HOMILY EASTER WEEK 05 06 – Year II
Steadfast Faith and Love:
Optional Memorial of Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis
(Acts 16:1-10; Psalm 100; Jn 15:18-21)
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In the gospel, Jesus warns us that just as he was misunderstood and persecuted, his followers will also be misunderstood and persecuted.
We must pray for the faith to stay faithful in the light of that persecution.
Speaking of misunderstanding, Jesus ends the gospel with a reason for persecution: “And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.”
The late Catholic theologian Karl Rahner, commenting on Jesus’ prayer on the cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,” maintains that they did know what they were doing – they were killing an innocent man. What they did not know, he maintains, is how much God loved them.
Throughout all of history, it is evident what the world really understands, and loves are the false gods of possessions, prestige and power – the same temptations that Jesus faced in the desert. Grounded in the Father’s love for him, so secure in that love and in his intimate relationship with the Father, Jesus was able to face down and say “no” to these temptations. He knew how much he was loved by the Father.
We will be faced with those same temptations and false gods every day, as our culture is blatantly in love with those same false gods. Thomas Keating describes them as an inordinate attachment to survival and security, affection and esteem, power and control. When these needs are unmet in our lives, they tend to take over, control us and eventually, even addict us.
There is a growing fear in our society of the so-called Illuminati and a New World Order. A quick check of You Tube will reveal how very present that fear is, with video after video claiming many stars and celebrities of this world are involved in very cultish rituals and activities, pressured into even eating human feces, drinking their own urine, and drinking the blood of babies! All for the sake of selling their souls to Satan in exchange for success, fame and power.
It seems surreal, but when one thinks of the power of these false gods to seduce us – and that is happening all the time, perhaps these claims are not so far fetched.
The best and really only antidote to this pervasive and even diabolical force that Jesus warned us about, is to have our love needs met, and that is our need to beloved, to belong and to be valued. That happens best in loving families where there is unconditional love, demonstrations of affection, honest and open communication, and forgiveness of the hurts of family life. Akin to that is a close, intimate, prayerful relationship with the love of the Father through a close, intimate, prayerful relationship with his Son, Jesus Christ. This will make us so secure in God’s love for us we will be able to say “no” to the lure of these false gods, as did Jesus in the desert.
Today the Church invites us to honour Blessed Marie-Élodie Paradis. Élodie was born in 1840 in L’Acadie, Quebec. At age 17 she took vows with the Marianite Sisters, a branch of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. She taught in Montreal, New York and Indiana before finding the opportunity to fulfill her calling of dedication to the care of priests and seminarians. In 1877, Mother Marie-Leonie (Élodie’s religious name), with 14 young Acadian women, founded the Little Sisters of the Holy Family in Memramcook, NB. Mother Marie-Léonie worked tirelessly for others and was known for her generosity and humility. She died in 1912 and was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1984.
The Eucharist is our greatest prayer and a ritual that does not enslave us to false gods but rather fills us with the love of the one true God. It sets us free to give our lives away in love, complete with the peace and joy that comes from doing the Father’s will in our lives.
