-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00pm and 11:00am
Keep Your Eye on the Ball
This end times and last things gospel text from Saint Luke proposes two options when confronted by calamity: die of fright or cling to the Lord. I am certain that the gospel recommendation is to keep your eye on the Lord, stand erect, lift your head, your redemption is at hand!
There is a lot of handwringing going on within the church and within the society about the end of the world, the end of life as we know it, the end of our western culture, the end of the American experiment. I will admit that there are a lot of frightening indicators in our world and our church that suggest painful and problematic times. Nonetheless, I believe this is Jesus' point.
What is Jesus's point? That when we hear of these things, when we see these things, when we experience these difficulties, and these pains, these frightening circumstances, we are not to turn away, turn to self, turn to defensiveness, turn to protectionism, turn to Isolationism, give up on relationships, abandon the community, build a fort, hide ourselves away, enter the bomb shelter!
No! We are called to stand up and lift our heads and fix our eyes on the redemption of the Lord that has been poured into our hearts. It is the light of Christ, the eternal life, the springs of never ending life, the restful waters, the indwelling, the power coming on the clouds of heaven - these should overwhelm us and keep us firm on our mission, on our path, in our peace!
Really?! That is precisely the point! If we are not going to cling to the hand of Jesus in the face of calamity then what good and what use is faith at all? To stroll along the sunny path of life? To celebrate the joy and the success of life? I don't get that impression from our crucified Savior.
The whole point it seems to me is that we have been given a Savior, we have received the Holy Spirit, we have been joined to the Body of Christ, precisely because we were going to need courage and clarity of vision (read: the truth) when things get stormy. If we lack faith in the stormy times-there is no point of faith at all.
So, see some storm clouds on the horizon? Standing erect, lift your head and believe
