The Homiliy that Never Was

I wrote this homily to preach last week. But I never did. I accidentally looked ahead on the music schedule, and planned for this song to be sung at the end of Mass - only realizing that it was a mistake after our Music Director corrected me prior to Mass. So I took the essentials of the homily and preached without notes. The people of the parish said they enjoyed it. I don't think it's a bad homily, and I don't want to see it "go to waste" . . . So here it is.

---------------------

Homily for the 2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
18 January 2015

You walk along our shoreline, where land meets unknown sea,
We hear your voice of power, “Now come and follow me.
And if you still will follow through storm and wave and shoal,
Then I will make you fishers, but of the human soul.”

       Our First Reading and Gospel this week speak to us, once again, of the invitation to listen to the voice of the Lord and follow Him. He walks along the shoreline of our hearts, of our souls, and beckons us to follow, promising that, if we do, our lives will be changed.

       But we must first learn to truly listen for and to His voice. The voice of the Lord can only be discerned if we truly desire to spend time with Him. Thus, the only way we can be effective evangelizers of the Gospel, the only way we can effectively and truly carry out our vocation to bring others to Christ, is if we leave what is comfortable in our lives and take that leap of faith to follow Him, no matter what the consequences may be.

       You see, we gather here today to ponder the voice of the Lord in our lives, continuing the discernment of what He is calling us to, to how we are to follow Him. Our initial response to the promptings of the Lord must be that of Samuel: “Here I am. You called me. . . . Speak, for Your servant is listening.” Often, we may not like what the Lord is asking us to do. Out of fear, we may try to run away from the Lord.

       The Lord continues to call; the Lord’s invitation is eternal. We must learn to trust the Lord’s invitation.

You call us, Christ, to gather the people of the earth.
We cannot fish for only those lives we think have worth.
We spread your net of gospel across the water’s face,
Our boat a common shelter for all found by your grace.

       The call to evangelization is at the heart of the Lord’s invitation, for the invitation to follow Christ is not meant for a select few, but for all the peoples of the Earth. We must learn to be The Church Alive! before we are The Church Evangelizing. The opportunities that arise to share the Gospel must first be internalized within ourselves before we can truly share the Person and message of Jesus Christ with others.

       This is something that our own Bishop has asked us to do. This weekend, our beloved Diocese of Pittsburgh celebrates the success of Our Campaign for the Church Alive! The overall success of this campaign is a reflection of the faithful of our Diocese to accept the Lord’s invitation to follow Him through a specific way in which we support – through the stewardship of our gifts of time, talent and treasure – the ways in which we as the Church of Pittsburgh spreads the Good News and invitation of the Lord so that others may want to share in His Life.

       Yet, Our Campaign for the Church Alive! is the diocesan example of what we should be doing in our individual lives: using those gifts and talents God gave us to attract and draw others to a life lived in Christ. The success of the campaign is due to the fact that we, not just at Saint Teresa of Avila Parish, but the faithful from across the Diocese, made a concerted effort to “spread the net of the gospel across” the six counties of our Diocese, not just for today, but for years to come.

       And so must it be in our lives.

       We, as individuals and as members of Saint Teresa of Avila Parish, are obliged by our baptism to invite others to not only seek refuge in the ship of the Church, whose course is steady towards the fulfillment of the Kingdom of Heaven, but also to seek consolation in Her Captain, Jesus Christ, who continues to invite all to not only travel with Him, but to announce to the world that He invites all to know of His mercy, love, peace and joy.

We cast our nets, O Jesus; we cry the kingdom’s name;
We work for love and justice; we learn through hope and pain.
You call us, Lord, to gather God’s daughters and God’s sons,
To let your judgment heal us so that all may be one.

       Ultimately, the work of The Church Evangelizing is the physical proof that we are The Church Alive! For to be a Church that IS alive, we have to be living IN Christ. And to be found living in Christ means that, at some point, we have accepted His invitation to follow Him; that we have listened to His voice. We have accepted the call to “come and see” where He is staying, always present in the Word and in the Sacraments; housed here and everywhere the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the tabernacle.

       It is this Presence that we carry into the world.

       It is this net of the Gospel that we cast at the invitation of Jesus.

       “We work for love and justice; we learn through hope and pain” – but only because in the voice of the Lord, there is the fullness of love and justice; there is the consolation of hope for our pain.

       It is because we have heard the voice of the Lord that we have accepted His invitation. It is because we have accepted His invitation that we invite others to come to know Him through Word and Sacrament. This is how we witness that we are The Church Alive!

       Let us pray:

Gracious and merciful God,
we pray that through the Holy Spirit
all Catholics may hear the call of the New Evangelization
and seek a deeper relationship with your Son, Jesus.

We pray
that the New Evangelization
will renew the Church,
inspiring all Catholics to “go forth and make disciples of all nations”
and transform society through the power of the Gospel.

We pray
for all members of the Church,
that we heed the words of Christ
—“do not be afraid”—
and strengthened by the Holy Spirit’s gift of courage,
give witness to the Gospel
and share our faith with others.

We pray
that we may become
like the father of the prodigal son
—filled with compassion
for our missing brothers and sisters—
and run to embrace them upon their return.

We pray
that all people
yearning to know Christ
and the Church
may encounter him through the faithful
who witness to his love in their lives.

Loving God, our Father,
strengthen us
to become witnesses
to the saving grace of your Son,
Jesus, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

------------------------


Enjoy the journey . . .