Homily:
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
Friends, a dominant theme in
today’s readings is that God fulfills his promises and that those who,
therefore, place their trust in God are greatly rewarded. In the first reading from the book of Wisdom,
we are reminded that God promised the Israelites that he would lead them out of
slavery in Egypt into a land that would be their own, where they would enjoy
freedom and prosperity. The sign would
be the Passover, when God would send his destroying angels to eliminate the
first-born throughout the land of Egypt but would spare the Israelites if their
homes were marked with the blood of the sacrifice. This command was not without risk. The Israelites were not allowed to offer sacrifice
to God in Egypt and so, if God did not fulfill his promise, the morning after
the proposed “Passover” the Egyptians would see that they did, indeed,
sacrifice to their God and so would punish them severely for it. The Israelites, having seen the other signs
that God had performed (the other 9 “plagues”), trusted that God would fulfill
his promise and so made the sacrifice.
They were rewarded with their liberty.
In the second reading we go
back further in salvation history to Abraham and recall that he, too, trusted
that God fulfills his promises and so was rewarded. Abraham was one of a certain people who lived
in the land of Ur of the Chaldeans (modern-day Iraq). God called him out of that land, however, so
as to make of him the first of a new people, set apart for God alone. Abraham set out, already advanced in years, yet
without any children, trusting that God would fulfill his promises if he
remained faithful. Even after his wife
Sarah conceived and bore him a son (through which this promise of “descendants
as numerous as the stars in the sky” might be fulfilled), Abraham trusted when
God asked that he offer his son as a sacrifice.
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews says that Abraham “received
Isaac back as a symbol”: a symbol that God, indeed, fulfills his promises.
Then, in the Gospel reading,
we hear Jesus give stern warnings to his disciples. “Be vigilant!
As my disciples, don’t waste time with worldly pursuits, but always be
about the work that I am giving you! You
will not know when I return; and if I return and find you lounging around (or
worse!) you will be severely punished.
But if you are found to be about the work that I have given you, you
will receive a blessed reward.” It’s the
kind of warning that can make you sleep with one eye open, right? It’s the kind of warning that gives rise to
bumper-stickers that say, “Jesus is coming, look busy!” The warning is not so much a threat, however,
but a promise: for at the beginning of the reading, Jesus says, “Do not be
afraid any longer, little flock, (how tender!) for the Father is pleased to
give you the kingdom.” In other words,
you don’t have to prove yourselves in worldly pursuits and conquests—the source
of much fear and anxiety for us—but be about the work I am giving you, for the
Father is ready to give you far more than the world can ever give: the fullness
of the kingdom. If I come and find you
doing this work, great will be your reward!
The rest of the New Testament (Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles)
demonstrate to us that Jesus’ disciples did exactly that: trusted that God
fulfills his promises and so did as they were called to do. Each that did has now found his/her reward in
heaven.
Bishop Doherty’s pastoral plan
for the diocese, Uniting In Heart 2030, is a challenge to each of us to
exercise this kind of trust. Paying
attention to the reality that is before us, Bishop Doherty is courageously
putting forth a plan that will take us out of our comfort zones, yet which
contains a promise for future strength and prosperity for the Catholic Church
in North-Central Indiana. The question for
us is whether we will trust in the Holy Spirit, who has inspired this plan—that
he will fulfill his promises—and so set out on this journey of
transformation. Hopefully, we will see
this challenge in the light of Jesus’ warnings: that this is part of the work
that he has given to us and so should be found busy about it when he comes and
so set ourselves to the work. I am
committing myself to it, including the personal work of transformation that it
will require of me: trusting not only that our diocese and parishes will be
stronger, but that I, too, will be stronger—that is, holier... more
ready for the kingdom—when this work of transformation is finished. I hope that each of you will join me in this
work.
Saint Jeanne Jugan, the
foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor, from whom we will hear at the end
of Mass today, also trusted that God fulfills his promises and so set out to
serve the elderly poor, in spite of all of the obstacles that she would
encounter. This order stands as a
testament to the blessings that come from placing our trust in God and the
power that our witness of trust has to move other hearts to do the same. May the faithfulness of God, who never ceases
to hand over his Son, Jesus, to us here in this Eucharist, inspire in us
greater trust, so that we, too, may step out into the unknown: where the reward
of God’s kingdom—the kingdom of reconciliation... harmony... PEACE among all
people—will be found.
Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – August 10th
& 11th, 2019
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