HOMILY WEEK 17 04 – Year II
Choosing Light and Life:
Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori
(Jer 18:1-6; Ps 146; Mt 13:47-52)
********************************************
“He tried again, making of the clay another object.”
Israel had wandered from the Lord – not once, but multiple times, over many years. The people were worshipping false gods of money, fame and power, breaking the commandments, and cozying up to foreign nations. It was into this state of chaos that God sent Jeremiah to prophesy. Often, Jeremiah’s words were harsh and upbraiding. But in today’s first reading, he gives a word of hope. God isn’t done with Israel – and God never will be. God will never give up his love for them. As a potter refashions clay, God will always work to mold them into the people God created them to be.
Does God’s anguish over Israel sound familiar? Every parent, sibling or spouse – likely each of us – has felt something similar. We want a loved one to change. We see all they could become if only they would turn to God more deeply. Yet even in their messiness, we see the beautiful person they already are and how much God loves them.
If we have felt this way, it means that we know something of God’s heart for God’s children. The good news is that God is still the Divine Potter, and the way God felt about Israel is the way God feels about each of God’s children. No one is off God’s radar.
What a comfort this is. This means that if we have been praying for someone to come to the Lord for what seems like a long time, we can trust that the Divine Potter is at work. We need to keep on trusting and asking God for strength for ourselves – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. God wants to help us endure and persevere. Remember, God waited a long time for Israel, so God knows what it’s like.
Our heavenly and loving Father never stops trying to form and mold God’s children’s hearts, and that includes every one of our loved ones. God will always try again, “Making of the clay another object” (Jeremiah 18:4). God refashioned Israel time and again, and God will do the same for each of us
Jesus, in the gospel, sounds much like Jeremiah scolding the Israelites as he once again resorts to a parable to communicate the importance of a faith response to him in the light of the end of time. What can help us grasp the deeper meaning of this parable is the reality of shepherding in Palestine to this day. When the shepherd leads his or her flock home at the end of the day, the sheep follow the lead sheep, and the goats follow the lead goat. In a similar fashion, in the final judgement, we will judge ourselves. Those who loved God in this life will be drawn to God in the next, while those who rejected God in this life, won’t be comfortable with God in the next, and will end up in darkness rather than in divine light and life.
Today, we celebrate the memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, whose life spanned the 18th century. Born in Naples, he was ordained in 1726. He soon won a reputation as a preacher and became widely sought as a confessor. He was committed to preaching sermons that were simple to understand and structured to hold the listener’s attention. In 1732 he went to Scala and founded an order of missionary priests that became the Redemptorists. Alphonsus lived an exceptionally holy life. He was a bishop from 1762 to 1775, insisting on the dignified and unhurried celebration of the Mass and the firm treatment of persistent wrongdoers. He was also an outstanding moral theologian, known for his great kindness and concern for others, and won back sinners to the fold by patience and moderation. His Moral Theology was published in 1748. He was canonized in 1839 and in 1871 was named a Doctor of the Church. He is a patron of moral theologians and confessors.
The Eucharist is an invitation for us to be clay in the Divine Potter’s hands, as we listen to the Word of God, receive the body and blood of Jesus, experience forgiveness and healing, and are empowered to live out our faith in Jesus Christ.
