Homily: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A

Readings: Is 49:3,5-6; Ps 40; 1 Cor 1-3; Jn 1:29-34

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Did you notice one of the common themes running through all our readings today: the idea that God always seems to be calling people to do all kinds of stuff for Him.

We heard it in our first reading when God calls the prophet Isaiah – heck, He does more than that; He calls the entire nation of Israel – and He calls them to do what? Well, in His words, to “be a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Wow! That’s kind of a heavy call, isn’t it? Especially since it was given to a bunch of people who tended to resist whatever He commanded them to do. Does He want that from us, too, from you and me? To be a “light to the nations?” Maybe. But how do we do it?

So, perhaps our second reading will tell us more. It’s from the opening verses of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. And what do we find there? Another call – actually, more than one.

Paul, referring to himself, and perhaps indirectly to all of us, says he’s called to be an “apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Okay, what’s an apostle? Basically, it’s someone who’s been sent, sent by God.

Of course, we have the 12 Apostles, plus Paul, and I’ve always thought of them as Apostles with a capital "A". Maybe we’re called to be sent too, as apostles, but maybe with a little “a”. After all, those first Apostles were pretty important; but don't downplay your own importance. We're all called to do important things for God. 

But that’s not all; there’s more. Paul then tells us we’re called to be “holy.” Why? Because we “have been sanctified in Christ Jesus.” So, Jesus sanctified us, made us holy. And you know when He did that? At our baptism.

Our baptism made us holy because our sins were forgiven. Now if, like me, you were baptized as an infant, your only sin was original sin. But if you were baptized as an adult, all sin, original sin, actual sin – it was all forgiven.

What else? We became adopted children of the Father, sisters and brothers of our Lord Jesus. We were brought into God’s family. As Paul tells us, we can now approach Him as, “Abba, Father!”

We also received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit lives within us, and through His power we can resist sin, or as Paul would say, we can resist living “according to the flesh.”

Finally, Baptism makes us members of God’s Church, so we can take full advantage of the graces that flow from the Holy Spirit, through the sacraments, directly to us.

So far, then, we’ve been called to do quite a few things: Called to be a “light to the nations;” to be apostles of Christ Jesus, sent by God, but sent to do what? And we’re also called to be holy…But what does holiness involve? So, we still have some questions.

Maybe we can get answers from our other readings: the Responsorial Psalm and our Gospel passage. Let’s look at the Gospel first, from John, chapter 1. There we encounter John the Baptist – not the most attractive person in the world. Dressed like a caveman, he ate locusts and wild honey – not the kind of guy most of us would hang out with. And he wasn’t particularly open to discussion or a lot of dialog. Still, we’re drawn to him, aren’t we?

John was certainly called; he even tells us why:

“…the reason why I came baptizing with water was that He might be made known to Israel.”

He, of course, is Jesus Christ. Like Isaiah, John is a witness with a single focus. He just points to Jesus:

“Now I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God.”

Yes, John came to introduce Jesus to the world; and, boy, does John make Jesus known. Pointing to Jesus, he says, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

John calls Jesus “God’s lamb” – God’s sacrificial Lamb. That's what lambs were in the Temple, used for sacrifice.  So John is telling the world that Jesus, God’s Son, will be sacrificed in obedience to God’s will. Why? For one reason. To take away the sin of the world. With those few words, John prophesies Jesus’ redemptive act. And how shocked the Jews who heard those words must have been.

At that Baptism of Jesus, we encounter the Holy Spirit and hear the words of the Father; so, John introduces the world to the very centerpiece of Christian belief, the Holy Trinity. With that, we get a glimpse of what our redemption means: eternal life with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Note, too, that John tells the crowd: Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. As we’ve already seen, it’s through the gift of the Holy Spirit, through His power, that we can strive for the holiness God desires for us. Scripture, then, has taught us something else: God’s call to be holy is to live with the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, guiding us as we strive to live the Christian life.

