Homily – July 18, 2021 / 16th Sunday (Year B)
And, the news right now is that finding
such a roof and house is difficult. “Inventory is scarce”. Many people are
trying to buy a new home, with home prices being very high and people relocating
after the pandemic and there are fewer houses for sale. "Inventory is scarce", real estate agents say. Building prices are
high, valuable, because homes are in demand.
The New Testament – which is not an
Economics textbook – nevertheless says this about the value of a house. In 1st
Corinthians and in Hebrews, we read this about BUILDINGS and our own value in
God’s community and universe:
“We are God’s house, if only we hold
fast to our confidence and pride in our hope” (Hebrews 3:6)
[►AND◄]
“You are God’s building …
[which Paul elaborates on saying that he teaches people about Jesus not so that
they can “invest” in St. Paul but in God.
Paul writes…] I laid a
foundation and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he
builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is
there, namely, Jesus Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 3:9, 10, 11)
We are here this at this Sunday Mass
to celebrate First Holy Communion and to recall that God cares, in a special
way for ____ and ____ – and welcome the whole all the ____ family and friends –
today because there is nothing more valuable than a person in God’s eyes. A person – while not “for sale” – is
nevertheless a house or Temple of the Holy Spirit and that due to Jesus’
sacrifice of his body and blood, we have been bought, been purchased at a very
high price. (1 Corinthians 6:19)
____ and ____ – you are valuable!
[__02__] Many
years ago as a child, I was driving by my friend’s Billy’s house as a passenger
in the car with my father as the driver.
We noticed repair and construction
going on at my friend’s house which was actually not unusual. They were
constantly doing work on their house. My father took particular notice
because the workers were not a professional
construction company but rather the family itself with my friend, Billy, and
his brothers and his father. They were the ones with hammers, nails, ladders,
toolbelts.
My father wanted to know what was
going on. I said, “Dad, they are putting a new roof on the house. They are doing it themselves.”
My father was so impressed. I was
afraid we might be asked to do the same.
This did not happen, but my father was
impressed that a neighbor with his kids was undertaking such a project worth of
HGTV or FixerUpper with Chip and Joanna
Gaines.
[__03__] Meanwhile
at our house, the projects that my father wanted my siblings and I to do were
less ambitious but nevertheless we were asked to participate in keeping up the
house.
I particularly remember holding the
ladder for my father while he cleaned out the gutters from leaves, twigs,
branches, and other debris.
There was also the weekly mowing of
the lawn, the lawnmower and grass.
Very often, I would have preferred to
be doing something else, other than holding the hypotenuse of the ladder
against the right angle of the house or cutting grass.
These were not tasks that I cherished
at the time…I cherish them now, looking back.
Somehow, though, I knew that doing
these things was part of being a family member. That is, we are called to give
of ourselves each day.
[__04__] And, even at this moment of RECEIVING Holy Communion and receiving Jesus, we are called to remember that is truly better to give than to receive. For by receiving his Body and Blood, we are also called to give ourselves in love of God and love of neighbor
[__05__] The young people who are here to day for 1st Holy Communion – ____ and ____ – are members of the same family. They are cousins.
And from you ____ and ____, we ask you to
give back to us, by your prayers and love each each day. We are praying for you
and we trust in your prayers for us. In
a similar way, your mother and father and family pray for you today and they
also trust in and need your prayers for them.
The reason we ask you to pray is not so that
you will receive back what you think you need, but that you will be hearing
God’s voice and what his plan is for you.
[__06__] Over
the past few days and even today, you have been practicing to receive Holy Communion.
On this past Wednesday, we had a rehearsal of 1st Holy Communion.
I’d like to reflect on 3 aspects of our church and worship and to connect these
to your life and my life, outside the church, so that we will understand God’s
plan for us.
I will summarize this as STOP. LOOK.
LISTEN.
“Stop, Look, Listen” is not only a
lesson about SAFETY, but also about our SALVATION and connection to God and
each other.
