Today’s scripture readings invite us to reconsider the nature of authority. Latino theologian Orlando Espín argues for an understanding of the gospel that recognizes the authority of the people. He suggests that popular religious practices are profound expressions of the senses fidelium, the sense of the faith held by all baptized people. Therefore, a fuller understanding of truth and authority depends on seeing the lived experience of the people as reflective of their life in Christ. 

Espín criticizes a tendency by theologians and church officials to consider popular religious traditions as deviations from tradition or orthodoxy. Instead, he interprets popular devotion as interactive with the life of faith in the context of tradition. Such a reading allows for an accounting of the witness and role of lay people that acknowledges varied lived experiences rather than an idealized vision of lay roles that is concerned chiefly with formal church organization and discipline. He notes in his book Faith of the People: “It seems to me that theologians have to start taking the real laity of real Catholicism seriously (and not the imagined laity of so many ecclesiologies), otherwise the very understandings of ‘Church,’ or Tradition, of infallibility, and of revelation might be compromised and vitiated” (4).

For Espín, it is crucial to remember that God chooses to reveal divine love through the lives of the vanquished. Indeed, the faith of the vanquished can be read as a cultural analogy of the crucified Jesus. “The medium of revelation,” the offer of divine love of which we speak when we preach the gospel, “is the insignificant, failed, and vanquished life of a first-century Palestinian Jew, who was easily disposed of by the authorities of his day” (27). The experiences, voices, and lived faith of people on the margins today are revelatory in that they dwell on the grounds on which God reaches out to humanity. 

Today’s readings reveal that true authority and leadership come from loving encounters with God, not through coercion or domination. The passage from Isaiah is preceded by a rebuke of Shebna, the royal steward who was swayed by pride to elevate himself, “hewing a tomb on high, carving a resting place in the rock” (Isaiah 22:16). He cared more about his position and privilege than about serving the common good.

The passage from Matthew describes the elevation of Peter to leadership after his acknowledgement of Jesus as Christ. This scene has been used throughout history as a justification of the papacy with interpretations that have focused on the pope’s possession of authority as keys to bind and loosen. There is danger in this line of interpretation toward a clericalism that understands posts of authority rigidly. In the gospel, leadership is based on a recognition of God’s truth and call to justice. A close reading of the passage shows that Peter’s authority comes from a recognition of Jesus rather than human notions of power or authority. When we consider who and what to take as authoritative, we would do well to follow Espín’s exhortation to listen to marginalized people, among whom God chose to become present in the person of Jesus.

Theologian Biography: Orlando Espín served as a Professor of Theology and Religious Studies for three decades at the University of San Diego, where he also directed the Center for the Study of Latino/a Catholicism. He is regarded as one of the founders of U.S. Latinx Catholic theology. His work, which spans twelve books and over two hundred fifty articles, provides a theoretical framework for attentiveness to popular devotion, with special attention to intercultural experience and the nature of tradition. Today’s reflection draws in particular from The Faith of the People: Theological Reflections on Popular Catholicism (Orbis, 1997).

Today’s readings suggest that authority comes from a familiarity with God’s revelation and work in the world. Oftentimes, it is marginalized people who hear this revelation and see this work most clearly. We need to cultivate a practice of deep listening to learn from their insights even when they do not match our own ideas, commitments, or assumptions.

Find and listen to a brief (1-3 minute) oral history recording of somebody whose life experiences are different from your own. It is possible that local recordings are available on the website of your city or town’s library or historical society. Here are some other oral history collections that you might consider exploring:

• StoryCorps (https://storycorps.org/stories/)
• National Park Service Oral History Collection (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/oralhistory/recordings.htm)
• Library of Congress Digital Collections (https://www.loc.gov/collections/)

Listen to the chosen recording three times:

• The first time, get a sense of the person, their personality, and their story.
• The second time, imagine the situations and stories described.
• The third time, listen for a word or phrase that catches your attention.

Reflect on the word or phrase. Talk with God about why you are drawn to it. Consider what insights you might be able to take away from this witness.

Respecting the authority of the experiences of marginalized people requires a profound practice of listening. Studs Turkel, a secular Jewish journalist, was an artisan of listening and amplifying the experience of people from all walks of life. Born in New York City in 1912, he mostly grew up in Chicago where his parents ran a boarding house. After years of work as a radio actor, disc jockey, and journalist, he became an acclaimed documenter of oral history, publishing his first best-selling book at 55. He subsequently released volumes of interviews that sought to forefront the variety and struggle of American life. His works document experiences ranging from war, labor struggle, racial justice, and mortality. 

Turkel won a variety of prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985. Perhaps more telling is the appreciation he received from marginalized communities because of his compassionate style of listening and faithful documentation. For example, in 2001, the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame recognized him as a Friend of the Community because of his advocacy on behalf of LGBT rights going back to the 1940s and his inclusion of LGBT voices in his books. 

You can learn more about Turkel, his life, and his books at https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/

Chicano Park is an outdoor community gathering space featuring murals, skate ramps, and a playground beneath the interchange between Interstate 5 and the San Diego-Coronado Bridge in San Diego. 

The construction of the expressway and bridge in the 1960s divided Barrio Logan, a predominantly Mexican American neighborhood, from the broader Logan Heights. During the interstate construction, city officials promised to set aside land for a park in Barrio Logan. However, in 1970, activists learned that the state planned to build a highway patrol station beneath the interchange even while the promise of a park remained unfulfilled. This sparked a 12-day occupation of the area by demonstrators demanding that the city follow through on its promises. They eventually succeeded in bringing about the park’s founding and the establishment of a committee to direct the painting and preservation of murals, which continues today. 

The park’s murals represent an expression of the community’s history and ongoing life with reference to the Catholic and Indigenous spiritual symbols of the Chicano community. They connect encounters of God and ultimate reality with the concrete concerns of the neighborhood. Each mural reflects a process of community dialogue partnership, oftentimes guided and implemented by members of the community whose children play and grow up around the park. The community is both defined by its suffering and struggle against the schemes of dominance represented by the expressway overheard and independent from it, rooted in the land whose stories the concrete of the expressway cannot wipe out.  

You can learn more about the park, its murals, and its community here: https://chicano-park.com/.

Look up two of the murals from Chicano Park, which show different ways of understanding authority and divinity from the community’s experience. Both subtly play upon the form of the expressway beam as a representation of the cross, include references to the community’s struggles for justice, and reflect the mixed heritage of the community. 

• Leyes-La Familia
• Mujer Cósmica