{"id":9198,"date":"2025-01-30T20:01:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T02:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/?p=9198"},"modified":"2025-01-30T20:01:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T02:01:32","slug":"homily-week-03-05-year-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/homily-week-03-05-year-i\/","title":{"rendered":"HOMILY WEEK 03 05 \u2013 Year I"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Planting Small Seeds of Faith:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memorial of St. John Bosco<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Heb 10:32-39; Ps 37; Mk 4:26-34)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The late Brother Anton Zisper OMI had a unique sense of humor. His comment about a set of identical twins was, \u201cThey really look alike, one more so than the other!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The readings today present us with two similar yet different messages \u2013 almost like two sides of a coin. One describes the Kingdom of God; the other how it is ideally lived out in our lives, planting small seeds of faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Gospel, Jesus preaches in parables about the Kingdom of God. Most of Jesus\u2019 parables were about the Kingdom of God. In one parable today, God is like a farmer who plants a seed. The Kingdom is like the seed that grows quietly and invisibly, yet powerfully, until the harvest. In another, the kingdom is like a small mustard seed that becomes a large bush in which the birds of the air can find security and shelter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These parables about the Kingdom emphasize the quiet, humble, unassuming way that God is present and at work in our lives. A natural practice flowing from these parables would be the art of contemplation \u2013 just being in God\u2019s presence, in silence which is the language God speaks best, simply trusting that God is doing whatever God wants to do in us as we allow God the space and time to do God\u2019s healing work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biblical example for this kind of prayer is Mary of Bethany who was sitting at the feet of Jesus, the posture of a disciple. According to Thomas Keating, a master of centering and contemplative prayer, she was not so much listening to Jesus\u2019 words, but very aware that she was in the presence of the Word of God. The words Jesus might have been uttering were not that important to her \u2013 she was more involved with just soaking up Jesus\u2019 loving presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A real-life example of this kind of prayer is fifteen-year old Naomi returning from a soccer tournament. She burst into the house, threw down her duffle bag, went directly to her father who was speaking with me visiting, sat on his lap, put her arm around his shoulder, laid her head against his, and just lay there soaking up her father\u2019s love for at least two minutes. She didn\u2019t say a word, as he continued talking to me over her. I left deeply moved by this experience of an intimate, wholesome, wordless loving relationship of a father and daughter. I reflected that this was as close as I would get in this life to seeing God with my two eyes, and knew I would never forget this incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the kind of prayer into which we are invited by the parables about the seed growing invisibly, and the mustard seed, as part of our living in the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For its part, the Book of Hebrews speaks of the Kingdom of God in a different way. It reminds us the gift of faith in the love that Jesus Christ has for us has enlightened us, has given us a true perspective on life. That gift, however, sets us apart and comes with a cost, as those who don\u2019t understand or accept this gift may even resort to persecution. We are given a word of encouragement so that, should that happen to us, we can cheerfully accept suffering and even dispossession of our goods, because we possess something better and more lasting. That \u201csomething\u201d is the love of Jesus Christ for us, and the eternal life that he offers us, which no one can take away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. John Chrysostom describes this attitude beautifully in a homily in the Office of Readings for the feast of the conversion of St. Paul on January 25th<\/sup>. He writes, \u201cThe most important thing of all to Paul was that he knew himself to be loved by Christ. Enjoying this love, he considered himself happier than anyone else; were he without it, it would be no satisfaction to be the friend of principalities and powers\u2026. To be separated from that love was in his eyes, the greatest and most extraordinary of torments\u2026 So too, in being loved by Christ, he thought himself as possessing life, the world, the angels, present and future, the kingdom, the promise and countless blessings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from that love nothing saddened or delighted him; for nothing earthly did he regard as bitter or sweet. Paul set no store by the things that fill our visible world, any more than a man sets value on the withered grass of the field. As for tyrannical rulers of the people enraged against him, he paid them no more heed than gnats. Death itself and pain and whatever torments might come were but child\u2019s play to him, provided that thereby he might bear some burden for the sake of Christ.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hebrews adds that we are not those who shrink back, but among those who have faith and so are saved. These words take on even greater relevance today as there are more Christians being persecuted and even martyred for their faith than at any time before in our history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we are invited to live out the Kingdom of God as did St. Paul and these martyrs, totally immersed in and focused on the love of Jesus Christ for us \u2013 much like Naomi with her father. The kingdom of God is within us \u2013 all we need do is try to open ourselves to its reality and foster its growth by trying to be attentive to the people and situations around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone who certainly lived today\u2019s readings and especially encouraged youth to life a new way of life, is St. John Bosco whom the church honors today. Known to many as Don Bosco, this patron saint of youth was 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 wo was suffering because of some disadvantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\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. A progressive thinker, he abhorred all punishment, believing that by removing youth from temptation, treating them with dignity and kindness, and enriching them with skills, they could lead 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\n\n\n

The Eucharist is an experience of that love of Jesus that transformed the life of St. Paul and is also especially available to us through contemplative prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let us place our total trust in Jesus Christ and his love for us, soak up that love through contemplative prayer and the Eucharist, and like St. Paul, spend ourselves sharing that Good News with all others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Planting Small Seeds of Faith: Memorial of St. John Bosco (Heb 10:32-39; Ps 37; Mk 4:26-34) *************************************** The late Brother Anton Zisper OMI had a unique sense of humor. His comment about a set of identical twins was, \u201cThey really look alike, one more so than the other!\u201d The readings today present us with two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198","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=9198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9199,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198\/revisions\/9199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}