Memorial of St. John of the Cross<\/em><\/p>\n (Num 24:2-27; Ps 25; Mt 21:23-27)<\/p>\n *********************************************<\/p>\n How much authority do you exercise?<\/p>\n Today\u2019s readings invite us to speak out with faith and exercise our authority as baptized believers in Jesus.<\/p>\n In the first reading from Numbers, the prophet Balaam twice asserts his authority to speak on God\u2019s behalf, and finally, comes out with a striking prophecy \u2013 \u201cA star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n In the gospel, we have the sharply ironic scene of Jesus, whom we believe is the fulfillment of that prophecy by Balaam, precisely that star and sceptre in person, confronted by the religious leaders of Israel who don\u2019t believe in him, who are resisting him and here, question his authority: “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” Jesus very cleverly presents a counter-question to them, which they can\u2019t answer without revealing their true intent \u2013 to trap him.<\/p>\n According to Bishop Robert Barron, the Greek word used for “authority” is most enlightening:\u00a0exousia<\/em>. It means, literally, “from the being of.” Jesus speaks with the very\u00a0exousia <\/em>of God, and therefore, his words effect what they say. He says, “Lazarus, come out!” and the dead man comes out of the tomb. He rebukes the wind and says to the sea, “Be still!” and there is calm. And the night before he dies, he takes bread and says, “This is my body.” And what he says\u00a0is<\/em>.<\/p>\n This is the authority of the Church. If we are simply the guardians of one interesting philosophical perspective among many, then we are powerless. If we rely on our own cleverness in argumentation, then we will fail. Our power comes\u2014and this remains a great mystery\u2014only when we speak with the authority of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n Part of that authority will flow when we respond to Balaam\u2019s prophecy with the attitude of the psalmist today: \u201cTeach me your ways, O Lord.\u201d The psalm goes on to describe that way of the Lord as one of mercy, steadfast love and humility. When we are open to hearing God\u2019s truth, that God is first and foremost humble steadfast love and mercy, and strive to live that way in our lives, we will be able to speak with authority \u2013 our very presence will exude it through our peace and joy that comes from doing the will of God.<\/p>\n Another meaning for authority can be to \u201cauthor life.\u201d That is our call as well, to bless others, to love them, to affirm them, to see their God-given potential and draw it out by affirming them.<\/p>\n Another shade of meaning in that word exousia<\/em> is that it is the power of a little child, whose innocence and powerlessness can melt the hardest heart. That is the power, the authority God chose to use in sending Jesus among us as a little child, who to show us the depth of God\u2019s love for humanity, gave his life for us totally powerless on the cross, yet in that very action, demonstrating that exousia<\/em> is the greatest power of all, leading to resurrection and the defeat of even death.<\/p>\n Members of the L\u2019Arche movement exercise this kind of authority daily. Their role at l\u2019Arche, and of all those who are close to people with intellectual disabilities, is to help them to discover that their life has meaning, that the community, the Church, society needs them and that they have a special capacity to touch hearts and to give life.<\/p>\n St John of the Cross<\/p><\/div>\n Today the church honors St. John of the Cross, who was born in 1542 at Fontiveros, Spain. He entered the Carmelite community and was ordained in 1567. With the great Carmelite mystic, Teresa of Avila, he worked for the reformation of his order, and helped found the reformed (\u2018Discalced\u2019) Carmelites. During his life, he suffered much, enduring imprisonment, humiliation and ill-treatment. His writings are both classics of spiritualty and of Spanish literature. His best-known works are The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night of the Soul, and The Living Flame of Love. <\/em>He died in 1591, was canonized in 1726 and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1926.<\/p>\n The Eucharist is itself a living out of this authority of God in Jesus \u2013 this exousia<\/em> of humble, merciful steadfast love experienced by us through word and especially through humble gifts of bread and wine transformed into the body and blood of Jesus.<\/p>\n May our celebration strengthen our faith in Jesus as Son of God, Lord, Savior, Messiah, and empower us to share that faith and love with others with the very exousia<\/em> of God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HOMILY ADVENT WEEK 03 01 \u2013 Year II Responding to Prophecy with Authority: Memorial of St. John of the Cross (Num 24:2-27; Ps 25; Mt 21:23-27) ********************************************* How much authority do you exercise? Today\u2019s readings invite us to speak out with faith and exercise our authority as baptized believers in Jesus. In the first reading […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent","category-homilies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302","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=4302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4304,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302\/revisions\/4304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/St-John-of-the-Cross-217x300.jpg\")