HOMILY WEEK 21 04 – Year I
Rooted in Faith; Living in Hope and Growing in Love
(1 Thes 3:7-13; Ps 90; Mt 24:42-51)
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“Participate, don’t anticipate” is what we used to tell youth who were beginning either a TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) or a Search weekend in the north years ago.
That saying would need to be modified slightly to fit today’s readings which invite us to be rooted in faith, living in hope, and growing in love. Grounded in our faith in Jesus Christ, we are to stay awake and anticipate his second coming, while we participate in his new creation through selfless love.
In that first reading, St. Paul encourages the Thessalonians to stand firm in the Lord, to put their complete trust in Jesus Christ risen from the dead. He lives in the hope of seeing his beloved Thessalonians face to face, as we live in the hope of one day seeing Jesus face to face when he comes again. That is our hope.
Then Paul prays that the Lord will increase their love for one another and for all; that their hearts may be strengthened so that they will be holy and blameless when Jesus does come again with all his saints.
There is a faith-hope-love pattern in our lives. Faith in God’s love for us, being rooted in Jesus, leads to hope that all will be well. Hope in turn empowers us to truly love. The parish of St. Albert actually had “Rooted in Faith; Living in Hope and Growing in Love” as the theme for a parish mission I shared with them on the occasion of the anniversary of their parish.
Pierre Olivier Tremblay, a young Oblate bishop who worked with university students observed that young people today lack hope because they don’t have an infinite horizon, a meta-narrative, a bigger faith story into which they can place the events of their lives. All they are left with is whatever happens to them that day – and if a relationship breaks up, they might even end their lives, and some have done that.
The old Baltimore Catechism that our elders grew up with provided a meta-narrative: Why did God make us? To know, love and serve God, so that we might be happy with God in this life and supremely happy with him in the next. Our parents could pray about this life as a valley of tears at times because they had that infinite horizon and knew this life is not all there is. They were like the lady who wanted to be buried with a fork in her hands, because her mother always told her, “Keep your fork – the best is yet to come.” Being rooted in Jesus provides us with a meta-narrative, an infinite horizon.
During the Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus, rooted in the Father’s love, secure in his intimate relationship with the Father, could take off his outer garments symbolizing power, authority and status, and humbly wash the feet of his disciples – the task of a slave. He then commanded them, and us, to do the same. We are his disciples today, called to be rooted in him and to wash each other’s feet.
As disciples, we are invited into deeper faith and prayer. Psalm 90 today asks God to “Fill us with love each morning and we will rejoice.” Jesus, in the gospel, reminds us to stay awake, to remain connected. St. Paul in the first reading thanks God for the faith of the Thessalonians and prays their hearts will abound in love. Jesus in the gospel strongly commands us to stay awake and be ready for his second coming.
Staying awake and being ready involves prayer. There are many ways to pray, but one of the best ways to stay rooted in Jesus is contemplation. Mary of Bethany is an example – she was not so much listening to what Jesus was saying, as she was aware that she was in the presence of The Word, soaking up his love and that was enough. We have all had that experience in the presence of loved ones without a word needing to be spoken.
St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta always started her day with a Holy Hour of contemplation, followed by the Eucharist, and taught her sisters to do the same. That is how they stay rooted in Jesus, and where they find the strength to minister to the poorest of the poor. St. Peter, walking back to the boat hanging on to Jesus, is another model for us. He was not about trying it again on his own, nor should we.
So, as we celebrate the Eucharist today, let us pray that we might stay rooted in Jesus every day, live in hope, and express our faith and hope through hearts that love and hands that serve.
