Homily
Monday of the 1st Week in Advent IC
3 December 2018
+St. Francis Xavier
AMDG +JMJ +m
St. Francis Xavier was the very first Jesuit missionary, having been sent by the founder himself, St. Ignatius of Loyola, to evangelize the Far East. A fearless missionary he was, traversing the Asian continent for 10 years, risking everything, all the while lamenting those in Europe who risked nothing for their faith. St. Francis Xavier was irked by complacency, and by those who had no zeal, whose faith was surely dying behind the facades of cozy libraries and cafes. He sought instead to fill up Jesus' prophecy in today's Gospel, that many will come from the East and the West to recline at the same table as the patriarchs of Israel - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - in the kingdom of God, whereas those already reclining at table will one day be shut out.
The Gospels are ripe with stories and example of outsiders shaming the faith of insiders. So how about you - do you want to be an outsider or an insider? Today's story is that of the Roman centurion, presumably, an enemy of Israel. But the Roman centurion, like St. Francis Xavier's converts, is the one who will one day dine with the patriarchs. This Roman shames the faith of all Israel by trusting that only a word or thought from Jesus is enough to cure his servamt, and he is worthy of nothing more.
Each Gospel story like today's is a powerful reminder of why we must evangelize. If we do not, our faith will very quickly get stale, and be taken from us. The only things we have in life are the things that we have given away. To live the law of the gift then, is to evangelize, for the law is especially true when it comes to the gift of faith.
Shame on us for assuming that we need to evangelize because others need to be saved. This is true enough, but it doesn't get to the heart of the matter. The Gospel demonstrates that we must evangelize because we need this encounter with outsiders much more than they need us. The kingdom of God always belongs to outsiders, not insiders. Even if you don't believe that, believe that the kingdom belongs to those who do not consider themselves worthy. So as soon as we consider ourselves insiders, our faith becomes an entitlement and thus stale. Our faith must constantly be renewed by outsiders if it is to be saved from complacency. So we evangelize more because we have something we need to receive, rather than having something we must give.
Monday of the 1st Week in Advent IC
3 December 2018
+St. Francis Xavier
AMDG +JMJ +m
St. Francis Xavier was the very first Jesuit missionary, having been sent by the founder himself, St. Ignatius of Loyola, to evangelize the Far East. A fearless missionary he was, traversing the Asian continent for 10 years, risking everything, all the while lamenting those in Europe who risked nothing for their faith. St. Francis Xavier was irked by complacency, and by those who had no zeal, whose faith was surely dying behind the facades of cozy libraries and cafes. He sought instead to fill up Jesus' prophecy in today's Gospel, that many will come from the East and the West to recline at the same table as the patriarchs of Israel - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - in the kingdom of God, whereas those already reclining at table will one day be shut out.
The Gospels are ripe with stories and example of outsiders shaming the faith of insiders. So how about you - do you want to be an outsider or an insider? Today's story is that of the Roman centurion, presumably, an enemy of Israel. But the Roman centurion, like St. Francis Xavier's converts, is the one who will one day dine with the patriarchs. This Roman shames the faith of all Israel by trusting that only a word or thought from Jesus is enough to cure his servamt, and he is worthy of nothing more.
Each Gospel story like today's is a powerful reminder of why we must evangelize. If we do not, our faith will very quickly get stale, and be taken from us. The only things we have in life are the things that we have given away. To live the law of the gift then, is to evangelize, for the law is especially true when it comes to the gift of faith.
Shame on us for assuming that we need to evangelize because others need to be saved. This is true enough, but it doesn't get to the heart of the matter. The Gospel demonstrates that we must evangelize because we need this encounter with outsiders much more than they need us. The kingdom of God always belongs to outsiders, not insiders. Even if you don't believe that, believe that the kingdom belongs to those who do not consider themselves worthy. So as soon as we consider ourselves insiders, our faith becomes an entitlement and thus stale. Our faith must constantly be renewed by outsiders if it is to be saved from complacency. So we evangelize more because we have something we need to receive, rather than having something we must give.
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