HOMILY WEEK 34 05 – Yr I

Serving Jesus our King

(Dan 7:1-14; Dan 3:75-81; Lk 21:29-33)

******************************************

Did you know that Prince Harry, about to be married, is 5^th in line to the throne? Someday he might be king of England and Meghan Markle would be queen! Perhaps not that surprising, as the media has just pointed out that she is a 17^th cousin to Harry!

Much more important than that possibility is that Jesus is our King, and we are to serve him with humility, peace, joy and love.

In the first reading, John shares with us his amazing vision of the kingdom of heaven where evil is being destroyed, and Jesus is presented to the Father. We are told that to Jesus is given glory, an everlasting dominion and a kingship that will never pass away.

In the Gospel, Jesus, speaking to his disciples about the end of time, teaches them to be ready, to read the signs of the time, for the kingdom of God, his eternal kingdom is near. We could say it is “near and here” because in the gospel of Luke (17:21), Jesus teaches his disciples that the kingdom of God is already within and among them. This passage became my motto as a bishop – Regnum Dei Intra Vos – “The Kingdom of God is among you.” That is called realized eschatology – the kingdom that will someday come in its fullness is already present, inaugurated by Jesus himself through his life, passion, death, resurrection and the sending of the Spirit upon his followers at Pentecost.

Given that the kingdom of God is what Jesus preached about the most, is what was closest to his heart, and is what he came to inaugurate here on earth, should we not be much more attentive to it than we are? It should be our main concern, and living within that kingdom our greatest goal.

The scriptures reveal four key elements of that kingdom: peace, joy, love and humility. In Romans 14:17, St. Paul tells us that the reign of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but the peace, joy and justice of the Holy Spirit. Peace is not a passing emotion like happiness, but rather a gift of the Holy Spirit that we can claim no matter what is transpiring in our lives. Jesus on the cross was totally at peace, even if he was experiencing the “apparent absence” of God, because he knew he was doing the Father’s will to reveal to all humanity the depth of the Father’s love for us.

Joy is also much more than a passing emotion like pleasure. It too is a gift of the Holy Spirit that we can claim, again no matter what is going on in our complicated lives. I suspect that on the cross, Jesus even experienced a glimpse of joy, because he was doing the Father’s will, redeeming, forgiving, loving the world unconditionally, and joy always flows out of unconditional love.

When St Paul says that justice is also an element of the kingdom, he is talking about genuine, sincere, selfless, agape love that seeks to work for justice, fairness, truth, beauty and goodness. Jesus, of course, is the prime example of that kind of love with the selfless sacrifice of his life on the cross. At the same time, from his birth among us as a little child, his life of simplicity and service, and his death on the cross, totally powerless, Jesus modelled for us the humility that is the key to experiencing the power of God working in our lives, redeeming and sanctifying, forgiving and healing.

In the end, the best way to experience that joy at the core of the kingdom of God is to humbly work for peace and justice in our world through selfless love and service. Here we see these four core elements of the kingdom of God come together: peace, joy, love and humility.

Someone who comes to mind as an example of living in the kingdom of God is Brother Anthony Kowalczyk OMI who was born in 1866 in the village of Czierzanow, Poland, the sixth child of twelve. At age 20, he began to work as a blacksmith in Germany, where he met and joined the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He made his novitiate in Holland and became a professed lay brother in 1892. From the beginning, he dreamt of being a missionary in a foreign land. His dream was realized in 1896 when he became the first Polish Oblate to come to Canada and was sent to minister among the Indigenous people at Lac-la-Biche, Alberta.

Totally unprepared for so sudden and dramatic a change in his ministry, he was tormented with a longing for his homeland. His life of prayer helped him cope. He knew the Lord had said to “ask” and ask he did, trusting completely in God’s providence, and with his prayer he helped everyone.

An accident at a sawmill on July 15, 1897, left him badly injured and unconscious. When he came to, his first words were, “The good Lord wanted this.” The doctors, however, had to amputate his hand due to gangrene. That loss led to an amazing discovery about himself. He knew that everything was God’s grace, but within himself, he marveled at how much he had changed internally. Gone was his longing for his homeland. After a year in the missions that he had dreamt about yet where he never felt at home, now he felt a peaceful acceptance of this new country and a new love for its people.

Brother Anthony died in 1947 with a reputation of being a saint. He never complained about his handicap, insisting that it was a great grace for him, that without that accident, he would have found it much more difficult to adapt to his new country and let go of his torturous longing for his homeland. He also received a deeper understanding of God’s will and the grace of entrusting himself to God’s providence. Throughout his whole life he was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Among the Oblates he was known as Brother Ave. Just by praying three Hail Mary’s, he overcame all difficulties and obtained extraordinary graces that were called the miracles of Brother Anthony.

His grave in the Oblate cemetery in St. Albert is immediately noticeable with its profusion of flowers, rosaries, crosses and candles that people continually place there as they come to visit his grave and pray for his intercession. In 1952, five years after his death, the process for his canonization began in Edmonton. We pray that he may be our next Canadian saint.

The Eucharist is already a participation in the eternal life that awaits us in fullness. We listen to God’s word, receive the body and blood of Jesus, and are forgiven and healed even as we celebrate.

May our celebration deepen our faith in Jesus our King, help us to humbly live in his peaceful kingdom filled with that joy that flows out of loving others as he has loved us.