Victorious in Christ – Memorial: St. Cecilia
(Rev 5:1-10; Ps 149; Lk 19:41-44)
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Recall your experience of winning an event of any kind, the feelings involved of being on the winning side and the way those feelings return when we remember the event, like Canada winning Olympic gold. I remember the highway I was driving on when Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal for Olympic gold, and in my excitement, blowing the horn to no one in particular as I was all alone on the road, except for a few deer.
The readings of today invite us to rejoice in the Lord, and live in his Kingdom as joyful, victorious servants.
In the gospel, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because despite all the prophecies, in their lack of faith, in their infidelity to the covenant, and their lust after possession, prestige and power, they failed to recognize Jesus, and did not accept him. They failed to be on the winning side, and lost big-time, with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. At supper here in Nazareth, the pilgrims with me at table were wondering how it was that, to this day, the Jewish people simply cannot believe in Jesus with so much evidence all around us (we visited the Primacy of Peter, Capernaum, Church of the Heptapegon(Taghba) where Jesus fed the Multitudes, and celebrated the Eucharist on a boat on the Sea of Galilee).
The first reading from Revelations is just the opposite. In John’s vision of heaven, Jesus is the Lion of Judah, the root of David, the New Israel. He is the Lamb who was slaughtered and by his blood has conquered death, darkness and evil. He alone can open the scroll of the future. He has ransomed us and made us priests to serve in his Kingdom that will have no end.
Jesus Lion of Judah
The result of this is we are on the winning side. We are victorious in him, and like the heavenly throng of angels, saints and spiritual beings, we can worship him and exult with joy. All we have to do is to put our total faith and trust in him, open ourselves up to receive him, and serve him with our whole being. Every day we have that opportunity to experience victory over sin, evil and darkness in our own lives by recognizing him and accepting him.
The Church provides us with a fitting model today, St. Cecilia. She was a woman in Rome who came from a very rich family and was given in marriage to Valerian, whom she converted. As her husband and brother-in-law buried the dead, St. Cecilia spent her time preaching and in her lifetime was able to convert over four hundred people, most of whom were baptized by Pope Urban.
The Eucharist is a foretaste of that heavenly banquet. It is like a victory celebration because we are victorious in Christ and on the winning side.
We can also be victorious in Christ by winning power over Satan and rule over evil spirits by being with Jesus all the time. This means believing and trusting Jesus as the life saviour and the Messiah. Try to be closer to God by praying and surrender ourselves to him that he will do unto us as he wants. Jesus will be with us once we receive gifts from him and we are to use this gift during celebrations and private moments. We are to praise and worship the Lord during masses, meetings and Healing services. This is what Satan and evil spirits does not like; they will drive us away from God and convince us to believe in their false gods that involves fame and power. We have to win the victory over evil since the world is full of violence, terrorism, evil deeds and power when there is money and fame. We should prevent these evil from destroying the community and this world. We should pray for world peace by destroying evil spirits and demons . Amen. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanks Bishop Sylvain for updating us on the Holy Land and Sharing those beautiful pictures . Keep us updated and keep on going. Thanks for the homily about being victorious in God. We are servants of God and deliver his message to other people. Gracias! Bravo! Let us rejoice!