HOMILY WEEK 17 04 – Year II
Choosing Light and Life:
Optional Memorial of St. Peter Chrysologus
(Adapted from The Word Among Us)
(Jer 18:1-6; Ps 146; Mt 13:47-52)
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“He tried again, making of the clay another object.”
Israel had wandered from the Lord – not once, but multiple times, over many years. The people were worshipping false gods of money, fame and power, breaking the commandments, and cozying up to foreign nations. It was into this state of chaos that God sent Jeremiah to prophesy. Often, Jeremiah’s words were harsh and upbraiding. But in today’s first reading, he gives a word of hope. God isn’t done with Israel – and God never will be. God will never give up his love for them. As a potter refashions clay, God will always work to mold them into the people God created them to be.
Does God’s anguish over Israel sound familiar? Every parent, sibling or spouse – likely each of us – has felt something similar. We want a loved one to change. We see all they could become if only they would turn to God more deeply. Yet even in their messiness, we see the beautiful person they already are and how much God loves them.
If we have felt this way, it means that we know something of God’s heart for God’s children. The good news is that God is still the Divine Potter, and the way God felt about Israel is the way God feels about each of God’s children. No one is off God’s radar.
What a comfort this is. This means that if we have been praying for someone to come to the Lord for what seems like a long time, we can trust that the Divine Potter is at work. We need to keep on trusting and asking God for strength for ourselves – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. God wants to help us endure and persevere. Remember, God waited a long time for Israel, so God knows what it’s like.
Our heavenly and loving Father never stops trying to form and mold God’s children’s hearts, and that includes every one of our loved ones. God will always try again, “Making of the clay another object” (Jeremiah 18:4). God refashioned Israel time and again, and God will do the same for each of us
Jesus, in the gospel, sounds much like Jeremiah scolding the Israelites as he once again resorts to a parable to communicate the importance of a faith response to him in the light of the end of time. What can help us grasp the deeper meaning of this parable is the reality of shepherding in Palestine to this day. When the shepherd leads his or her flock home at the end of the day, the sheep follow the lead sheep, and the goats follow the lead goat. In a similar fashion, in the final judgement, we will judge ourselves. Those who loved God in this life will be drawn to God in the next, while those who rejected God in this life, won’t be comfortable with God in the next, and will end up in darkness rather than in divine light and life.
St Peter Chrysologus
Today, the Church invites us to honor St. Peter Chrysologus. Peter, born in Italy around 406, became Archbishop of Ravenna about 439. When he arrived in his diocese, he found a strong pagan influence and many lapsed faithful. Through his labors, paganism was eradicated and the faith revived. He was a concerned pastor and preacher and earned the title Chrysologus (“of golden words”) because of his inspirational homilies, many of which are still extant. He died around 450 and was made a Doctor of the Church in 1729.
The Eucharist is an invitation for us to be clay in the Divine Potter’s hands, as we listen to the Word of God, receive the body and blood of Jesus, experience forgiveness and healing, and are empowered to imitate St. Peter Chrysologus in the way he fervently lived out his faith in Jesus Christ.
