Corruption of the Best
Homily on Wednesday, 28th Week in O.T., Memorial of St Callistus, 14 Oct 2026, DB Postnovitiate Chapel, Canlubang
I am glad to be here with you these past two days. And I thank Fr Bobby for giving me this wonderful opportunity and privilege of presiding today’s Holy Mass. I did my novitiate here in 1984. I was together with 24 other Novices under Fr Jose Carbonel, SDB, our Novice Master. And out of 24, would you know how many of us have persevered until today? Twelve including a few Sri Lankans! Yes, 12 of us are still SDBs, although one already died during the pandemic. And so, while praying with you earlier, I really thank God for his grace, his fidelity to me and my batchmates all these years, despite the many times we have not been so faithful to him.
Today we honor a holy Pope and bishop of Rome who led the Church in the third century of Christianity. His name is St Callistus. We Salesians often associate him with the Catacombs that have been entrusted to us, Salesians, in Rome. This is where many Popes and martyrs have been buried in the early years of Christianity.
The catacombs of St Callistus is one of the many underground cemeteries at the outskirts of Rome consisting of a complex subterranean gallery with recesses carved out on both sides for tombs. It was built by Pope St Callistus himself for the benefit of those who had no place to bury their dead except the public cemetery. It has an area spanning about fifteen hectares with five levels going deep down under the ground.
If one day you will have the chance to go to Rome and stand at the ground level of these catacombs, you would be able to see only wheat fields, beautiful trees, flowering plants, and some private houses. But underneath all these are countless bodies of Christians buried for so many centuries. They are now considered relics of a holy Church and powerful witnesses to the many lives offered in martyrdom for the love of Christ during the years of intense persecution against Christians in the Roman Empire.
In the Gospel passage (Lk 11:42-46) we have heard today, Jesus reprimands the Jewish religious authorities particularly the scholars and experts in the law. Why? He reprimanded them because externally they looked so honorable and so holy. But inside they were actually corrupted; their hearts were distant and detached from God and his people. They were so obsessed about every detail of the law, and about the many rituals and externalities of worship, that they forgot the most essential and the most central aspect of the law, which is no other than love – the love of God and the love of neighbor.
To give more emphasis, Jesus compared them to whitewashed graves – clean and beautiful outside but decayed and corrupt inside. He said “You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” In other words, they were like catacombs. At ground level, they looked green, alive and spotlessly beautiful but underneath the surface, were dead bodies decayed and corrupted by the passing of time.
The question for our reflection is this. Is it possible that we could be no better than them? …that we could be so religious externally, but deep within, we are so corrupted, so unchristian and so uncharitable to others?
My Novice Master used to tell us when we were still Novices, ‘The corruption of the best is the worst.” And he explained by comparing the foul smell that various decaying bodies would usually emit. For example, a dry decaying leaf fallen from a tree usually doesn’t smell anything at all, and so does a dead dragonfly or any insect that has lost its life. But when a rat or a cat (considered a higher life form) dies and begins to decompose, it emits a very foul smell, almost unbearable. However, when a man (considered the highest life form created by God) dies and his body starts to decomposed and be eaten up by worms, it emits the foulest, most repulsive and sickening of all smells. What Fr Carbonel said was right: “The corruption of the best is the worst.”
St Callistus was one Pope who had a big heart for God’s people especially sinners. He gave pardon to prostitutes and murderers. In fact, he had a conflict with another saintly priest, named Hippolytus, regarding his unusual lenience towards sinners. He manifested extraordinary compassion in absolving and accepting back baptized Christians who have committed scandals in the Church.
Pope St. Callistus represents and exemplifies Christ, the Good Shepherd who showed tenderness to everyone, most especially to those who needed God’s compassion the most. May this Eucharist transform our hearts and help us become the best version of ourselves every day. Like St. Callistus, may we always be open and kind to everyone, most especially to the poor, the outcasts and the sinners. GiGsss!
