Optional Memorial of St. Thomas More <\/em><\/p>\n (2 Cor 11:1-11; Ps 111; Mt 6:7-15)<\/p>\n *****************************************<\/p>\n \u201cThe last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.\u201d<\/p>\n Those words by T. S. Eliot can actually apply to our life of faith. We are called by today\u2019s readings to a pure and sincere faith in Jesus, expressed by doing the Father\u2019s will alone.<\/p>\n There is a danger that in our zeal and misguided individualism, even our ministry can become \u201cdoing our own will in God\u2019s name\u201d, rather than doing God\u2019s will. That, I realized years later, was my situation in my first mission of Beauval \u2013 trying to fix a whole community as \u201cMr. Fix-It\u201d with my own agenda, instead of God\u2019s agenda, leading to a lot of stress and frustration.<\/p>\n The Our Father Jesus teaches us in today\u2019s gospel is a wonderful guide to that pure and sincere devotion to Jesus, and an antidote to doing our own will.<\/p>\n First of all, we say \u201cOur Father\u201d and not \u201cMy Father\u201d. We are in this together. Christianity is a family affair, not an individual effort. As Carey Landry put it, we come to God best \u201cthrough one another.\u201d<\/p>\n One participant in an addiction\u2019s awareness workshop claimed that he \u201cdidn\u2019t need a sponsor or the meetings because he had God.\u201d When the presenter gently tried to point out the danger of that stance, including the risk of religious addiction, he walked out of the room.<\/p>\n Pope Francis once made the same point, which unfortunately was misunderstood and caused some upset to those who read this headline only: \u201cPope Francis claims that a personal relationship with Jesus is dangerous.\u201d What he actually said in the article is that a relationship with Jesus separated from community is not a healthy Christianity. Again, there is no such thing as a solitary Christian \u2013 God is our<\/u> Father.<\/p>\n The second element of that prayer that truly stands out is \u201cThy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.\u201d What a challenge that is \u2013 to try to act and behave here as we would in heaven; to make heaven happen here on earth! That can be so simple, yet profound. I sometimes ask children if they would do to Jesus what they just did to their siblings, and of course they reply with a strong \u201cNo\u201d. Then I point out that they did do it to Jesus, who said, \u201cWhatever you do to the least of these, you actually do unto me.\u201d They are usually a little taken aback at that revelation, although they shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n Step Eleven of the 12 Step program is very relevant here: \u201cSought through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God, seeking only knowledge of God\u2019s will for me and the power to carry it out.\u201d<\/p>\n After the Our Father reminds us to live \u201cOne day at a time\u201d (a slogan of the 12 Step program) with its request of only our daily bread, it takes us to the heart of the prayer and the heart of our faith \u2013 forgiveness.<\/p>\n It could not be more clear \u2013 God\u2019s will for us is that we forgive all those who have hurt us in any way, or we will not be able to receive the forgiveness that God always has waiting for us. As one person pointed out to me, the love (forgiveness) that flows to us, must also flow through us, or it doesn\u2019t really flow to us!<\/p>\n In Matthew 15:15 and following, Jesus teaches us how to forgive – if anyone hurts us in any way, we are to go to that person and share with them how we feel, without any thought of revenge, and then let it go. In doing so, it is helpful to add, \u201cI am trying to forgive you\u201d because forgiveness is usually a process, and like love, also a decision to act in that way.<\/p>\n When Peter asked how many times we should forgive (seven?) Jesus replied not seven but seventy-seven times. That involves multiples of 3, 4 and 10 \u2013 all perfect numbers, adding up to 77 \u2013 the most perfect number of all in the Hebrew mentality. What Jesus was saying to Peter is essentially this \u2013 Peter, if you want to be my disciple and follow me, you can\u2019t just forgive when you want to. You must be like me and become forgiveness \u2013 it has to be part of your nature, your DNA, and must ooze out of you, over and over if need be.<\/p>\n Jesus did not only teach the need to forgive, he modelled it, especially on the cross. \u201cFather, forgive them, they know not what they do.\u201d Mary, at the foot of the cross, was doing the same thing as Jesus on the cross \u2013 forgiving those who were crucifying her son. She was not screaming and trying to stop the violence \u2013 she was the strong biblical woman at the foot of the cross, pondering what was happening, holding all that dark energy and believing that somehow God would turn it into something positive, which God did in the resurrection.<\/p>\n Finally, the last line of the Our Father takes us to the ultimate test of faith \u2013 the experience of the apparent absence of God, with the words, \u201cLead us not into temptation\u201d that really should say \u201clead us not into the test.\u201d That experience is what St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta experienced during her ministry \u2013 no consolation, no sense of God\u2019s presence \u2013 yet she carried on as if all was normal. Because our faith is not that strong, we pray that we will not get that test, or at least, only in small doses as spiritual desolation.<\/p>\n As activist Daniel Berrigan SJ put it, before we think about following Jesus, we should consider how good we look on wood!<\/p>\n St Thomas More<\/p><\/div>\n Today we honour St. Thomas More, who was born in London in 1478. At age 18, he was sent to study law and was called to the bar in 1501. Three years later he entered parliament. An enlightened man, he insisted that his three daughters receive the same education as his son. Thomas\u2019 diverse achievements were recognized, and both Cardinal Wolsey and the king wanted his services at court. In 1532, Wolsey was disgraced and Thomas replaced him as Lord Chancellor. He resigned three years later, openly opposing the king, as did his friend John Fisher. With the passing of the Act of Succession in 1543, he was sought out and required to accept it. He refused twice and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. There he wrote the best of his spiritual works. Nine days after the death of John Fisher, Sir Thomas met the same death at the age of 57, claiming to be \u201cthe King\u2019s good servant, but God\u2019s first.\u201d He is patron of lawyers, statesmen and politicians.<\/p>\n The Eucharist has at its centre the \u201cOur Father\u201d, and that is no accident, as that one prayer more than any other calls us to live our faith as Jesus lived his life.<\/p>\n May our celebration today grant us a pure and sincere faith in and devotion to Jesus, and empower us to do the Father\u2019s will as he did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HOMILY WEEK 11 04 \u2013 Year I Doing the Will of God: Optional Memorial of St. Thomas More (2 Cor 11:1-11; Ps 111; Mt 6:7-15) ***************************************** \u201cThe last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.\u201d Those words by T. S. Eliot can actually apply to our life of […]<\/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-7359","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\/7359","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=7359"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7361,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7359\/revisions\/7361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/St-Thomas-More-221x300.png\")