{"id":802,"date":"2018-01-31T18:01:45","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T18:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/?p=802"},"modified":"2018-01-31T18:01:45","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T18:01:45","slug":"homily-st-john-bosco-memorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/31\/homily-st-john-bosco-memorial\/","title":{"rendered":"HOMILY ST JOHN BOSCO \u2013 MEMORIAL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing into a More Mature Image of God<\/em><\/p>\n

(2 Sam 24:2, 9-17; Ps 32; Mk 6:1-6)<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are not punished for our shortcomings, we are punished by them.\u201d<\/p>\n

This snippet of wisdom comes from the movement of Alcoholics Anonymous and relates to the readings today with their challenge to us to grow into a more mature image of our God as mercy.<\/p>\n

Our perennial problem as a wounded humanity created in the image and likeness of God is the temptation to reverse that difficult-to-fathom mystery, and make God into our own image and likeness that we can then try to control.<\/p>\n

King David in the first reading provides us with an interesting example. We know that God made a covenant of unconditional love with David, but throughout our salvation history, both in the Old Testament and the New, we struggle with the reality of a God who loves us unconditionally. Oh, how we love to see people punished and our idea of justice served, and not seem to get off scot free.<\/p>\n

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King David as a young man<\/p><\/div>\n

The first incident involving David is God\u2019s forgiveness or his lust, adultery and arranging a murder. In spite of David\u2019s repentance, pure forgiveness was too much for the author of 2 Samuel, so the son born of Bathsheba had to die. In today\u2019s reading, David realizes he has sinned in ordering a census to be taken \u2013 innocent enough by today\u2019s standard, but at the time seen as usurping power and control (sound familiar?) belonging only to God. David, however, repents wholeheartedly (\u201cI have sinned greatly in what I have done \u2026 and done very foolishly), but is still punished with a pestilence in which seventy thousand people die.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeventy thousand people die!\u201d Clearly, the operative image of God here is not mercy, but solely that of retributive justice. That mentality still persists to this day, as evidenced by the phrase, \u201cJesus wants me to continue to pray hard so that the mercy locked up in his Sacred Heart would be released\u201d \u2013 a phrase I heard recently from a very pious dedicated Catholic.<\/p>\n

Think about that sentence \u2013 what image of God does it portray, and how much power does it give to us \u2013 suggesting that our prayer is what controls God\u2019s mercy? I wanted to shout out to the whole world, God\u2019s mercy is not locked up anywhere \u2013 God is always pouring out God\u2019s mercy as forgiveness and healing. God is forgiveness and mercy, so God \u201ccannot not\u201d be merciful and forgiving. As Pope Francis would say, God never tires of forgiving; we are the ones who neglect to come to God to receive the mercy freely given.<\/p>\n

How hard it is to believe in a God who loves us just because God loves us, whose love cannot be earned or manipulated in any way, who wants us to respond to him out of love and not out of fear of punishment, however just that punishment might be.<\/p>\n

The problem persists in the New Testament. We struggle to understand a parable where workers who put in one hour of labor get paid the same as those who work all day \u2013 it just doesn\u2019t make sense to us. In today\u2019s gospel, the people of his hometown \u201ctake offence\u201d at Jesus and reject him \u2013 he is too ordinary, too familiar, too unlike a warrior Messiah they wanted and were expecting. Jesus was amazed at their unbelief, and could do little healing there, because God never forces God\u2019s self on us \u2013 God always underwhelms us!<\/p>\n

Think of it \u2013 Jesus was born a tiny baby to a poor family who became refugees and then immigrants; lived in poverty and obscurity totally unrecognized as the Son of God, practiced a humble ministry that was often rejected, as we see today, was always opposed by the religious leaders of his day, and finally was subject to capital punishment because of the collusion between the religious and civil leaders.<\/p>\n

His response? Punishment and justice? No \u2013 only mercy, compassion, forgiveness, total non-violence and unconditional love. That is the final revelation, on the Cross, of who our God is. Our greatest challenge \u2013 can we believe it, accept it and live it? This means growing into a more mature image of God and allowing that image to permeate our thoughts, words and actions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It is easy to see how today\u2019s psalm might have been written by David himself, with its emphasis on forgiveness and deliverance: \u201cHappy those whose transgression is forgiven \u2026 to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity\u201d and \u201cYou surround me with glad cries of deliverance.\u201d There is an echo here of the two-fold role of the Messiah whom David prefigured \u2013 to redeem and to sanctify, to forgive and to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some ways, it is a movement like A.A. that can grasp more easily the total gratuitousness of God\u2019s gracious mercy and unearned love. It is the weak, those on the bottom, with nothing to hide or claim, who can come up with the saying: \u201cWe are not punished for our shortcomings, but by them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today we honor St. John Bosco, born in Piedmont, Italy, in 1815. Raised in poverty, John was ordained in Turin in 1841. After witnessing the circumstances of boys living in a local prison, he resolved to devote himself to working among disadvantaged boys \u2013 children living on the street, juvenile delinquents and any child who was suffering because of some disadvantage.<\/p>\n

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St John Bosco<\/p><\/div>\n

John formed the Salesian Society, named Francis de Sales, and began educating boys of the poor and working classes, holding evening classes in factories, in fields or wherever there was a need. John believed in equipping boys for life in the world and trade schools soon formed a large part of Salesian training.<\/p>\n

A progressive thinker, John must have had the merciful image of God described above, as he abhorred all punishment, believing that by removing youth from temptation, treating them with dignity and kindness, and enriching them with skills, they could be led to more productive lives. His rule was \u201cNot with blows, but with charity and gentleness must you draw these friends to the path of virtue.\u201d With the help of St. Mary Mazzarello, he also established the Salesian Sisters to do similar work among girls. John Bosco died in 1888 and was canonized in 1934.<\/p>\n

The Eucharist is an experience of God\u2019s merciful, unearned and undeserved unconditional love as forgiveness and healing.<\/p>\n

May our celebration deepen our faith in a God who is mercy, compassion, forgiveness, unconditional love and total non-violence. And may it empower us to both live and spread that message to others.<\/p>\n

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Growing into a More Mature Image of God (2 Sam 24:2, 9-17; Ps 32; Mk 6:1-6) *************************************** \u201cWe are not punished for our shortcomings, we are punished by them.\u201d This snippet of wisdom comes from the movement of Alcoholics Anonymous and relates to the readings today with their challenge to us to grow into a […]<\/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-802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ordinary-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802","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=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":806,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions\/806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}