Homily
3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time B
Holy Trinity Parish, Paola and St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
21/22 January 2012
Daily Readings
Those who have wives should act as not having them. This line from St. Paul is perhaps the most striking of all the lines that hit us this weekend. Even more striking than learning that the prophet Jonah was able to convert the entire city of Ninevah with the word he received from God. Even more incredible than seeing Peter and Andrew, James and John drop everything and respond to the Lord's call to follow them. Those who have wives should act as not having them, for time is running out. The world as we know it is passing away. Strange words from the great apostle.
We've been through enough cycles of apocalyptic predictions, despite our Lord telling us clearly that we do not know the day nor the hour, not to succumb to the superficial meaning of Paul's words. When he says those who haves wives should act as not having them, this is not a call for men to abandon all responsibilities to make sure they are individually prepared for the rapture, wives and children be damned. Paul in Ephesians, in the great treatise on marriage, says quite the opposite, that a real husband should love his wife as Christ loves the Church, and should hand himself over to his wife so as to love her into holiness. So Paul can't mean an abdication of responsibility. Rather, he points to a responsibility and a vocation that is prior to the marriage of a man and woman; namely, the responsibility to be married to God before we dare to be married to each other. Paul's urgency is directed toward what we name the universal call to holiness. It is the same call that Jesus gave to Peter, Andrew, James and John, urging them to leave their livelihoods as well, to become fishers of men.
This eternally fruitful marriage between Christ and His Church is perfectly accomplished in the Holy Eucharist we are about to celebrate. Here the two are made one - Christ and His Church become one body, one spirit, in the communion celebrated. It is because this marriage of Christ and His Church is the most real and enduring marriage, and is the source and perfection of married love, that Paul can say that those who are not aware of Christ's love for them, should act as if not having a wife. Paul rightfully creates an urgency in responding to the love of Jesus Christ, the love of a Creator for his creation and the love of a savior for sinners. It is because the love of Christ is greater than any human love, for He knows us better than we know ourselves, and as our Savior loves us where we cannot love ourselves, at the point of our greatest sin, that Paul can say what He says and Jesus can call as He calls. Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Without a true encounter with Jesus Christ, without a realization on our part that it is encountering Him that I will find myself and without a confession of the uniqueness and depth of His love for me, then the accounts of vocation and discipleship in tonight's readings are absurd. Mary's last words in recorded scripture are 'Do whatever He tells you" and her words, as we would suspect, represent the perfect way for a Christian to receive His vocation from Jesus. Do whatever He tells you. But why would I trust Jesus more than I trust myself? Why would I do only and precisely what He tells me, when I can respond to my own desires? Why is following Him freedom and not slavery?
Christian discipleship and vocation is much different than how the world tells us to find ourselves. The world challenges us to find our uniqueness in isolation - what makes me special and different than anyone else? Only after answering this question can we find our mission in life, so says the world. A Christian instead is called to find his uniqueness not in isolation but in relationship - we find ourselves insofar as we dare to encounter God, and by how we respond to Jesus' invitation to fall in love with him after the pattern of his falling in love with us. It is only if this falling in love has taken place, and only if it is taking place as we encounter an ever more mysterious person who in the end desires not to be my boss but to be my friend who unlocks my greatest potential, that obedience to His voice, and doing only what He tells me, becomes my greatest freedom and joy, and my sure path to happiness and eternal life.
3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time B
Holy Trinity Parish, Paola and St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
21/22 January 2012
Daily Readings
Those who have wives should act as not having them. This line from St. Paul is perhaps the most striking of all the lines that hit us this weekend. Even more striking than learning that the prophet Jonah was able to convert the entire city of Ninevah with the word he received from God. Even more incredible than seeing Peter and Andrew, James and John drop everything and respond to the Lord's call to follow them. Those who have wives should act as not having them, for time is running out. The world as we know it is passing away. Strange words from the great apostle.
We've been through enough cycles of apocalyptic predictions, despite our Lord telling us clearly that we do not know the day nor the hour, not to succumb to the superficial meaning of Paul's words. When he says those who haves wives should act as not having them, this is not a call for men to abandon all responsibilities to make sure they are individually prepared for the rapture, wives and children be damned. Paul in Ephesians, in the great treatise on marriage, says quite the opposite, that a real husband should love his wife as Christ loves the Church, and should hand himself over to his wife so as to love her into holiness. So Paul can't mean an abdication of responsibility. Rather, he points to a responsibility and a vocation that is prior to the marriage of a man and woman; namely, the responsibility to be married to God before we dare to be married to each other. Paul's urgency is directed toward what we name the universal call to holiness. It is the same call that Jesus gave to Peter, Andrew, James and John, urging them to leave their livelihoods as well, to become fishers of men.
This eternally fruitful marriage between Christ and His Church is perfectly accomplished in the Holy Eucharist we are about to celebrate. Here the two are made one - Christ and His Church become one body, one spirit, in the communion celebrated. It is because this marriage of Christ and His Church is the most real and enduring marriage, and is the source and perfection of married love, that Paul can say that those who are not aware of Christ's love for them, should act as if not having a wife. Paul rightfully creates an urgency in responding to the love of Jesus Christ, the love of a Creator for his creation and the love of a savior for sinners. It is because the love of Christ is greater than any human love, for He knows us better than we know ourselves, and as our Savior loves us where we cannot love ourselves, at the point of our greatest sin, that Paul can say what He says and Jesus can call as He calls. Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Without a true encounter with Jesus Christ, without a realization on our part that it is encountering Him that I will find myself and without a confession of the uniqueness and depth of His love for me, then the accounts of vocation and discipleship in tonight's readings are absurd. Mary's last words in recorded scripture are 'Do whatever He tells you" and her words, as we would suspect, represent the perfect way for a Christian to receive His vocation from Jesus. Do whatever He tells you. But why would I trust Jesus more than I trust myself? Why would I do only and precisely what He tells me, when I can respond to my own desires? Why is following Him freedom and not slavery?
Christian discipleship and vocation is much different than how the world tells us to find ourselves. The world challenges us to find our uniqueness in isolation - what makes me special and different than anyone else? Only after answering this question can we find our mission in life, so says the world. A Christian instead is called to find his uniqueness not in isolation but in relationship - we find ourselves insofar as we dare to encounter God, and by how we respond to Jesus' invitation to fall in love with him after the pattern of his falling in love with us. It is only if this falling in love has taken place, and only if it is taking place as we encounter an ever more mysterious person who in the end desires not to be my boss but to be my friend who unlocks my greatest potential, that obedience to His voice, and doing only what He tells me, becomes my greatest freedom and joy, and my sure path to happiness and eternal life.
1 comment:
Absolutely beautiful reflection, Father. Thank you for sharing this. I often think those words of Our Lady to the servants at Cana are a wonderful synopsis of the Gospel. How could we do wrong if we "do whatever He tells you!"
Amen!
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