HOMILY WEEK 27 03 – Year II
The Freshness of Our Faith:
Optional Memorial of St. John Leonardi
(Ga 2:1-2,7-14; Ps 117; Lk 11:1-4)
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The movie Risen imparts to the viewer a glimpse of the freshness and hopeful newness the resurrection of Jesus brought to the early disciples, and to the whole world eventually. Lines spoken in the movie like “He is everywhere!” “Love is our only weapon,” “He has no interest in a worldly empire,” and “If he were here right now, he would embrace you as a brother,” are in stark contrast to the violence of the Roman Empire (which is why in the movie, the Roman tribune Claudius longs for “one day without death”), and the dark, sinister jealous plotting of the Jewish religious leadership of the time.
Today’s readings are permeated with some of that same freshness, and can help us not to take our faith and prayer for granted.
St. Paul, in the reading to the Galatians, speaks of a new revelation to which he responds. He is the first to be entrusted with the gospel, evangelion, the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus, for the gentiles. He is given grace and power, not only to accomplish that mission, but also to speak truth to power, to confront the first leader of the early church, Peter, when he relapses back into the externalism from which Jesus had set us free!
In that sense, Paul foreshadows a book written by the late Andrew Britz, OSB entitled Speaking Truth to Power – a collection of his editorials over the years he was editor of the Prairie Messenger.
At the same time, Paul acknowledges James, Peter and John as pillars of the faith, which they truly were: James was the leader of the Jerusalem community, Peter, the first pope and John, the last apostle to die and our last link with the apostolic era. Of course, Paul himself was right up there with these three as an extra-ordinary pillar of the faith.
Many of us are pillars as well. If you are a father or mother, you are a pillar of your family. If you lead a group at our parish, you are a pillar. Maybe you are a confidant for a dear friend, who trusts you to be a pillar of support for him or her.
Part of Christian community is allowing others to be pillars for us as well, for we are all in need of support with so much negative energy in our society and world today militating against a life of faith and selflessness. A cute cartoon expresses that need well – three persons are walking along carrying a wooden beam. When they come to a chasm, the first person hangs from the beam in mid-air as the group continues marching forward. As his feet touch the ground on the other side, the middle person hangs in mid-air. As that person’s feet touch the ground, the last person hangs in mid-air. When all three reach the other side of the chasm, we read below “This is why we pray for each other!”
Paul is also very similar to Pope Francis who when elected was told not to forget the poor – something he certainly had his heart set on, and which Paul was only too happy to do also.
In the gospel, the disciples of Jesus, that motley crew portrayed in the movie, want Jesus to teach them how to pray. He responds with a new prayer – the Our Father. This Lukan version has five statements, omitting two in the other Synoptics that speak of God’s will being done on earth, and deliverance from evil. This discrepancy only attests to the newness of this prayer – the evangelists remembered different versions of it as would naturally happen before the days of modern recording technology.
Central to this new prayer is living one day at a time, or as a modern phrase puts it, to “live simply so others can simply live.” Also new to a jaded Judaism familiar with “eye for eye and tooth for tooth” morality, is the teaching to forgive others as we have been forgiven. That is a whole new, fresh and hopeful morality. No wonder the youthful apostles in the movie exude so much joy and enthusiasm, even as they struggle to make sense of this overwhelming historical and spiritual event in their lives.
Today the church offers us the option of honouring St. John Leonardi, who experienced theosis and understood that translation of the Our Father. John was born in Lucca about 1550, during the Catholic Reformation. He was assistant pharmacist when he decided to study for the priesthood; after ordination in 1572, he worked with the sick and imprisoned. His way of life soon attracted others and together they decided to form a new congregation of secular priests, the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God. He also helped establish the forerunner to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He died in Rome on this day in 1609, having contracted the plague from those he tended.
The Eucharist is central to the whole mystery of Christ’s passion, beginning with the Last Supper, and ending with his Resurrection and the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost. It is through the power of that same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, that he is made truly present today, both in his Word, and in the simple gifts of bread and wine, transformed into his Body and Blood.
May we who listen to his Word and commune with him sacramentally, have our faith deepened and refreshed so we will never take either our faith or our prayer for granted.
