Is Jesus at the center, or is that center empty? (Or, why you should read the Pope's interview!)

 + J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

In our second reading, St. Paul continues to give clear instructions and words of encouragement to Timothy, a young bishop who is taking on new challenges and new responsibilities. He asks for prayers for everyone, especially for those in authority. He continues, drawing Timothy attention right to the heart of the Gospel:

This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all.

At the heart of St. Timothy’s ministry, at the heart of Paul’s words to him, at the heart of our own Christian faith are these convictions, these truths:

1. God is our Savior, and He desires that everyone be saved, that every single person would come to know the fullness of truth.
2. What is that truth? There is one God, and there is one mediator, Jesus Christ, who died for all.

This is the core of Paul’s exhortation to Timothy, the core of the Gospel, the core of the truth that we are called to live and speak and teach. If this is true, it must be the foundation of our lives. If this is true, it is not the case that worldly success or worldly possessions, or the good opinion of others are the most important, even as they are not necessarily bad. Because God desires that every person be saved, because He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to accomplish this work, everything else changes before this awesome truth!

Many of you have heard accounts and discussions of Pope Francis’ recent interview. In August he worked with a journalist in Rome, Fr. Antonio Spadaro. Fr. Spadaro is a Jesuit priest, and the editor of an important Jesuit journal. This interview has now been released simultaneously around the world in many different languages, and it hit the press this past week. It is about 14 pages long, and Pope Francis addresses many different topics. From this long discussion, the media has extracted any number of short sound bites, drawing all kinds of exciting conclusions, some of them bizarre, some of them confusing. And yet, in God’s providence, it seems to me that the core of Pope Francis’ message is very much related to St. Paul’s message to St. Timothy.

At the very beginning of the interview, Fr. Spadaro asks Pope Francis, “Who is Jorge Maria Bergoglio?”, using the Pope’s baptismal name. After thinking about it, the Pope answered very simply, “I am a sinner.” Like St. Paul, Pope Francis is acutely aware of his own need for a Savior, for help in the midst of his own weakness.

The interview ranges on over many topics, and then Pope Francis speaks of the Church as a “field hospital after battle,” a place where each person’s mortal wounds must be healed. With deep feeling he speaks of the wounds that the Gospel can heal, and the way that each of us is called to be healed, and to help heal others. He speaks of the great grace of confession as part of this process. He says, “We need to proclaim the Gospel on every street corner, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing, even with our preaching, every kind of disease and wound.” He goes on later, “The proposal of the Gospel must be more simple, profound, radiant. It is from this proposition that the moral consequences flow.”

Much of the reporting has launched off Pope Francis’ call to put the preaching of Christ first, before the Church’s moral teaching. It is from Jesus that the power and grace to live rightly comes. It is from Jesus that healing and help comes to each one of us in our own sins, in our own wounds, whatever they may be. Pope Francis affirms, clearly, the Church’s moral teaching, but he reminds us that this challenging way of life laid out by Christ and communicated to us by the Church is only possible with Christ. Jesus Himself speaks this clearly time and time again, "I came not to abolish but to fulfill the law," "Keep the commandments."  And yet, it is possible for the moral law to become separated from the proclamation of Jesus Christ.  It is possible for people to hear the dos and don'ts, but not to hear of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.  And this is where the Pope's invitation and challenge comes in.  With Christ, holiness is possible. Without Christ, it is not.

Our first reading and Gospel today call us to make good use of our worldly possessions, our money, our time, our talents. We must place them at the service of God rather than worshiping them. We must chose God rather than mammon. There are many kinds of poverty around us, material, physical, spiritual. Every kind of poverty can only be resolved in a full and lasting way by the proclamation of God who came to save us, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Our Holy Father is calling us to hear this call, to receive this truth, and to bring it to others.

As at each Mass, having heard of Jesus Christ, having heard His teaching, we come now to encounter Him on this altar. May we receive the Lord’s body and blood now and thus be empowered, healed, and invigorated to proclaim Him to our wounded world.

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PLEASE read the full interview if you're interested!  PLEASE read the full interview before opining enthusiastically, in whatever direction, about what the Pope is saying!

A Big Heart Open to God: the exclusive interview with Pope Francis

+ A. M. D. G. +