Homilies

That is quite a command Jesus gives us in this gospel. “Love one another as I love you.” He then adds, “No one has a greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” The love that Jesus speaks of here is not romantic love, which we link with Valentine’s Day. He is speaking of agape, that love we owe to God and to one another. Agape is the kind of love that demands of us an effort of the will rather than mere emotional reaction. It is an abiding love that can’t be sustained only by affection.

“You are my friends if you do what I command you,” Jesus tells us. We are not slaves, coerced into this relationship. We are his friends. Jesus defines friendship as a holy relationship, a covenant centered in the heart. Unlike slavery, friendship is based on love, acceptance, and openness.

The word, friend, comes from an old English word, freon, which means to love. Friendship isn’t a privilege that we earn. Rather, this is a gift we are free to accept or reject. We made a choice when it comes to the relationships in our lives. We know many people and most of our relationships could be defined as acquaintances. The gift of friendship emerges when we choose to love that person.

In his book, Comrades, Stephen Ambrose points out, “Friendship is different from all other relationships. Unlike acquaintance, it is based on love…it is free of jealousy; it knows neither criticism nor resentment. Friendship has no status in law. Business partnerships are based on a contract. So is a marriage. Parents are bound by the law, as are children. But friendship is freely entered into, freely given, freely exercised. Friends never cheat each other, nor take advantage, or lie. Friends do not spy on one another, yet have no secrets.

“Friends glory in each other’s successes and are downcast by the failures. Friends minister to each other, nurse each other. Friends give to each other, worry about each other, stand ready to help. Perfect friendship is rarely achieved, but at its height is an ecstasy.”

To experience friendship, to experience God’s love, we have to start thinking about others more than ourselves. When we refuse to share, we condemn ourselves to a winter of loneliness, encircling ourselves with a wall, which keeps people out or at what we consider a safe distance.

President Jimmy Carter offers this bit of wisdom; “Earlier in my life I thought the things that mattered were the things you could see, like your car, your house, your wealth, your property, your office. But as I’ve grown older I’ve become more convinced that the things that matter most are the things you can’t see—the love you share with others, your inner purpose, your comfort with who you are.”

On FB, a friend recently reminded me; “In the blink of an eye everything can change, so forgive often and love with all your heart. You may not have that chance again.” Someone else wrote, “To forgive is to set the prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” The survival of any friendship depends on love and the willingness to forgive when the need arises.

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” Jesus tells us that we demonstrate our love for him when we keep his commandments. To him, love isn’t a matter of affection but of action. Don’t think of the commandments as a list of do’s and don’ts that restrict your freedom. Instead see them as avenues for demonstrating your love. Compare them to the little signs lovers do for one another, like the husband who buys flowers for his wife on special occasions or the wife who surprises her husband with his favorite meal. Antoine St. Exupery, who wrote the Little Prince, said, “Real love begins where nothing is expected in return.”

“This I command you: love one another.” Notice, it isn’t a suggestion; it’s a command. Love one another. There are no qualifications, conditions, or limitations. Love one another, even the mean-spirited, the grouchy, the ungrateful, the unreasonable. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” Jesus didn’t give us an impossible mission for each time we seek to be self-giving, forgiving, and full of thanksgiving, we are fulfilling this mission entrusted to us.

Love is also a matter of thanksgiving. Love is the one thing all of us are able to give God, and we do so when we gather here for worship. When we have nothing else to give to God, at least we can still give thanks to show that the love we have received is indeed very much appreciated.

May we come to know the true blessing of holy friendship, not just in the friendship we celebrate with Christ in the Eucharist, but also with the many people that God brings into our lives as a reminder that we and they are unconditionally loved.

So, learn to love without condition. Talk without bad intention. Give without any reason and most of all, care for people without any expectation.

In closing, keep in mind, there is no perfect life, no perfect job, no perfect childhood, no perfect marriage and no perfect set of people who will always do what we expect them to do. What we have instead is a perfect God who is able to lead us through this imperfect life with unfailing strength, incomparable wisdom and infinite love.