A little, actually a not so little, aside...Did you notice that both Isaiah and John were called from the womb? Yes, God and the world see the unborn so differently, don’t they? God loves them and the world slaughters them. Yes, indeed, God calls us in many ways, doesn’t He?

But to understand better God’s call for us, let’s turn to our Psalm from the Old Testament, to the first words we heard and sang together:

Hear I am, Lord; I come to do Your will.

These words – “I come to do your will” – can also be found in the New Testament, in the Letter to the Hebrews when it quotes Jesus as saying:

“Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.”

So, another call, to imitate Jesus, by doing what? By doing the will of God. We’ve heard that before, too, haven’t we? Paul “called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”

So, what’s God’s will? What does He will for us and from us? Paul actually tells us. Later, to the Thessalonians he writes: “This is the will of God, your sanctification…” Our sanctification, our holiness. You and I are called to be holy, something else we’ve heard before. But who are the holy ones? They're the saints. You see, you and I are called to be saints: holy children of God who do His will.

Speaking of saints, Augustine once said something pretty interesting that applies here: "Love God and then do what you will." Sounds a bit strange, almost contradictory. What he’s really saying is that if we truly love God and His will, then God’s will and ours will be the same.

It all has its roots in love, doesn’t it? It’s all based on God’s great commandment: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength...Oh, and while we're at it, to trying loving each other – love our neighbor as ourselves – the foundation of the Christian life.

Yes, that’s our calling, every single one of us: to love and do God’s will. This, brothers and sisters, is the Christian life, the life God calls us to live.

Of course, Jesus never said it would be easy. But He did promise we’d never be alone, because His gift of His Spirit will always be there, always with us. Writing to the Romans, Paul reveals that we’re called to follow our Lord, Jesus, the crucified Messiah, as we journey through this hostile world.

Indeed, Paul continues by letting us know that the Christian life involves suffering. 

Now, I can’t speak for you, but I really don’t enjoy suffering. I mean, do you? I just got over a nasty virus that put me down for several weeks. So, I slept, drank liquids, took meds, read the Bible, watched some TV, surfed the Internet…And I kept encountering stories of the worldwide persecution of Christians; happening everywhere.

For example, in Nigeria tens of thousands of Christians have been murdered in recent years…simply because of their Christian faith. And there I was in my comfortable home in The Villages grumbling about a cold virus that let me goof off for a couple of weeks. All that, while many in the world are following in the footsteps of the crucified Messiah. Are we called to do the same? Maybe. Time will tell.

Scripture, the revealed Word of God, just shouts at us, doesn’t it? Created in God’s image and likeness, we’re called to be like Jesus, His Son. What does it mean, this likeness, this image we possess?

Is it our intelligence? Our free will? Our willingness to love? Or is it also our humanity, the power to imagine, to build, to shape the things of our world? I guess it’s all these things…plus the grace to suffer as Jesus suffered, to cry out to the Father from the depths of our own little Gethsemanes:

“Remove this cup…yet not my will but yours be done.”

You see, brothers and sisters, God works in our world, He plays in our world, He loves in our world, and He does so through His images, that us, His image and likeness, through you and me. You and I point to Christ by who we are, by being Christlike, by living as He lived, by doing what He did, and, yes, by suffering as He suffered.

How did Jesus put it?

“I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”

I guess the question for each of us is: How are you and I pointing to Christ? How are we witnessing to Christ? Do we begin each day by praying:

“Father, help me to do your will in all things today. Help me to point to Jesus.”?

You’ll never get a better compliment than when someone says to you, “You remind me of someone…Oh, I know, you remind me of Jesus.”

Because that, dear friends, is our calling, our Christian vocation, the fruit of our baptism: to be Christlike.

And we have no excuse because through His gift of grace, he’s given us the power to do all that He asks, to abandon ourselves, to do His will, not ours.

