HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 04 04 – Year I
After God’s Own Heart – Living a 9th Beatitude:
Memorial of St. Catherine of Sienna
(Acts 13.13-25; Ps 89; Jn 13.16-20)
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If you were invited to speak in a synagogue, what would be your message?
The readings today provide us with one: have faith in Jesus and do the will of the Father; be a person after God’s own heart, and live the ninth Beatitude.
The first reading from Acts today has St. Paul and his companions invited to speak to a Jewish congregation in a synagogue in Antioch. Paul’s method of evangelizing is clear – he recounts salvation history, the plan of God. Paul starts with the Exodus from slavery in Egypt, then mentions the forty years in the wilderness after the covenant was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
The Israelites had to learn two important lessons in the wilderness before they could enter the promised land: to live one day at a time (manna in the morning for that day only and quail in the evening), and to look forward to a savior on a standard who would have no sin (poison) in him. Then Paul brings in the judges who dealt with justice issues, prophets who spoke truth and called the people back to the covenant, and finally kings. The numbers involved (40 years; 7 nations; 450 years) are important. They all signify wholeness, time for completion – the perfection of God’s plan.
Paul then focuses on King David with a remarkable comment: “God said, ‘I have found David to be a man after my own heart.’” God took a different tack with David, and made an unconditional covenant with him, promising to be with him no matter what he might do. And what did David do? Lust, adultery and arrange a murder – pretty serious stuff.
What set David apart, however, is that when confronted by the prophet Nathan, David genuinely repented and experienced God’s unconditional love as pure forgiveness. That experience transformed David into the only true king Israel ever had. David walked intimately with God after that, knew the will of God, and did his will. David knew as king he was God’s representative here on earth and acted accordingly. That is why he was able to tell the temple priests to give him the bread of presence only the priests could eat, because he knew that was what God would do. In short, David did the will of the Father, which made him a “man after God’s own heart.” Paul then ends his history, fittingly, with John the Baptist, the precursor of Jesus.
The psalm picks up the specialness of David, portraying him as part of the goodness of God – that God’s faithfulness and steadfast love will be with him – and in God’s name he will be exalted. It adds that he would proclaim God as Father, God and the rock of salvation. No wonder Jesus was always referred to as Son of David and never Son of Moses, because David, even before John the Baptist, prepared the way for Jesus.
Of course, all Paul is proclaiming in the first reading is a lead-up to his proclamation of Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, and now Risen Lord. The Gospel flashes back to the Last Supper, to highlight one particular quality of this Son of David, the real King of Israel, and that is humble love as service – to the extent of washing his disciples feet. Jesus then tells the apostles they, as servants, must do what he, their master, has done, and “blessed are you if you do this.”
There is the 9th Beatitude – to do the will of the Father, and in the process, to be a person after God’s own heart. That is what King David did to prefigure Jesus, and that is what Jesus did par excellence, assuring us many times in the gospels he came not to be served, but to serve, and to do the Father’s will. So, on top of the eight beatitudes: being poor in spirit, able to mourn, being gentle, seeking justice, being merciful, purity of heart, peacemaking and accepting hardship for his sake without bitterness or resentment, we can add a ninth – blessed are we if we simply do the will of the Father.
In the gospel, Jesus asks us to believe he is the Son of Man who would be betrayed by Judas, and to receive him is to receive the Father. Our society has lost its faith in Jesus, in his truth, and in his pattern of passion, death and resurrection. We have reverted back to the original sin of our ancestors, to decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, to do our own will instead of God’s will, in so many different ways.
St. Catherine of Siena, whom we honor today, was someone who truly did the will of God in her life. One of four women doctors of the Church, she was born in Sienna, Italy in 1347, the youngest of 25 children. She vowed her virginity to God at the age of seven after a vision of Christ in glory. She then joined Dominican Third Order in 1365 and spent those first years in seclusion, fasting and praying. In 1368 after receiving a vision of Christ accepting her as his bride, she felt called to carry this love to others, and so became more active, caring for the poor, tending to the sick, and corresponding with people from all walks of life, including princes and popes. In the process she became renowned as a peacemaker.
St Catherine of Sienna
Catherine was also a great mystic. Particularly famous are her visions of her exchanging hearts with Christ, and of the Virgin presenting her the Baby Jesus who gives her a ring. She expounded her doctrine in three works: the “Treatise on Divine Providence”, her “Letters” and a collection of “Prayers”. She died in Rome in 1380, was canonized in 1461, became patron of Italy in 1939, and was declared a doctor of the Church in 1970. She is co-patron of Europe with St. Bridget of Sweden and St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. What an example she is for us.
To follow in the footsteps of St. Paul and King David, doing God’s will, not our own, and being persons after the heart of God, and above all to be like Jesus, totally obedient to the Father’s will and humbly serving the deepest needs of humanity, is a great challenge. The Eucharist is our daily manna, our nourishment and source of strength to meet that challenge.
So let us take to heart the message of St. Paul – let us put our total faith in Jesus as Messiah and Risen Lord, and strive to do the will of the Father. In doing so, we become “persons after the Father’s own heart,” and live the ninth beatitude, as did St. Catherine of Sienna.
