Faith-Repentance-Service-Joy

HOMILY WEEK 26 06 – Year I

Faith, Repent, Serve: a recipe for joy

(Bar 4:5-29; Ps 69; Lk 10:17-24)

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When was the last time you felt a moment of pure joy?

That probably doesn’t happen often, partly because as Henri Nouwen wrote, in this life there is no such thing as a clear-cut pure joy, and as theologian Karl Rahner wrote, in this life there is no such thing as a finished symphony. We are destined to live with a certain incompleteness until we see God face-to-face, it seems.

However, today’s readings do give us a recipe for experiencing joy in our lives: believe, repent and serve.

Looking first at the gospel, the number of disciples – seventy – is significant. Three plus four (perfect numbers) equals seven (perfect number) times ten (perfect number) equals seventy (another perfect number). This number of disciples, deliberately chosen and sent out by Jesus, implies that within this imperfect world where incompletion, limitation and lack is the order of the day, a certain fullness, completion, perfection is coming to birth. Sin, sinfulness and evil in all its forms is being overcome (“even the demons submit to us”), a great joy is being experienced, and the reign of God is being established.

Even Jesus rejoices “in the Holy Spirit” and he thanks the Father of heaven and earth for the mystery of that kingdom being established through the lowly ones such as these rough-hewn disciples. Here we see a rare instance of the mention of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – fitting here since this reign of God is heaven becoming present on earth.

The disciples’ faith in Jesus has grown strong (“in your name the demons submit to us”), and they were sent out to minister to others, to spread the good news of the kingdom, to serve the Word – so faith and service becomes the source of their joy.

The first reading from Baruch and the psalm provide another source of joy – repentance. Baruch continues his lament for the infidelity and idolatry of the people who have angered and provoked God by their sinful behavior. However, he encourages them to repent, to change, to “return with tenfold zeal” to seek the Lord. That repentance, he assures them, will bring them everlasting joy with their salvation.

Psalm 69, for its part, proclaims that God hears the cry of the poor, the lowly, the oppressed, the needy, those in pain, even as a consequence of their own sinful deeds. All they need do is to put their trust in God once again, repent and return to him, and God will save them, rebuild the cities of Judah and they shall inherit the land – certainly a source of joy.

So, these readings all point to one message: faith in Jesus, repentance that involves turning back to God for forgiveness, and lives of service all make a fool-proof recipe for joy.

Joy is not a passing emotion like happiness or taking delight in something or some event. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit we can claim as our own as disciples of Jesus, no matter what is happening in our lives at the moment. It makes sense that Jesus would “rejoice in the Holy Spirit” because joy and the Holy Spirit are inextricably joined together.

Jesus closes the gospel by calling the disciples blessed because they have eyes to see what kings and rulers desired to see but did not. That is because of their faith, their repentance and their acceptance of service as a source of joy. They had the eyes of faith to see into this mystery and live it out in their lives.

We can ask ourselves, do we have the eyes of faith to peer into the same mystery of God at work in our lives through our humble faith, genuine repentance of any and all sin in our lives, and a commitment to give ourselves selflessly in service of our brothers and sisters?

When I enter into my monthly poustinia, I always try to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation. That act of humble faith and repentance that gifts one with both forgiveness and healing is always a source of joy for me, and strengthens me to serve others more genuinely from the heart. Again, faith, repentance and service is a recipe for experiencing joy.

The Eucharist is an act of faith that calls us to repentance, offers us forgiveness, strength and healing, and sends us out like the early disciples to serve our brothers and sisters in need, and to spread the good news of the kingdom of God in our land. May our celebration empower us to do that by our lives.