Homily: Saturday, 14th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: Is 6:1-8; Ps 93; Mt 10:24-33

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Today we have a few options. We celebrate Saturday in the 14^th week in Ordinary Time. But we also celebrate the optional memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and 120 other Chinese martyrs who gave their lives over a period of three centuries. Finally, we celebrate the Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So, Father and I decided to wear white, knowing that those dear martyrs would gladly celebrate Mary along with us.

Turning to today’s readings, we find they’re all about calling…well at least in part. Calling is what God does, but that’s just one side of the equation. The other side, the part that really makes far more difference to us as individuals, is our response. And that’s really what these readings are all about, how we respond to God’s call. Now the Good News, and Sacred Scripture is all about Good News, is that God never stops calling us.

I’m going to get a little autobiographical today, always a scary thing to do, giving you a glimpse at my many imperfections. Looking back on my own, confusing life, I realize God began calling me very early. In fact, I was ten years old when I first heard His call. Back then, I didn’t think of it as a call. I simply didn’t know God well enough, and thought of it more as a nagging, not a calling.

Anyway, I had no idea what He wanted of me. He really wasn’t explicit, but He wouldn’t stop calling. Did you ever hear a song on the radio, one that just stuck in your head all day. I think the kids call it an “ear worm” – a pretty good metaphor. Well, that’s what God’s call was like for me. It just wouldn’t go away.

But I was involved in a lot of stuff, so I just pushed it aside and tried to go on with my life. High school, Georgetown, the Naval Academy, flight training, marriage, Vietnam, children, graduate school, my career as a Navy pilot, teaching, a consulting business – it was an intense time, but throughout it all I sensed the tug, the unspoken call. But for what, I didn’t know.

And then, when I was about 30, I was sent to teach at the Naval Academy, I discovered my immediate neighbor, an Air Force officer, was also a permanent deacon. That’s when I began to realize what God’s call was all about, but it still took me another 15 years to respond.

In our first reading from Isaiah, we encounter the prophet’s call. Isaiah spent the first 5 chapters delivering a prophecy to the people of Jerusalem and Judea, telling them what they could expect unless they returned to the Lord. Then, in chapter 6, today’s reading, he described his call.

Believe me, Isaiah’s call was a lot more explicit than mine. No Seraphim flew to me or cleansed my lips with coal, so I’d understand what God wanted of me. No, for me God simply sent a stream of wonderful people who pointed the way: deacons, priests, a bishop, and most importantly, a loving wife who apparently saw in me some faint reflection of what God saw.

When we turn to today’s Gospel passage from Matthew, we hear Jesus speaking to His apostles and really to all who must evangelize…and, folks, that’s all of us…every single one of us. He lets us know that we’ll be treated no better than he is treated. What had He said earlier?

"Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness..." [Mt 5:10]

What did the Apostles think when they heard those words? When you go out and preach the Gospel, you'll be persecuted, handed over to courts, be scourged, hated, and probably killed. Yes, indeed, like sheep among wolves.

Had I heard and through about that, I suspect in my weakness I would have been a bit slower to respond to God's call. But not the Apostles! Their love for Jesus was so strong, His message so compelling, that they went out willingly into the world, into persecution. Because of them, because they responded, not to fear, but to love, we are here in this Church today.

Three times in this brief Gospel passage, Jesus tells the Apostles, as He tells us, not to be afraid. If our love of God is just another form of fear -- fear of His power and judgment -- then it's not love at all. As St. John reminds us in his first letter, "Perfect love casts out fear" [1 Jn 4:18]. Jesus calls us not to fear, but to love, to love as God Himself loves. St. Francis de Sales, addressing fear and love, once wrote: "Those who love to be feared, fear to be loved."

25 years ago, on my day of ordination, as I lay prostrate before that altar in St. Anthony’s church in New Bedford, Massachusetts, I could only think of those words of Isaiah: “I am a man of unclean lips…” Perhaps a momentary touch of fear…and then I heard again the Lord’s response, another question:

“Whom shall I send?”

