Homily Sixth Sunday of Easter (John 15:9-17)
Homily Sunday of Easter (John 15:9-17)
A lot of events happen in the Spring. One of sacraments that is celebrated in the spring is Holy Orders. The first order is that of deacon.
A deacon is empowered to baptize and to marry and to preach. Preaching is challenging task because it requires a lot of preparation. But it is also humbling to realize that one will ultimately be preaching before people that will know the deacon well, people who live with him every day in a community setting. Parishioners will know the deacon’s daily conduct.
A story is told of a newly ordained deacon who had prepared what he thought was a wonderful sermon. He proudly stepped up into the pulpit to read the gospel and to deliver his sermon. The sermon bombed. He came down out of the pulpit embarrassed and humbled. A seasoned deacon looked on and he made the comment, “If he had gone up the way he came down, he would have come down the way he went up.” Preaching is a humbling endeavor.
The gospel book is presented to the deacon at a key moment in the ordination. The man grabs the book. As the new deacon takes hold of the book the bishop says, “Believe what you read. Teach what you believe and practice what you preach.”
Jesus practiced what he preached which made him a memorable minister. The section of the Gospel we read today, Jesus challenges his disciples when he says, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
We can say we love others, but is there follow through? The scriptures speak of that fault often. The Letter to James, for example, often confronts us with our equivocations as we seek to be disciples. In the first chapter of James he states, “A man who listens to God’s word but does not put into practice is like a man who looks into a mirror at the face he was born with. He looks at himself and then promptly forgets what he looked like.”
Do we truly understand how our actions look to others? A mirror flips our image around. When we look a photograph, we can say that does not look like me. But the picture is a more accurate rendition of what we look like then the image we see in the mirror every morning.
We must be careful with how we look at ourselves, we might have a false notion of how we appear. We could say this is especially true in how we live out our Christianity. We may think we are loving like Jesus, but it may not be the case.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel how he will prove his love. His says in his final sermon at the Last supper, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” His words sounded good, but his words were acted upon in a most courageous way. Jesus acted on his words which makes all the difference.
My grandfather had a favorite story about when he was a boy. He lived on a small farm. The family owned two dogs. One dog was a terrier, the other was a bulldog. When a stranger came on the farmyard the terror would run around the yard raising a ruckus barking and snarling. The bulldog would lay in the shade watching the commotion. If the stranger came to my grandfather’s house to burglarize it. Or if he made some threatening gesture the terrier would continue to bark from afar. The bulldog would get up without hardly a growl and he would bite the stranger on his posterior. My grandfather had much more respect for the bulldog. The moral was, “Don’t be a talker. Be a doer.”
At Mass, when the host is presented to us, a proclamation is made, “This is the Body of Christ.” We respond, “amen,” which means, “I believe.” What it also means is that we are going to try to love as Jesus loved. We recommit to being conscientious followers of Jesus every time we receive the Eucharist. We proclaim our commitment in word and action. We make the promise to love as Jesus loved. Hopefully, our words have bite.
Reflection Questions:
- Do I always practice my Christianity? Does that negate the value of my Christian life?
- How do I lay down my life for others? Am I challenged by my life with Jesus?
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Dear Parishioners,
During the next week we may have a major announcement by the Center for Disease Control about COVID protocols. It also looks like the State of Illinois will move to a bridge phase as we transition to full reopening. That means the approved capacity of our churches will be increased. Social events will be able to have more people. At present we can only have 50 people gather for social events.
We have been shut down so long we cannot expect the parish to spring back to life instantly. There still will be a reluctance on some people to participate in the life of the parish until they are absolutely sure there is no danger. I ask everyone to be patient as we try to bring parish activities back.
People cannot be told to return to Mass for example. All we can do is to invite them. As you go about your daily life you may want to encourage those that are healthy to return to Mass. We will have to be a little more evangelical. Please watch my daily post for the latest news about the relaxation of protocols.
May Our Lady and All the Angels and Saints watch over you this week.
Fr. Mark
P.S. Our parish receptionist, Kate Schaefer, will be leaving us at the end of the week. She has found a new position working for Trinity Hospital’s Spiritual Care Department. A receptionist is often the first-person visitors meet from the parish either online, on the phone or in person. Kate has been a wonderful employee and we will miss her. I encourage people to drop her a note of thanks. We will be advertising soon for someone to take her place. Thank You Kate!