HOMILY WEEK 06 05 – Year I
Following Jesus through a Personal Paschal Mystyer:
Optional Memorial of the Seven Founders of the Servite Order
(Gen 11:1-9; Ps 33; Mk 8:34-38)
******************************************************
“Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own” and “Take up your cross and follow me.”
These two quotes pretty well sum up the readings today. We are chosen to follow Jesus through the cross to new life.
It is interesting that in the New Testament, Jesus says “follow me” much more than “worship me.”
In the Old Testament, God chose the insignificant nation of Israel to be icons on earth of who God was, to attract all nations back to God. We know, of course, how dismally they failed to live up to the exalted calling, falling consistently and over and over again, for the false gods of an over-attachment to possessions, prestige, power and pleasure.
By our baptism and faith in Jesus, we have been constituted as a new people of God, called to follow Jesus not to glory and fame, but to the Cross – to experience our own Paschal Mystery.
For Jesus, that Paschal Mystery involved six distinct stages: his passion, death by crucifixion, resurrection to new life, appearances to his friends, ascension into heaven, and finally, the sending of his Spirit at Pentecost.
Jesus invites us to follow him into our own version of those same six stages, our own personal Paschal Mystery. We have all been hurt. No one gets through life unscathed. That is our passion. Whenever we are hurt, we suffer loss – of relationships, wellness, dreams, reputation, etc. That is our death. Yet here we are, but most probably for many of us, survivors trying to get by, rather than really thriving – that is our resurrection.
The appearances to the disciples, was for Jesus a time of teaching Mary Magdalen especially, but also all the disciples, to grieve and mourn his loss – they could not have him back the way they had him before. The Jesus of history was now the Christ of faith. So it is for us – we need to grieve and mourn our losses in a good way to be able to move on with our lives. We need to turn being stuck in grief, to good grieving.
The ascension of Jesus becomes for us, the ability to forgive all those who have hurt us in any way, by communicating our feelings to our abusers with love, seeking no revenge and without any expectation. We love our selves by being attentive to our memory and emotions, and then love our enemies by giving them back that dark energy with love.
That process takes us to Pentecost, receiving the Spirit of Jesus that will be felt most often as peace and joy, because we have followed Jesus through our own personal Paschal Mystery, and have become just like Jesus on the Cross, forgiving and free. We are radical disciples open to redemptive suffering who are building up the reign of God here on earth. Our self-worth and self-esteem grow because we are just like Jesus and living the gospel.
On top of that, we have reversed the tower of Babel, where the languages of the people were confused and communication became garbled. We are now communicating with love, and speaking that new language Jesus assures us will accompany us as his disciples when we follow him and live out his teachings.
Servite Founders
Today the church invites us to honor the seven holy founders of the Servite Order, who truly lived the message of today’s readings. One of the earliest orders of mendicants – religious communities who rely solely on charity for support – the Order of Servites was founded in 1240. Between 1225 and 1227, seven young men from the city of Florence joined the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin, whose members were popularly known as the Praisers. Inspired by visions of Our Lady, they decided to dedicate themselves to lives of prayer and service. In time, they attracted so many visitors that they decided to withdraw to a deserted mountain, where they built a church and hermitage, living a life of extreme austerity. Their bishop prevailed upon them to adopt a rule and accept recruits. This was followed by another vision of Our Lady on April 13, 1240, and a change of name to Servants of Mary, or Servites. The new order grew quickly. One of the early recruits was Peregrine Laziosi, now patron saint of persons with serious illnesses. Of the original seven all but one became priests. Only the lay brother, who lived to be 110, saw the order fully recognized in 1304.
The Eucharist makes present the unconditional love of Jesus on the Cross. May our celebration empower us to truly follow Jesus through our own personal Paschal Mystery.
