Homily delivered by Deacon Joe Meyer on Father's Day, June 21, 2020

Thomas Williams Funeral Mass Homily and Closing Prayer

St Matthew the Apostle Catholic Church / Homily by Deacon Joe Meyer on May 17, 2020 “Beloved: Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,” That was our message from our first Pope, Peter in our second reading today.   I read an interesting article in Catholic stand this week about a book by Albert Camus, “The Plague.” I’d like to quote a paragraph from that article.  “The whole world has been shut down, daily life has been interrupted and all our securities are collapsing. Only ‘essential’ things for life are allowed. We are losing our jobs, studies, Churches are being closed, and most of all we are being separated from our loved ones. We cannot even accompany our loved ones in their suffering and they are dying alone. Furthermore, we cannot even give them a dignified burial. We are isolated, confronted by the fear of death. It seems that there is no answer to this terrifying situation and people are alienating themselves in the digital world by watching movies, pornography, playing video games, or in drinking alcohol, taking drugs and many also fall into despair and even kill themselves because they are afraid to suffer. We do not want to face the reality of death.”

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory,” (Col 3:1-4)  

“Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.”   We just celebrated the most important event in the history of the world, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. We will be spending the next 50 days after Easter as a Church celebrating Easter and the Resurrection. Setting our minds on things that are above seems to me like a perfect prescription for how we should spend these days celebrating Easter.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.  

This is one of my favorite Psalms. And at a time when there is so much fear and confusion in the world, I find assurance and peace in knowing we are led by a Good Shepherd. Much of the bible uses rural language and terminology to teach us about the love of God. David who addressed this audience was f a simple, nomadic person himself, speaking to a people who understood the outdoor life of the countryside around them. For us modern folk we can sometimes miss the beautiful metaphors encased in such scripture.

You just heard the encounter of Jesus with the woman at the Well. St. Augustine, saw the woman as a symbol of the Church.  It’s a great analogy, and one worth reflecting.  The woman represents us as the people who make up the Church. The well represents  2 things, marriage which in bible days would have seen the well as a sign of Marriage, Abraham brought his son Isaac to the well to meet his wife Rebecca, Jacob met his wife at the well, and it was where Moses met his wife Zippora.  The well also represents our sin, where we go back repeatedly repeating the same sin, and leave empty. The woman’s pale represents her conversion.  And finally, what happens, she goes forth and becomes the Church’s first evangelist.  The woman came to the well every day at noon.  She didn’t want to be seen. It was the hottest time of the day. She chose this time because she was considered a public sinner. Jesus travelled through Samaria to reach this woman, which was quite unusual, as a Jew would never travel through Samaria, they would always go around Samaria.  For the Samaritans were not a part of the Jewish people, they were considered half breeds and unclean.  This didn’t stop Jesus, he set out in journey with eyes of mercy to meet her. He was always after the marginalized and forgotten of society. He would say, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.” And once he finds her at the well, he asks her for a drink.  But what he was really asking for was a relationship, just like he thirst for you and I to be in relationship with him.  And that’s because he wants to offer us a gift of eternal life.

Today we contrast of 2 Adams. The first Adam in the garden.  The second Adam in the desert. These readings are important to us, because they reveal how the devil works.  His tactics he used with Adam and Eve, and Jesus have not changed.  Now recall, just a few weeks ago, Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And we heard God the Father proclaim, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” and right after that baptism, Jesus was led immediately into the desert to begin his ministry. This is where the devil went first with Jesus in the desert, he tried to get Jesus to questioned his sonship. “So, you are the Son of God are you..” He called Jesus’ sonship into question from the moment he began his ministry stepping out of the Jordan all the way to when he was forsaken and dying on the wood of the cross.  The temptation came over and over again.  Satan hounded him at every turn, every moment in his ministry. He came to him through the mouths of friends, and enemies, and even his disciples.  The attempt the devil took with Jesus was to get him to doubt that he truly was the Son of God.   He uses this same tactic with Eve in the garden, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?” He caused Eve to question what God really said.  “He didn’t really mean that.”  You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.” The devil will do the same to us. He will try to get us to question our own sonship of baptism with God.  When bad things come into our life his attempt will be to get us to question Gods love for us. How could God allow you to suffer like this?  Where is your God now?  God hasn’t cured your illness, and you are on the verge of bankruptcy about to loose everything.  That doesn’t sound like a loving God. And the devil will do everything possible to get us to put God as Fr. Riccardo says, “On the docket.”  We put God on trial.  We call his Lordship into trial.  And every time we do this almost always God will loose.

