Homily – June 12, 2016 (Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time- C)
You may have noticed the decorations, pictures and the wonderful remnants of a great week of Vacation Bible School. 200 children, 100 youth volunteers and 50 adult volunteers gathered each morning last week to train in “Cathletics.” That’s right, our children were called to take the baton and be “Champions for Christ!” Vacation Bible School, through its worship, prayer, activities, and song spent the week sharing the tools that make our faith strong: The Ten Commandments, Beatitudes, and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, all of which are displayed here and in the vestibule. Like the steps in a training program, to use these tools of our faith helps our hearts grow and echo the Greatest Commandment, and the source of all of our strength and purpose as the people of God. We must love the Lord our God, with all of our heart, mind and soul; and the love our neighbor as ourselves! Thanks to our Religious Ed. Staff of Kathleen Butler and Lisa Mason, their wonderfully dedicated volunteers, and the kids and their families who offer us all an example very similar to what we see in today’s Gospel!
But first, I’d like you to consider the following very familiar, but hypothetical situation: A person came to a Priest for confession. It was a difficult confession for it involved some very destructive behavior that ultimately affected the lives of others in a very challenging and painful way. This person needed no reminders from the Priest that they had been irresponsible. There were no attempts to rationalize, to offer excuses, or to escape blame and responsibility. This person recognized that they had sinned, and made a decision that could never be undone. The confession ended on a note of sadness and hopelessness as the person said, “There is no way I’ll ever live normally again. Even God can’t unscramble an egg!” The person was saying was that there would always be a skeleton in the closet. Ordinary life would forever just limp along marked by a mistake.
Let’s be fair and agree that this kind of brokenness and hopeless attitude is more common than you think. In fact, for more and more people, and some of us here, today there is a major skeleton in the closet: a broken marriage, an abortion, a religious commitment that didn’t work out, a pregnancy outside marriage, a betrayed trust, a broken relationship, a soured affair, a serious mistake, or a searing regret. We tend to forget that brokenness is what connects failure and sin to redemption. We tend to discount ourselves, viewing redemption as a one shot deal that can only be obtained through getting things right, living only in a state of happiness and innocence. Ultimately, we look at the scrambled egg, as a combination our own mistakes and sins, and believe that the loss of a certain grace is permanent. Frankly, I’m not sure we believe that there is a second chance, let alone the unlimited 70 x 7 chances that Christ has promised.
Enter our role model for today… The sinful woman who interrupts the Pharisee’s meal with Jesus. When she learns that Jesus is there, she comes into the house and falls to the feet of the Lord as he is seated at the table. She washes his feet with her tears and dries them with her hair, and then anoints him with fine oil. She is certainly aware of her past sinfulness and those skeletons in her closet, but she is there having realized God’s forgiveness, and she is coming to SHOW GOD HER LOVE!
As the Cantor proclaimed the Gospel Acclamation a few moments ago: “God loves us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins.” We are already loved, and forgiven! Jesus’ silence and acceptance in the moment when the woman enters the house opens him up to the criticism of his host, as the Pharisee mutters, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, [and] that she is a sinner." But the Lord’s acceptance also confirms that he has no issue with her past or her perceived reputation. Again, she is already loved and forgiven. She wasn’t there to work it out or negotiate because we’re not called to earn God’s love, nor do we initiate his forgiveness when we decide to enter the confessional… And this is important, for we come to the Lord here at this table called to open ourselves up to receiving God’s Mercy and Grace which is already freely given to all! Like the woman, our opportunity today is to respond to the MERCY by SHOWING GOD OUR LOVE! Like the children in Vacation Bible School, we can celebrate God’s love in a way that all can see and hear!
So now let’s consider the real situation before us today…
Are we willing to take a RISK? Like the woman in the Gospel, choosing to come to the Lord takes courage. Even if God cannot unscramble an egg, God’s grace lets us live happily and with renewed innocence far beyond any mistakes we might have made. We need to embrace that God does not just give us one chance, but that every time we close a door, God opens another one for us. We also need to live knowing that we are challenged not to make the same mistakes twice. We need to take sin seriously, knowing that when we do sin and make mistakes, we are given the chance to take our place among the broken, among those whose lives are not perfect, the loved sinners for whom Christ came to save. While it might not have been an easy path to get here, there’s at least one or more here among us that needs to know how grateful we are that you are here. You’ve taken the risk, and you’re here to show God your love in return!
Are we prepared to meet Jesus with a sense of purpose? The woman in the Gospel definitely planned her visit, and knew exactly what she wanted to do. Now that we are here, knowing that we are loved and forgiven, what is it that we ask of the Lord? What is the purpose of our growing into the next phase of our faith?
Do we have the faith and trust of the woman in today’s Gospel? Can we give this our all, and do our very best, knowing that Jesus is here to welcome us no matter our past? Let’s consider the challenge not to settle for the minimum, or arrive at this place only to do nothing. Let’s resolve on this ordinary Summer Sunday to allow our lives to SHOW GOD’S LOVE! For as Paul tells us in today’s second reading, “[We] have been crucified with Christ; yet [we] live, no longer [as ourselves], but Christ lives in [us]!”
The Good News today is that we get a second, third, fourth, and fifth chance knowing that all are just as valid as the first one. We need to be reassured that mistakes are not forever, that they are not even for a lifetime, that grace and time wash us clean, that nothing is irreversible. We have a faith that reveals God’s love to us sinners and the task of our faith is not to just teach us how to live, but to teach us how to live again, and again, and again.
On a personal note, thank you for the prayers over these past months as I continue to recuperate from a hip replacement. All is progressing well thanks to God’s healing touch, my loving family, this wonderful parish, and your support!
