HOMILY WEEK 02 04 – Year II
From Exile to a New Creation:
| Optional Memorial of St. Juan Deigo |
(Is 41:13-20; Ps 145; Mt 11:11-15)
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“The hand of the Lord has done this.”
This sentence, from the prophecy of Isaiah in the first reading, can be taken in two ways. Ultimately, it’s deepest meaning is an invitation for us to place our faith in Jesus and participate in the new creation he is bringing about.
The Word Among Us provides us with the literal meaning. After fifty years in exile, the time had come for God to lead the people of Judah home. Decades earlier, they had been subjected to a forced march through the rough terrain of Jordan and Syria before entering Babylon. But now, Isaiah prophecies that God will lead them back along a lush, fertile road. They will follow the same route as before, but the journey will be radically different. It will be clear that only God could have provided so much life – both in them and around them – in such a lifeless environment.
Now, there’s no archaeological evidence of a 900-mile-long strip of land suddenly blooming back in 537 BC. But the returning exiles wouldn’t have expected that anyway. No, they understood that God was talking about the joy and growing excitement their hearts could feel as they drew closer to Jerusalem. Finally, their exile was coming to a close! As last, the time had come for them to rebuild their lives with the Lord.
The gospel today hints at a much deeper meaning with great implications for us. First, we are told Jesus was teaching his twelve disciples. These “twelve” would become the twelve apostles who would be the foundation of a new Israel, representing the twelve tribes of a new Israel Jesus was bringing about.
Jesus hails John the Baptist as the greatest of all the prophets who pointed to his coming as the long-awaited Messiah, because John was the one who announced his arrival to the world – as the “Lamb of God.” That expression, to us now, is a catchphrase for the whole passion, death and resurrection of Jesus by which he would redeem not just the world, but the whole of creation.
The prophecy of Isaiah hints at all of that – a Redeemer will bring about a new creation – creation itself will be transformed: the wilderness will become a pool of water, and dry land a spring of water; the wilderness will blossom with the finest of trees – cedars, acacia, myrtle and the olive; the poor and needy will be satisfied, fear will be overcome and there will be great rejoicing.
Faith in Jesus as the Messiah will make all this prophecy come true in our lives. Do we believe that God can bring new life to areas of our heart that have seemed dead for years? Or have we resigned ourselves to the thought that nothing could be done about them?
If so, look over the readings for the past week. Again and again, God promises life where once there was death. Again and again, God promises healing and restoration for the barren and wounded places in our soul. God can heal long-held resentments, break bonds of guilt over past failings, and help us find victory over current sinful habits.
Who but God can accomplish such marvels? And like the Israelites, we will see them as we place our faith in Jesus, the Messiah, who came with a two-fold mission to redeem and to sanctify, to forgive and to heal, so evident in the healing of the paralytic who was also first forgiven his sins.
As we place our faith in Jesus and open ourselves up to receive his Spirit, we will begin to see changes, even transformation beyond our expectations. As we persist in following Jesus and his Word, we will look back from where we came from and proclaim in gratitude, “The hand of the Lord has done this.”
St. Juan Deigo and the tilma
Today, we honor St. Juan Deigo Cuauhatlatoatzin, to whom the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on this date in 1531 at Tepeyac, near Mexico City, and who had every reason to make that proclamation. Mary told him that a church should be built at the site of her appearance. On another visit, Our Lady sent Juan Deigo to gather flowers and present them to the bishop. When he did so, the flowers fell away, revealing an image of the Blessed Virgin that miraculously appeared on his rough garment or tilma. That relic, that should have disintegrated centuries ago, is on display in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.
After this momentous event in his life, Juan became a catechist and could not stop spreading the message of what he had experienced. He taught all who came to him, proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the healing that his uncle had experienced through Our Lady. He certainly became a source of hope for thousands of other Indigenous who came to be baptized because of him. He is an example for us of someone who lived today’s readings, and was canonized in 2002 by Pope JP II.
The Eucharist we celebrate today nourished the apostles and God’s people over the ages. It is a foretaste of the eternal banquet we will enjoy in fulness someday, which makes present the unconditional love of God through Jesus the Lamb of God.
May our celebration deepen our faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Lamb of God, help us experience his forgiveness and healing, and blossom in the new creation he has brought about.