Yes, indeed, send me, unclean lips and all.

And that’s the same question each of us, each of you, should respond to today. God is calling each of us and continues to do so. He calls us despite our many imperfections, with all those fears that we just can’t seem to let go of.

God is calling you. You need only respond, and He will lead you.

Bible Study Reflection #29: Broken-Hearted Prophet

More often than not, these strange reflections of mine focus on the Gospel, and I suppose that’s good since the Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of God’s revelation to humanity. We should, therefore, never neglect the Gospel and the other New Testament books that offer valuable and prophetic insights into the teachings and life of Jesus revealed in the Gospel. But we must also remember that the entire Old Testament foreshadows the New Testament and provides many equally valuable insights into God’s plan, thus helping us better understand and appreciate all that He has revealed. This understanding of and appreciation for the entirety of God’s revelation will only deepen our faith and lead us along the path to the salvation He desires for us.

Today, then, I’ve decided to focus on the prophet Jeremiah and, specifically, the opening verses of the book of his prophecy. As we begin this reflection, I ask you to open your Bible to Jeremiah and read the opening verses from chapter one: Jeremiah 1:1-19.

A little background...To our knowledge Jeremiah was still a young man, probably only in his twenties, when God called him in the year 626 B.C. He was preceded by several earlier prophets – Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah – by a hundred years or so.

Only a few years after Jeremiah’s call, King Josiah (640-609 B.C.) began a major religious reform after a restoration of the Temple led to the re-discovery of the Law, especially the Book of Deuteronomy. During Josiah’s reign, the Assyrians, who had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, began to decline and were ultimately defeated by the Babylonians (Chaldeans). King Josiah, in an attempt to reclaim lands that were once part of David’s kingdom, claimed Samaria and a number of other cities, but died in a battle with the Egyptians at Megiddo in 609 B.C. (You can read a tribute to Josiah in Sirach 49:1-4.) Two decades later, in July of 587 B.C., Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. The city’s destruction was followed by the exile or Babylonian Captivity. Although the exile officially ended with the decree of Persian King Cyrus in 537 B.C., the Jews considered it a 70-year captivity from 586 B.C. when the Temple was destroyed until the Temple was rebuilt in 516 B.C.

The years of Jeremiah’s prophecy, then, were a time of dramatic change and upheaval. They were a time of religious reform, a time of tension and threatening storms, and a time of horrendous defeat. It was a difficult time to be a prophet of the Lord.

Many have called Jeremiah God’s broken-hearted prophet, and I can certainly join them in that. He was a man who lived what can only be described as heart-rending life and whose prophecies of dire warning went largely unheeded by the people of Judah. But God had prepared him for all that he would face:

They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you – oracle of the Lord [Jer 1:19].

When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either. When you call to them, they will not answer you [Jer 7:27].

And, of course, God was correct. Very few, and especially none of those in power, listened to Jeremiah. Like so many of us, the people of Judah really didn’t want to hear bad news, and unfortunately for Jeremiah, most of what God revealed to him wasn’t very pleasant. But the people and their rulers had only themselves to blame. What did God tell Jeremiah in our passage?

I will pronounce my sentence against them for all their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods, in bowing down to the works of their hands [Jer 1:16].

Listening to this Word of God spoken by Jeremiah, once again we encounter the great sin of the Old Testament: idolatry. But perhaps, surprisingly to some, it’s also the great sin of today. Whenever I talk about this, many people respond with disbelief. Apparently, they assume idolatry requires the worship of statues or images, large and small, of pagan gods. But to engage in idolatry simply means placing something or someone above the worship of God. It’s to violate God’s first commandment:

I am the Lord your God…You shall not have other gods beside me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or serve them [Dt 5:6, 7-9].