Walk through Langley on a sunny day and you will pass many visitors. There is little that separates us from them, but as a third century French writer observed, “Christians are not distinguished from others by country, language or clothes. They follow local customs in matters of behavior; they discharge all their civic duties. They obey established laws, and their manner of living is more perfect than the laws. Christians are to the world what the soul is to the body.”

No wonder then Jesus said to his listeners, “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.” In two short phrases, he describes our identity and our mission as his followers. Nowadays, he might have sent his message out on Twitter. “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

But why did Jesus use salt to describe his followers? By itself salt is useless. I can’t imagine anyone swallowing a spoonful of salt. Ugh! When we use salt while cooking, we do so sparingly, knowing that the right amount enhances the dish while too much salt ruins its taste. How tempted we are to add just a little dab of salt if the dish is too bland. Yes, I cannot imagine a diet without salt, anymore than I can imagine a life without faith.

So what does salt have to do with us? Like salt on the stove, waiting to be tossed into the soup, we are to be stirred into the pot of human affairs. As long as we watch the world go by, we accomplish nothing. Like the salt that disappears into the stew, Jesus wants us to quietly make a difference in the lives of those around us sharing our faith by what we do.

When he became pope in October 1978, St. John Paul II exclaimed to the world, “Be not afraid!” Throughout his papacy, he pursued a vision of a morally strong Church, repeatedly calling on us to make a difference in the world around us.

Never underestimate what a difference sharing your faith can make. I read about a teenage girl named Anne who worked as a maid in a big hotel. Her job was to clean ten rooms every day. In the course of the summer, she met all kinds of interesting people. The one she remembered most was a man she called Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith arrived one weekend with only a small traveling bag. When Anne showed up to clean his room, he stuck his head out the door and said, “Forget about cleaning my room. Just give me a couple of clean towels.”

The next two days, he did the same thing. Not until midweek did he allow Anne to enter and clean his room. As she did, he talked to her and even helped her make the bed. The following Saturday, after she got off work, Anne began walking to church to attend the evening Mass.

A car pulled up; it was Mr. Smith. Did she want a ride home? She said she was going to church, but would appreciate a ride there. Once Anne was in the car, Mr. Smith asked her many questions. How often did she go to church? Why did she go when so many teenagers didn’t? How good were the sermons? Did she go to communion?

When they arrived at the church, Mr. Smith surprised Anne by asking if he could attend Mass with her. She felt strange about his questions and interest in the Mass. She felt even stranger when he knelt during the entire Mass. When Mass ended, Mr. Smith did something even stranger; he hurried outside without even saying good-bye to Anne.

The next day, when Anne went to clean his room, the little bag was gone. In its place was a small package with a note, “Dear Anne, the gift inside this box is for the beautiful thing you did for me, without even knowing it. My marriage has been rather shaky lately; so much so, that I finally told my wife that I was moving out for a few days to think things over. The more I thought, the more confused I got.

“Then you came along. Your beautiful faith in God touched me deeply. When I attended Mass with you, it was for the first time in ten years. During the Mass God gave me an insight into my problem and the desire to stay with my wife. I’m going home grateful to God and grateful to you for being a shining light in a time when my world was very dark. I will never forget you for helping me to rediscover my faith.” In the box was a gold chain with a beautiful gold cross.

Today’s readings are a wake-up call for us. The Christian life isn’t to be lived in isolation or without regard to others. Our faith isn’t just a personal matter. If we do not flavor the world with Christ, we are like salt that has lost its flavor. To be salt in the spirit of Christ is to bring forth the flavor of God in everyone and everything. To be light that reflects Christ is to illuminate the presence of God for others to see.

Anne was not afraid to live her faith and be a light to others. By being the salt of the earth, she made a difference in Mr. Smith’s bland faith. Just as a little dab of salt can go a long way in flavoring and preserving food, what you say and do could make all the difference for someone who has yet to find God or is struggling to preserve what little faith she or he has in God.

We could easily blend into any crowd, but if we are the salt of the earth, how well are we flavoring the world around us?

