{"id":1123,"date":"2018-05-29T01:36:19","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T01:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/?p=1123"},"modified":"2018-05-29T01:36:19","modified_gmt":"2018-05-29T01:36:19","slug":"homily-week-08-01-yr-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/29\/homily-week-08-01-yr-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"HOMILY WEEK 08 01 – Yr II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Humble Faith, Living Hope and Eternal Joy<\/em><\/p>\n

(1 Pt 1:3-9; Ps 111; Mk 10:17-27)<\/p>\n

**********************************************<\/p>\n

Have you ever seen yourself as the rich young man in today\u2019s gospel?<\/p>\n

The readings today invite us to grow in humble faith leading us to greater hope and the enjoyment of eternal life to be shared with others.<\/p>\n

Back in 1976, an incident occurred that opened up the meaning of today\u2019s gospel for me. I had attended a Charismatic Conference in Calgary. At the conclusion of the conference, other participants were dancing with joy, but I for some mysterious reason felt sad and kind of down. Travelling back to Edmonton with the Grey Nuns, that bothersome feeling persisted and really puzzled me.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Charistmatic conference<\/p><\/div>\n

The next day, I presided at the Eucharist for the sisters\u2019 community before heading back north. The gospel happened to be the same as today, about the rich young man. As I was proclaiming the gospel, it struck me \u2013 I was that rich young man! I had just attended a conference all about meeting Jesus and had come away sad. What I didn\u2019t know at the time was the reason for that sadness, a question I took with me back home to my mission in Beauval.<\/p>\n

Weeks later, during a Christian Ethics class I was teaching at the local high school, the answer came in an unexpected way. I had shared with the students a filmstrip (at that time) of John Powell\u2019s book Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am?<\/em>in which he lists all the masks that people wear. Just for fun, I asked the students what mask they thought I was wearing (not thinking I was wearing any) and they replied in shocking unison, the\u00a0Messiah!<\/em><\/p>\n

That jolted me, as I realized they were right. As a young Oblate missionary Oblate entering into my second year of ministry, I was trying to change and rescue a community of around 500 faithful, thinking I could fix all their problems. Shortly after that incident, I read a booklet about a young man who found Christianity easy for the first twenty years of his life \u2013 go to church and be a nice guy \u2013 no problem. Then he joined the seminary, tried to be perfect and found Christianity hard. I could identify with that as I was considering leaving the priesthood at that time. Then I read he found Christianity wasn\u2019t easy and it wasn\u2019t hard \u2013 so what was it, I wondered? I turned the page and read \u2013 it was impossible!<\/p>\n

Suddenly everything made sense. In my false pride, workaholism, stubborn self-will and tendency to control, I was trying to play God. Actually, I was doing my will in God\u2019s name \u2013 the worst kind of treason. I prayed like I never prayed before, and surrendered my will to God, and felt great relief \u2013 a spiritual experience of freedom and liberation. I had let go of those riches that I was hoarding and could now truly follow Jesus more faithfully. I was no longer the rich young man, but a humbler young Oblate priest.<\/p>\n

Over the years within my addictions awareness work, I have learned the riches many people carry, their spiritual burden, is a mixture of anger and resentment, shock and shame, sadness and self-pity, as well as guilt and fear. These false gods are what we need to let go to not be like that rich young man and go away sad.<\/p>\n

I also realized I was trying to earn God\u2019s love, as I had tried to earn my father\u2019s love for years, and in that sense, was trying to earn my way into heaven. That also is to be like the rich young man who wanted to inherit, to possess the kingdom of God. Jesus had to set him straight \u2013 no one can possess or earn their way into heaven \u2013 it is a free gift those who truly believe and surrender to God\u2019s will can only receive.<\/p>\n

The reading from first Peter reminds me of Pierre Olivier Tremblay, recently named an auxiliary bishop in Quebec. He observes the youth of today lack hope because they don\u2019t have an infinite horizon of faith, a bigger picture, a meta-narrative, a larger story into which they can place their lives. All they have is what happens to them that day, and if a relationship breaks up on them, it is like the end of the world, and some even take their lives in despair.<\/p>\n

St. Peter is just the opposite \u2013 he is rich in having that infinite horizon of faith he eloquently expresses in his choice of words, mentioning\u00a0 God\u2019s great mercy, a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus, hope in an imperishable inheritance, the gift of faith more precious than gold, and an indescribable and glorious joy because we are receiving and experiencing already the goal of faith, salvation or eternal life. That is our reality as well \u2013 one that like Peter we are called to share with the world. That is also the mandate and mission of our Oblate retreat centres around the world \u2013 to be humble sources of faith and hope helping others enjoy and experience eternal life.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Statue of St Peter in the Vatican<\/p><\/div>\n

The Eucharist is a foretaste of that eternal banquet, the fullness of peace and joy that will be ours in the future but can already be part of the lived reality of those who truly believe and are able to let go of false gods in our lives.<\/p>\n

So, let us pray for faith that gives birth to a living hope and allows us to enjoy a portion of that salvation and eternal life that will one day be ours to live in all its fullness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Humble Faith, Living Hope and Eternal Joy (1 Pt 1:3-9; Ps 111; Mk 10:17-27) ********************************************** Have you ever seen yourself as the rich young man in today\u2019s gospel? The readings today invite us to grow in humble faith leading us to greater hope and the enjoyment of eternal life to be shared with others. Back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ordinary-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1127,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions\/1127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}