[__07__] 1st. STOP. The church is a place where we “stop”. I recognize it is difficult to stop , to pause, to press [▐ ▐ ] in our lives. We are often very busy, with so many competing priorities that we find it difficult to stop.
But, for this very reason, I believe
we need our church and our worship even more, whether this is our First Holy
Communion or Next Holy Communion. The church is your place to stop.
The church – our parish family of Our
Lady of Lourdes – also relies on your presence, your prayers, your sacrifice. Here
I do not mean “monetary sacrifice” in the collection basket. While this is one
aspect, there is something much greater, such as the sacrifice you make to
forgive another person who has trespassed against you, the sacrifice you make
to love another person whom others might ignore, the sacrifice you make to find
time for prayer, for God.
And, we rejoice we can stop here
together in God’s house.
However your own home is also a place
to stop, to pause.
____ and ____, give thanks today for
your families through whom you have a safe and blessed home, and in your house,
I encourage you to find time and place to pray, especially in the morning and
at night.
The house of he church and the house
of your home are connected. Remember to stop.
[__08__] 2nd. LOOK. Here we have an altar, a marble stone altar on which the bread and wine are consecrated.
Someone told me recently about a
museum in Massahusetts which is known for being also the sculptor’s studio for
the President Abraham Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Memorial.
In the museum, you can see the models
and “first drafts” or early versions – in small scale – of the sculpture that
would become the statue of Abraham Lincoln. You can see, for example, a hand,
an arm, or the forehead, the face.
I imagine that all of this detail can
help one to appreciate how difficult it is to make the entire statue, the
entire image of Abraham Lincoln.
Sometimes, when we encounter the
Commandments of God, or even the Passion of our Lord and Savior, we may focus on
1 aspect and its difficulty.
Let’s say, we are hindered by fear or
unwillingness to be silent and to pray. So, we may give up very easily and say
we cannot do that.
But, is it not true that we do become
silent and pray and follow the Commandments, when we feel that our very lives –
or the lives of those we love – depend on it.
The sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial
also believed in a larger – national – purpose. Our purpose and calling is even
greater.
In other words, we are called to see
in Holy Communion not only the bread as one tiny aspect of a larger sculpture,
but to recognize that Jesus made himself small so that we could receive him and
do so every day, and that – in our whole body – we would become his image, his
sculpture.
We come to Holy Communion to look, not
only at majesty of God but also at the dignity of ourselves and of those around
us made in his image. LOOK.
[__09__] 3rd. LISTEN. Here we have a pulpit and microphone, a sound system, enabling us to hear our musician and cantor, to hear the lector, to hear the deacon and priest.
And, we are actually right now –
upgrading our sound system… thanks to a generous gift to the parish of Lourdes
from one of our parishioners.
All of his audio equipment and
electricity is necessary to proclaim God’s word. And, as our beloved pastor of
many years, Monsignor Joe Petrillo, used to say, “everything you see and touch
and listen to here in church does not just happen on its own but took the
concerted effort of many who truly believed it is better to give than to receive…”
[__10__] And,
in your home, there is also a “pulpit” and place for us to speak, especially
for parents to speak to their children.
That place of speaking might not have
a microphone, but it might be prominent because of Mom / Dad speaking the
children at the table, or from the steering wheel of the car, or from anywhere.
To ____ and ____, your parents will at
times tell you things you may not want to hear and may even tell you things
that they find difficult to say, but they do so because they love you.
[__11__] I
hope and pray that you know that Our Lady of Lourdes is place that you are called to construct and
sustain by your prayers and care for each other, a place where you can STOP and
know God’s love and share this love with others.
That the altar of this church will not
just remind you of one part of the sculpture, but that Jesus gave his entire
life, body, blood, soul and divinity for you to see.
And, that this sound system of God’s
voice will help us to remember we are also God’s building and that when we are
STOPPING, LOOKING, LISTENING for his word, we also praying as one, as the Body
of Christ. AMEN ! [__fin__]
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