Homily for August 10th, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Below are the links for the readings:
In today’s readings, at first glance, I thought things seemed a bit unfair. From our first reading out of the book of Wisdom we hear:
The night of the Passover was known beforehand to our fathers...
Then in the Gospel from Luke, we get this:
You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
At the surface, this just doesn’t seem right, why don’t we get to know beforehand when the Son of Man will come? Why did our fathers in faith get to know ahead of time?
Back in the Old Testament, they had faith in the hope of a savior that is to come. Today we know that savior very well as Jesus Christ, the man who came to undo the sin of Adam, to make things right so that at some point we may have eternal salvation with him. So when I reflected a bit deeper into things I realized that today we actually have the upper hand because we have the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Today we have faith in the hope that Jesus Christ will someday return again.
When I was researching what the Church teaches about Christ coming back I found this alarmingly current paragraph 672 in the Catholicism of the Catholic Church
Before his Ascension, Christ affirmed that the hour had not yet come for the glorious establishment of the messianic kingdom awaited by Israel which, according to the prophets, was to bring all men the definitive order of justice, love and peace. According to the Lord, the present time is the time of the Spirit and of witness, but also a time still marked by "distress" and the trial of evil which does not spare the Church and ushers in the struggles of the last days. It is a time of waiting and watching.
So where did that leave me aside from a little bit terrified? Believe it or not, it left me with hope. Why hope when we read this coupled with the recent readings like last Sunday where we heard God speak to the rich man in Luke:
You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”
Our hope is contrary to our world and our society today, our hope is a heavenly one. In the reading from Hebrews we see that our hope relies on our faith :
Brothers and sisters: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
Quite often I find myself placing my hope and faith in physical things, things that I can touch and see. A lot of us probably do this from time to time.
I remember many years ago, back when I was in college, I purchased my first brand new car. A Colt hatchback with the luxurious spring package. It only had eight miles on it when I picked it up. I was a bit nervous about the hefty 7,000 dollar price tag and paying it off but I felt I could handle it, I was a responsible adult after all. One of the places I worked at back then was St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Bridgewater and I used to play tennis with one of the priests stationed there and told him I could pick him up and drive that night, I wanted to show off my new ride after all! He got in it, looked around, and instead of congratulating me he asked me an odd question. He asked if my new car gave me happiness. Yes, I replied, of course. He then explained to me that material things can do that, they can bring us happiness but that happiness can be fleeting. Why he continued, because my car will indeed eventually break down and wear out one day, and that happiness that I am feeling will break down with it.
Of course, at this point, I’m thinking to myself, I used to like this priest but what a mean person he is, maybe I’ll let him walk home after tennis.
His lesson continued. What you want Kevin, is joy and joy can only be found in one place, Jesus. Once you have that joy it cannot be taken away. Life will have good and bad, happy and sad, life and death but if you have faith in Christ it will bring you joy that will last through all those bad times, for example, when our new cars break down. The true joy of who Christ is, and what he has done for us cannot be taken away. He told me that is what I need, that is what will last.
That day, I remember thinking that I will show no mercy on the tennis courts to this unkind priest. Today, however, I realize this story is still etched in my brain and I can begin to understand the wisdom in what he was trying to tell me. The wisdom that Saint Paul was telling us in the second reading from Hebrews. Abraham and Sarah demonstrated faith when they obeyed God and that faith led them to the promised land, that faith gave them the ability to have a child and it was through that same faith that they were able to have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Today our faith and hope belong in Jesus Christ, our savior. He didn’t come to earth to make our lives easy and happy. No, He came to earth to teach us that the road to Heaven, however difficult is one we should follow and stay the course until the end so that our eternity may be joy-filled. He came to earth to prepare us so that when our number is up we will be prepared with girded loins and lit lamps.
As St. Athanasius said:
The Eternal Word, the Son, was in no way degraded by receiving a human and mortal body. Rather, he deified what he put on; and more than that, he bestowed the gift of his divinity upon our humanity.
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