Homily
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Christ the King Church Topeka
25 October 2014
Daily Readings
Well, I'm the pastor of Christ the King Parish. So it's totally legitimate, at any time of year, to talk about being Royal. The namesake of our parish is all about our Lord's Kingship, a royalty that He seems to be sharing, if we dare speculate that God's favor has finally shone on our favorite team, on our beloved Kansas City Royals! It's all I can do to wear the required green vestment for this 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, when in my closet I have a gorgeous vestment dedicated to our Blessed Mother that has an embroidered crown and is a beautiful deep Royal blue. Yes, our Lady is Royal too, for the Lord has crowned Her as Queen of heaven and earth. What a great time to be Royal! Go Royals!
This weekend's Gospel however are not about being Royal, but about love. So we should ask the question - do we love the Royals? I confess that I was at game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday. I was also at game 4 of the Baltimore series, when we clinched the World Series. I've loved the Royals all my life. I used to cry as a kid when they lost to the Yankees in the playoffs. I was at the Baltimore game with my 11 year old godson, who was exactly the same age I was when the Royals last won the World Series. The whole scene got to me. I can't believe what is happening. I don't cry much, but with this run of my favorite team ever, the tears of joy almost come readily, so much do I care about the Royals, and so long have I waited hoping that this day would come, and in the last few years, despairing that it may never come. Now it all seems like a dream . . too good to be true. They just keep winning, and it's unbelievable. I have no idea what I'll do when they win it all. It is beyond my imagination what that moment will mean to me personally.
But all that being said, I wouldn't trade my faith for a World Series ticket, or even a championship. Not even close. I love the Royals, and the crown would be amazing, but it doesn't compare to my love of God, nor should it for any Christian. Shame on me if it does. My love for the Royals and my love of God need not be in competition . . I can love both . . but still, there can't be a comparison. And shame on me if there is. There was a point in my life when I would have traded being a priest for being the starting second baseman for the Kansas City Royals. But no more. Being a priest is my vocation . . it is God's gift to me and the Church, Christ the King parish, is the spouse He has chosen for me to love. I wouldn't trade being a priest, being your priest, for anything.
Furthermore, the World Series crown is a crown that fades, but the gift of eternal life won for us by the love of Jesus is a crown that only shines more and more brightly The World Series might feel like the greatest happiness one can have on this side of heaven. Winning the Series might feel for a bit like we've died and gone to heaven! But it can't compare, has no chance of competing really, with the love Jesus speaks of in the Gospel. The greatest commandment has a richness and depth and meaning that no World Series chase can match. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. And your neighbor as yourself.
As great as the Royals are this year, they are not worthy of loving with all our heart, and mind and strength. Nobody puts themselves under obedience to the Royals out of love. We don't do whatever the Royals ask us to do, even to the point of death, because we love them. That sounds silly, and it should. But that is what love is, when we speak of love of God. It is so much more than love of a team, no matter how deeply we are falling to this incredible World Series run. I know many ladies are falling in love with Eric Hosmer, but again, this doesn't compare . . it's infatuating and fun, but nothing more. It's great that we love the story of the Royals and we feel a solidarity with them, and are inspired by what they are about to accomplish. All this is good and can give glory to God! I'm not telling you not to waste time rooting for the Royals. But we reserve the term love with all of its depth to the love of God . . we respond to the love that Christ has for us by being obedient to His will, and loving the cross that He shares with us with all our heart, and mind and strength. As a Christian, this love of God with all our heart and mind and strength cannot be contained . .it necessarily spills out to seeing the image and likeness of God in our neighbor, and falling in love with them as God does, and putting their will and needs above our own as well.
We don't talk about loving the Royals in this way, nor should we. For God alone is worthy of total love. Jesus gives us the simple test of whether we have allowed Him to love us, and whether we have responded tepidly or wholeheartedly to His love, by how we treat our neighbor. If we are deeply connected to God, the source of love, and if we have surrendered to His love in our life, we will have this great capacity to love our neighbor as God loves them, and to see ourselves in them, especially in the most vulnerable around us, and will have this capacity, given us by the love Christ has poured into our hearts, to love them more than we love ourselves.
Jesus is Royal - He is our great King because of his almighty dominion and power, but His Father has made him Royal most of all because He has this ability to fall deeply in love with those that He is called to serve. He is Lord of all, reigning in Heaven with our Blessed Mother, because they teach us how to fall in love 1000x more deeply than anything we could feel for the Kansas City Royals. On this weekend, when we meditate on the ultimate commandment, which is the ground of our origin, our mission, and our destiny to be made perfect in heaven, let us remember to keep being a Christian utterly simple. To be a Christian is to allow God to be madly in love with us, and to love Him and our neighbor in kind with all our heart, and mind and strength. That is how to truly be Royal . . and share in the kingdom of love that will never fade. Amen.
