HOMILY WEEK 32 05 – Year I
Faith and Readiness; Believe and Love:
Optional Memorial of St. Josaphat
(Wis 13:1-9; Ps 19; Lk 17:26-37)
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A nervous lector at the Sunday Eucharist ended her reading one day with the words, “This is the end of the world.” To which the congregation dutifully responded. “Thanks be to God!”
The readings for this liturgy, and the optional memorial of St. Josaphat whom we honor today, invite us to have faith, and to be ready for the end of time, by expressing our faith through selfless action.
The first reading from the Book of Wisdom and the psalm are all about faith in God, and more particularly, about having the eyes to see God in creation as the author of all beauty and origin of all things. If all creation glorifies God, how much more so should we!
How sad it is that the “new atheists” don’t have those eyes of faith to make that simple first step – to marvel at the complexity of our universe and world and arrive at the conclusion that this astounding creation could not simply happen by accident.
What is perhaps even sadder is that many who claim they do believe in God, fall for the temptation to put their trust in the false gods that have plagued humankind since the beginning of time – possessions and pleasure, prestige and fame, power and control – the very same temptations that Jesus faced in the desert and rejected.
Jesus, in today’s gospel, has another message for those who believe in him – be ready for the end of the world, for the second coming, because it will come unexpectedly and suddenly. The gist of his warning for us is not to get distracted by the allurements of this world, however good they might be, to the point where he ceases to be the center of our lives.
The best way for us to express our belief in him, and to always be ready at any moment for the end times, is to do his will every day, and to live as he wants us to live. That is very simple and boils down to one word – love. We are to love God with our whole being, love all others as we love ourselves, love others as he has loved us, and finally, love those who hurt us by forgiving them from the heart.
Today the Church honors St. Josaphat, born John Kuncewicz in present-day Ukraine about 1580. Upon entering the Order of St. Basil, he chose the name ‘Josaphat.’ He was ordained a priest of the Byzantine rite in 1609 and soon gained renown for his preaching. In 1617, named archbishop of Polotsk, Russia, he worked for the renewal of the diocese and for the union of the Ukrainian Church with Rome. Many opposed Josaphat, claiming he was trying to impose Roman-style Catholicism on the Ukrainian Church. He was slain by opponents in 1623 in Vitebsk. In 1867 Josaphat became the first Eastern saint to be formally canonized.
If the Eucharist is an act of faith in God’s love for us in Jesus, and a commitment to go out and serve with love, then he truly lived the Eucharist.
So, may our celebration today deepen our faith in God, and empower us to always be ready for Jesus to come again by expressing our faith through selfless love, like St. Josaphat.