Today the world serves many idols: money, possessions, fame and celebrity, power, sex, …the list goes on. Not surprisingly the list hasn’t changed much since the time of Jeremiah. The people, and especially Judah’s leaders, didn’t want to hear God’s judgment and refused to accept it. Neither did they want to hear what God had planned for them: the invasion of Judah by the Babylonians and the destruction of Jerusalem. And so, they simply vented their anger on Jeremiah – much easier to blame the messenger than listen to the message. In fact, Jeremiah’s prophecy angered the princes so much they threw the prophet in prison. And that’s where he was when Babylon took the Holy City. Ironically, the Babylonians treated Jeremiah with more respect than his own people. They released him from prison, showed him great kindness, and allowed him to choose where he wanted to live.

But let’s focus on those opening verses of Jeremiah’s book of prophecy, a passage that describes his call by God, his call to be a prophet. The passage reveals many interesting things about this call, things that relate not only to Jeremiah, but also to each of us.

First of all, Jeremiah was set apart for God’s work from the very beginning – not just from his birth, but before he was even in the womb.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you… [Jer 1:5]

I knew you -- I loved you and chose you -- God revealed to Jeremiah. I dedicated you – I set you apart to do my work in the world. I made you a prophet. I called you. And I did all this before you existed in the world. What a wonderful revelation!

But God was speaking not only to Jeremiah, because God’s love is both infinite and universal. Yes, He loves prophets and apostles. But He loves you as well. He loves all whom He has created. And He calls each one of us to do His work in the world.

We must never forget this. God has a plan for every person He has created. This revelation by God, one repeated frequently throughout Sacred Scripture, lays the foundation for the consistent Church teaching on abortion as an intrinsic evil. To willfully destroy the life of an unborn child, a life for which God has a plan, is no different from the destruction of any innocent human life.

God’s plan for each of us is as different as the variety of the gifts he bestows. St. Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit manifests different gifts in His people. How did he put it?

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes [1 Cor 12:4-11].

God, then, has given each of us gifts. All are not called to be prophets like Jeremiah, but each is called to be, as St. Teresa of Calcutta liked to say, “something beautiful for God.” Our life’s work as Christians consists in allowing God to show us those gifts and then using them to further God’s work in a sinful world. One warning: God will often ask you to do what you thought impossible. He will call you to your weaknesses, and by doing so, demonstrate to you and to others His remarkable power.

We see this when Jeremiah responds to God’s call. Like most of us, Jeremiah is more focused on himself and the personal demands of this call. It’s a very human response, isn’t it? As I mentioned earlier, Jeremiah was young when God called him. The thought of being a prophet must have terrified him, so much so that he protested, telling God that he neither spoke well nor was old enough to earn the respect of the people. Isn’t it interesting how often we consider it necessary to tell God things that He already knows. But God dismissed Jeremiah’s fears:

Do not say “I am too young.” To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak [Jer 1:7].

These concerns of Jeremiah’s mirror those of Moses when he was called by the Lord in the Book of Exodus:

Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? [Ex 3:11]

…and

If you please, my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue [Ex 4:10].

But it was through the weakness of Moses, Jeremiah, the Apostles, and so many others that God accomplishes His work in the world. It is through your weaknesses and mine that He will accomplish much today. But first, like Moses and Jeremiah and the Apostles, we too must respond to God’s call.

Jeremiah’s youth also offers us insights into God’s plan for the salvation of the world. Let’s recall those words that St. Peter used on the day of Pentecost when he quoted the prophet Joel:

I will pour out a portion of My Spirit on all mankind: Your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your young men shall see visions [Acts 2:17; Joel 3:1-5].

Yes, indeed, brothers and sisters, God will raise up young people in a special way to renew the face of the earth. And just as He chose Jeremiah to speak His truth to the people of Judah, He will empower new Jeremiahs to speak to the world today:

Today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant [Jer 1:10].

As young as these modern-day Jeremiahs may seem to us old folks, they are not too young for God. You and I must never cease telling our young people – telling our children, our grandchildren, the youth of our parish – the same words St. Paul addressed to his spiritual son, St. Timothy:

Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity [1 Tim 4:12].

