St. Dominic Catholic Church

Homilies

6/25/17 12th Sunday Ordinary Time (A)

“Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.” This quote from our Lord, Jesus, summarizes the effects of Facebook and Twitter. Facebook – where narcissism, stalking and ADHD converge. Ironically, a Catholic who will post political cartoons, snapshots of lunch, or hourly updates about their last thought will not say anything about their faith.

“Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, unless it is a Catholic’s faith.” But we talk about things and people we’re passionate about. We’ll regale our friends with experiences that have changed our life, maybe even write books about them. So what conclusion might we make when studies reveal that American atheists talk about God more than Catholics?

You couldn’t get St. Paul to stop talking about Jesus – and people tried. He was whipped, imprisoned, ridiculed, threatened. And why was he so passionate about Jesus? He knew humanity was fallen – not only from the story in Genesis about Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit, but from his own life. Once humanity turned from God and struck out on its own in an attempt to become God, all was lost – expulsion from the garden, Pandora’s box opened. Every ancient culture had its story to explain the mayhem in our society: murders, lies, theft, war, injustice. Paul tried to overcome his own temptations through adherence to the Mosaic Law, but, as he admits in his letter to the Romans, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”

St. Paul, while he was still Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee, had an encounter with Jesus that changed his life – and at the heart of the encounter were two truths: 1) Jesus of Nazareth, crucified – was clearly alive and with God and 2) the Christians were intimately connected to one another and to him. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” the risen Lord had asked him. Through Christians like Ananias, whom God sent to mentor and teach Saul, he came to realize that Jesus had fulfilled the Law of Moses. Jesus had done what Saul could not do – and the response of people just like Saul had been to crucify him.

At the heart of St. Paul’s preaching, then, is the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is what Paul proclaimed from the housetops. Jesus, through his incarnation, reestablished the intimate link between God and humanity in a dramatic way – more intimately than before the Fall. Jesus, through his obedience and fulfillment of the Law, reestablished the friendship between God and humanity that had been lost by disobedience. Jesus, through his suffering and death as an innocent victim – the Lamb of God - was the final sacrifice to take away the collective sin of humanity: more precious than all the millions of animals sacrificed in the Temple. Moreover, St. Paul professed his own sin and God’s forgiveness. He confesses to the Corinthians he doesn’t deserve to be called an apostle because he persecuted the Church of God. He realizes that through his faith in Jesus, he has entered a new covenant that God has established between all people, not just the Jews. He also experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, through which his preaching was effective, he had courage in the face of opposition, and his relationship with God included praying in tongues. All of this we can experience and proclaim.

But, as with St. Paul, so also with us, it begins with conversion. Conversion is difficult because it requires we accept God’s perspective about our lives: that we are sinners and that we recognize and accept how we have sinned. In the garden, Adam and Eve did not take responsibility for their sin, they blamed God, each other and the Serpent. When our life is difficult, or disappointing, or tragic, we often blame God, others and Satan, and do not consider how our actions contributed to the situation. Sure, I’m not responsible for an earthquake, but I am responsible for the unanchored bookshelf that I put next to my bed that fell on my head.

We need to understand what God has done for us to redeem us because then, like St. Paul, we can appreciate God’s love. The converted heart is able to admit to others how they sinned and to rejoice in God’s forgiveness.  If I can’t admit my guilt, I won’t ask for, receive or experience forgiveness. I will have nothing to say, really, about what God has done for me, and faith will remain abstract.

This week, I challenge you to carefully examine your life in prayer. Ask God to help you admit guilt, so you can receive forgiveness. We offer confessions regularly, so you can hear Jesus saying to you, through the priest, “Your sins are forgiven”. The forgiven sinner will reconcile with those they’ve hurt, and they are disposed to receive sanctifying grace through all the sacraments. The unrepentant sinner can receive sacraments, but their effect will be minimal and may actually lead to their condemnation. The sacraments are meant to change us–from sinners to saints. This, too, is something we can proclaim from the housetops: “I was lost and was found.  Jesus has saved me. Praise God.”