Father’s Day 12th Sunday, Year C - TITLE: “Anonymous or Secret?”
● Zechariah 12:10-11, 13:1 ● Psalm 63 ● Galatians 3:26-29 ● +Luke 9:18-24
●
[__01__] One early September afternoon, in 1984, when I was a freshman at Franklin and Marshall College, on the rugby practice field, our coach announced – or invited – that the entire team would
be going to a local hospital to donate blood, to the blood bank.
Our coach told us this was a good idea
because we would be giving back to the community. Also, he himself was once
rescued from a serious accident and fire and his life was saved through such transfusions
made possible by blood donations.
This was a noble idea. But, I was also
naturally concerned that I would pass out or be in great pain. Be not afraid? I
don’t think so.
I think I just said, do not let them
see you sweat.
The donation was good publicity for our
team and our college. None of us received any individual credit. I think there was a photo of some teammate
in the newspaper. It was not a photo of
me. I did not mind at all.
[__02__] If someone were to make an
anonymous gift or leave an anonymous legacy, then their name would be known by
no one.
As Christians and Catholics, I suggest
that we are not called to be anonymous, to conceal our names from everyone all
the time. However, we are called to work in secret, to pray in secret, to
repent in secret before God, to seek God’s mercy and inspiration in secret.
Also, at times, we are called to
recognize that our gifts – our talents – are not only for our individual gain
but for the greater glory of God and of the community. This means that our gift
might only be known – in secrecy – by a few. Or, it might take some time for
someone to figure out what we did.
In my experience as the
college-freshman blood donor, I would say the gift was secret, it was not
anonymous. That is, my personal gift was
concealed in the larger gift of the team, of the group.
By the way, if my gift had been
strictly anonymous, I do not think that I would have walked to the hospital by
myself and to make such a private, isolated act of charity. We do need the help of others to love God and
love our neighbor. Otherwise, we only love ourselves.
[__03__] In the Gospel we have just read, our
Savior urges his disciples to keep secret his identity.
Peter had responded to the question,
“Who do you say that I am ?” with the declaration and recognition of Jesus as
the Messiah. He is not a prophet, but the Messiah.
[__04__] Of
course, we know that the prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Ezekiel, John the
Baptist were neither anonymous nor secret.
They were loud, recognizable and
audible and visible, and though they were published posthumously, they got
their name, their by-line.
The prophets were public.
Jesus wanted, at this point, to remain
a secret.
Why?
[__05__] Our Savior desires this secrecy in
order to build a personal relationship with each one of his first
disciples. Of course, he could have sold
his stock publicly to the highest bidder, but he wanted to work in secret.
And, isn’t this an important model and
pattern for us to follow in our relationships?
[__06__] For husbands and wives are also called to
work in secret on their relationships.
Parents – while called to love each of
their children and all their children – are also called to know each one
individually, even to share their secrets.
One size does not fit all.
Secrecy is Good News.
[__07__] Following Christ, receiving Holy
Communion is simultaneously an action both visible and secret.
At this Mass, we welcome Dylan,
Roberto, and Mike Cespedes to the Lord’s
table for the first time.
Dylan, Mike, Roberto recall that Jesus died for you and gave his
life for you, secretly.
That is, he gave up his life even
before you were born, before you knew his name.
And, we continue to unite ourselves to
him in secret, in the privacy of our own actions.
[__08__] This does not make us anonymous
contributors, but rather secret contributors in that we also entrust ourselves
to God’s will and God’s grace each day. We
do this secretly not
At
this Mass, we also give thanks to four of our high-school class of 2016
graduates who are receiving the inaugural gift from the Peace and Good
Scholarship Gift Fund in memory of Monsignor Joseph Petrillo and Deacon Ernest
Abad. As altar servers, choir members, volunteers, youth group members, they
have given of themselves in many ways in secret. Their example remains inspiring to us
[_09_] [_09.01_PRAYER__] Thus, in secret, we are called to pray for
others, to pray for those whom we do not understand to pray for those who may
have hurt us. We do not have to reveal
this to the other person. We are revealing this secretly, with our name
attached, to God.
[_09.02_FORGIVENESS__]
In
secret, we are also called to FORGIVE others, to forgive their faults, to
forgive their offenses. This is difficult, but we can use our minds to remember
that others need God’s mercy as much as I do. We might prefer to FORGIVE in
public, to the person who apologizes, who is embarrassed, who is contrite. Of
course, I would be happy to forgive under such circumstances. But, Jesus also asks to forgive in secret, in
secrecy and to remember that the Father who sees in secret …he will repay us.
[_fin_]
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