I am convinced this young generation today is destined to do great things. I know this because Satan has tried so hard to destroy it. He fears what the Lord can do through this new generation that he has helped kill a third of them even before their birth. And what of those who managed to escape the evil of abortion and survive until birth? Satan has tried to abuse, brainwash, and enslave them through dysfunctional families, secular humanism, substance abuse, and sexual promiscuity. But the survivors of the survivors are here; they know God's love and believe in Him. It is these, the young ones who have survived Satan's onslaught, that God will use to renew the face of the earth. Pray for them.

Since we’re unable to meet – at least for now – you might want to take some time this week and read the rest of this wonderful book of prophecy. There is so much to learn from Jeremiah, a prophet who suffered much and like so many who did God’s work in the world, opened his soul to God. As you will discover, Jeremiah didn’t hesitate to tell God what he thought, to share his troubles with the Lord and plead for help and strength. Perhaps soon we’ll take another look at this special Prophet and walk through at least some of the key portions of the book he left for us.

God’s peace be with you all.

Homily: 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (26 Jan 2020)

I have embedded a video of this homily below. The complete text follows the video:

Readings: Is 8:23-9:3; Ps 27; 1 Cor 1:10-13,17; Mt 4:12-23

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“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” [Mt 4:17]

With these words Jesus began His public ministry. Has anyone ever directed these words at you? In confession I’ve never had a priest say, “Repent, deacon, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And in all those retreats I’ve made no retreat master ever began a reflection by standing tall at the podium, pointing at us and saying, “Repent, sinners, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” I suppose these words, this command, seem just a bit…well, harsh – you know, not in keeping with people’s expectations these days.

Mark, in his Gospel, has Jesus saying, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” [Mk 1:15]. Another translation offers slightly different terms: “Be converted and accept the Gospel.” But notice, regardless of the translation, Jesus tells us that we must first repent and be converted. That’s right, before we learn about the kingdom, before we accept the good news of the Gospel, Jesus tells us to repent, to be converted.

You see, without conversion, without repentance, the Gospel really makes no sense. after all, the Gospel tells us to do all kinds of things that the world rejects.

“Love your neighbor as yourself…” [Mk 12:31]

Well, now, wait minute, shouldn’t I love myself a wee bit more? I mean, think of the effect on my self-esteem if I have to think so highly of others. Then there’s that other one: 

"Love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, soul and strength.” [Mk 12:30]

Not much room in there for anything else. But does God expect us to take that literally? Am I supposed to put “Love God” at the beginning of every to-do list and back-burner everything else?

And what about all those other Sermon-on-the-Mount things…you know, being meek and poor in spirit, being merciful and pure of heart, thirsting for righteousness, no anger, no lust, forgive your enemies – all those counter-intuitive things. That’s no way to enjoy life or get ahead in the world.

Yes, the Gospel just doesn’t make much sense at all…unless…unless we are converted. Only then, only after we’ve changed, only after we’ve invited God into our lives and our hearts, only after we accept our sinfulness and repent, only then can we accept the Good News as Good News. Once we respond to God’s call to conversion, and realize God’s greatness and overwhelming love for us, then we can accept the Gospel with the unbounded joy its message deserves.

Is that how you respond to the Gospel? With unbounded joy? With a thirst to hear more? With a hunger you that can never be fully satisfied until you come face to face with God? Is that how you respond? If not…well, join the club, because repentance and conversion still await you. Do you sense that? Is something missing in your life? Is there an emptiness in your inner being that nothing has been able to fill?

Brothers and sisters, that’s God calling you, begging to heal you, to fill that emptiness. St. Augustine, the reluctant convert, put it best: 

“Our hearts are restless, O God, until they rest in Thee.”

