Homily: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
In
late July, I was blessed to be able to participate in the National Eucharistic
Congress in Indianapolis. Did anyone
else here participate in it? Of course,
we all know that, for the last two years, we have been participating in a
National Eucharistic Revival, in which we are all being called to revive our
faith, specifically through our devotion to the Mass—which is the “source and
summit” of our faith—as well as our belief in and devotion to the Real Presence
of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The
National Congress was meant to be the “capstone” of the first two years of the
revival, directed towards reviving faith in our parishes and across our
dioceses.
Now,
in this third year, we are sent out as missionary apostles; and the particular
call for each of us is an initiative called “Walk with One”, in which we are
each called to identify one person in our lives whom God is calling us to
befriend in a deeper way and to walk with that person in order to help him/her
to discover (or rediscover) God’s offer of friendship and communion in the
Church, especially through the Eucharist.
During the Congress, we were reminded that there are 70 million Catholics
in the United States. Realistically,
many of that number are in need of someone to walk with them back to the
Eucharist. But just imagine if, at the
end of this year, each of those 70 million “walked with one”… Catholics
worshiping God in the Eucharist and serving Him through good works in their families
and communities would be nearly half of the U.S.’s population! All it will take is each of us choosing to
walk with one over this next year…
Okay,
that’s not exactly what I was called to talk to you about today, but I’m so
excited that our nation’s bishops are united around this initiative and about
the revival that it can bring about that I want to make sure everyone hears
about it! Since a good majority of you
were not able to participate in the Congress, I wanted to share with you some
of my experience, because I believe it connects with our readings from
scripture today. ///
In
the days/weeks leading up to the Congress, I didn’t know what to expect. How would the days go? What would the “vibe” be like? Would it just feel like a convention, or
would there be a true spiritual aspect to it?
When I arrived in downtown Indianapolis the first afternoon, I was
immediately blown away. It was
immediately obvious that the organizers went “all out” for this event. Outside of the convention center were huge
signs and window wraps that everyone could see from the street with phrases
like, “Revival Begins Here” and “As in Heaven, so in Indy”. Inside the convention center, the huge
meeting halls were converted into spaces where Mass would be celebrated,
confessions would be heard, and presentations would bring insight and renewal
to the nearly 60 thousand people who would attend. And I hadn’t even been next door to the Lucas
Oil Stadium (where the Indianapolis Colts play), which had also been converted
into a sanctuary for Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament each morning
and night.
Immediately,
the vibe was a spiritual one and one of communion. People stood in line for two plus hours just
to check in for the congress and receive their credentials, yet NO ONE was
complaining! As I walked along the line,
I continually encountered people I knew and quickly realized that this was like
one big Catholic family reunion. It was
amazing! Each day, as the Congress
progressed—with Masses, conferences, social time, and the plenary sessions of
adoration and reflection in the big stadium each night—this feeling of
communion only grew. I was definitely
being “revived”.
The
two most impressive moments for me, however (and, I’d argue, for anyone who was
there), was the Eucharistic Procession through the streets of Indianapolis on
Saturday and the concluding Mass on Sunday.
I want to highlight my impression of the procession for you today.
Eucharistic
processions, if you didn’t know, have regulations about how you “line up” for
the procession, and it is this: Acolytes (i.e. altar servers, in this case the
seminarians) are first, followed by the professed religious, then deacons, then
priests, then bishops, then the Blessed Sacrament, which is followed by the
laity. The procession would follow a one
mile route from the convention center to a park north of downtown. I mention that because, when all of the
persons whom I listed as lining up before the Blessed Sacrament were in line
and ready to begin, we were already nearly a quarter mile along the route, and
the Blessed Sacrament hadn’t moved yet!
And we weren’t “single-file”: we were eight across! There were thousands of seminarians,
religious, deacons, priests, and bishops!
And
so the laity could celebrate the procession, they were invited to line the
streets along the route and then join the procession after it passed by. Therefore, as we began our procession, there
were thousands of people on both sides of the street… and even up in the upper
levels of parking garages and the overhead crosswalks along the way… all
pouring out their love to us and ready to greet our Lord and Savior in the
Blessed Sacrament when he passed by. It
was truly a Palm Sunday moment!
Then,
when we arrived at the park for adoration and benediction, I looked around and
could see residents in the apartment buildings on either side looking out their
windows at the spectacle that we were.
It was all an ongoing experience of communion as the Body of Christ and,
quite frankly, an experience of the triumphal victory of Christ over the
world. (Please look up “Eucharistic
Procession at National Eucharistic Congress” on YouTube and watch some of the
videos. You’ll be amazed!)
After
the concluding Mass, in which we were all sent to “Walk with One” in the next
year, we joyfully dispersed to our homes.
What did we find? That all of the
magic, joy, and communion that we experienced at the Congress did not change
one thing about our daily lives. We were
changed, sure. But we all returned to
the daily work in our families and communities, just as we left them before
coming to the Congress. Why do I mention
that? Well, because I think that this
points to Jesus’ teaching in Gospel today.
There,
Jesus puts his closest disciples to a test and Peter famously passes it. “Who do people say that I am?” “Who do you
say that I am?” “You are the Christ…”
Peter says. Good job, Peter! Then, Peter seems to fall flat on his face
when he rebukes Jesus for saying that he will be arrested and killed by the
authorities. “You are the Messiah, the
King! We will not allow such a thing to
happen!” Peter was thinking only of the
triumph, but ignoring the path to it. He
wanted to stay on the mountain of Transfiguration without climbing the path to
get there.
Jesus’
rebuke of Peter’s rebuke teaches the important lesson: that the way to triumph
is not to ride on the coattails of Jesus, who handles all of the suffering for
us; but rather to follow Jesus in the way of battle against the forces of this
world—that is, suffering difficulty for the sake of what is good and Godly in
this world, otherwise known as “the cross”—so that we might become sharers in
his triumph. In my case (and the case of
all those who participated in the Congress), I cannot exalt that I am a
participant in the triumph of the Eucharistic Procession and then ignore the
fact that I must still take up the daily work I have been given to build God’s
kingdom here by living my vocation to its fullest: enduring especially all of
the sufferings that inevitably come with it.
To
put it simply, Jesus’ triumph does not free us from the hard work and
inevitable sufferings of discipleship in our daily lives. Rather, it gives us power to endure faithfully
(and even joyfully!) the hardships that come with it. What Jesus showed in submitting himself to
his Passion and Death, was the confidence in the Father’s providential care
that Isaiah showed in our first reading: “I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets
and spitting. The Lord God is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced… See, the Lord God is my help…” This is the same confidence that Jesus’
triumphal resurrection should inspire in us: that we can take up our crosses
and follow him, because “the Lord God will be our help”, too. ///
My
brothers and sisters, each and every time we come here to celebrate Mass, we
celebrate Jesus’ triumphal resurrection from the dead and the joyful fact that
we are partakers in that victory by our baptism. Let us allow that joy to permeate us today
with confidence—confidence in the Father and his care for us—so that we are
strengthened to live as disciples and to embrace the work we have been given to
build God’s kingdom here: in particular, remembering to “Walk with One” as we
celebrate this revival. In doing so, we
will be prepared for the unending joy that awaits us when Jesus returns to take
us home to himself.
Given at St. Mary Nativity Parish: Joliet, IL – September 15th,
2024
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