Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
11 August 2013
11 August 2013
I’d like to
repeat the quote from our patron, Saint Teresa of Avila, which I used to close
last week’s homily:
We can only
learn to know ourselves and do what we can – namely, surrender our will and
fulfill God’s will in us.
This
quote is the perfect bridge between our Mass last week and the Mass we are currently
celebrating. We remember how in last week’s readings Qoheleth, Paul and Jesus
reminded us that our lives are not our own, that they belong to God. Today
Jesus solidifies this point by blatantly telling us that if we truly believe
that our lives are not our own, our will, likewise, is not ours, therefore the
work we do day-in and day-out must be the work of the Lord.
If
we truly believe to be the people that the Lord has chosen to be His own, just
like we sang about in our Responsorial Psalm, then we cannot be blind to the
workings of God’s will all around us. And if we truly believe that we are part
of that people, then we will be happy to “surrender our will and fulfill God’s
will in us,” as our great patron teaches us.
That’s
the hard part: to surrender our will. But that’s why God gave us free will, so
that we would freely choose Him and His will so that we will be able to choose
a life that is centered and rooted in Him. To surrender to God’s will is not to
become mindless automatons, but to recognize in our lives that there is
something so much greater than we could ever hope for, and that only God can take
us there. When we submit our lives to God, we open ourselves to possibilities
that we never thought possible to have existed.
Submitting
our will to God’s will also prepares us for the inevitable time where we will finally
see our Creator face-to-Face. It prepares us, as Jesus reminds us in the
Gospel, to not only recognize God’s presence when the fullness of the Kingdom
is made known, but also in the here-and-now. To surrender our will to God’s is
to know that everything we do prepares us – and prepares others! – for the
coming of the fullness of the Kingdom of God.
And,
so, brothers and sisters, do we submit to God’s will? Do we allow the Eucharist
to be that vehicle in which we allow God to take our lives and transform them
to what He needs them to be? Do we allow the celebration of Word and Sacrament
to open us up to become the disciples of Christ, the chosen people of God that
we claim to be?
My friends, I’d
like to give once more some steps that will allow us to submit to God’s will in
our lives:
·
First, we cast away all that disunites
us from God . . . and that may include coming to the Sacrament of
Reconciliation for those sins which are more severe and burdensome in our
lives.
·
Second, we make prayer a routine
practice in our lives.
·
Third, we seek solace in the support
of God, the angels and saints, and the Body of Christ through regular, weekly
participation at Mass.
·
Fourth, we allow our hearts to be
softened, so that we may unite our hearts to the Sacred Heart of God.
·
Finally, after we have done all this –
WHICH WILL BE SOME DIFFICULT WORK ON OUR PART! – we will have the ability to submit
to the will of God in our lives.
As long as we
believe ourselves to be part of the chosen people of God, we always have the
chance and the grace to allow God’s will to be our will. If we TRULY believe
this, then the words of Saint Gerard Majella ring true:
Here the will
of God is done, as God wills, and as long as God wills.
-------------------------
Enjoy the journey . . .
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