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Day: April 26, 2008

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Homilies,

Sixth Sunday of Easter

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.

Jesus’ promise is counter to everything we know and think. We believe in a God we cannot see. Many try to empirically understand Jesus. They provide lengthy narratives on the proof of God – why Jesus is God, why He came to us, why He died, and that He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.

Attempts at proving the truth of Jesus are noteworthy, and help us in deepening our faith, but because of our human limitations, fall short. Jesus said that the world would no longer see Him, so it takes something more, something greater, something we all have the capacity for, faith.

Brothers and sisters,

That faith is in us. Jesus is telling us that we – the faithful, will see Him. The world sees Jesus because we live, because we love, worship, adore, and have faith in Him. Some will come to us and they will say, ‘Show me Jesus. I have faith, I want to see Him.’ We must be prepared to say to them: ‘See Him.’ As St. Peter tells us:

Always be ready to give an explanation
to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope

This is not an explanation in human terms, but in divine terms. It is an explanation of our faith and hope. It is an explanation that comes from our essential faith.

My friends,

Our humanity, and most especially our weaknesses, prompt us to define ourselves, our Church and parish, our faith and belief, our life together as a human endeavor. We think – well if we have a process, a strategic plan, goals, a committee, a work team, if we read The Purpose Driven Church and put it into action, that will be the key. That will work. We work and work and work and in doing so we forget Jesus’ warning:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.—

Brothers and sisters,

Listen to what the Deacon Philip did:

Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed the Christ to them.
With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.

All of us, and all the people out there – the unchurched, the lonely, the sad, the rich, the poor, need to see something other than a plan and a process. They need our witness to Jesus Christ. They need to see us seeing Him. We need to do what Philip did – proclaim Christ to them.

If people see the Holy Church as dogma and rules, if they see us as adherents to process and committees, they will flee from us. We must proclaim what Bishop Hodur proclaimed. Our Church is a union of free men and women, all of whom are seeking the Kingdom of God, all of whom freely subscribe to the journey of faith. All of whom start and end with faith. All of whom live, breathe, act on, and witness to faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus promised us:

“Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.—

We have His commandments which are His words. We have faith and we love. We are a union of free men and women, joined together in our ascent to the heavenly kingdom. Set aside the plans and the processes. Set aside the self-reliance. Build a foundation on rock, the rock of faith. Have faith. Show faith. Live faith. Do so and Jesus will reveal himself. Do so:

—…and all these things shall be yours as well.—

Fathers, PNCC

April 26 – St. Ambrose of Milan from On the Belief in the Resurrection

But let those who have not been taught doubt. For us who have read the Law, the Prophets, the Apostles, and the Gospel it is not lawful to doubt. For who can doubt when he reads: “And in that time shall all thy people be saved which is written in the book; and many of them that sleep in the graves of the earth shall arise with one opening, these to everlasting life, and those to shame and everlasting confusion. And they that have understanding shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and of the just many shall be as the stars for ever.” Well, then, did he speak of the rest of those that sleep, that one may understand that death lasts not for ever, which like sleep is undergone for a time, and is put off at its time; and he shows that the progress of that life which shall be after death is better than that which is passed in sorrow and pain before death, inasmuch as the former is compared to the stars, the latter is assigned to trouble.

And why should I bring together what is written elsewhere: “Thou shalt raise me up and I will praise Thee.” Or that other passage in which holy Job, after experiencing the miseries of this life, and overcoming all adversity by his virtuous patience, promised himself a recompense for present evils in the resurrection, saying: “Thou shall raise up this body of mine which has suffered many evils.” Isaiah also, proclaiming the resurrection to the people, says that he is the announcer of the Lord’s message, for we read thus: “For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, and they shall say in that day.” And what the mouth of the Lord declared that the people should say is set forth later on, where it is written: “Because of Thy fear, O Lord, we have been with child and have brought forth the Spirit of Thy Salvation, which Thou hast poured forth upon the earth. They that inhabit the earth shall fall, they shall rise that are in the graves. For the dew which is from Thee is health for them but the land of the wicked shall perish. Go O my people, and enter into thy chambers; hide thyself for a little until the Lord’s wrath pass by.”

How well did he by the chambers point out the tombs of the dead, in which for a brief space we are hidden, that we may be better able to pass to the judgment of God, which shall try us with the indignation due for our wickednesses. He, then, is alive who is hidden and at rest, as though withdrawing himself from our midst and retiring, lest the misery of this world should entangle him with closer snares, for whom the heavenly oracles affirm by the voices of the prophets that the joy of the resurrection is reserved, and the soundness of their freed bodies procured by the divine deed. And dew is well used as a sign, since by it all vital seeds of the earth are raised to growth. What wonder is it, then, if the dust and ashes also of our failing body grow vigorous by the richness of the heavenly dew, and by the reception of this vital moistening the shapes of our limbs are refashioned and connected again with each other? — Two Books on the Decease of His Brother Saytrus – Book II, para. 66-68.

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