HOMILY WEEK 12 04 – Yr II

Building a Solid House of Discipleship – Memorial: St. Irenaeus   

(2 Kg 24:8-17; Ps 79; Mt 7:21-19)

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How many of us have construction experience?

Today, Jesus once again speaks in metaphors to get his point across. He asks us to build a house. The house we are asked to build is the house of a life of discipleship, following Jesus and doing his ministry.

The foundation for the house has to be like a rock. According to the gospel, that foundation is the will of God and the words of Jesus. Nothing else will stand the test of time.

There are a variety of ways that house can be built, ways we can act on the Word of Jesus and do the will of the Father. We can love the Father through a life of prayer, of intimate conversation with the Father, and worship. The teachings of Jesus that we are to keep can be summarized by the following: the eight Beatitudes or eight ways of being in this world; the commandment to love one’s enemies, and the Great Commandment to love God, and love others as we love ourselves. Living all these out in our daily lives is certainly to keep the words of Jesus, and to be doing the will of the Father.

Another way that we can keep the words of Jesus, do the will of the Father and build a solid life as a disciple is to practice Tee Pee Spirituality – that is, to balance faith, fellowship and self-awareness in our ministry and our lives.

It is clear in the gospel the pole of faith is not enough. That is to risk religious addiction. As Jesus puts it, it is not those who say “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven. We need to balance faith and prayer with the other two poles of fellowship and self-awareness.

Annie was complaining to Adele about her rebellious daughter. Adele asked her what she was doing to address the situation. Annie replied she was praying hard for her daughter. Adele responded by asking her if she ever sat down with her daughter to have a heart-to-heart talk with her, and the reply was “No” – she had not thought of that. Fellowship, or Incarnational spirituality, was missing here.

One man sobered up after years of drinking when he found Jesus. The problem is he started preaching about Jesus to everyone in the community, almost making a nuisance of himself. One day he invited me over for a session in which he said we would listen to his adult children. However, he started preaching for half an hour. I finally stopped him and asked his children how they felt about what was happening. The oldest said she thought their dad should stop preaching to the whole village, and start listening to his family and the pain that he had put them through when he was drinking. He leaned forward and waved his hands before her face to stop her, not wanting to go into that pain. I left at that point, realizing this was religious addiction, relying only on prayer and preaching, and resisting any genuine fellowship.

The other two poles, self-awareness and fellowship, are necessary to balance out the pole of prayer. We need to know who we are, our sins, defects and personal qualities, and place all that before God, as well as share that with others to the extent we can, in sharing groups, to soul-mates, and in confession.

Then, with prayer and faith, fellowship and friendship, self-knowledge and self-awareness, we will have a solid foundation on which to build a life of effective discipleship, keeping the words of Jesus and doing the will of the Father. We will be living out the gospel: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.”

Someone who did the will of the Father and lived the words of Jesus is St. Irenaeus, whom we honor today. Irenaeus was born in Asia Minor, probably between 130 and 135. He went to Lyons as a missionary priest sometime before 177. By 199 he was bishop of Lyons. Through his writings, we know he was a disciple of St Polycarp, who was himself a disciple of St. John the Evangelist; thus, Irenaeus was in the direct line of the disciples. His writings refuting heresies helped lay the foundations of Christian theology and give us a window on the early Church. He fought against the elitist Gnostics who taught matter was bad, and the Valentinians stressed a secret tradition. Perhaps his most important contribution was his assertion creation is not sinful by nature, but rather distorted and wounded by sin. Irenaeus started the tradition of biblical scholarship and played a decisive role in fixing the canon of the NT by going through all the books extent and giving reasons for or against its canonicity.

The Eucharist we have celebrated as part of our tradition since Jesus is certainly hearing the words of Jesus, inviting us to keep them and doing the will of the Father.

May our celebration help us build a house of solid discipleship founded on the rock of doing God’s will and acting on the teachings of Jesus.