Deacon Greg's Homily 8-18-19
I can’t help but begin with a heartfelt thanks to Fr. Bryan, Deacons Dan, Darrell and Kevin, my fellow Staff Members, and you all for the amazing level of prayers and support during my absence this Summer. I had my right hip replaced back in early May, and was surprised by an unexpected revisit to the hospital between Father’s Day and and July 4th to deal with a bout of some infection. While I’m a month behind where I’d like to be in my physical therapy, I am progressing nice and slow towards what I hope to be a level of physical independence and continued good health!
If you know me, you know that I love my music! And being a brat of the early 80’s, I have to make the connection with today’s Psalm and the Super Music Group U2. In my later days of high school, they released a song simply entitled “40.” The lyrics of the song, while a different translation, are the very same as today’s Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 40. And while I might be the only one with the tune in my head, the song’s refrain repeats this promising message: “I will sing, sing a new song!” And that’s the opportunity that we are all offered today. The Lord is ready to come to our aid, ready to put a new song into our mouth, a hymn to our God, so that all might look on in awe, and trust in the Lord!
In all honesty, this Summer has been a test of faith for me. The challenge of waiting for answers, or as today’s Psalm sings, waiting for the Lord, can be tough. When you’ve got your life in order, and suddenly everything is out of order, the wait seems to last forever. But as promised in the Psalm, after the waiting, the Lord stoops towards us. He hears our cry and he draws us out of the pit to set our feet upon the rock, making our footsteps firm!
Look as Jeremiah in today’s First Reading. While the forces against him led him to be lowered into a well of mud, left to sink and starve, the Lord heard his cry and sent those who would seek to raise him from his pit, to eventually continue his sharing of God’s Truth. In today’s Second Reading, the Hebrews were reminded that in spite of the challenges they were facing, their feet were placed firm on the solid rock of their ancestors, the cloud of witnesses that had been through many a test of faith, choosing to trust in God with a genuine level of acceptance and courage! The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews seeks to remind them and us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, knowing that the final goal is our union with God!
Which brings us to the Gospel. At first read, the Good News sounds a little daunting with phrases like setting the earth on fire, and bringing division rather than peace. In this part of Luke’s Gospel, Luke wants us to be in tune with the Prophet Jesus. Like Jeremiah before him, the Truth shared by the Prophets is not always easy to grasp or to live. While it’s hard to face, one thing is for sure… The Truth hits everybody, and it very well might cause division before it brings us together! It and discipleship have their consequence and responsibility. Jeremiah was rejected. Jesus was crucified. Many an Apostle and Saint since have been martyred, so please understand that, while it may not result in our death, embracing The Truth means that your life will indeed have to change. And the change is for the better.
So let’s not overlook the reality that this too is Good News, for the Truth, given to us at Baptism, is a call to make things happen, to set the world a blaze with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself qualified this goodness when he said, “and how I wish it were already blazing!” Like Jeremiah and the writer to the Hebrews, Jesus wants God’s love to truly transform our world! And like the Psalmist conveys, Christ stoops into our hearts to come to our aid, and put a new song into our mouth!
This new song is one of Truth and one of love, and while it seems to cause division at times, its message and its promise stands firm upon the shoulders of our ancestors, that cloud of witnesses who have been there, and done that! For like them, though afflicted and poor, the Lord thinks of us. He is our help and our deliverer, let us sing this new song so that all will look on in awe and trust in the Lord.
If you know me, you know that I love my music! And being a brat of the early 80’s, I have to make the connection with today’s Psalm and the Super Music Group U2. In my later days of high school, they released a song simply entitled “40.” The lyrics of the song, while a different translation, are the very same as today’s Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 40. And while I might be the only one with the tune in my head, the song’s refrain repeats this promising message: “I will sing, sing a new song!” And that’s the opportunity that we are all offered today. The Lord is ready to come to our aid, ready to put a new song into our mouth, a hymn to our God, so that all might look on in awe, and trust in the Lord!
In all honesty, this Summer has been a test of faith for me. The challenge of waiting for answers, or as today’s Psalm sings, waiting for the Lord, can be tough. When you’ve got your life in order, and suddenly everything is out of order, the wait seems to last forever. But as promised in the Psalm, after the waiting, the Lord stoops towards us. He hears our cry and he draws us out of the pit to set our feet upon the rock, making our footsteps firm!
Look as Jeremiah in today’s First Reading. While the forces against him led him to be lowered into a well of mud, left to sink and starve, the Lord heard his cry and sent those who would seek to raise him from his pit, to eventually continue his sharing of God’s Truth. In today’s Second Reading, the Hebrews were reminded that in spite of the challenges they were facing, their feet were placed firm on the solid rock of their ancestors, the cloud of witnesses that had been through many a test of faith, choosing to trust in God with a genuine level of acceptance and courage! The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews seeks to remind them and us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, knowing that the final goal is our union with God!
Which brings us to the Gospel. At first read, the Good News sounds a little daunting with phrases like setting the earth on fire, and bringing division rather than peace. In this part of Luke’s Gospel, Luke wants us to be in tune with the Prophet Jesus. Like Jeremiah before him, the Truth shared by the Prophets is not always easy to grasp or to live. While it’s hard to face, one thing is for sure… The Truth hits everybody, and it very well might cause division before it brings us together! It and discipleship have their consequence and responsibility. Jeremiah was rejected. Jesus was crucified. Many an Apostle and Saint since have been martyred, so please understand that, while it may not result in our death, embracing The Truth means that your life will indeed have to change. And the change is for the better.
So let’s not overlook the reality that this too is Good News, for the Truth, given to us at Baptism, is a call to make things happen, to set the world a blaze with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself qualified this goodness when he said, “and how I wish it were already blazing!” Like Jeremiah and the writer to the Hebrews, Jesus wants God’s love to truly transform our world! And like the Psalmist conveys, Christ stoops into our hearts to come to our aid, and put a new song into our mouth!
This new song is one of Truth and one of love, and while it seems to cause division at times, its message and its promise stands firm upon the shoulders of our ancestors, that cloud of witnesses who have been there, and done that! For like them, though afflicted and poor, the Lord thinks of us. He is our help and our deliverer, let us sing this new song so that all will look on in awe and trust in the Lord.
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