(Jonah 4:1-11; Ps 86; Lk 11:1-4)<\/p>\n
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\u201cExtreme Makeover\u201d shows on TV that involve the transformation of plain looking persons or run-down houses into a stunning display of poise and beauty all end with a \u201cbig reveal\u201d of the finished product that impresses people.<\/p>\n
One reason why the story of Jonah is so popular is that Nineveh was capital of the Assyrian Empire, one of the largest and most powerful cities of the time. The Ninevites were also cruel and mean, gobbling up land and overthrowing kingdoms throughout the Fertile Crescent. They were ruthless in how they waged war and tortured their captives. In that respect, they were similar to the Aztecs in Mexico who waged war to capture prisoners for their human sacrifices to their sun god, and were feared by all the surrounding Indigenous tribes.<\/p>\n
So, when God sent Jonah to the people of Nineveh, naturally, Jonah balked \u2013 how could he convert those hardened hearts? It seemed impossible, but God saw their potential. And Jonah was wrong \u2013 they underwent a conversion of biblical proportions, from the king who put on sackcloth and ashes, right down to the animals. God also went out of his way to soften Jonah\u2019s heart and showed him how deep God\u2019s mercy runs. In a real sense, Jonah was like both the prodigal son, and the elder son in the parable, needing both forgiveness for his sin of disobeying God, and healing of his negative attitudes of stubborn self-will and painful emotions of anger and resentment.<\/p>\n
God believed in the people of Nineveh, and in Jonah, as he does in us. God can do great things with us, an extreme makeover, if we let him. God has that in plan for us \u2013 God accepts us as we are but also believes in whom we can become.<\/p>\n
In the Gospel, Jesus believes in the disciples \u2013 in whom they can become. He teaches them the Our Father, which is a prayer of mature faith and transformation \u2013 that God\u2019s kingdom would be a reality here on earth, in us. Interestingly, in Luke, the translation of what we pray \u201cLead us not into temptation\u201d reads \u201cAnd do not bring us to the time of trial.\u201d That is a more accurate wording that would solve the problem some have, including Pope\u00a0Francis, with the idea of God leading anyone into temptation.<\/p>\n
That \u201ctrial\u201d is actually the \u201cexperience of the apparent absence of God\u201d that Jesus felt on the cross as he cried out, \u201cMy God, why have you forsaken me,\u201d from Psalm 22. That experience is given to those with strong faith to even deepen that faith, as in the case of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who experienced dryness in her prayer from the time she began her ministry to her death, shocking many when that was revealed.<\/p>\n
Because our faith is not strong enough, we get it in small doses, short periods of desolation in our lives that remind us what life can be like without God in our life. And so, we are actually praying in that segment of the Our Father, to not be given that experience of the apparent absence of God, which is why that translation, \u201cDo not bring us to the test\u201d is the most appropriate.<\/p>\n
Another word for this \u201cextreme make-over\u201d is \u201ctheosis\u201d or divinization \u2013 becoming more and more holy and Christ-like. That is the real goal of our faith. According to spiritual writer James Finley, John of the Cross describes that process in these words: \u201cThe supernatural union exists when God’s will,and the soul\u2019s will, are in conformity, so that nothing in the one is repugnant to the other. When the soul rids itself completely of what is repugnant and unconformed to the divine will, it rests transformed in God through love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our newly minted vision statement here at the Star of the North Retreat Center, \u201cRenewing our spirit; transforming the world,\u201d is another way of expressing that reality of \u201ctheosis,\u201d \u201cdivinization,\u201d an extreme makeover.<\/p>\n
The Eucharist itself is an extreme makeover \u2013 gifts of bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, and we who receive with sincere faith are in turn transformed into the Body of Christ, sent out to be bread for the world.<\/p>\n May our celebration open us up to the transforming power of God\u2019s love, forgiveness and healing, help us to experience an extreme makeover, and like the apostles, and St John Leonardi, spread that good news wherever we are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HOMILY WEEK 27 03 \u2013 Year I An Extreme Faith Makeover (Jonah 4:1-11; Ps 86; Lk 11:1-4) **************************************** \u201cExtreme Makeover\u201d shows on TV that involve the transformation of plain looking persons or run-down houses into a stunning display of poise and beauty all end with a \u201cbig reveal\u201d of the finished product that impresses people. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","category-ordinary-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847","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=2847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2849,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions\/2849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/St-John-Leonardi.jpeg\")
Today the church offers us the option of honoring St. John Leonardi, who experienced theosis<\/em> and understood that translation of the Our Father. John was born in Lucca about 1550, during the Catholic Reformation. He was assistant pharmacist when he decided to study for the priesthood; after ordination in 1572, he worked with the sick and imprisoned. His way of life soon attracted others and together they decided to form a new congregation of secular priests, the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God. He also helped establish the forerunner to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He died in Rome on this day in 1609, having contracted the plague from those he tended.<\/p>\n