There are many touching scenes in this gospel episode. For starters, imagine yourself in Simeon’s sandals, standing there taking the child Jesus into your arms. As we heard, Simeon blessed God, saying what has become the night prayer derived from the gospel for many who say the Divine Office, “Lord, now let your servant go in peace: your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.” That is usually the last prayer I say before I hit the sack each night.

Yes, imagine Jesus being presented to you. Actually, he is presented to you whenever you partake of the Eucharist. After all, that is not bread and wine you are receiving. When you accept the host, you are acting like Simeon, taking the Lord Jesus into yourself responding, “Amen” as you do.

This sacrament, derived from Jesus sharing of himself at the Last Supper, is a sacrament of oneness. It makes us one with Christ and makes us one with one another in Christ. This enabled our Church to become the diverse community of faith that transcends countless cultures and languages.

Our catechism teaches us that we are temples of the Holy Spirit so imagine yourself as the temple in this gospel scene. Mary and Joseph have delivered their son to you in this precious sacrament. While we cannot yet see his Father, or touch his mother, nor the Holy Spirit, we can touch Jesus himself and we do whenever we partake of this sacrament in a state of grace.

We gaze upon the host held high at the consecration and know that we are not seeing bread. We know by an act of faith that we are gazing upon the swaddling clothes of God made man. We can taste the flavor of bread yet we know that what we partake is not bread but is indeed the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, whom his parents brought to the temple forty days after his birth. We taste the flavor of wine yet we know what we taste is the blood of our redeemer who died on the cross days after sharing the first Eucharist.

We hold the belief that the bread and wine are not changed into the body and blood of Christ. Rather their substance is changed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ. If that notion seems far-fetched, just think of all that God has created out of nothing from the most remote star to the deer in your back yard. Who are we to limit what God can do?

The story in today’s gospel is one of the few episodes in the Bible in which Jesus, Mary and Joseph are seen together as a family. Mary and Joseph are following the prescribed religious ritual of presenting their child, Jesus, at the Temple and offering sacrifice to God for Mary’s purification. This ritual took place forty days after the birth of any firstborn male child back then. And in this context of family togetherness, Luke concludes the story with these words:

“When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”

May we also grow in wisdom, allowing the favor of God to be upon us. This sacrament enables us to be refined, purified and tested. We live in a culture that challenges our beliefs and values, yet when we allow ourselves to grow in wisdom, seeking to better understand our faith and deepen our relationship with Christ, we are less likely to dismiss the awesome truth of this sacramental encounter.

Do you ever waiver in your conviction that this encounter actually puts you in touch with Jesus? I suspect many do, otherwise every seat in this church would be filled at every Mass. By their example of being faithful to fulfilling the law of the Lord, Mary and Joseph challenge us to do likewise. However tempted you are to skip Mass or even abandon the faith, by virtue of our baptism, we are blessed at every Mass to receive Jesus into our lives. We are here, not to be entertained but to give ourselves to God, who gives himself to us in return in the Eucharist, becoming one with us.

The closer we are to God, the more aware we are of God’s presence in our everyday lives. That is what enabled Simeon and Anna to recognize Jesus apart from any other infant that was brought to the temple. They could see with the eyes of their minds and hearts what human eyes cannot see. That is how they knew who Jesus was. Do we want to see what our eyes cannot see? Do we want to have a greater awareness of God’s presence and love? Do we want to see the goodness and holiness in ourselves and in others? The better we know him, the more visible Jesus will be to us.

It is not enough for us to see and recognize that Jesus is in our midst. We must also be a light to reveal Jesus to the nations; whatever we say and do is an opportunity to reveal Jesus to others. We must be the presence of the risen Christ. Actively living the gospel once we leave the halls of this Church is what this sacrament empowers us to do.

Actively living the gospel by what we say and do is the mission entrusted to us at the end of every Mass. We have the opportunity to make a difference in making the kingdom of heaven real, but only if we carry out our responsibilities to others and to God, just as Mary and Joseph did.

As we heard, Jesus invited four fishermen to follow him. “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” So Peter, Andrew, James and John left everything behind and did just that. This was the beginning of our Church.