You may have noticed the decorations, pictures and the wonderful remnants of a great week of Vacation Bible School. 200 children, 100 youth volunteers and 50 adult volunteers gathered each morning last week to train in “Cathletics.” That’s right, our children were called to take the baton and be “Champions for Christ!” Vacation Bible School, through its worship, prayer, activities, and song spent the week sharing the tools that make our faith strong: The Ten Commandments, Beatitudes, and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, all of which are displayed here and in the vestibule. Like the steps in a training program, to use these tools of our faith helps our hearts grow and echo the Greatest Commandment, and the source of all of our strength and purpose as the people of God. We must love the Lord our God, with all of our heart, mind and soul; and the love our neighbor as ourselves! Thanks to our Religious Ed. Staff of Kathleen Butler and Lisa Mason, their wonderfully dedicated volunteers, and the kids and their families who offer us all an example very similar to what we see in today’s Gospel!
But first, I’d like you to consider the following very familiar, but hypothetical situation: A person came to a Priest for confession. It was a difficult confession for it involved some very destructive behavior that ultimately affected the lives of others in a very challenging and painful way. This person needed no reminders from the Priest that they had been irresponsible. There were no attempts to rationalize, to offer excuses, or to escape blame and responsibility. This person recognized that they had sinned, and made a decision that could never be undone. The confession ended on a note of sadness and hopelessness as the person said, “There is no way I’ll ever live normally again. Even God can’t unscramble an egg!” The person was saying was that there would always be a skeleton in the closet. Ordinary life would forever just limp along marked by a mistake.
Let’s be fair and agree that this kind of brokenness and hopeless attitude is more common than you think. In fact, for more and more people, and some of us here, today there is a major skeleton in the closet: a broken marriage, an abortion, a religious commitment that didn’t work out, a pregnancy outside marriage, a betrayed trust, a broken relationship, a soured affair, a serious mistake, or a searing regret. We tend to forget that brokenness is what connects failure and sin to redemption. We tend to discount ourselves, viewing redemption as a one shot deal that can only be obtained through getting things right, living only in a state of happiness and innocence. Ultimately, we look at the scrambled egg, as a combination our own mistakes and sins, and believe that the loss of a certain grace is permanent. Frankly, I’m not sure we believe that there is a second chance, let alone the unlimited 70 x 7 chances that Christ has promised.
Enter our role model for today… The sinful woman who interrupts the Pharisee’s meal with Jesus. When she learns that Jesus is there, she comes into the house and falls to the feet of the Lord as he is seated at the table. She washes his feet with her tears and dries them with her hair, and then anoints him with fine oil. She is certainly aware of her past sinfulness and those skeletons in her closet, but she is there having realized God’s forgiveness, and she is coming to SHOW GOD HER LOVE!
As the Cantor proclaimed the Gospel Acclamation a few moments ago: “God loves us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins.” We are already loved, and forgiven! Jesus’ silence and acceptance in the moment when the woman enters the house opens him up to the criticism of his host, as the Pharisee mutters, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, [and] that she is a sinner." But the Lord’s acceptance also confirms that he has no issue with her past or her perceived reputation. Again, she is already loved and forgiven. She wasn’t there to work it out or negotiate because we’re not called to earn God’s love, nor do we initiate his forgiveness when we decide to enter the confessional… And this is important, for we come to the Lord here at this table called to open ourselves up to receiving God’s Mercy and Grace which is already freely given to all! Like the woman, our opportunity today is to respond to the MERCY by SHOWING GOD OUR LOVE! Like the children in Vacation Bible School, we can celebrate God’s love in a way that all can see and hear!
So now let’s consider the real situation before us today…
Are we willing to take a RISK? Like the woman in the Gospel, choosing to come to the Lord takes courage. Even if God cannot unscramble an egg, God’s grace lets us live happily and with renewed innocence far beyond any mistakes we might have made. We need to embrace that God does not just give us one chance, but that every time we close a door, God opens another one for us. We also need to live knowing that we are challenged not to make the same mistakes twice. We need to take sin seriously, knowing that when we do sin and make mistakes, we are given the chance to take our place among the broken, among those whose lives are not perfect, the loved sinners for whom Christ came to save. While it might not have been an easy path to get here, there’s at least one or more here among us that needs to know how grateful we are that you are here. You’ve taken the risk, and you’re here to show God your love in return!
Are we prepared to meet Jesus with a sense of purpose? The woman in the Gospel definitely planned her visit, and knew exactly what she wanted to do. Now that we are here, knowing that we are loved and forgiven, what is it that we ask of the Lord? What is the purpose of our growing into the next phase of our faith?
Do we have the faith and trust of the woman in today’s Gospel? Can we give this our all, and do our very best, knowing that Jesus is here to welcome us no matter our past? Let’s consider the challenge not to settle for the minimum, or arrive at this place only to do nothing. Let’s resolve on this ordinary Summer Sunday to allow our lives to SHOW GOD’S LOVE! For as Paul tells us in today’s second reading, “[We] have been crucified with Christ; yet [we] live, no longer [as ourselves], but Christ lives in [us]!”
The Good News today is that we get a second, third, fourth, and fifth chance knowing that all are just as valid as the first one. We need to be reassured that mistakes are not forever, that they are not even for a lifetime, that grace and time wash us clean, that nothing is irreversible. We have a faith that reveals God’s love to us sinners and the task of our faith is not to just teach us how to live, but to teach us how to live again, and again, and again.
On a personal note, thank you for the prayers over these past months as I continue to recuperate from a hip replacement. All is progressing well thanks to God’s healing touch, my loving family, this wonderful parish, and your support!
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