That restlessness is a gift, almost sacramental; a sign pointing to God. Is that why we’re all here at this Mass, to satisfy the longing? Is this the choice we’ve made? Do we come together as a community of believers in thanksgiving and praise? Do we come, yearning for God’s Word and celebrating His goodness? Do we come to feast on the miraculous gift of the Eucharist from which we receive the spiritual sustenance we need to grow in the Christian life. 

Or are we here out of habit, to fulfill some sense of social or cultural obligation? “Of course I go to Mass. Isn’t that what Catholics do?” That’s a non-response, a static, unchanging, act of non-faith. We can’t respond to God’s call and grow in faith if our motivation is grounded in something worldly.
Jesus calls us to continual conversion, conversion leads to growth, and growth demands change.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

His call to conversion is unambiguous: Repent! Why? To enter His Kingdom. Yes, brothers and sisters, we’re all sinners. Sinners need forgiveness. Forgiveness needs repentance.

God invites us all. No one’s overlooked. He wants to forgive each of His children, just as He wants to rule over each of us. But unlike human rulers, God forces Himself on no one. We accept the invitation by making a choice. 

Gradually, as His ministry unfolded, Jesus revealed more and more about His Kingdom, a Kingdom extending beyond time and space, all the way to eternity – a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom of love and holiness; hence the call for repentance. A Kingdom of holiness cannot admit the profane, just as a Kingdom of love must reject hatred. 

Oh, we all want to heed the call, if only it didn’t involve change. If only it didn’t place so many demands on me. If only my life weren’t going so well right now. And so we complicate God’s simple, straightforward call by cluttering it with our own issues. Yes, we want to respond…but on our terms. 

But that’s not how it works. How can we enter the Kingdom but reject the authority of the King? We can’t have it both ways. To accept the Kingdom demands conversion. Just look how the Apostles handled it. 

Jesus called Peter and Andrew and “at once they left their nets and followed Him” [Mt 4:20]. Moments later, He called James and John and, “immediately they left their boat and their father and followed Him” [Mt 4:22].

Do you detect a sense of urgency? Called by Jesus, the Apostles don’t think it over. They don’t weigh the pros and cons. They don’t hire a consultant to advise them on their career change. They acted in faith because they heard God’s call. They hadn’t yet accepted the Gospel, but they accepted Jesus, the very Word of God Himself. 

Called to conversion, these most ordinary of men immediately left everything behind and followed; and that’s all God asked of them…for now. They hadn’t a clue about what lay ahead – mercifully it was hidden from them – but they knew their old lives were gone for good. That’s what conversion is: a continual, lifelong process of leaving things behind. 

How about you and me? What does God want us to leave behind? Have we asked Him? God calls each of us in unique and individual ways. Some, like the rich young man in the Gospel, too attached to his possessions, are called to radical action: 

“Sell everything you have, give the money to the poor, and come, follow me.” [Mt 19:21]

Only this would bring the happiness he sought. But he rejected Jesus’ call, and went away sad. 

Others, like the woman caught in adultery, are simply told, 

“Go and sin no more.” [Jn 8:11]

There’s nothing to fear from God’s call. He never calls us to that which we cannot do. But we must first hear and accept His call. Once we do, once we turn our lives over to His rule, He provides the grace we need to persevere.

“Be still and know that I am God.” [Ps 46:10]

These words sung by the psalmist still apply. Step away from the noise of the world and prayerfully listen to God’s call. Step away from your busy lives to be still in God’s presence. Spend some quiet time in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Listen to His voice.

God calls each of us. It matters not how old or young we are. We all sense it don’t we? We shift in the pew and stare down at our hands as the Spirit beckons those very hands to abandon the nets that ensnare us, all those entanglements that keep us from answering God’s call. We experience the tension. The mystic calls it “the holy longing.”

As the gifts are carried forward, know that God is carrying a gift to you, a call that leads to eternal life. For God is calling you and me to a new way of life, to something far greater than the world can ever give. 

And because He’s a loving God, He never stops calling.

