Homily: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
In
my homily for All Saints Day, I reflected on how, when we ask a child, “What do
you want to be when you grow up”, we’re asking them reveal to us their hopes
and dreams for the future. Regardless of
their response, what children are saying to us when they say, “I want to be a
fire fighter”, or “I want to be a nurse”, or “I want to be a teacher”, or “I
want to be a mother/father”, is that they want to be “great”. In other words, when children admire persons
living in any of these roles and, thus, decide that they want to emulate them,
what they admire in them is the perception of greatness; and children, when
they think about what they want to be when they grow up (not just what they
want to do), they always think about being great.
I
also reflected on the fact that, from a Christian perspective, this innate call
to greatness is God’s natural way of calling us to become saints. What I meant by that is this: When we
discover the particular way that God is calling us to greatness in our lives—that
is, the particular way that God is calling us to give the fullness of ourselves
for the good of others and to give witness to him—then we have discovered the
way that God has planned for us to become saints. When each of us discovers this, what we are
discovering is our vocation.
In
our first reading today, the Israelite brothers are being tortured by the
Seleucid King, Antiochus Epiphanes, to break God’s commandment and so deny
their faith in God. In this moment,
these men discovered that their vocation—that is, their call to greatness—was to
be martyrs: that is, witnesses to God’s existence and to his promise to resurrect
to an eternal life without suffering those who remain faithful to him by
remaining faithful to his commandments.
Their greatness was manifest in their courage to suffer the horrible
tortures of the king without denying God and his power to raise them to life,
even after death. This manifestation of
greatness is common to all saints of every time and place.
As
we begin National Vocations Awareness Week here in the Church in the United
States, it is good that we take a moment to reflect on the fact that God has
called each of us to greatness by giving each of us a particular vocation
through which we may become saints and his kingdom may grow. By discerning (that is, by seeking to know)
our vocation, and then by striving to follow it, we open ourselves to be led to
the moments when we may manifest the heroic courage of the saints—that is, the courage
to stand strong in faith in spite of threats to our safety and well-being—and so
manifest the greatness for which God created us. Therefore, let us take a moment to consider
the different vocations to which God calls us; and let us consider how we might
best discern our vocation so as to open ourselves to become saints for God.
God
created each of us out of love and, as I’ve said, he has called each of us to a
specific way of living through which we can help build his kingdom and become
saints. This call could be to marriage,
to the priesthood, to the consecrated religious life (that is, to be a
religious sister or brother), or to the sacred single life. Everyone who has achieved sainthood has done
so by discerning God’s call and then by striving to live that calling to the
best of his/her ability.
Because
the marriage vocation is so common (common, of course, because it is necessary
to continue human life), it is easy for a young person to think automatically
that he/she may be called to marriage.
This vocation is best discerned, however, when a young person has also
considered whether God may be calling him/her to the priesthood or religious
life. Too often, a young person decides
that he/she will get married without ever considering if God is calling him/her
to something else. This is a
tragedy! Not because the priesthood or
religious life is somehow better than marriage—they are equally worthy
callings—but rather because if a young person does not discern his/her calling
well (that is, considering all of the ways that God might be calling him/her),
he/she may find him/herself dissatisfied with his/her life choice, tempting
him/her to live a mediocre life, instead of a life of greatness to which he/she
has been called.
Today,
therefore, I strongly urge our young people here to consider all of the
vocations to which God may be calling you.
I especially urge you to discern the call to the priesthood and
religious life. It is a life full of
adventure and the possibility to do many great things! If God is calling you to one of these, I promise
you, you will find great fulfillment in pursing it. To those here who are already on the path of
a particular vocation, I strongly urge you to do whatever you can to help the
young people in your lives to consider all of the ways God may be calling them
to greatness so that they might discern the particular way he is calling each
of them, especially helping them to discern a call to priesthood or religious
life. Not many young people are pursuing
these vocations, but I assure you that it isn’t because God is not calling
them! He is calling them! It is, rather, that they have not been taught
to listen for God’s call, nor have they been encouraged to respond, or
supported when they do.
Here
I want to make a specific challenge to our Hispanic communities. I’ve said this before, but it bears
repeating: here in the United States, if someone is younger than 30 years old
and professes to be Catholic, that young person is more likely to be Hispanic
than Anglo. Why then are our seminaries
and convents filled with Anglos? Part of
the reason, for sure, is an inadequate outreach to Hispanic families by
vocations programs. In our diocese, I am
striving to address that problem. The
other major part of the problem, however, is that families are not doing enough
to encourage and support young men and women to discern God’s call and to
follow it.
I
understand that there is a unique pressure for young Hispanics here in the
United States to work and earn a salary in order to help support their families
both here and in their home country.
Nevertheless, we must be ready to trust that God will take care of us
when we choose to live for him. This is
the witness of the three brothers in the reading today, no? Each of them was ready to hand over his life
to death because he trusted that God, in whom he put his faith, would raise him
to life again. And although we didn’t
read it today, the story also indicates that their mother was forced to stand
by and watch this torture. In spite of
the pain she felt in her heart by watching her sons be tortured (and in spite
of the fact that, by the loss of her sons, she would be losing her livelihood),
she encouraged her sons to remain faithful, even to the point of death. By following our authentic vocation and
encouraging others to do so, no matter which vocation it may be, we are
choosing to live for God, like those brothers and their mother did, and to give
witness to our faith that God will not fail to take care of us.
My
brothers and sisters, as we enter this week to raise awareness of the vocations
to which God is calling each of us—and specifically to the vocations of the
priesthood and religious life—let us commit ourselves to do two things: 1) to
strive for greatness, that is, sainthood, in our lives, and 2) to encourage
young people to discern and pursue a calling to the priesthood or the religious
life as part of their effort to discover their vocation. And as we give thanks today for the gift of
salvation that God has won for us in the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus, let us
also give thanks for the vocation that he has given us. In doing so, we will give glory to God; and
his kingdom—that is, his Church here in the world—will grow among us.
Given in Spanish at Saint Paul Parish: Marion, IN –
November 5th, 2022
Given in Spanish at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish: Monticello,
IN and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish: Carmel, IN – November 6th,
2022
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