HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 04 03 – Year II
Following Jesus More Closely:
Optional Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen
(Acts 12:24-13:5; Ps 67; Jn 12:44-50)
*********************************************
The song Day By Day from Godspell offers this prayer: “To see thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, Follow thee more nearly, Day by day.”
The Gospel Acclamation provides us with a similar strong message: follow Jesus and have the light of life
It is interesting that we do not see light – we see by light. We need a prism to refract light to be able to see the beauty of the different colors that make up light, such as in a rainbow.
It is fitting that Jesus would call himself the light of the world, and speak about the light of life, because he is the rainbow, the prism that reveals to us the true nature of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit – all mentioned in today’s readings.
In the gospel he is able to say that he was sent by the Father, and speaks only what the Father has told him. To see Jesus is to see the Father. To get to know Jesus is to get to know the Father. The relationship we have with Jesus is the relationship we have with the Father.
In the first reading, he is personalized as the Word that gathers adherents. Then suddenly the Holy Spirit enters the picture, speaking to the apostles and sending out Paul and Barnabas into mission, where they proclaim the Word of God.
Here is a first theology of God as Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all inter-relating in complete harmony as the full revelation of God unfolds closer to the end of time.
One way of expressing how this divine economy works for us is that we are here on earth to make our way back to the Father, through Jesus, with Mary our mother, in the Holy Spirit.
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 one of our best ways to see Jesus more clearly, love Jesus more dearly, and follow him more nearly.
It also empowers us and sends us out as did the Holy Spirit Paul and Barnabas, to proclaim the word ourselves, and love all others as did Jesus.
