Homily: 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
Friends,
having extended the joy of our Easter celebration over the last two Lord’s days
as we celebrated the Most Holy Trinity and the Most Holy Body and Blood of
Christ, we now settle in to this Ordinary Time and focus once again on growing
as disciples of Jesus. In other words,
having reflected on who God is in himself in the Holy Trinity, and on who God
is for us in the Holy Body and Blood of Jesus, we now reflect on how we live as
disciples of Jesus in response to these two great realities. Today, we are called to reflect specifically
on the commitment required of being a disciple.
First,
allow me to point out something very important from our Gospel reading:
something that “sets the tone” for our reflection today. The reading begins by saying, “When the days
for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey
to Jerusalem…” With this sentence, Saint
Luke marks when Jesus began his final journey to Jerusalem. When he arrives in Jerusalem, Jesus will
celebrate the Last Supper with his Apostles and then be arrested, convicted, tortured,
and murdered. In other words, in turning
towards Jerusalem for the final time, Jesus is turning towards his Passion and
Death.
Notice
that Saint Luke does not say that Jesus “reluctantly
determined to journey to Jerusalem”, but rather says that Jesus “resolutely determined to journey to
Jerusalem”. Jesus, as we have seen
throughout the Scriptures, is never reluctant to follow the will of the Father,
but rather always resolute; and in turning towards his Passion and Death he
behaves no differently. That he was
resolute is shown even in the path that he chose to arrive at Jerusalem. Samaria was a land that lie between Galilee
and Jerusalem and was the shortest route between Galilee and Jerusalem. Samarians were hostile to Jews, however, and
so Jewish travelers often would travel around Samaria so as to avoid any
potential trouble, in spite of the fact that this made the journey significantly
longer. On this final journey to
Jerusalem, Jesus was resolute to arrive in Jerusalem and so he and his
disciples took the short route through Samaria, even though it meant suffering
some hardship and trouble along the way.
Here
Jesus shows us that, when God places a call on us, we must be resolute in
following it. In this same reading, we
hear about three encounters with individuals seeking to follow Jesus who each
must confront whether they are resolute in following him. The first must face the fact that, to follow
Jesus, he may need to suffer homelessness and the harshness of living in the
elements. The second must face the fact
that, to follow Jesus, he may have to forego even the most important
commitments to his family. The third
must face the fact that, to follow Jesus, he must forego his ties to his family
all together. In these three responses,
Jesus is calling his disciples to follow his own example to be resolute in
following the Father’s call, regardless of the sacrifice that it demands.
In
the first reading, we recalled the call of Elisha. At first glance, it could seem like Elisha is
resisting the call. When we reflect on
what Elisha did after receiving the call, however, we see that it aligns with
Jesus’ call to resoluteness. Elisha did
more than simply “walk away” from his life as a farmer. Rather, by slaughtering the oxen and using
the plowing equipment as fuel for a fire to cook the slaughtered animals,
Elisha made a holocaust of his life—cutting every tie to it—so that he could be
perfectly resolute in following the call of the Father to succeed Elijah as a
prophet to God’s people.
Now,
implied in Jesus’ response to the three disciples and explicit in the call of
Elisha is the fact that an authentic response to the call of the Father is always
free. When Elijah places his mantel on
Elisha and Elisha asks to return to say “goodbye” to his family, Elijah
responds to say that Elisha is free to do what he feels is necessary. Jesus, in his response to the disciples, does
not restrict them from the works of burying the dead or saying “goodbye” to
loved ones, but rather urges them to choose the most important thing, which is
to follow him.
In
the reading from Saint Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we hear Saint Paul teach
that, “for freedom Christ set us free”. True
freedom, as Saint Paul taught and as the Church still teaches, is not a freedom
to do anything at any time, but rather the freedom to do what one ought to
do. In other words, freedom comes with a
moral responsibility: the responsibility to do what is good and to avoid
evil. Jesus used his freedom to choose
to do God’s will—that is, the highest good—and to do so resolutely. In doing so, he made his freedom fruitful for
the salvation of the world. Following
his example, we too must choose to use our freedom do God’s will as it is made known to us in our particular
circumstances and so make our freedom fruitful for the ongoing salvation of
the world as we manifest God’s goodness in it.
Friends,
we must be resolute in giving our freedom to God’s will! Here in the United States, and in much of
Western European society, a culture of permissiveness has developed in which “freedom”
has been defined as the ability to do anything at any time. It remains up to us, as Christians, to be the
“soul” of our society and to give witness to what we should freely choose to do. We
cannot do this if we are using our freedom for completely selfish ends. When, however, we are resolute to use our
freedom “to serve one another through love”, as Saint Paul instructed the
Galatians, then our freedom will be made fruitful as it demonstrates what the
best use of our freedom is and so manifests God’s kingdom among us.
This
past Friday, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned a previous
ruling that found a constitutional right for a woman to end a pregnancy through
abortion. This does not make elective abortion
illegal in the United States, but rather permits individual states to pass laws
that either restrict the circumstances in which an abortion can be performed or
to make performing an abortion illegal.
This is an important step towards dismantling the culture of
permissiveness and rebuilding a culture of responsibility in this country.
We,
as Catholics, have already been generous witnesses to this culture of
responsibility by our efforts to accompany mothers and fathers with unexpected
and unwanted pregnancies. This ruling by
the Supreme Court means that our witness will be needed even more greatly. The conditions in which a mother would seek
to end her pregnancy have not changed and many times a mother finds herself in
circumstances in which it seems she could not support giving birth to and
raising a child. With less access to
abortion, these mothers will feel more desperate than before. Therefore, we must be even more resolute to
make the sacrifices necessary to accompany these mothers and fathers (mothers
especially) in choosing life for their children and thus growing the culture of
responsibility that will make our society more like the kingdom of God.
Friends,
as Christians we have been shown that the best use of our freedom is “to serve
one another in love”. This is because
God, the source of our freedom, freely chose to become one with us in our human
nature and to serve us in love by taking responsibility for redeeming our
sins. Jesus showed us the resoluteness
with which we must follow the will of the Father, taking responsibility for
others’ well-being so as to journey together in love. When we choose to live by the Spirit, as Saint
Paul encouraged the Galatians to do, we find the power to overcome our selfish
inclinations and so serve one another.
As we remember and give thanks for the gift of God’s sacrifice for us here
at this altar, let us recommit ourselves to follow the will of the Father
without reservation as disciples of his Son, Jesus, making our freedom fruitful
for the building of God’s kingdom among us.
Given in Spanish at St. Paul Parish: Marion, IN – June 25th,
2022
Given in Spanish at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish: Carmel,
IN – June 26th, 2022
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