Easter-Faith-Evangelization-Blessed Gérard

HOMILY EASTER SEASON – WEEK 06 03

Grounded in Love; Evangelizing with Faith

Optional Memorial: Blessed Joseph Gérard OMI

(Acts 17:15, 22-18.1; Ps 148; Jn 16:12-15)

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Did anything about the Gospel proclamation today strike you as unusual?

For the third time this week, the gospel begins with the statement: “When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart form this world and go to the Father.” That line, of course, is taken from the first verse of Chapter 13, in which Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. It is inserted here by the liturgists without explanation, and without apology. Obviously, they were trying to underline something important, to the point of over-stating their case.

What they are underlying is the close, intimate, loving relationship Jesus had with the Father, which colored everything Jesus did. In fact, Jesus did nothing on his own. Everything he said and did he had received from the Father.

We are invited to do the same, through him. Grounded in love, we are to evangelize with faith. All that we do and say in ministry should come from Jesus, and through him, from the Father. And today, another level is added – the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit declares to us what it has received from Jesus, who has received from the Father. So, we see that the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit form one unity, one intimate communion, one close loving relationship. In that sense, God is truly family, relationship, intimacy, oneness in love. We are invited into that relationship by our faith in the Lord Jesus, and our love for all of humanity.

In the first reading, we see Paul essentially falling in love with Jesus on the road to Damascus, an experience that transformed his whole belief system and forever changed his life. Here he is evangelizing the Athenians, and in doing so, serves as a model for us. First, he carefully observes their gods as well as studies their poets. Then he puts into practice a sound pastoral principle – accept people where they are at and take them a step further.

Thus Paul finds a point of entry from within the Athenean belief system, the unknown god, whom he identifies as the God of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Paul wastes no time in getting to the heart of the Christian message, which is repentance to receive the forgiveness of God through the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The credibility of his message comes from the fact that the Father has raised Jesus Christ from the dead. That of course led to some scoffing, but others coming to believe. Paul was not deterred by lack of results – he just kept on trying, which we must do as well.

When I think of Paul’s methodology, I am reminded of the Face to Face retreats started by a young Catholic lay person from St. Walburg, Sask., Kevin Yasinski. Challenged by John Paul II at the World Youth Days in Toronto, he returned and put his skills of preaching and music together into a short weekend retreat.

The retreat consists of talks, contemporary Christian music and singing, reconciliation, adoration and Sunday Eucharist. The retreat targets youth from the ages of 16 – 24 roughly, probably the most challenging group to work with in the Church today. The retreat starts at noon on Saturday with singing and a talk, then right away, without apology, turns into a penitential service and confessions with about six priests on hand which finishes with supper. After more talks and singing, the evening closes with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, which at one point is carried throughout the crowd of usually over 200 youth spread out on the floor.

If the pastor is willing, they take over the music and roles in the Sunday Eucharist. The retreat then closes in the early afternoon with another talk and more singing. What is striking is that participants will attend many of these retreats, helping out in any way they can, and forming a nucleus of seasoned retreatants who help to carry the enthusiasm of each retreat into the next one. What is also striking is the early focus on repentance, forgiveness and healing, with peer counseling and peer prayer teams. I cannot help but think that St. Paul would have fit right in with these retreats.

Today the Oblates of Mary Immaculate especially, honor Blessed Joseph Gérard, who lived the gospel very much like St. Paul. Father Gérard lived among the Basotho, eating their food, learning their language, preaching and translating the Gospel and Church history for their evangelization.  A true man of God, full of love and zealous for souls, he was entirely united with Christ in his suffering and undaunted by danger, hardship and the African sun, he would travel for miles by foot or horseback to visit the sick in the most wretched conditions.  He called himself a “line fisherman for souls”.   He never abandoned his beloved Basotho and in his many disappointments, he resolved to love them all the more.   Even in wartime, trusting in God’s providence, he risked his life to stay with them, besieged on Mount Thaba-Bosiu, as their servant and broker of peace.   Over the years, Father Gérard also ministered to farm workers throughout the Orange Free State and founded the Missions of St. Monica and St. Michael’s.   Returning to Roma in 1898, he worked tirelessly until his death at age 83.

By the time of his death in 1914, through the foundational works of Father Gérard and this small group of Oblates, there were already 15,000 Catholics in Lesotho (by 1988, this number had grown to over 675,000 of a total population of 1,200,000) and many Oblate priests, brothers, seminarians, schools, hospitals and clinics.  In 1952, the Church of Lesotho was blessed with its first Indigenous Bishop, Emmanuel Mabathoana. In one of his retreat notes, Blessed Joseph Gérard gave the key to his constancy when he wrote about the people he served: “We must love them, love them in spite of everything, love them always”. He lived out his belief in the joy of spreading God’s Word, despite the hardships and opposition he encountered.

So, as we celebrate the Eucharist today, let us pray we will be grounded in the love of the Father made present to us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and that like St. Paul and Blessed Joseph Gérard, we might be able to more effectively evangelize our culture and our world.