All of the Above (2024-10-06, Sunday - 27)

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Homily –  Oct 6, 2024  /  27^th Sunday (Year B)  ● Genesis 2:18-24  ●   Psalm 128 ● Hebrews 2:9-11  ●  + Mark 10:2-16●

“All of the Above”  Gospel reference: Mark 10:2-16

 [__01__]    In October, traditionally dedicated to the Rosary and the Blessed Virgin Mary, we reflect on how God reveals His plans to us through prayer. Mary, our Blessed Mother, was constantly called to prayer, particularly as she pondered the mystery of God’s Incarnation. We too are called to pray, whether we are courageous or fearful. While prayer doesn’t erase fear, it helps us understand its source. In silence and meditation, we discern God’s will.

 [__02__]    In Catholic Church circles to speak of being “called”  and knowing one’s “vocation”.  As a child, I noted a prayer for this theme and asked “why is there a prayer for VACATIONS?”

          It’s “vocation” …not “vacation”. (I was quickly corrected).

          I still was in the dark! Ok, so what’s a vocation?

          A vocation – is this      

idea of being called by God , we designate this especially – articulate this especially – for those who are officially religious and members of the clergy – religious sisters –, religious brothers and priests.

          Is there any similarity between being religious in this way, or just living as a disciple of Jesus Christ and being married, in the sacrament of matrimony?

          One similarity is that all of the above – a bride, a groom, a sister, a brother, a priest – all take vows, make promises before God in church. Likewise, promises in the profession of faith are made by parents and godparents for children being baptized.  All of the above are called. All of us – you and me – are called by God.

 

 [__03_]   The common denominator in every vocation—whether as a bride, groom, priest, or religious—is the need to look, listen, and discern God’s will amid life's distractions. This listening isn't just for special occasions like weddings but is a daily practice. God’s call is ongoing, asking for our attention in both joyful and challenging moments.

 

[__04_]     Regarding a “vocation” or a calling, people sometimes ask me when I knew I wanted to be a priest.

Part of this journey was understanding not what I wanted but God wanted of me. Would I participate?

          I myself became gradually aware of this, and entered the years after college graduation. Typically, priests have a college degree and then 4 years of theological studies. I thought about this for several years starting around age 30 and entered seminary at age 35.

          Even while entering the seminary, I knew there was no guarantee I would discover this as my calling, but I was going to give it a try. I left my job in New York City which was perhaps the biggest change / step for me as these studies were full-time on campus at Seton Hall University in South Orange.

          But, I always figured I could get another job if things did not work out.

          In the first full week of my first semester, on a Tuesday, a classmate walked into the classroom and said a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. It was 9/11/2001. Witnessing this, I shared in the mourning and devastation, but also wondered [in a self reflective way] – did the world just change in a dramatic way such that I cannot go back to NYC. It was an early moment of reckoning, one that I  had not planned on.

 

[__05_]         There may be events- or may have been events that happened to you – in the days leading up to or the days following your own commitment to marriage, to family, events outside your control – in which you wonder, what to do next?

 

 

[__06_]       In these moments of uncertainty, we are called to ask, “Where is this relationship going?” This question applies to both religious life and marriage. It’s about cooperating with God’s grace, which He freely gives to help us grow and flourish, despite our unworthiness.

[__07_]        For those of you who are married, the question remains: where is your marriage headed? We are all called to navigate conflicts—whether personal, political, or global—with grace and patience. Reflecting on 9/11, I now realize how fortunate I was to be in seminary rather than enduring the long-term aftermath in NYC. At the time, I felt like I was missing out, but in retrospect, I see how I was sheltered and spared.

 

 

[__08_]      Today’s Gospel reminds us of God’s invitation to a lifelong commitment, much like marriage. Peter Kreeft, a professor at Boston College, writes that matrimony models enduring love. The greatest joys of love, he notes, often come later in life, after years of shared experiences and God’s grace.

 

          For example, as grown-up children, can we not delight in and enjoy our parents in older years in a way that we could not or did not when everyone was younger and stronger and apparently better looking?

          This is our Profession of Faith, credo, leading us to heaven and reminding us that our greatest joys are not here on earth but in heaven and part of our journey is not just to store up treasure for withdrawal in heaven later, but also to deposit and invest in relationships now so that we can be there for each other in the bad times as well as the good.

 

[__09_]       A 2015 [New York Times] article explored the idea of how love develops through shared vulnerability. The author recounted a psychological method and experiment in the article “To fall in love with anyone do this”.

The psychological study was designed to create romantic love in a controlled scientific setting of 36 questions answered by strangers to each other. Then, the writer had her own experience trying the 36 questions.

So the procedure is fairly simple. 2 strangers take turns asking each other 36 increasingly personal questions, and then they stare into each other's eyes without speaking for 4 minutes.

She also heard that that was the rumor that 2 of the participants had gotten engaged and married and they'd invited the entire lab to the ceremony! Sound romantic?

She herself was so intrigued that she did the study with someone and – guess what – fell in love.

          But her central point that now she had answered all the questions, fallen in love, she and her future spouse would have to answer  a new and important question.

          She made a video about this called “Falling In Love is The Easy Part”.

          The question is not “do I love you” … ”do I like you”… because the questions are often distorted by our moods and wavering tastes and distastes for the how the other person looks to me, or what the other person says. Or, how I look or what I see.

(https://www.ted.com/talks/mandy_len_catron_falling_in_love_is_the_easy_part?subtitle=en)

          Yes, the do-I-love-you question remains but another fundamental question emerges: “do I choose you?”

          And,what other people or projects must I put aside in order to choose you each day?

          This does not just apply to those who are married. What about the person causing us difficulty? Can we not just love the person from a distance, but also choose to love, choose to pray for, choose kindness …

 

[__10_]        Are you in happy relationship? A happy marriage ? Are you going through a rough patch?

          Based on this biblical verse and message about ancient “permissions” for divorce, are you thinking about what it would be like to be NOT married …

          You and I – in whatever vocation or calling we are in – is to consecrate ourselves to God, to pray for strength and also to pray for the strength not only to love with emotion but to choose with real intention – for me to choose the ministry of being a priest each day, for you to choose the Christian mission of discipleship in being a sister, brother, son, daughter, a wife or husband, father, or mother.

          Choose, because God has also chosen you.

          As we read in the 139^th psalm:

“LORD, you have probed me, you know me: you know when I sit and stand; … You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made;

wonderful are your works! My very self you know.” (Psalm 139: 1, 13, 14)

          These verses also inform our understanding and respect for the sanctity of life at all stages, including the unborn child, the terminally ill person. It is a profession of faith based on the essence and existence of a person, on a person’s inherent value.

          Human respect is built on this sense of inherent value which is the foundation of true civil rights and liberty.

 

[__11_]        Years ago, a friend told me of his continued visits to his terminally ill mother who – over the years – had lost the ability to recognize him or any family member by name. She did not know who he was.

          He told me, “I don’t go because she knows who I am. I go because I know who she is.”

          It is part of living out our calling by God to recognize who others are – even when – especially when – we are troubled by what they are doing or not doing.

          Jesus, in his calling marriage covenant to you and me gave up his life not because we recognized him and waited for him.  He died also for those who did not know what they were doing or he was.

          But still he know who they were, who they could be.

          He knows who I am.

          He knows you are .

          Love is all of the above.  Repent and believe in the Gospel (Mark 1:15)  [__fin__]