Homily
4th Sunday of Ordinary Time C
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
3 February 2012
Daily Readings
You can't be a Christian without a prophetic dimension to your life. You can't be a Christian without embracing the truth with all your heart, mind and strength, but perhaps most importantly, you can't be a Christian without proclaiming the truth and living the truth by what you say and do. Like Jeremiah in tonight's first reading, each one of us, especially by virtue of our baptism, has a truth placed in us, a word of truth that comes from God, that must be spoken and lived. It is a truth as unique to each one of us as our personhood itself. We neglect this proclamation to our own peril, and all of us know this too well. It is no fun to be false or duplicitous, to pretend to be something we are not. Joy is found in authenticity, and in not being afraid to be truthful.
Still, the temptation to be popular or look better than we really are can easily take over our lives. Most of us confess our tendency to lie, or to gossip, mostly for the trivial reason of wanting to look better. We know that this sin particularly gains momentum. The adage that each lie needs seven more to cover it up rings true. Most of all, we fail to speak up for the truth and for our faith particularly, when it is maligned. Whether something blasphemous, immoral or untruthful is said, we are not usually ready to stand up. We can use the excuse that we do not know how to defend every inch of our faith, but not knowing everything does not excuse us from not saying anything. The disdain for faith that we sometimes encounter can be discouraging, but we need to keep learning our faith, especially in this Year of Faith, and keep fighting.
The Lord encourages Jeremiah in today's first reading in his prophetic fight. He reminds Jeremiah of something very simple. He is not alone. Neither are we. In our prophetic witness, we should always remember that it is the Lord himself who wishes to speak through us. It is he who has planted his word within us, who has given us this prophetic dimension of our lives, and who stands with us always. Not only him, but the hosts of heaven, and the tradition of the saints, encourages us not to cower as if we are outnumbered. At all times, we are on the winning side, and we should act like it. Take courage, the Lord says to Jeremiah, and know that I am with you.
St. Paul in the second reading correctly tells us that this prophetic dimension of our lives, while essential, is not fundamental. The vocation to love is fundamental to the life of a Christian. Love is the reason there is something rather than nothing. As we say in the Mass preface, love is our origin, love is our constant calling, and love is our perfection in heaven. Compared to love truth is nothing. Truth belongs to God, but love is his most central reality. God is love, and he is nothing more and nothing less than love.
Pope Benedict XVI followed the lead of St. Paul when he released his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est. Archbishop James Keleher, the bishop who ordained me, always told his priests that there is one thing you must never fail to say in every homily. That one necessary thing is to tell people that God loves them. It is necessary because we have such a powerful sinful tendency within us to equivocate what love is. Love for french fries and love for God cannot be more different, yet we use the same word. We have a powerful tendency to replace love with indirect egotism, and this must always be purified within us. Christians must never stop purifying how we understand and speak about love.
The Holy Father traces in that first encyclical the movement from eros to agape, from the addition of good things in one's life to the full maturation of love, which is addition by subtraction, for a falling in love that is agape is finding something worth dying for. St. Thomas Aquinas says the ultimate definition of love is an act of the will, precisely willing the good of the other as other. Love is falling so far so as to forget yourself, so much so that St. Paul says love can bear all things and suffer all things and endure all things. Love allows a person to truly find himself through a disinterested gift of himself. In the end, as St. Paul teaches, this is all that matters in life. Falling in love and staying in love determines everything about human personhood, human dignity and human destiny. The two essential questions that every person must answer at each moment of their lives are these: who loves you the most and who do you love the most? St. Paul is right on that nothing else matters.
Through the gift of his son God has shown himself madly in love with us. God is so in love with us that if we dare compare the love of Christ to any human love, we are the most pitiable people of all. There is no point in being a Christian if the love of Christ is not the most unique and powerful love in the universe. Yet if it is, we have to stop playing games with God, like those who encountered Jesus in Nazareth. Love doesn't measure what's in it for me. True love does not play childish games with another person. You can't fall in love if you're still thinking like a child and acting like a child. Love doesn't test the other, it tests the self by serving the other with all one's heart and mind and strength.
