Homily Fifteenth Wednesday of Ordinary Time (St. Bonaventure) “Pass the Dish Soap”
Homily Fifteenth Wednesday of Ordinary Time (St. Bonaventure) “Pass the Dish Soap”
Whenever a great religious movement is started there can be a founder of that movement and then later there is usually a person who gives the rational behind the movement. When we think of Christianity, we know that the religion was founded by Jesus Christ and then we have the person who presented most of the Theology of the New Testament, St. Paul.
In the case of the Franciscan Order the founder of that movement was St. Francis. The man who provided most of the Theological underpinnings for Franciscans was St. Bonaventure whose feast we commemorate today.
Bonaventure, like Francis before him, saw that the church was corrupt in many ways and the called for the church reform. He laid out a road map for conversion which we still use today. He said conversion was a three-step process. Step one is purification. We need to repent our sins trusting in the mercy of God.
The second step on the journey is to seek illumination. We need to learn as much as we can about God and his Son Jesus Christ. If we sincerely repent, we will have a deep hunger to learn more about God. The third step is union with Christ. Our goal is for our mind and the mind of Christ to be one.
Bonaventure, though brilliant, was a humble man. The Popes of the 13th century desired that he be a bishop. Bonaventure believed that a Franciscan should not be in such a position. A Franciscan was to be humble. When Gregory X ordered him to be a bishop and cardinal, he sent his representative to Bonaventure with his order. The man arrived after dinner and Bonaventure told him that he had an obligation to finish washing the dishes. When that was done, Bonaventure began his ministry as bishop.
Reflection Questions:
1. For Bonaventure learning to love was the goal of studying the faith. Does my study of Catholicism lead me to be charitable toward others or does it just lead me to be proud of how much I know?
2. Bonaventure did not seek power, but only became a bishop when he was forced. Are we more successful when others call us to new responsibilities that we might not want?
Dear Parishioners,
We had a very beautiful celebration of First Communion last Sunday. The children seemed very well prepared and they were anxious after waiting so long. It always strikes me how eager our second graders are to receive the Eucharist for the first time. But only a few years later there is a struggle to get our young adults to come to church. During the present COVID 19 crisis maybe we can recapture some of the fervor we had when we made our First Communion. Several older people said when they came to church to see the children receive that they had not been at Mass since March. The emotion in the faces told me that they had not lost their love for the Blessed Sacrament. Let’s pray that our children’s love of the Lord will not wane.
We will have some children making their First Communion at weekday Mass because of safety concerns. I hope this is an opportunity for our daily Mass participants to rejoice with our children as they enjoy this special moment.
May Our Lady and all the angels and saints watch over you today.
Fr. Mark