Will you step into the white-hot blowtorch of Christ's love?

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

In the last couple weeks, I have spoken to you about the lives of four beautiful saints from very different walks of life, three of them from the 20th century: St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan friar; Bl. Franz Jägerstätter, a Austrian husband and father; St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a German Carmelite nun; and St. Clare of Assisi, an Italian religious sister from 800 years ago. These four, along with many other holy men, women, and children down through the ages offer us a witness, a goal, and an example of seeking the Lord. In our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, we hear this reality spoken of very beautifully, for we are not alone:

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.

So great a cloud of witnesses… so many lives lived in the midst of difficulty and struggle and even apparent failure, but lived in radical obedience and conformity to Christ! So many lives, near and far, that make concrete and practical the call of the Gospel to us. In our own families, in our neighborhoods, in our parishes, we also encounter these witnesses. We see people around us choosing the Lord, His Church, His Truth, without counting the cost.

The readings this Sunday really challenge us, really throw down the gauntlet before us… do we choose Christ, or do we choose comfort, convenience, the crowd, political correctness? In our first reading, the Prophet Jeremiah wears out his welcome with the Jewish king because he has unabashedly spoken God’s truth. He is speaking the truth that people do not want to hear, a truth that calls them to conversion. They take him and thrown him down a well, and he is stuck there in the mud. At first this might seem a little comical, but it is not. He is unable to move, and he is facing a slow and painful death from starvation and dehydration. The king reconsiders this cowardly and violent act, and has Jeremiah removed… but if you were to read ahead, you would find that King Zedekiah persisted in ignoring Jeremiah until the whole city of Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonian armies.

In our daily lives, that voice of God speaks to us through the Church, through God’s Living Word, through our daily prayer, and in our consciences. The Church very intentionally lifts up for us the lives of the saints throughout the year to invite and challenge us. We use images of the saints in our stained glass windows, in statues, in holy cards to spark us to zeal. In our own diocese we promote the cause of Venerable Frederic Baraga precisely because we feel that his beautiful life should be more widely known!

One possible reaction to God’s call is to walk away… and we see this very commonly in our society. Many of our own family members and friends have walked away from God and God’s Church. One possible motivation, among many, is the avoidance of a call to conversion. If we know God is calling us to change, to grow, to serve, one way to avoid that call is to tune God out. If there is something in our lives that is not as it should be, it can seem easier to avoid the challenge than to enter the battle with our own weakness.

But here we are at church… you and me, with all of our faults and failings! Here we are in this hospital for sinners, this clinic for the spiritually weak and broken! It’s a sort of walk in clinic…all are welcome! No one asks to see your insurance card before you come in the door! No one asks to make sure you can afford the co-pay! Here we are, to some extent aware of our need for God’s help. Inasmuch as we have chose to be here, we are choosing God’s help. But for us, sitting in the pews, and for me at this altar, I think the great trap is lukewarmness… the great trap is spiritual tepidity. We show up, perhaps we avoid the most overt sins. This is good, we praise God. But it is also possible for us to settle in comfortably far short of the holiness God calls us to, with all of the sacrifice that involves, but also far short of the beauty and joy. In this light hear Christ in the Gospel speaking to our hearts:

I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

Jesus doesn’t want division… He doesn’t seek division… but He knows the human heart perfectly, and He recognizes that many who hear His voice will not immediately follow Him wholeheartedly. Among His own disciples and apostles this was true, and it is still true. If we allow the Lord to set our hearts on fire with zeal and love, it may well mean a parting of ways with the common opinion, the broad common path. It may mean a division between us and our increasingly depraved popular culture. It may mean a parting of ways with neighbors, friends, or even family members who do not want to follow the Lord wholeheartedly.

 In no way do we seek division… but we acknowledge that a choice to follow Christ will have a price, consequences, and the Lord wants us to follow Him anyways. Listen to how the Letter to the Hebrews describes Jesus’ path:

For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood

On this path that Jesus has walked, we are invited to follow… enduring the Cross, despising its shame, bearing opposition, struggling on in the midst of weariness.

This may sound overly dramatic… but think of the places in our daily lives where our consciences nudges us: our favorite vice or sin; the gossip or profanity that we accept from day to day; the person who hurt us who we have resisted forgiving; the awkward person in need of help who we have shied away from; the time for prayer we desire but haven’t actually offered God. No blood here, perhaps, no newspaper accounts of our struggle, but this is the front line, and the Lord calls us to battle, and to victory. He has come like a blowtorch of love, a white-hot flame of love, and He longs for our daily lives, words, and actions to be ablaze with His love and truth. As we receive Him now, may He set our hearts and lives on fire!

+ A. M. D. G. +