Who said being a Christian was going to be easy? As Christian’s we are called to a higher standard, and must not blend in with everyone else.  Jesus wants much more than outward observances of his law.  He has written his law on our hearts and He’s very interested in a transformation of our hearts. He reminds us today he did not come to abolish but to “fulfill” the Law of Moses and the the prophets. This means Jesus is revealing to us a deeper meaning and purpose of the Ten Commandments and the moral Law of the Old Testament. He actually transcends the Law of Moses, and demands from us, a moral life that is even far greater than that of the most pious of Jews, scribes or Pharisees.  It would seem to be an almost impossible task.  He even ended this same gospel message commanding, “we must be perfect just as our heavenly Father is perfect.” And if that’s going to happen, we are going to need an awful lot of Grace.God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called, Amen. All of us here fall short of the glory of God, but thanks be to God, he gives us his grace.   So just what exactly is Grace? And how do we receive it?  Grace is first given to us at baptism and then subsequently through all the sacraments. It’s free, undeserved, we don’t earn it, but we can loose it, and fall out of it by sin.  The best news, is it can be restored to us by Gods mercy and forgiveness.  It comes to us in many ways, and most abundantly in all the sacraments.   In about 10 days we will begin lent.  This is a time when we will up our game in prayer, fasting and almsgiving, turning our hearts towards God and away from temporal matters.   Grace is the love of God being poured into our hearts. Paul in our second reading today describes this love of God, “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.”  This amazing Grace is a free gift that we must freely open. If we open it we will receive all that is necessary to live by this higher calling God has given to each of us today.    Our first reading from Sirach emphasizes choice is involved, “If you choose, you can keep the commandments.”  God has placed before us fire and water; and he tells us to simply stretch out our hands to whichever we choose. Our lives are ultimately defined by the choices we will make. At any given moment, our free will gives us the ability to complete freedom of choice, to either burn in fire, or to be free to live in accordance with the cool, living water of our baptism.   As Joshua says, “Choose this day whom you will serve, As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” And in the book of Deuteronomy, we hear, “I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life.”  God’s Grace helps us make that choice in any given moment.   Grace helps us to become perfect like our Heavenly Father.  We are all called to be Saints.  It slowly changes us more into the image we were created to be. It’s a life long journey and what the Church calls “The call to holiness.”  For holiness is the only true happiness in this world. Holiness is a life filled with Gods Grace.  And from Grace, peace and happiness flow. Something the world cannot give, provide, or even understand.   Our responsorial psalm today describes “how blessed is the one who walks in the law of the Lord, who observes what he says, who seeks him with all his or her heart.”  Obedience leads to true peace and happiness comes.

Today we celebrate the Presentation of our Lord, which is the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, and is always celebrated 40 days after Christmas. We don’t often get the chance to celebrate this feast on a Sunday, as it usually falls to a weekday. In fact since 2004, it has only occurred 2 times on a Sunday.  At the 10:00 AM mass there was a special blessing for the lighting of the candles.  This is supposed to symbolize our burning love for God who is always presenting himself to us.  This presentation is meant to be a mutual presentation.  Let’s place ourselves at the scene of this gospel.  We have Joseph and Mary, with their little baby Jesus. He’s all wrapped up in Mary’s arms in swaddling clothes. They are at the temple to present their son Jesus, out of respect and in total obedience to the law of Moses. It’s a very busy day at the temple this day. There are other babies being presented in addition to Jesus. But out of all the babies, beside Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna would be the only ones to recognize Jesus as the long awaited Messiah, whom was predicted in our first reading from the book of Malachi.  “Lo, I am sending my messenger [which is a reference to John the Baptist] to prepare the way before me; And suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek.” Simeon and Anna are present this day, and have spent their whole life seeking the Lord.  And on this day, they would come and find the one they spent there whole life seeking. In fact Anna never left the temple once she became a widow. Simeon and Anna were both expecting him with minds and hearts made pure.  I can just see them reciting Psalm 41:2 -3 “As the deer longs for fountains of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul has thirsted for the strong living God. When will I draw close and appear before the face of God?” Or Psalm 63:1-4 “O God, you are my God, it is you I seek! For you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts... And finally they find Jesus. What great longing they must have had in their hearts for God.  Simeon and Anna desired to see God. And because of that desire, they could recognize Jesus. They possessed the highest and greatest gift of the Holy Spirit which is wisdom.  Their hearts were pure and they were given the gift of wisdom and could could recognize God.

Today, I’d like us to reflect on our own baptism as we examine the baptism of our Lord. Last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany.  Epiphany comes from a Greek word which simply means to reveal, a sudden revelation or insight about something. Today we celebrate another Epiphany with the Baptism of Our Lord. Jesus is manifesting himself to us through the waters of his own baptism, and revealing who he is by his baptism. And, He’s also revealing who we are in our own baptism. Jesus begins his public ministry today with his baptism. He voluntarily submitted himself to baptism not because he was a sinner but to fulfill the word proclaimed by the prophets. Now go with me to the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the Spirit had hovered over the waters in the first creation. Adam and Eve sinned bringing sin into the world. The sea was considered where the serpent, and the dragon of the sea lived. The serpent and the dragon represented the sin of Adam. And now the Spirit descends upon Christ in his baptism as a prelude of the new creation. Christ descended down into those waters of death, and stomped the head of the serpent and the dragon. and he did so to crush the power of the dragon who was hidden there. He thus consecrated the waters of baptism. God the Father revealed to us that Jesus is his “beloved Son.” And that’s why John was so adamant in insisting he be baptized by Jesus. You know in our own baptism, God is announcing the same thing to you and I, “This is my beloved son, or daughter in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus came to “take away the sins of the world,” and this was foreshadowed in the waters of the Jordan.  Recall, just before Jesus’ baptism, John announced there was going to be another baptism, not just of water, but “of the Holy Spirit and Fire.”  The “Holy Spirit and Fire” is the very essence of the divine life of God given to us through baptism. The marvelous indwelling of the Holy Trinity, through baptism.