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Christ the King Church Topeka
25 October 2014
Daily Readings
Well, I'm the pastor of Christ the King Parish. So it's totally legitimate, at any time of year, to talk about being Royal. The namesake of our parish is all about our Lord's Kingship, a royalty that He seems to be sharing, if we dare speculate that God's favor has finally shone on our favorite team, on our beloved Kansas City Royals! It's all I can do to wear the required green vestment for this 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, when in my closet I have a gorgeous vestment dedicated to our Blessed Mother that has an embroidered crown and is a beautiful deep Royal blue. Yes, our Lady is Royal too, for the Lord has crowned Her as Queen of heaven and earth. What a great time to be Royal! Go Royals!This weekend's Gospel however are not about being Royal, but about love. So we should ask the question - do we love the Royals? I confess that I was at game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday. I was also at game 4 of the Baltimore series, when we clinched the World Series. I've loved the Royals all my life. I used to cry as a kid when they lost to the Yankees in the playoffs. I was at the Baltimore game with my 11 year old godson, who was exactly the same age I was when the Royals last won the World Series. The whole scene got to me. I can't believe what is happening. I don't cry much, but with this run of my favorite team ever, the tears of joy almost come readily, so much do I care about the Royals, and so long have I waited hoping that this day would come, and in the last few years, despairing that it may never come. Now it all seems like a dream . . too good to be true. They just keep winning, and it's unbelievable. I have no idea what I'll do when they win it all. It is beyond my imagination what that moment will mean to me personally.
But all that being said, I wouldn't trade my faith for a World Series ticket, or even a championship. Not even close. I love the Royals, and the crown would be amazing, but it doesn't compare to my love of God, nor should it for any Christian. Shame on me if it does. My love for the Royals and my love of God need not be in competition . . I can love both . . but still, there can't be a comparison. And shame on me if there is. There was a point in my life when I would have traded being a priest for being the starting second baseman for the Kansas City Royals. But no more. Being a priest is my vocation . . it is God's gift to me and the Church, Christ the King parish, is the spouse He has chosen for me to love. I wouldn't trade being a priest, being your priest, for anything.
Furthermore, the World Series crown is a crown that fades, but the gift of eternal life won for us by the love of Jesus is a crown that only shines more and more brightly The World Series might feel like the greatest happiness one can have on this side of heaven. Winning the Series might feel for a bit like we've died and gone to heaven! But it can't compare, has no chance of competing really, with the love Jesus speaks of in the Gospel. The greatest commandment has a richness and depth and meaning that no World Series chase can match. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. And your neighbor as yourself.
As great as the Royals are this year, they are not worthy of loving with all our heart, and mind and strength. Nobody puts themselves under obedience to the Royals out of love. We don't do whatever the Royals ask us to do, even to the point of death, because we love them. That sounds silly, and it should. But that is what love is, when we speak of love of God. It is so much more than love of a team, no matter how deeply we are falling to this incredible World Series run. I know many ladies are falling in love with Eric Hosmer, but again, this doesn't compare . . it's infatuating and fun, but nothing more. It's great that we love the story of the Royals and we feel a solidarity with them, and are inspired by what they are about to accomplish. All this is good and can give glory to God! I'm not telling you not to waste time rooting for the Royals. But we reserve the term love with all of its depth to the love of God . . we respond to the love that Christ has for us by being obedient to His will, and loving the cross that He shares with us with all our heart, and mind and strength. As a Christian, this love of God with all our heart and mind and strength cannot be contained . .it necessarily spills out to seeing the image and likeness of God in our neighbor, and falling in love with them as God does, and putting their will and needs above our own as well.We don't talk about loving the Royals in this way, nor should we. For God alone is worthy of total love. Jesus gives us the simple test of whether we have allowed Him to love us, and whether we have responded tepidly or wholeheartedly to His love, by how we treat our neighbor. If we are deeply connected to God, the source of love, and if we have surrendered to His love in our life, we will have this great capacity to love our neighbor as God loves them, and to see ourselves in them, especially in the most vulnerable around us, and will have this capacity, given us by the love Christ has poured into our hearts, to love them more than we love ourselves.
Jesus is Royal - He is our great King because of his almighty dominion and power, but His Father has made him Royal most of all because He has this ability to fall deeply in love with those that He is called to serve. He is Lord of all, reigning in Heaven with our Blessed Mother, because they teach us how to fall in love 1000x more deeply than anything we could feel for the Kansas City Royals. On this weekend, when we meditate on the ultimate commandment, which is the ground of our origin, our mission, and our destiny to be made perfect in heaven, let us remember to keep being a Christian utterly simple. To be a Christian is to allow God to be madly in love with us, and to love Him and our neighbor in kind with all our heart, and mind and strength. That is how to truly be Royal . . and share in the kingdom of love that will never fade. Amen.
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