Homily: Saturday, 4th Week of Lent

Readings: Jer 11:18-20; Ps 7; Jn 7:40-53
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"Never before has anyone spoken like this man" [Jn 7:46].

Hearing those words brought to mind someone I first met over 60 years ago. I think it was my first week of high school, and to get there I had to take a train for a few miles, and then a 6-mile bus ride with lots of stops. It took a while.

Bus - Westchester County NY

That morning, when I got on the bus, this kid sat down next to me. Like me I guess he was a little nervous, and so for a while neither of us said much, but he seemed kinda nerdy...not that I wasn't. He was an Italian kid from the tough town and I was an Irish kid who lived in a slightly ritzier town. I sized him up and decided we had little in common, and I should probably seek friendship elsewhere.

Then he told a joke, and another, and another, and had me crying with laughter all the way to school. Yes, indeed, I'd never heard anyone speak like that before. And you guessed it: we became lifelong friends. Today he lives in Jersey and we had another long phone call just a few nights ago.

Reading today's Gospel passage brought him to mind, and made me realize how wrong I can be when it comes to first impressions. And usually the error is rooted in me, not in the other. I had sized up my friend in a few minutes, pretty much all based on my personal biases. I suppose I was a little snob, but my friend, John, and many others have cured me of that fault.

I was like the Pharisees who, knowing little about Jesus, dismissed Him as a nobody; but a dangerous nobody, a threat to their own authority. Without having heard Jesus speak, without having heard His words, they rejected the Word of God. This, of course is exactly what Nicodemus tried to tell them.

"Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?" [Jn 7:51]

Nicodemus, too, was a Pharisee, but he had taken the time to seek out Jesus, to question Him, to listen to Him, to see if He spoke the truth. And it was to Nicodemus that Jesus first spoke those words of redemption:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life" [Jn 3:16].

Sadly, though, most of the Pharisees, like that younger me, were a bunch of snobs. You can almost hear them, can't you? This Jesus? He's from Galilee, a nobody from nowhere. How had the Apostle Nathaniel put it?

"Can anything good come from Nazareth?" [Jn 1:46] 

Even a soon to be Apostle can be a bit of a snob.

"Never before has anyone spoken like this man."

Isn't it interesting that so many of the people who encountered Jesus, even the Temple guards, who'd been sent to arrest Jesus, actually listened to Him, and realized they'd heard the truth?

"Never before has anyone spoken like this man."

What a remarkably courageous thing to say, knowing how much the chief priests and the Pharisees, despised Jesus.

What about us? Do we have the courage to speak out for our faith, to proclaim Jesus as Lord when He is under attack, as He is in our world today?

The world really hasn't changed all that much, has it? The Word of God causes division today just as it did in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. 

The prophet Jeremiah encountered the same kind of division centuries earlier, when all the important folks plotted against him, just as their successors would plot against Jesus.

Remember how Simeon had revealed to Mary that Jesus would be "a sign that will be contradicted" [Lk 2:34]?

"a sign that will be contradicted"

And how many ignored Jesus, the sign God had sent, the sign of the Father's overwhelming love, and instead contradicted? 

Jesus' deeds both amazed and provoked, and His words affected all who heard that call to conversion: 

"Repent and believe in the Gospel" [Mk 1:15].

Some responded with hatred, some turned away unwilling to accept God's grace and the changes it demanded, but others underwent a fundamental, transformative change of heart. 

Brothers and sisters, Jesus never stops calling us to conversion: to repent and trust in His mercy; to love God with all our being; to love our neighbor as we love ourselves; to speak always as Jesus spoke, in the language of the Father's love.

As we move through these last days of Lent, you and I must listen and respond to that call. We have to choose because God never wants to force Himself on us. He simply looks on us with love and lets us make the choice [See Mk 10:21].

So today, let's all open our hearts to Jesus, and listen to the One who speaks as no one else has ever spoken. Let His Holy Spirit fill us with the humility and repentance God asks of us.