Homily
5th Sunday of Easter B
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
5/6 May 2012
Daily Readings
Check this out on Chirbit
When I was getting ready to be ordained a priest, I have to confess that I didn't think much about pruning. My brother Rodney is in horticulture; he knows all about the necessity of pruning. He's good at it. I take great pride that he is a devout KU fan getting a paycheck from Kansas State University. I readily admit, however, that not only do I not know much about plants, I also am one who likes to add things, not subtract them. I like to be busy, to add things that make life more full. I like Easter and Pentecost better than Lent. Pruning isn't my favorite thing, either in the garden, nor more importantly, in my soul.
I did not foresee that the Church I was being ordained to serve 8 years ago would herself need to be pruned. I should have seen it , but I didn't. My vocation to the priesthood was heard and answered during experiences like World Youth Day, when alongside millions of other exuberant Catholics I could see the truth of Jesus' promise that his apostles would go to the end of the earth and do greater things than he himself did. My desire was to be part of this exciting growth. I was much more drawn to the idea of being a pastor who did not lose a single one of those souls given to me, than I was to this idea of serving a Church that needed pruning.
I hate the idea in fact, that we are perhaps in a period of the Church when we will need to get smaller before we get larger. It's what I signed up for, but I didn't prepare for it well enough, to shepherd in a time when the fasting growing segments in the religious landscape are agnosticism and atheism, when the second largest denomination is fallen-away Catholics. Not exactly what I was looking for. Nor can I say that the priest scandals, nor the culture wars regarding contraception, homosexuality, religious freedom, the definition of marriage, and the reasonability of believing in God, have been exactly what first excited me about becoming a priest. Don't get me wrong, I'd be ordained again in a second, and the priesthood is so much better than I could have imagined; but still, I see how unready I was for many things. What is more, these battles take place not only between the Church and the world, but within the branches of the vine itself, within the Church.
I asked Archbishop Naumann if he gets frustrated that the truth of the Gospel is increasingly hard to preach, and that the public discourse on morality never seems to do anything but get more divisive and superficial. He said simply that the first apostles were pruned to the point of giving their very lives in service of this truth, so why would we be dismayed by opposition and difficulty? I hate it when he's right. No, I love it actually, and his response gave me courage that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Jesus points us today to consider the need for pruning. Sometimes we need to subtract during Lent in order to bear more fruit during Easter. Sometimes we have to get smaller before we can get bigger, get more focused before we can grow, go deeper and closer in our relationships before we can accept our mission, say no to many things so we can say yes to the one necessary thing. Jesus who is the most inclusive person imaginable regarding his love for every sinner, regarding his desire not to lose a single one of those the Father gave him, says the most exclusive things ever uttered from the lips of man. He says today that He is the vine and we are the branches, so that without him we are worth nothing and can do nothing. What we would not allow any other leader or teacher or hero to ever say - without me you are worth nothing and can do nothing - is something that Jesus must say. For he is not just one teacher among many, he is truth itself. He is the one through whom all things were made, the one who gives intelligibility and being to all things, so much so that not even an atheistic scientist can begin his work without first being grounded in Jesus. Though many do not know him, nor do many confess him, he must say the most exclusive thing ever said - that without me you are worth nothing and can do nothing - in order that he might truly be the most inclusive person ever - and be true to his mission to reconcile everything to the Father.
This is how Jesus prunes us - by his word - by speaking to us the most exclusive things ever said, things that he alone can say. He does this out of love, so that we are not dismayed when the time comes for us to be pruned, and to be more focused and true to our vocation, to the unique fruit that we are meant to bear in the world, a fruit that will remain forever. He prunes us as well so that we do not shrink when living the Gospel truth becomes more difficult, even if our beloved Church becomes smaller so that she might retain the ability to one day include all people in a new heaven and a new earth. In this great Easter season, let us allow ourselves to be pruned by the word that we hear today, and not be afraid to be sheep who are more devout followers of Jesus, nor branches that bear more apostolic fruit. Amen.
5th Sunday of Easter B
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
5/6 May 2012
Daily Readings
Check this out on Chirbit
I did not foresee that the Church I was being ordained to serve 8 years ago would herself need to be pruned. I should have seen it , but I didn't. My vocation to the priesthood was heard and answered during experiences like World Youth Day, when alongside millions of other exuberant Catholics I could see the truth of Jesus' promise that his apostles would go to the end of the earth and do greater things than he himself did. My desire was to be part of this exciting growth. I was much more drawn to the idea of being a pastor who did not lose a single one of those souls given to me, than I was to this idea of serving a Church that needed pruning.
I hate the idea in fact, that we are perhaps in a period of the Church when we will need to get smaller before we get larger. It's what I signed up for, but I didn't prepare for it well enough, to shepherd in a time when the fasting growing segments in the religious landscape are agnosticism and atheism, when the second largest denomination is fallen-away Catholics. Not exactly what I was looking for. Nor can I say that the priest scandals, nor the culture wars regarding contraception, homosexuality, religious freedom, the definition of marriage, and the reasonability of believing in God, have been exactly what first excited me about becoming a priest. Don't get me wrong, I'd be ordained again in a second, and the priesthood is so much better than I could have imagined; but still, I see how unready I was for many things. What is more, these battles take place not only between the Church and the world, but within the branches of the vine itself, within the Church.
I asked Archbishop Naumann if he gets frustrated that the truth of the Gospel is increasingly hard to preach, and that the public discourse on morality never seems to do anything but get more divisive and superficial. He said simply that the first apostles were pruned to the point of giving their very lives in service of this truth, so why would we be dismayed by opposition and difficulty? I hate it when he's right. No, I love it actually, and his response gave me courage that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Jesus points us today to consider the need for pruning. Sometimes we need to subtract during Lent in order to bear more fruit during Easter. Sometimes we have to get smaller before we can get bigger, get more focused before we can grow, go deeper and closer in our relationships before we can accept our mission, say no to many things so we can say yes to the one necessary thing. Jesus who is the most inclusive person imaginable regarding his love for every sinner, regarding his desire not to lose a single one of those the Father gave him, says the most exclusive things ever uttered from the lips of man. He says today that He is the vine and we are the branches, so that without him we are worth nothing and can do nothing. What we would not allow any other leader or teacher or hero to ever say - without me you are worth nothing and can do nothing - is something that Jesus must say. For he is not just one teacher among many, he is truth itself. He is the one through whom all things were made, the one who gives intelligibility and being to all things, so much so that not even an atheistic scientist can begin his work without first being grounded in Jesus. Though many do not know him, nor do many confess him, he must say the most exclusive thing ever said - that without me you are worth nothing and can do nothing - in order that he might truly be the most inclusive person ever - and be true to his mission to reconcile everything to the Father.
This is how Jesus prunes us - by his word - by speaking to us the most exclusive things ever said, things that he alone can say. He does this out of love, so that we are not dismayed when the time comes for us to be pruned, and to be more focused and true to our vocation, to the unique fruit that we are meant to bear in the world, a fruit that will remain forever. He prunes us as well so that we do not shrink when living the Gospel truth becomes more difficult, even if our beloved Church becomes smaller so that she might retain the ability to one day include all people in a new heaven and a new earth. In this great Easter season, let us allow ourselves to be pruned by the word that we hear today, and not be afraid to be sheep who are more devout followers of Jesus, nor branches that bear more apostolic fruit. Amen.
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