Homily
5th Sunday of Easter C
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
28 April 2013
Daily Readings
Audio
In today's reading from the Book of Revelation, John sees a vision of a new heaven and a new earth, coming down out of heaven. What is distinctive about the new creation? Many things, but one line from today's reading grabs me in particular - God's dwelling place is with men. During most of the book of Revelation, we see the great battle for souls - the cosmic struggle between good and evil, and souls being whisked away to heaven or lost to hell. Yet in the end we do not see that God regrets his decision to create the earth, nor does he discard his material creation in favor of a return to a simply spiritual heaven. This first creation is not a failed experiment. No, what we see is quite the opposite. The plan is brought to fulfillment. John sees a new earth being created. The creation of the first earth is not temporary - it is meant to be redeemed forever. As the one on the throne says - I make all things new. The fruit of the Resurrection of the Body is not the rescue of some souls for heaven, it is the beginning of the birth of a new earth as well. What is remarkable about this new earth? It is where God prefers to dwell. The emphasis of the reading is not that man's dwelling place is with God, which of course is none the less true. No, the emphasis is that God's dwelling place is with man - that's what's distinctive of the new creation. The first garden was made out of love to be a dwelling place for Adam and Eve, but not for God. In the second creation, a new earth is created for man and God to dwell together. This second creation begins with the Resurrection of Jesus, the first born from the dead, which we are still celebrating with incomparable joy in this holy season.
A lot of times I see young people abandoning Christianity in favor of humanitarianism, and it boggles me and frustrates me that we have so dumbed down our vision of heaven, the new creation, that some people find a false dichotomy between the two. The new creation described in the book of Revelation is precisely man as we find him today in the world fully alive and fully redeemed. Some leave Christianity today because they think it is detached from reality and belongs to those afraid to live who hope in a fantasy afterlife of souls being whisked away from a wicked earth. Yet the vision in Revelation shows just the opposite. A Christian is not interested in escaping humanity, but in welcoming God into the depths of humanity, so that humanity can be redeemed beginning from its weakest point, and sin and death conquered by love. A Christian has not less incentive, but more, to co-operate with God in the redemption of the world, since such a redemption of precisely the human condition in which we find ourselves is the definition for us of what it means to pass over into heaven, and into the reality of eternal life. Again, I repeat a Christian and his desire for heaven is never a flight from being human - it is a more courageous entering into humanity, so that God can fulfill his desire to make his dwelling place with men.
How do we go about entering into the depth of our humanity? Jesus shows us the way in his new commandment. What we have in the Gospel today is of course not just a repetition of love your neighbor as yourself. Neither is it commensurate with other humanitarian versions of trying to love unconditionally. No, in this commandment - there is a condition. There is no love that is the basis of the Resurrection, and the creation of a new heaven and new earth, except the precise love that Jesus made perfectly manifest. His commandment couldn't be more simple nor more precise. Love one another as I have loved you. This is almost the opposite of saying we must love unconditionally. No, the condition is simple. We must encounter and receive the unique and powerful and salvific love of Jesus in our lives, and try to learn about it in every possible way that we can. We must meditate on the cross, and conform our lives to the mystery of the cross, knowing that the cross is the precise beginning point of the new creation, for it is there and at the empty tomb, and nowhere else, has a sign been given that there truly is a love stronger than death.
When this condition is filled, then and only then do we try to love, for it is only then that the precise love of Jesus, the only love that is the instrument of the new creation, flows through us. Not our own love, as beautiful as it is, but the love that because it is Christ working in us, with us, and through us, can alone fulfill the new commandment our Lord gave us. Love one another as I have loved you.
5th Sunday of Easter C
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
28 April 2013
Daily Readings
Audio
In today's reading from the Book of Revelation, John sees a vision of a new heaven and a new earth, coming down out of heaven. What is distinctive about the new creation? Many things, but one line from today's reading grabs me in particular - God's dwelling place is with men. During most of the book of Revelation, we see the great battle for souls - the cosmic struggle between good and evil, and souls being whisked away to heaven or lost to hell. Yet in the end we do not see that God regrets his decision to create the earth, nor does he discard his material creation in favor of a return to a simply spiritual heaven. This first creation is not a failed experiment. No, what we see is quite the opposite. The plan is brought to fulfillment. John sees a new earth being created. The creation of the first earth is not temporary - it is meant to be redeemed forever. As the one on the throne says - I make all things new. The fruit of the Resurrection of the Body is not the rescue of some souls for heaven, it is the beginning of the birth of a new earth as well. What is remarkable about this new earth? It is where God prefers to dwell. The emphasis of the reading is not that man's dwelling place is with God, which of course is none the less true. No, the emphasis is that God's dwelling place is with man - that's what's distinctive of the new creation. The first garden was made out of love to be a dwelling place for Adam and Eve, but not for God. In the second creation, a new earth is created for man and God to dwell together. This second creation begins with the Resurrection of Jesus, the first born from the dead, which we are still celebrating with incomparable joy in this holy season.A lot of times I see young people abandoning Christianity in favor of humanitarianism, and it boggles me and frustrates me that we have so dumbed down our vision of heaven, the new creation, that some people find a false dichotomy between the two. The new creation described in the book of Revelation is precisely man as we find him today in the world fully alive and fully redeemed. Some leave Christianity today because they think it is detached from reality and belongs to those afraid to live who hope in a fantasy afterlife of souls being whisked away from a wicked earth. Yet the vision in Revelation shows just the opposite. A Christian is not interested in escaping humanity, but in welcoming God into the depths of humanity, so that humanity can be redeemed beginning from its weakest point, and sin and death conquered by love. A Christian has not less incentive, but more, to co-operate with God in the redemption of the world, since such a redemption of precisely the human condition in which we find ourselves is the definition for us of what it means to pass over into heaven, and into the reality of eternal life. Again, I repeat a Christian and his desire for heaven is never a flight from being human - it is a more courageous entering into humanity, so that God can fulfill his desire to make his dwelling place with men.
How do we go about entering into the depth of our humanity? Jesus shows us the way in his new commandment. What we have in the Gospel today is of course not just a repetition of love your neighbor as yourself. Neither is it commensurate with other humanitarian versions of trying to love unconditionally. No, in this commandment - there is a condition. There is no love that is the basis of the Resurrection, and the creation of a new heaven and new earth, except the precise love that Jesus made perfectly manifest. His commandment couldn't be more simple nor more precise. Love one another as I have loved you. This is almost the opposite of saying we must love unconditionally. No, the condition is simple. We must encounter and receive the unique and powerful and salvific love of Jesus in our lives, and try to learn about it in every possible way that we can. We must meditate on the cross, and conform our lives to the mystery of the cross, knowing that the cross is the precise beginning point of the new creation, for it is there and at the empty tomb, and nowhere else, has a sign been given that there truly is a love stronger than death.When this condition is filled, then and only then do we try to love, for it is only then that the precise love of Jesus, the only love that is the instrument of the new creation, flows through us. Not our own love, as beautiful as it is, but the love that because it is Christ working in us, with us, and through us, can alone fulfill the new commandment our Lord gave us. Love one another as I have loved you.
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