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Homily – July 21, 2024 16th Sunday (Year B) ● Jeremiah 23:1-6 ● Psalm 23 ● ● Ephesians 2:13-18 ● + Mark 6:30-34 ●
[__01__] Recently, one of my childhood friends and classmates shared with me 3 distinct memories of our grade school principal:
1st. His mother always spoke of her love
and respect for the principal – her name was Sister Teresa
2nd. One day, he decided to bring a camera
to school and he took a picture of her. He may have gotten in trouble for that one.
He still has the picture.
3rd. There was one time when were left
alone in the classroom, because the teacher left the room.
Or,
to use a metaphor and phrase from the Gospel: we – the children – were like
sheep without a shepherd.
The
“Law & Order” was restored suddenly to the classroom when Sister Teresa,
our principal appeared. She was an authority figure, commanded respect.
As a
grown up, looking back, I now respect her even now more than I did “back in the
day”. It’s difficult to be a school principal.
We, the children had
gone wild for a while. There might have been children who were alone or scared
or afraid in that situation. Children are sometimes in danger when they are
completely unsupervised.
When we feel
LONELY abandoned, we may act out selfishness, sinfulness, brokenness.
Reflecting on this
incident, I would just like to remind myself –
1.
That even if
someone I know respects and loves “Jesus”, this is no substitute for my
personal relationship with our Savior.
2.
Jesus is not just
a photograph or image from the past, but present to us here and now.
3.
He is already here
…and he wants us to connect to Him. He comes to bring us healing and strength.
[__02__] The
Gospel, this Sunday, concludes with a statement and an observation by Jesus
about the people whom he encounters that they are like sheep without a
shepherd. Our Savior
Knows that they and we heed HEALING and STRENGTH
that comes from knowledge of his mercy and this connects us to both God and
neighbor.
And,
the lesson – from God’s Word – is that even we are “alone” … we are meant to
recall how similar we are … and how much we need each other.
In the beginning …
in the book of Genesis, we read that Adam, the first man, was created, and that
he was alone. He was completely alone, with no other human being. Then Adam and
Eve were created together, but they were still alone. Of course, they had each
other. But, at first they had nothing to distract them --- no technology, no
distractions, no other destinations to go, no messages from the world, no
Wi-Fi, no entertainment, no other people. Their only “calling plan” was to each other
and to God who walked with them.
They were alone,
unto themselves, but they also knew that they had been created by God and were
in communion with God and with nature as well. They were similar to the
innocent state of those people who completely live off the land.
[__04__] Have
you been one of these people – or known one of these people – who really tries
to be in harmony with the environment and nature?
Have you ever
been, or have you ever seen someone, who spends hours and hours caring for
plants, trees, nature, water, wanting simply to be one with nature, wanting to
be undisturbed and completely content to be alone, to be alone in the garden,
to be in solitude? In this regard, Adam and Eve were living not in confinement,
but in community.
As John Henry
Newman wrote, Adam and Eve were put into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to
keep it. For them, this was a mode of life, free from tumult, free from anxiety
or excitement and … as it is [usually with those who are really into their
gardens or into nature]. (John Henry Newman, “The State of Innocence”,
Book V, Sermon 8, Parochial and Plain
Sermons (1891), San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997, p. 1025)
So, harmony with nature can also lead us to love of God and neighbor
[__05__] When we come to church, even if we travel here on our own, sit on our own, and leave on our own, we come here both for the solitary nature of being here and for the solidarity of prayer with others. We are both alone and together at the same time. This togetherness also reminds us that we are all creatures of God, created by him out of love.
And, the natural
world teaches us this.
There is in our
world only one real source of intelligence, an intelligence that is not
strictly human and certainly not artificial.
The intelligence
and wisdom we have comes from God.
And, is this not
demonstrated through natural phenomena?
God is the author
of our life, of all life, and all lives.
The human being
[was] … fashioned from God’s good earth … we are told that all human beings are
earth. Despite every distinction that culture and history have brought about,
it is still true that we are, in the last resort, the same: … Emperor and
beggar, master and slave are all ultimately one and the same person, taken from
the same earth and destined to return to the same earth. (Benedict
XVI, “The Creation of the Human Being” In
the Beginning (1986), Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdsman
Publishing, 1995, p. 43)
“The rich and poor have this in common: The Lord made them both” (Proverbs 22:2)
[__06__] Do you ever feel isolated, distressed, or disconnected?
This happens to
all of us. Sometimes we feel this even with someone sitting right next to us,
or someone in the next room, or someone in our own house. Being married or
being part of a family is not a guarantee that we will never feel alone.
The Church
practices of prayer and fasting remind us to keep Jesus at the center of our
lives and are designed to bring us HEALING in soul and body.
We are called to
cooperate with God's creation and nature by our prayer for other people.
We are all in an “ecosystem” and “environment“ with other people, some of whom do less than or the exact opposite
of what we want.
What is true of
the “garden or natural world” is also true of people – we often have to work
with what and with whom God gives us. And, sometimes, the difficult person or
experience can turn out to be a blessing. In all these things, I am called to
pray God’s will would be done, not my will, but thy will.
This can help us
to take a longer-term view of “nature” – human nature included!
This prayer also
leads us to two other goals in the Christian life: fasting and sacrifice. While
fasting and sacrifice may seem isolating, they also bring us into solidarity
with others. For example, can we not go to bed a little bit hungry or leave the
table not quite full, not only of for the “health” of losing weight, but also for
the healing of the world and uniting ourselves in soul and in body to those who
live in famine or in poverty or natural disaster? Fasting and sacrifice build
community. They don't isolate; they build connections
Ultimately, the heart of Jesus’ message in Matthew 6 is that fasting is about humility. It leaves no room for bragging about how much we have given up for God, and it leaves no room for complaining about our sacrifice. Fasting calls us to humility within us and remind us what God has done on our behalf
This
prayer and fasting lead us back to Jesus, the King of Love my Shepherd is.
Nor is love based
only in an old photo or memory of the past. He is loving you now, pouring out
his mercy on those who ask.
51st
psalm: a humble contrite heart O God you will not spurn.
Jesus does not
leave us alone or in anxiety but wishes us to draw closer to him, to cultivate
our own gifts and gardens where He is Lord of both Heaven and Earth.
The Lord is my Shepherd. There is nothing I shall want. [__end__]
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