Faith-Jesus Christ-Missionary Disciples-St Marie of the Incarnation

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 03 04 – Year II

On Being Missionary Disciples:

Memorial of St. Marie of the Incarnation

(Acts 8:26-40; Ps 66; Jn 6:44-51)

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Do you see yourself as a missionary disciple? That is what Pope Francis challenges us to be constantly.

In today’s first reading, Philip can serve as a model for us. His missionary activity presents four key elements: faith in Jesus Christ; attentiveness to the Holy Spirit, knowledge of scripture, and the courage to proclaim the good news of Jesus risen from the dead.

In his challenge to be missionary disciples, Pope Francis insists the first step is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. He even tells seminarians to postpone their ordination if Jesus is not the center of their lives. We see in the first reading the Ethiopian eunuch comes to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. In the gospel Jesus reminds us he is the Bread of Life and the source of eternal life.

Over the years my faith in Jesus has come to be expressed in this way: “Lord Jesus Christ, totally receptive to the Father’s love; humble, obedient, pure and faithful in response to that love; Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David; Savior, Redeemer, Word made flesh; sinless one, free from addiction, the Way, the Truth, the Life; the resurrection, suffering servant, crucified Messiah, sacrificial victim, risen Lord, victorious king.”

The next element for Philip was attentiveness to the Holy Spirit, directing him south to the road to Gaza and then to get into the chariot of the eunuch. When I was visiting years back on First Nations communities as a missionary Oblate priest, I would travel to the community praying to the Holy Spirit to guide me to the houses that I should visit, and twice that landed me right into the middle of couples having heated fights that I ended up refereeing to a peaceful conclusion.

Over the years, my prayer to the Holy Spirit has become: “Holy Spirit, giver of life, bond of love between the Father and the Son, life-giving creative Holy Spirit, agent of forgiveness, giver of gifts, source of all life and love, exousia, dunamis, and pneuma of the Father.”

The third element that Philip portrayed was knowledge of the scriptures. When the Ethiopian questioned him about a passage in the prophet Isaiah, Philip had no hesitation climbing aboard and explaining to him all the prophecies that were about Jesus, much as Jesus himself did to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Philip was especially able to identify the mysterious “suffering servant” of Isaiah 53 as Jesus the crucified Messiah. We need to be familiar with the bible so that we also can connect scripture to the reality of everyday life.

The last element Philip demonstrated was the courage to proclaim the good news, not just to the Ethiopian, but also to “all the towns until he came to Caesarea.” That is perhaps the most challenging element for us – having the courage to share our knowledge of scripture and our experience of Jesus Christ with others.

I personally try to do that especially through presentations on addictions awareness integrating Christian, 12 Step and Indigenous spirituality, revealing the Exodus Journey and Paschal Mystery Experience as central to the 12 Step program. I also find that biblical art is very effective in proclaiming the good news.

The Ethiopian eunuch symbolizes God’s desire, I believe, for the world’s religions. He believed in the God of the Jewish people and had worshipped in the temple, which involved animal sacrifice, separated people from the Holy of Holies by means of a great curtain. His openness to understand the prophecies about a suffering servant of God led him to faith in Jesus as that suffering servant who fulfilled all the prophecies about himself in the Old Testament. His whole belief system came to full maturity – now instead of offering animal sacrifice to a distant God, he had a personal intimate relationship with God who was Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwelling within him. No wonder he went on his way rejoicing after Philip was snatched away by the Spirit!

Today the church invites us to honor St. Marie of the Incarnation. She was someone who truly had faith in Jesus and expressed that faith through loving service by washing the feet of others, especially the Indigenous people whom she served.

The first missionary woman to the New World, Marie was born in Tours, France, in 1599. Denying her own attraction to religious life, Marie honored her father’s wishes and married Claude Martin in 1617. Claude died only three years later. Soon after, Marie began receiving revelations concerning the Incarnation, the Sacred Heart, and the Blessed Trinity. After seeking spiritual direction, she entered the Ursuline monastery in Tours.

Encouraged by a dream, she set sail with two other Ursulines, arriving in Quebec City in 1639. There, they opened their first school in Lower-town. The school grew despite sickness, poverty and strained relations with the Native peoples. When Quebecers were threatened by tensions with the Iroquois nation, Marie was recalled to France but she chose to remain in New France. Amazingly, she composed catechisms in Huron and Algonquin, and a dictionary of French and Algonquin. Marie died in Quebec in 1672. She was beatified in 1980 and canonized in 2104 by Pope Francis.

The Eucharist is a great act of faith, and our own encounter with the Risen Lord, through his Word, and his Body and Blood. Let us pray as we celebrate that our personal experience of Jesus may grow stronger, our attentiveness to the Spirit be keener, our knowledge of scripture continue to deepen, and our courage to go out and proclaim the good news become like Philip’s.