit (CCC #2414). Paul was laying the foundation for social advocacy to help those powerless to help themselves. What have you done to improve social justice concerns in your city?

Deacon Paul Rooney
Mary Our Queen Parish, Omaha