4th Sunday of Ordinary Time C
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
3 February 2012
Daily Readings
You can't be a Christian without a prophetic dimension to your life. You can't be a Christian without embracing the truth with all your heart, mind and strength, but perhaps most importantly, you can't be a Christian without proclaiming the truth and living the truth by what you say and do. Like Jeremiah in tonight's first reading, each one of us, especially by virtue of our baptism, has a truth placed in us, a word of truth that comes from God, that must be spoken and lived. It is a truth as unique to each one of us as our personhood itself. We neglect this proclamation to our own peril, and all of us know this too well. It is no fun to be false or duplicitous, to pretend to be something we are not. Joy is found in authenticity, and in not being afraid to be truthful.
Still, the temptation to be popular or look better than we really are can easily take over our lives. Most of us confess our tendency to lie, or to gossip, mostly for the trivial reason of wanting to look better. We know that this sin particularly gains momentum. The adage that each lie needs seven more to cover it up rings true. Most of all, we fail to speak up for the truth and for our faith particularly, when it is maligned. Whether something blasphemous, immoral or untruthful is said, we are not usually ready to stand up. We can use the excuse that we do not know how to defend every inch of our faith, but not knowing everything does not excuse us from not saying anything. The disdain for faith that we sometimes encounter can be discouraging, but we need to keep learning our faith, especially in this Year of Faith, and keep fighting.
The Lord encourages Jeremiah in today's first reading in his prophetic fight. He reminds Jeremiah of something very simple. He is not alone. Neither are we. In our prophetic witness, we should always remember that it is the Lord himself who wishes to speak through us. It is he who has planted his word within us, who has given us this prophetic dimension of our lives, and who stands with us always. Not only him, but the hosts of heaven, and the tradition of the saints, encourages us not to cower as if we are outnumbered. At all times, we are on the winning side, and we should act like it. Take courage, the Lord says to Jeremiah, and know that I am with you.
St. Paul in the second reading correctly tells us that this prophetic dimension of our lives, while essential, is not fundamental. The vocation to love is fundamental to the life of a Christian. Love is the reason there is something rather than nothing. As we say in the Mass preface, love is our origin, love is our constant calling, and love is our perfection in heaven. Compared to love truth is nothing. Truth belongs to God, but love is his most central reality. God is love, and he is nothing more and nothing less than love.
Pope Benedict XVI followed the lead of St. Paul when he released his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est. Archbishop James Keleher, the bishop who ordained me, always told his priests that there is one thing you must never fail to say in every homily. That one necessary thing is to tell people that God loves them. It is necessary because we have such a powerful sinful tendency within us to equivocate what love is. Love for french fries and love for God cannot be more different, yet we use the same word. We have a powerful tendency to replace love with indirect egotism, and this must always be purified within us. Christians must never stop purifying how we understand and speak about love.
The Holy Father traces in that first encyclical the movement from eros to agape, from the addition of good things in one's life to the full maturation of love, which is addition by subtraction, for a falling in love that is agape is finding something worth dying for. St. Thomas Aquinas says the ultimate definition of love is an act of the will, precisely willing the good of the other as other. Love is falling so far so as to forget yourself, so much so that St. Paul says love can bear all things and suffer all things and endure all things. Love allows a person to truly find himself through a disinterested gift of himself. In the end, as St. Paul teaches, this is all that matters in life. Falling in love and staying in love determines everything about human personhood, human dignity and human destiny. The two essential questions that every person must answer at each moment of their lives are these: who loves you the most and who do you love the most? St. Paul is right on that nothing else matters.
Through the gift of his son God has shown himself madly in love with us. God is so in love with us that if we dare compare the love of Christ to any human love, we are the most pitiable people of all. There is no point in being a Christian if the love of Christ is not the most unique and powerful love in the universe. Yet if it is, we have to stop playing games with God, like those who encountered Jesus in Nazareth. Love doesn't measure what's in it for me. True love does not play childish games with another person. You can't fall in love if you're still thinking like a child and acting like a child. Love doesn't test the other, it tests the self by serving the other with all one's heart and mind and strength.
No comments:
Post a Comment