Blog Post 7/07/2024 - Homily Cycle B [Offered @ OLPH]

Blog Post 7/07/2024 - Homily Cycle B [Offered @ OLPH]

 

The 1960 musical “Camelot” was based on a 1958 novel, The Once and Future King.  One of the songs in the musical was Camelot, in the final stanza we hear these words: “… there’s simply not A more congenial spot, For happily-ever-aftering, Than here in Camelot.”  That song really hints at Faith, it tries to answer the question of our deepest longing, to be loved completely and to live happily forever.  St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless God until they rest in You.”

The Gift of Faith enables us to journey here on earth seeking completeness, wholeness that only God can satisfy.  In the Gospel, Jesus was “… amazed at their lack of faith.”  Jesus, the Son of God, couldn’t “perform any might deeds” in Nazareth because their faith was in themselves, not in God, not in the Lord.  They tried to view Jesus only through the lens of the son of Mary and Joseph the carpenter.

Jesus, God, does not force Himself on anyone.  Jesus invites to find our completeness, our wholeness in Him and through Him.  Faith is TRUSTING in the Lord when we are living through the darkness.

Linda Taylor was putting her three [little children] to bed.  Suddenly Peggy who had just completed kindergarten, said “Mommy, if the world came to an end, right now …”  Linda gulped & said a quick prayer for guidance; “Yes, dear,” she said, “go on.” 

Peggy said, “Would I have to take my library book back, or would it be okay to leave it at home?”  [Action, Cycle C, Sunday, Ordinary Time, p.300]  Peggy’s innocent question reminds us of what Ezekiel said to us to listen to the Lord and, of what St. Paul taught us this morning, the Lord’s “grace is sufficient for us.”

God’s Word will nourish us if we accept it and follow it.  If we allow it to guide us and form us.  Are you ever amazed at God’s Word?  Astonished by God’s Word?  Do you Allow God’s Word to guide your life, your decisions, your actions?  After all, “Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.”  [D.E. Trueblood, American Quaker & Theologian]

We have been given the gift of faith, although we only see partially now, we believe that one day we will see fully and clearly.  Christianity is a way of seeing and a way of living, of sharing the Lord’s light in our darkening world.

 

St. John Henry Newman offers us this prayer to aid in living our faith.

“God has created me to do Him some definite service.

He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.

I have my mission.

I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.

Therefore, I will trust Him ….” 

[Excerpted from, The Mission of My Life, the entire payer can be found here: https://www.dioslc.org/images/newmanprayer.pdf]

Trusting in the Lord will enable God’s grace to help us fulfill our mission here on earth.  The people of Jesus’ Hometown asked where did He get “all this”, His authority, His wisdom, His empathy, His humility?  Jesus’ authority, wisdom, humility, is God’s work made visible by Jesus’ life.

Our life should be marked by Jesus’ authority, wisdom, humility, generosity, selflessness needs to be made visible by our lives.  To make your mission successful – live the Gospel, shine Christ’s LIGHT in the world.

Maybe this image can help us, in a Trapeze Act there is a Flyer and a Catcher, they enter the circus ring and greet the audience with smiles and movement that cause their wide capes to swirl about them.  They pull themselves up into the large net and start to climb rope ladders to positions high up in the big tent.  As the Flyer swings away from the pedestal board, somersaults and turns freely in the air, only to be safely grasped by the Catcher.  The secret is for the Flyer to TRUST the Catcher to grasp them, grasp the Flyer.

So it is with God and us, we need to TRUST that the Lord will grasp us each time we fly into His arms.  God longs for us to fly to His loving embrace, fly now, fly tomorrow and one day fly into eternity with the Lord.  Having followed the Lord here in eternity you will discover your mission.

For a few minutes, in silence, think about how you’re nourishing your faith each day?

 

May God Be Praised.