HOMILY EASTER WEEK 03 01 – YEAR I
Faith that Yearns for More:
Optional Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen
(Acts 6:8-15; Ps 118; Jn 6:22-29)
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Most people are yearning for intimacy. But many are afraid of precisely that journey into intimacy, fearful of being hurt in their lives once again.
The readings today are an invitation to put our faith in Jesus as the only one who can truly satisfy the yearnings of the human heart. As one spiritual writer put it, we are to seek the God of consolations, not the consolations of God.
In the gospel of John, Jesus is clearly divine from the first chapter to the last. Of all the evangelists, he is the one who most stresses the divinity of Christ, rather than his humanity. Here we are reminded of the miracle of the loaves, and then told that Jesus crossed the lake by walking on the water. Finally, he inserts that God the Father has put his seal on the Son of Man.
A friend Joanne recently showed me a beautiful gift of a wooden Easter egg or pysanka with an icon of Jesus painted on it, given to her by Fr. Al Hubenig OMI, who actually passed away later that same evening. Turning it over reveals a signature. Our thinking is that this piece of art is a genuine work of art, perhaps very valuable, attested to by that signature. The Father’s seal on the Son of Man attests to the fact that Jesus is truly who he claims to be – Son of God, Son of Man, Lord of all creation and the long-awaited Messiah.
Someone suggested that the people going to great lengths to search for Jesus, are probably, perhaps even unconsciously, searching for more than just material bread or material things. Deep within every human being is stamped the image and likeness of God, and as St. Augustine famously wrote, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.”
Unfortunately, many people in their lack of faith end up over-attaching to the secondary goods of possessions, prestige, power and pleasure – all meant to help us journey to God, not take the place of God. The fact that in one Canadian province there are more deaths from opioid overdoses than from the Covid-19 pandemic suggests that many people are searching in the wrong places to try to satisfy that deep spiritual hunger within them.
The first reading presents us with a shining model of someone who truly believed in Jesus, who put his total faith in Jesus, and who was filled with the Spirit of Jesus. In writing this chapter, Luke emulates John in the gospel as he describes the signs of faith that Stephen possessed – he was full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people, and his face was like the face of an angel. So strong was Stephen’s faith that he was willing to speak the truth of Jesus as Risen Lord to the powerful religious leaders, even at the cost of his own life.
I suspect that these religious leaders, who should have been the first to recognize and believe in Jesus, were so over-attached precisely to those secondary goods of possessions, prestige, power and pleasure, that they were actually blinded, and unable to see who Jesus was, and even who Stephen was as a follower of Jesus – someone they could have listened to and learned from. Instead, they turned to deceit and denial, and excluded themselves from experiencing that new life that only Jesus can give.
The traditions of Moses were given to them to support them in being icons of God here on earth – they had the law and the prophets to guide them and lead them into the fullness of revelation that would happen when Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God, would come as risen Lord.
The Gospel miracle of the feeding of thousands with fish and loaves is a sign that Jesus is the Messiah who would take religion to a whole new level – a religion of the heart rather than observing rules; a religion of repentance by which they could receive his forgiveness and salvation; and a religion based on him as the new Temple of Israel – a living temple desiring to be in an intimate relationship with God’s people.
As followers of Jesus, we can sometimes find ourselves acting like the people in that crowd. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with asking Jesus to fill our immediate needs. We worry about losing a job or paying our bills. We worry about a loved one battling a serious illness.
Of course, we have every reason to be concerned. But if we focus only on the difficulties, we risk missing the real grace of the “spiritual bread” that Jesus gives us at every Eucharist – deeper communion and friendship with Jesus, a profound, intimate relationship with him, that is beyond any earthly material thing.
We can always do what Jesus did – take time to pray and especially listen to the Word of God, waste time with Jesus, sit in his presence, and soak up his love, even if we don’t feel a thing. We can always trust that what Jesus wants to give us most of all is precisely the same Spirit that filled Stephen with grace and power, and will ultimately satisfy the deepest yearnings of our hearts.
Today the church invites us to honour St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, who was born as Mark Roy in Swabia (Germany) in 1578. He held doctorates in philosophy, canon law and civil law, and served as a tutor to nobles in France, Italy and Spain. Known as the “lawyer of the poor,” he gave up practicing law to enter the Capuchins in Freiburg, Switzerland, in 1612, taking the name Fidelis of Sigmaringen. A dynamic preacher, he was appointed by the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith to preach to the Calvinists in Switzerland. He met with much resistance and was assaulted and slain in 1622. He is patron of lawyers.
The Eucharist is a faith-filled act of listening to God’s word, and communing with the Body and Blood of Jesus. It is an intimate meal, one that makes present the love of God as forgiveness and healing and hopefully will empower us to witness to that love as did St. Stephen and Fidelis of Sigmaringen.
