Faith-Fellowship-St Anselm

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 02 02

Returning To Our Roots

(Acts 4:32-37; Ps 93; Jn 3:7-15)

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Faith and Fellowship are two words expressing the essence of today’s liturgy.

On this Tuesday of the second week of the Easter season, we are invited to deepen our faith in Jesus as crucified Messiah and Risen Lord, and to express that faith through genuine, caring fellowship with one another.

In the gospel, we see Nicodemus being challenged to believe not just in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, but also in him as the crucified Messiah, the one who would be lifted up for the sake of the whole world. Jesus is the one who would reveal the true nature of God as love, and also restore the broken relationship between God and humanity by his selfless sacrifice. That faith is quite a stretch for Nicodemus as a devout Pharisee.

Turning to the first reading, the followers of Jesus are described as “the whole group of those who believed.” Isn’t it striking how these first Christians expressed their faith in Jesus as Risen Lord by caring for one another? Moved by their love for the Lord and for each other and having been “born from above” at Pentecost when they received the Holy Spirit, the wealthier members of their community – people like Barnabas – freely shared their resources with those who were less fortunate. They considered their bounty as a blessing from God and saw it as something they should share with each other rather than hold onto for themselves (Acts 4:34-37).

Blessed Frederick Ozanam is a more contemporary example of someone who, like the early Christians, looked beyond himself to the needs of the people around him. When thousands died in a cholera epidemic in Paris in 1832, many more were left destitute. Ozanam, a young university student, was moved at the hopeless state of families who had lost the support of their bread winners. Then he was stung by another student’s remark: “In former times Christianity worked wonders, but what is it doing for humanity now” And you, who pride yourself on your Catholicity, what are you doing for the poor?”

In response, Ozanam gathered a few friends and began to do whatever he could to relieve the suffering he saw in the slums of the city. Eventually, a new organization, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, grew from Ozanam’s work and spread. Today, through this society, volunteers serve millions of disadvantaged people around the globe. They provide home visits, job training, housing assistance, food pantries and medicine for the elderly. They pray with people, care for their needs, and show the love of Christ in countless concrete ways. Some of our Oblate Associates in Edmonton are very involved in this society, and I am honored to serve as their national chaplain.

Most of us don’t live in as close-knit a community as the first Christians did, where everything was held in common. Nor would many of us be able, like Barnabas, to sell our property, donate it to our local parish, and still be able to care for ourselves and our families.

Still God asks us to express our faith in Jesus, and to bear witness to his Son through acts of generosity and loving service that are in line with our circumstances. So, let us ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to see the needs around us. Sharing even a little of our resources, even a little of our time and attention, can make a big difference!

I attended a third anniversary of sobriety of a recovering alcoholic and was struck by the close-knit community he was experiencing as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. He came with me on a 12 Step call to help another alcoholic, and I was impressed not only by the way he reached out to this desperate person, but also how he picked him up from the hospital the next day, put him up in his own home, and put him through the program for the next two days. I felt like I was witnessing that early Christian community.

Today the church invites us to honor St. Anselm. Born in 1033, Anselm was motivated to enter the monastery of Bec in Normandy due to the reputation of the great teacher Lanfranc. Anselm became a monk at the age of 27, and a student and close friend of Lanfranc, eventually succeeding him as prior and abbot of Bec. After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, William I replaced the English hierarchy with Normans, and Lanfranc was sent as archbishop of Canterbury. Three years after Lanfranc’s death, Anslem was forcibly made an archbishop in England (1093). Neither an administrator nor a politician by nature, he persevered nonetheless. Through his encouragement of English devotions, he helped heal the wound of the Conquest on the English. Anselm’s fame lies in his role as a theologian and philosopher. His argument for the existence of God still holds strong appeal. In his concern for the oppressed, he was one of the first opponents of the slave trade. Anselm died in 1190. Never formally canonized, he was made a Doctor of the Church in 1720.

The Eucharist is a family meal, something we all share in common, and a celebration in which we are all equal, no one better than anyone else, pauper or prince. Having pondered God’s Word today, we are then mandated to go out like the early Christians and express our faith in the resurrection by doing what we can to make sure that no one is in need.