am I an alien?

Homily

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time C2

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

7 August 2022

AMDG

Am I an alien?

Well, I voted yes on the amendment Tuesday, which makes me quite athwart of almost all my neighbors.  My beloved Douglas County was #1 in the state in voting against Value them Both.  So I am an outlier, a stranger, an alien in my own community.

So be it.  In case you haven't noticed, things are changing fast.  Which makes these times great times for faith!  Questions that were perhaps once settled are up for grabs again.  When does life begin?  What is a human person?  What does it mean to be free?  What is man and woman?  What is marriage?  What is a human right, and does it entail responsibility.  I could go on.

One thing is for sure.  The Catholic Church and her great tradition of reason and faith is not in the driver's seat when it comes to defining what is true, good and meaningful.  To be Catholic in Lawrence for sure is to be an alien.

Abraham our father in faith was well attested as an alien.  Which means I have a chance right here, right now, to have a faith like his.  I may not recognize where I am or how I got here, nor where I am going or what difference it makes.  Yet before me is a chance to live a faith that goes beyond my doubts and fears, beyond what I can manage or figure out.  By faith I can keep going.  By faith I can refuse to hide or escape or settle, but can move forward into a wonderful future of exploring new and fuller dimension of life. 

Faith explores reality more deeply!  When speaking of faith, I never mean a naive, cowardly or reckless faith, one that is afraid to engage these times and tries to escape to a galaxy far, far away.  No, it's a faith that hates instead what I have settled for, and refuses a life that is nothing more than managing what I can control or figure out. It's a faith that is unafraid to desire more that what I can worry about! 

Best of all, faith is not something I have to pretend to manufacture.  No, it's a real gift I have already received.  Faith is a response to the revelation that God has bet it all on me.  Through the patience and compassion revealed in Jesus, God begs me not to be afraid to trust in the love that hope and believes and conquers all things.  By faith in me, God dares me to go on a hero's journey into the heart of reality and the true meaning of life.

For the kingdom of heaven is not built through a ballot box.  I can assure you that God is not discouraged by what happened Tuesday.  God is bigger than that.  His kingdom is built by prayer and martyrdom.  Which is to say it's built by faith.  His kingdom of more is built by you, who by faith are ready to give your life before it can be taken, and to die for what you believe in, before death can choose you.

All of this is to say.  It's a great week to be an alien.