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Homily
for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
6 October 2013
6 October 2013
After spending the
day with my family back in McKeesport on Thursday, I returned to the parish
rectory and went to my room to prepare for bed. In the process of relaxing a
little, I did a final check-in on Facebook, where I found news that a priest of
the Diocese of Harrisburg had passed. Normally I would say a prayer for his
soul and move on . . . but not this time. I knew this priest who had died: We
studied in seminary together for a few years, though he was a few classes
behind me. He was just 28 years old, and he was ordained only four months ago.
Please join me now in taking a moment to pray for the soul of Father Kevin
Kayda.
[PAUSE]
My
brothers and sisters, in our Scriptures today, we have a basic, yet intense
request for the Lord, as well as a basic, yet intense command by Paul to
Timothy. Yet the request and the command go hand-in-hand.
“Increase
our faith” is the request given to Christ by the Apostles. A simple request,
but one that has great intensity. The Apostles are asking Jesus for a lot. Faith,
as we know, is a gift from God, and unless we continuously ask God for this
gift, we’re not going to grow in the discipleship that Christ has called us to.
We, like the Apostles, must ask the Lord to constantly increase our faith. This
is the only way that we will make it not only through this life as a whole, but
also just day-by-day. As a priest, Father Kevin understood that we HAVE to ask
the Lord for an increase of faith in Him each day. – That’s the only way we
will develop in becoming faithful and faith-filled disciples of Jesus Christ.
But
Father Kevin knew it wasn’t good enough to just simply ask the Lord for the
gift of faith, and to leave it at that.
NO!
That
gift of faith has to be developed. Like any present, it may be pretty to look
at, but it’s not going to do much for us unless we take it out of the box and
start using it! And as Christians, we take the gift of faith out of the box and
begin to use it so that our rootedness in Jesus Christ can become more secure.
We do this by heeding the command Paul gave to Timothy: “Stir into flame the
gift of God that you have . . .”
My
friends, if we stir into flame those gifts that God has given to us, then we,
simultaneously, increase our gift of faith. In our humanness, in our weakness,
we shy away from the spirit of “power and love and self-control” that has been
given to us because we don’t receive well that gift of faith that God gives to
us.
The
embers of our faith burn within us, my brothers and sisters. These embers need
to be intensely stirred into flame by allowing the Holy Spirit to use those
gifts, blessings and graces given to us so that we may truly experience the
deepest and most intense sense of peace and joy that only God can give. We must
continually stir the embers of our faith, lest they grow cold, for the colder
the embers of our faith grow, the more difficult it becomes to be truly excited
about our Faith; the more difficult it is for us to be a disciple of Jesus
Christ; the more difficult it is for us to sustain that relationship with God
as Lover and Beloved.
This
was something Father Kevin knew. And this was something that Father Kevin lived
as a seminarian and in his short four months as a priest.
Our
prayer to the Lord to increase our faith is a prayer that should be in our
minds, on our lips and in our hearts at all times and in all places. Our prayer
that the Lord stir into flame the embers of the blessings, gifts and graces
given to us is a prayer which we should never shy away from, but is, rather, a
prayer we should enter in to with reckless abandon.
Though
I mourn the passing of a friend and brother priest, I know that even during his
short time here on Earth, Father Kevin entered into the Mystery of Faith with
every ounce of his being. That, by stirring into flame those gifts which the
Lord had given him, Father Kevin constantly increased the gift of faith that
was his. His example and influence on my life will hopefully help you and all
those I minister to, to stir into flame in your lives the gifts God has given you.
And as you warm those embers of faith, YOU may become that intense example of
peace, joy and blessedness to others so that they will have the desire to join
us here and be fed at the Table of the Word and the Altar of Sacrifice.
And
we pray:
Lord
Jesus Christ,
Increase our faith in You.
Stir into flame the gifts and graces You have given us
so that we may continue to build up Your Kingdom here on Earth.
Fan the embers of our heart so that we may have the deeper desire
to be Your disciples,
And that the joy and peace that we know from being Lover and Beloved
may always unite us more faithfully to You and to one another.
We ask this in Your Most Glorious Name.
Amen.
Increase our faith in You.
Stir into flame the gifts and graces You have given us
so that we may continue to build up Your Kingdom here on Earth.
Fan the embers of our heart so that we may have the deeper desire
to be Your disciples,
And that the joy and peace that we know from being Lover and Beloved
may always unite us more faithfully to You and to one another.
We ask this in Your Most Glorious Name.
Amen.
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Enjoy the journey . . .
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