 

I am not much of a fisherman. However, I vividly recall the movie, The Old Man and the Sea, in which Spencer Tracy played the role of an aging fisherman who struggles in the hot sun to haul in the great marlin he had caught. Too big to pull on board, he lashes the fish to the side of his skiff. As he rows back to shore, the old man struggles to fend off sharks biting at his catch. By the time he reaches shore, all that is left of the marlin is its backbone. The old man beaches his boat, shoulders the mast and slowly walks to his shack, muttering, “Man can be destroyed, but not defeated.”

That scene describes the spirit of the four fishermen who left their nets behind to follow Jesus. Like the old man, they were good men, down to earth, and not easily discouraged. They were often challenged, but never defeated.

Jesus began his ministry in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali for good reason. These territories were the furthest from Jerusalem. Many Gentiles lived in the area and the influence of their irreligious ways had significantly impacted these once faithful Jews. Isaiah described them as people living in darkness because they had grown distant from God. The people of Zebulun and Naphtali allowed the values of their Gentile neighbors to have a greater influence on them than the teachings of their own faith. Is Isaiah describing us?

He very well could be. Values derived from biblical morals that shaped our culture in the past are not so prevalent in this time and place. Like the people of Zebulun and Naphtali, are we replacing the values of our faith with those of our irreligious secular society? When we abandon the values, practices, and teachings of our Catholic faith, we risk finding ourselves walking in darkness instead of building the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus began his public ministry in the most unchurched region of ancient Israel proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Keep in mind that God’s kingdom is neither an earthly realm nor a distant place. The kingdom of heaven is made present by our response to Jesus. It emerges with our willingness to follow Jesus, turning from the darkness of sin to walk in his light.

Our world has yet to realize the kingdom of heaven and we won’t until we follow Jesus’ advice and repent, that is, change our ways. His plea comes with an urgency that is overlooked by many yet Jesus presents a life or death situation that should prompt us to reassess our values.

We might think that we don’t need to repent but if any of the choices we make or values we hold dear are unchristian, then we are not building the kingdom of heaven. Doing whatever we can to get whatever we want at the expense of someone else results in sin, not a better world. When we sin, the light of Christ dims and if we grow nonchalant about our sinfulness, we risk finding ourselves in the dark.

Our catechism lists seven capital sins. Do you know them? They are pride, envy, anger, lust, sloth, avarice (greed), and gluttony. So long as we allow these inclinations to shape who we are, we hinder our ability to build the kingdom of heaven in our midst. Virtues, such as generosity, gentleness, purity of heart, poverty of spirit, temperance, and fortitude help us to resist or overcome those capital sins.

We all want a life of peace, kindness, compassion and love. That is the kingdom of heaven on earth. We wish harmony existed among all peoples and that trust and tolerance were universally evident but the headlines tell us otherwise. We yearn for a time when there will be no more war or injustice, when civil strife will be history. We long for the kingdom that Jesus promises but instead of repenting, we are tempted to do things that are contrary to the values of our faith.

Recently Pope Francis cautioned political world leaders, “To trample upon the dignity of another person is in fact to weaken one’s self worth. Truly integral human development can only flourish when all members of the human family are included in, and contribute to pursuing the common good.”

If we care about the common good and really want to bring about the kingdom of heaven, then we must follow the example of the four fishermen. Like them, we are called to be “fishers of men,” for what we do can very well be a lifesaver for someone who has drifted away from Christ.

Just as Paul once did, we live in the scandal of a fractured society, not only in the form of many denominations but even within our Church. Such division allows evil forces to rule the present time but they cannot rule our lives when we strive to live the gospel message, which is to love, teach, pray and serve.

Like moths drawn to a light, we are drawn to the light of Christ. As his followers, we are asked to do our share in resisting the evils that terrorize our world. Hopefully what we say and do proclaims to others that God is indeed active among us. When we strive to live our faith, the evil one will never defeat us in our effort to build the kingdom of heaven for the light of Christ will never leave us in the dark.

