Homily: 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
Father’s
Day, like Mother’s Day, is a great day because it is a day of remembering:
remembering so as to honor. If we stop
for a moment and think about it, we’ll see that this is a beautifully human
thing: that is, that we pause to recognize that there is something honorable in
parenting (and, specifically, this weekend, in fatherhood). One important aspect of fatherhood is
highlighted in today’s readings: that a father recognizes the needs of his
children and then sets himself to obtaining the resources to satisfy those
needs. Let’s take a look at the readings
to see what I mean.
In
the first reading, we connect with the Israelite people on their exodus from
Egypt. They’ve traveled a few months
already and have come to the area at the foot of Mount Sinai (also known as “God’s
Mountain” since it is there that God would give Moses the Ten
Commandments). God has already provided
for the people water that miraculously flowed from the rock and manna, the
bread that miraculously appeared each morning like frost over the ground. Here, God will reveal implicitly to Moses
that he is concerned about the restoration of all people to him. In order to do this, God will need the Israelite
people to be set apart and sanctified—that is, to be made holy—so as to be the
instrument through which all other people will be restored to right
relationship with him.
Now,
at first, you might say, “This doesn’t sound very fatherly. Rather, this sounds
like a manager hiring employees to do the work of his business.” Certainly, from a functional standpoint, it
could be interpreted that way. The
scriptures do not support this idea, however.
God desires all people to be restored to himself and he began by
electing a certain people—the Israelites—to be restored to him so that they
might then give witness to the Father in the world and, ultimately, lead the
great multitude of others back to God.
God reveals this much to Moses when he gives him this message to relay
to the Israelites: “You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians
and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself. Therefore,
if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special
possession, dearer to me than all other people… You shall be a kingdom of
priests, a holy nation.”
“I
brought you here to myself… you shall be my special possession, dearer to me
than all other people.” With these
words, God is showing the love of a father who desires his beloved children to
be close to him. If they are faithful
children, he reveals, God tells them that they “shall be a kingdom of priests,
a holy nation.” Priests are those who
mediate between God and men. Therefore,
God is revealing to the Israelites that, as his “special possession”, he desires
them to be the ones that will go out and give witness of his love to the other
nations (that is, going out to men on behalf of God) and then to present them
to God to be received and restored as his children (that is, going up to God on
behalf of men).
Thus
we see that, as a Father, God recognizes the needs of his children and obtains the
resources to satisfy them. First, he
recognized the needs of his children, the Israelites, in the desert and
provided for them. Then, he recognized
the needs of all his children in the rest of the world and set apart a special
people so that, through them, they might be restored to him. Time and again throughout the generations,
the Israelites failed to fulfill this purpose for which they were set
apart. Thus, God sent his Son so that
through him his good purposes might be fulfilled.
We
know, of course, that Jesus’ primary purpose was to become the “Lamb of God”—that
is, the spotless, unblemished lamb whose sacrifice would redeem us from
sin. This itself is a response of the
Father seeing the needs of his children and obtaining the resources to meet
them: for we needed to be redeemed and could not obtain it by ourselves. Thus, the Father sent his Son to be for us
the sacrifice that we needed in order to be restored to him. Still further, though, as we see in today’s
Gospel, Jesus continued the work of the Father to organize the resources needed
to ensure that the news of this saving work would be made known throughout the
world so that all of God’s children could be restored to him.
In
the reading, we find Jesus having preached to a large crowd and having healed
many of them of illnesses or possessions.
He looks out at them and recognizes that, in his limited human nature,
he cannot meet all of their needs. He
breathes a sigh of frustration and declares to his disciples, “the harvest is
abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out
laborers for his harvest.” What does he
do next? The Gospel says that, “then he
summoned his twelve disciples…” and “he sent out these twelve…” Like the Father, Jesus recognizes the great
need (“sheep without a shepherd”) and obtains for them what they need (“laborers
for the harvest”). These twelve, as we
know, would become the first priests of Jesus Christ: those commissioned to be
mediators between God and the people so as to restore them to him.
Friends,
as baptized Christians, we should see ourselves like those ancient Israelites
and like those Apostles: men and women restored to God and set apart by him to
help restore others to him. As members
of the Body of Christ, we share in his common priesthood, through which we can
be mediators between God and men to witness to them of God’s desire that they
be restored to him and then to present them to God so that they might be
restored. Having been fed ourselves by
the “living bread, come down from heaven”, we can trust in this mission given
us by the Father and thus spend ourselves to fulfill it without counting the
cost. When we do so joyfully, not
anxious about our limitations, but confident in God’s power working in us, we
will be most effective.
I
would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to remind us of the need for
young men to listen for and respond to the call to the priesthood. Although, as God’s “chosen people”, we are
all called to be his witnesses in the world, God still calls men to be set
apart in order to be conformed specially to Christ in order to be the means by
which God’s sacraments are made available to us. As we honor fatherhood this weekend, I renew
my call to all young men to consider this high calling: for to be a father of a
family or of a faith community is a high an honorable calling. If God is calling you to it, be courageous
with your “yes” to God.
Brothers
and sisters, as we give thanks to God for his fatherly care for us, let us
renew our commitment to be his apostles in the world: giving witness to his
call to everyone to be restored to friendship with him and leading those who
respond into that friendship in the Church.
And let us encourage each other, trusting that God sees us and our needs
and that he is always working to provide what we need to faithfully fulfill the
work he has given us. In this way will
God be glorified through us, and in this way will the Church be renewed among
us. May God bless us in this good
work. Amen!
Given in Spanish and English at St. Paul Parish: Marion, IN
– June 17th, 2023
Given in Spanish at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish: Carmel,
IN – June 18th, 2023
No comments:
Post a Comment