St. Joseph Church Homilies

We just heard one of the most well-known analogies our Lord presents for what the life of a disciple should be like. Jesus says that the life of a disciple, of one who follows him, should be like salt and like light. Now, on their own salt and light don’t have a lot to offer; they instead build on other things, other truths. Salt works best when there’s food to put it on; no one who wants to live long ever has a meal of just salt. Likewise, light only reveals colours and shapes when there’s something for it to reflect off.

I’d like to consider, for a moment, how we’re called to be light for the world. We’re lucky in this era of GPS: there’s no more getting lost, no need to pull over and consult a map. But after the sun goes down, even with GPS, light is essential for safely navigating to a destination. Our cars have headlights for seeing what’s ahead, of course. But most of the lights on our cars aren’t to help the driver see, but for the benefit of everyone else on the road.

Break lights, hazard lights, turning lights: these all do nothing but let other drivers know you’re slowing down, or turning or have become an obstacle. My personal favourite is the double flash of high beams letting all on the road know the police are ahead, encouraging safety. All these lights, indicators and signals aren’t for the driver, but for everyone and they become useless if covered up.

But this analogy reveals a danger too, because it’s by light that we can see things we would rather not see. Want to hide the cobwebs in the corners of your house, just dim the lights. Don’t like how you look first thing in the morning? Just keep the lights off when passing the bathroom mirror. It’s easy to hide truth from our eyes, to keep the light covered. But our Saviour uses this analogy of light to illustrate more serious ways truth can be covered up. The need for forgiveness is easily covered up by excuses, the horrors of euthanasia or abortion are concealed by ignoring them, the suffering of others is hidden by blame: we’re tempted to cover these uncomfortable things up.

Jesus however, calls for truth to be revealed and why should we expect anything different. Jesus went to the cross for professing truth, that he is the Son of God. John the Baptist was put to death because he declared that God has expectations, laws, around Marriage. All but one of the first Apostles were martyred, not because of their kindness and generosity but because of how they were like light illuminating the truth of the resurrection of our Lord.

None of us may ever be called to be martyrs. But each of us have been placed in positions of influence, maybe because of special gifts, talents or skills, maybe because of a career decision, maybe as a parent or as a member of an organization, association or circle of friends. This is not by accident; it’s from these places, from where we find ourselves currently, that we are to be light for the world.

There’s a lot at stake here. Because when Christians are not light for the world, when they fail to reveal truth and illuminate that which is good and that which is bad, the world begins to fall apart. It’s sadly amazing that various forms of evil have sprung up in traditionally Christian places. How could Nazism have arisen in Christian Germany unless Christians failed to illuminate truth or how could the residential school system have thrived in Christian Canada for over a century unless Christians failed to reveal the truth of what was happening.

When salt has lost its saltiness, it’s incapable of contributing to our meals. When light is covered up, its unable to reveal truth. Maybe there are some here who feel that way, that they have lost their saltiness or the light of faith and that’s okay because our Saviour has an answer.

Inspired by the popular practice many have of making New Year’s Resolutions at the start of a New Year, we’ve been reflecting on habits this month. We know our world could be better. We know our lives could be better. We know we could be better. So, with hope that something, anything will be better by this time next year, many work to keep resolutions. The problem, however, is that resolutions are incredibly difficult to keep. It seems that free will is overrated, that there are limits for even the most strong-willed of us. So, we proposed that, instead of resolutions, one-off goals, it might be better to make new, good habits.

Habits are behaviours we do automatically; we don’t even have to think about them. Instead of being one-off goals with one-off rewards, habits are ongoing; they’re about continual, life-long improvement. Habits offer daily opportunity for success because they’re formed through a cycle. First, there’s a cue, something that triggers the habit. Then there’s the routine, the habitual action, followed by the reward, something that affirms the habit.

We observed how God can use even the smallest of habits to bring big changes. Because of their small habit of observing the stars of the night sky, the wise men were guided to Jesus and were among the first to honour him. If God can do that, he can use our small, good habits to guide us too.

We also reflected on how our habits ought to echo our call to holiness. The life of any holy person will always be marked by good habits. The Corinthians who lived in a Greek and hedonistic culture may never have developed the good habits needed to embrace the Good News on their own. But they weren’t on their own. The Christians of the city of Corinth accepted the strength offered by God present among them. God offers strength for his people and here, in the church, through the Eucharist, we accept his grace.

Last week, we explored how understanding our identity is extremely important when forming habits because our habits should reflect who we are. Those who don’t have a great grasp of who they are likely to develop unhealthy habits. But those who recognize how they are children of God invited to share in the joy, love, sacrifice and work of our Maker are likely to develop habits that reflect that truth. Andrew, Peter, James and John could only begin seeking holiness after Jesus reveled to them their true identity: They weren’t just fishermen, but his disciples.

Though habits may be easier to develop than resolutions, there’s still the challenge of motivation. In the beatitudes, Jesus announces blessings for those holding certain character traits. We know these are great traits to have and are happy to hold those who demonstrate these traits in high esteem. Often, we look for these traits when exploring the life of a saint.

But on self-reflection, while we find that each of us may demonstrate any of these traits at least a little bit, there’s always room for growth and some of the traits Jesus blesses we might truly struggle with. Now, when working to develop new habits, one approach might be to focus on building up traits you know you struggle with most, to work on eliminating the greatest shortfalls. But that can be hard. There’s a reason why some of those traits are difficult.

But, instead of beginning at where you’re lacking, another approach might be to start by looking at what you long for, what you hope for most. Each of the beatitudes come with a reward. Jesus promises mercy for those who are merciful, and consolation to those who mourn. Which reward would you like most? Remembering how rewards affirm habits, dwelling on the reward might give just the motivation needed to establish a new habit. For example those who wish to see God might develop habits that make for a pur...