Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Better Late than Never...eh?


I realize this post is a bit tardy, almost a month has passed since I preached it.  However, I think it reads well even with the lag...

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 26th, 2014

The liturgy today deals with themes of light and darkness: of gloom and anguish… joy and rejoicing.  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in land of deep darkness – on them light has shone.”  These words are spoken of the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali – Saint Matthew remembers these words in the gospel as being fulfilled by the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is that light referred to by Isaiah, the great light – the light that overcomes darkness.  And the light that is Jesus is not dimmed by the passing of time; instead he longs to be the light in our lives – a light that extinguishes the darkness in us.  Nor is his call for some yesteryear, as we see him calling his first apostles today, “Come, follow me.”   No, his call is meant to be heard in our own hearts, as we go about our day-to-day lives – much like the apostles Simon Peter and Andrew.  And not only are we to hear, but the invitation is to respond, ‘Yes, Lord, I hear you calling me…I will go where you send me.  To wait on tables, to my place of work, to tend to my sick child, to answer the telephone, to my daily duties…I will go, and I ask that you come with me, do not let me go alone.’  We can also invite the all-holy one into our own darkness, especially that darkness which seems insurmountable, that area of our lives where we seem to always fail or fall short, this extends even to our place of despair, discouragement, and bitterness.  Perhaps it is possible to ask the Lord, in these situations, “Lord, come, follow me.  I want you to see this predicament; I need your presence in this storm, in this pain and sense of alienation.  Lord, come, follow me so that I may then follow you out into the light.”  It is to the light the Lord always wishes to guide us.  “The Lord is my light and my salvation.”  But this is no easy task…instead it is often very messy.  But God does not withdraw from us because of our messes, instead with great loving patience He draws closer to us – sending us helps along with way and enlightens our conscience by lights that come from within or outside ourselves.  Of course, these we are free to ignore or respond to, just as the fishermen that day were presented with the choice to follow him or not.  I wish I listened to these guideposts as regularly as I should, but I often struggle to do so because of fear.  However, sometimes I do listen.  There was an instance of this during the past week, it was getting on later in the evening and I was sitting up watching TV with Fr. McGowan.  He got up and left the room for something and it was like a little voice spoke in my heart – urging me to go to confession.  It had been a particularly rough week and I was in need.  A little struggle followed…“It’s late at night, Fr. McGowan needs his rest, maybe I shouldn’t ask”, but on this small point I was resolute, and when the padre returned to the room I made my request.  Although I had to fight to overcome my pride I was glad afterwards both for this small voice in my heart and the courage to listen to it.  I share this not to focus on myself but by way of example to share this concrete example.  No doubt there are many other worthy examples I might point to – but this one was ‘at my fingertips’ as it were.  I was grateful to the Holy Spirit for the nudge and grateful to have a priest in whom I could seek the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness.  In this way the ‘good news’ visited me this past week and I was encouraged to follow the Light in the midst of my darkness, strengthening me for the path ahead.
On a slightly different note, this past week marked the week of prayer for Christian unity.  On Wednesday Pope Francis addressed this event in his weekly catechesis acknowledging that for one hundred years this noteworthy event has taken place.  He went on to reflect from today’s second reading where saint Paul asks, “Has Christ been divided?”  With characteristic candor he said the following strong words:

Christ was certainly not divided. However, we must admit sincerely, with sorrow, that our communities continue to live divisions that are a scandal. The divisions among us Christians are a scandal. There is no other word: a scandal. “Each one of you – the Apostle wrote – says: ‘I belong to Paul,’ ‘I instead belong to Apollo,’ ‘And I belong to Cephas,’ ‘And I belong to Christ’” (1:12). Even those who professed Christ as their head were not applauded by Paul, because they used the name of Christ to separate themselves from the others within the Christian community. But Christ’s name creates communion and unity, not division! He has come to make communion among us, not to divide us. Baptism and the Cross are central elements of Christian discipleship which we have in common. Divisions, instead, weaken credibility and the effectiveness of our commitment to evangelization and risk emptying the Cross of its power (cf. 1:17).

We pray for unity among Christians and unity within the Church.  May God bless us and still give us his blessing, for which we long, we desire and we most certainly need.  Dear brothers and sisters, a blessed Sunday to you!  Do not forget, He is our light and our salvation.  His words open up new vistas.  He sends us help.  It is up to us to respond with a willing heart.  Let us pray for this willingness at this holy communion and offer up to God a small prayer of thanks and praise even in the brief silences we find at this Mass.