“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” I venture to say that is perhaps one of the most widely spoken lines of scripture since the celebrant of every Mass speaks that line moments before distributing communion. Actually, he says “sins” while John the Baptist said “sin.” The singular word is used to describe the broken state the world finds itself in: poverty, injustice, war, hatred, dishonesty, killings, greed, sexual perversions, humanity’s resistance to God, while sins in the plural are our personal wrongdoings and misdeeds.

The expression, Lamb of God, appears only in John’s gospel. For him, lamb meant not only a young sheep, but also a boy, a servant, or a son. It functioned much the same way that the word kid does today. When John the Baptist called his cousin the “Lamb of God,” he is calling him something like “God’s kid.” Since Jesus often called God, “Abba, father,” that makes sense. In one brief statement, John the Baptist is telling anyone who would listen, that here is the one, the only one sent by God who can transform our broken world.

Keep in mind that God originally made the world in a state of grace, seeing that it was good, but through Adam and Eve, that world fell into sin. By dying on the cross, Jesus took away sin yet the results of sin still remain. Picture a broken crystal vase. It can be repaired but it will never look the same. God knew the world needed someone to take away the sin of the world if it was to survive, so he sent his “kid,” his beloved son, to share with us the good news and offer us the means, the antidote to take away the sins of the world.

Sadly, in his selfishness and self-centeredness, man has done a poor job ever since in taking care of God’s creation. Instead of glorifying God, man has used creation to satisfy his own selfish needs. Even we at times have been more concerned with our selfishness than seeing our world as a means of glorifying God. As long as we are selfish and self-centered, true love cannot exist. For true love to exist, sin must go. Sin and love cannot coexist. Jesus gives only one commandment in John’s gospel. “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” He illustrated that commandment in countless ways, serving others from healing the sick to washing his apostles’ feet.

Sadly, Jesus’ advice has fallen on deaf ears. A Catholic priest teaching a history course at Columbia University was recently stunned to discover that none of his students were even familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

He observed, “They have no knowledge, no practice, no anything. It’s not that they’re antagonistic to religion…often times it just has no meaning to them.” He noted that many of the younger generation, known as “Nones,” do not have a religious affiliation. They don’t actively question or reject God; rather they are apathetic. If they are asked, “Is religion an important part of your identity?” only slightly more than a third would say so.

When people become indifferent toward religion, it is no wonder that they downplay or deny the reality of sin. By doing that, they then downplay or deny their own need for Jesus Christ. After all, we assume that if we have no sins that need forgiving, we have no need for Jesus Christ.  Fr. Kilian McDonnell, one of my seminary professors, years ago wrote, “Many people do not recognize Christ because they do not recognize themselves as sinners. No man will celebrate the mystery of Christ in joy if he does not first recognize in sorrow that he is a sinner who needs a savior.”

Our focus, he notes, needs to be on Christ.

All of us are fragile human beings. All of us fall victim to temptations and sin at various stages of our lives. All of us stand in need in Christ’s forgiveness. All of us stand in need of Christ’s salvation.

Instead of downplaying our sinfulness or denying that we are sinners, we should admit it and seek out Jesus, “the Lamb of God,” who takes away the sin of the world. Not only that, Christ is counting on us to share that good news with others. Hopefully, today’s psalm speaks for you. “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.” Sadly, our culture demonstrates often that many don’t do God’s will. Silence is tacit acceptance of the sin in our midst. In its final line we heard, “Now you know that I will not be silent, I’ll always sing your praise.” Will you?

Like the Church in Corinth, we are called to be holy. That is the Lord’s will and the first step toward being holy is never forgetting that the Lamb of God is showing us the way to holiness by taking away our sins, leading us to salvation.

As possessors of the same Spirit, we need to speak as Jesus taught us. As they brought this message to the world around them, early Christians saw themselves as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.” This remains our mission today.

John the Baptist was an extraordinary man. Our lives can also be extraordinary if we dare to speak as he did, sharing the Good News that Jesus comes to takes away the sin of the world, offering us the antidote for addressing the ills of God’s creation. As we venture into ordinary time, may we have the courage, like John the Baptist, to reveal Christ to the world, proclaiming by what we say and do, “Look, there is the Lamb of God, who takes away our sin.”