Thesis-repentance-St John Leonardi

HOMILY WEEK 27 03 – Year I

An Extreme Faith Makeover

(Jonah 4:1-11; Ps 86; Lk 11:1-4)

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“Extreme Makeover” shows on TV that involve the transformation of plain looking persons or run-down houses into a stunning display of poise and beauty all end with a “big reveal” of the finished product that impresses people.

One reason why the story of Jonah is so popular is that Nineveh was capital of the Assyrian Empire, one of the largest and most powerful cities of the time. The Ninevites were also cruel and mean, gobbling up land and overthrowing kingdoms throughout the Fertile Crescent. They were ruthless in how they waged war and tortured their captives. In that respect, they were similar to the Aztecs in Mexico who waged war to capture prisoners for their human sacrifices to their sun god, and were feared by all the surrounding Indigenous tribes.

So, when God sent Jonah to the people of Nineveh, naturally, Jonah balked – how could he convert those hardened hearts? It seemed impossible, but God saw their potential. And Jonah was wrong – they underwent a conversion of biblical proportions, from the king who put on sackcloth and ashes, right down to the animals. God also went out of his way to soften Jonah’s heart and showed him how deep God’s mercy runs. In a real sense, Jonah was like both the prodigal son, and the elder son in the parable, needing both forgiveness for his sin of disobeying God, and healing of his negative attitudes of stubborn self-will and painful emotions of anger and resentment.

God believed in the people of Nineveh, and in Jonah, as he does in us. God can do great things with us, an extreme makeover, if we let him. God has that in plan for us – God accepts us as we are but also believes in whom we can become.

In the Gospel, Jesus believes in the disciples – in whom they can become. He teaches them the Our Father, which is a prayer of mature faith and transformation – that God’s kingdom would be a reality here on earth, in us. Interestingly, in Luke, the translation of what we pray “Lead us not into temptation” reads “And do not bring us to the time of trial.” That is a more accurate wording that would solve the problem some have, including Pope Francis, with the idea of God leading anyone into temptation.

That “trial” is actually the “experience of the apparent absence of God” that Jesus felt on the cross as he cried out, “My God, why have you forsaken me,” from Psalm 22. That experience is given to those with strong faith to even deepen that faith, as in the case of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who experienced dryness in her prayer from the time she began her ministry to her death, shocking many when that was revealed.

Because our faith is not strong enough, we get it in small doses, short periods of desolation in our lives that remind us what life can be like without God in our life. And so, we are actually praying in that segment of the Our Father, to not be given that experience of the apparent absence of God, which is why that translation, “Do not bring us to the test” is the most appropriate.

Another word for this “extreme make-over” is “theosis” or divinization – becoming more and more holy and Christ-like. That is the real goal of our faith. According to spiritual writer James Finley, John of the Cross describes that process in these words: “The supernatural union exists when God’s will,and the soul’s will, are in conformity, so that nothing in the one is repugnant to the other. When the soul rids itself completely of what is repugnant and unconformed to the divine will, it rests transformed in God through love.”

Our newly minted vision statement here at the Star of the North Retreat Center, “Renewing our spirit; transforming the world,” is another way of expressing that reality of “theosis,” “divinization,” an extreme makeover.

Today the church offers us the option of honoring 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 itself is an extreme makeover – gifts of bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, and we who receive with sincere faith are in turn transformed into the Body of Christ, sent out to be bread for the world.

May our celebration open us up to the transforming power of God’s love, forgiveness and healing, help us to experience an extreme makeover, and like the apostles, and St John Leonardi, spread that good news wherever we are.