To hear the homily as it was preached see here.
We have all lost something, or someone, at some point. It is a moment when we realise how
important they really are to us.
To be sought for by another is an affirmation of how important we are to
them. A writer I follow tells the
story about how he lost one of his children. He has a large clan of kids and they were at the playground. As he got them together to bring them
home he noticed that one he was one short. He recounted and recounted but quickly had to conclude that
one, a daughter, was missing. The
clan was dispatched in all directions, calling out her name. Other families were recruited and a
frantic search unfolded until in the midst of his despair and desperation he
stopped and saw her, sitting on top of one of slides, watching them all in calm
delight. He was filled with joy
and relief though he probably had other emotions as well.
There was once this Greek philosopher called Plato. He lived about 500 years before Christ
and he said that our human condition was as though we are born into a cave
where all we know are shadows and illusions. He said that the task of the philosopher, once he had
achieved enlightenment, was to return to those in darkness and draw them out
into the light. He warned that
this would not be an easy task and could cost a philosopher his life. The Church Fathers drew on this
image. Christ, they said, is the
true philosopher for He brings Divine, not human, Wisdom and He enlightens us
with the Divine Light. He has come
in search of us and leads us out of the darkness of illusion and ignorance into
the brilliant daylight of the Truth.
All Heaven rejoices at each one that, repenting, leaves the darkness of
sin for the light of God’s mercy and forgiveness.
It is Christ the True Philosopher who is also the Good Shepherd and
He has sought us out to bring us back to the fold, to the flock of those who
follow Him and He does so repeatedly for His patience with us in inexhaustible. He may have to hobble us to get us to
stay close to Him, to teach us obedience and patience but never to hurt us. If he does it is because He
carries us on His own arms that are stretched out on His cross. Christ wants us
to learn the discipline that must accompany the freedom of faith in Christ, the
freedom of the life of grace.
When I was very little I lost my mother’s engagement ring. She never let me forget. The ladies
will understand that better than the men - how important one’s personal jewelry
can be to a woman. At the time of
Jesus Jews did not use rings to symbolise marriage but a woman wore her wedding
dowry as part of her headdress. To
lose a coin from the dowry was tantamount not just to negligence but to
infidelity. It is through the Church that Christ ministers to the world sunk in
evil. The Church is the woman who
having lost us when we sin has lit the lamp of prayer and swept out her house
through penance and fasting in order to find us and she rejoices over our
finding and our healing.
It was not just to forgive and heal us nor just to restore us to the
state of Adam before the Fall that Christ became fully and truly human but in
order to lift us up into the very heart of the Most Holy Trinity and give us a
place on His throne. He did this
by offering to the Father His own eternal worship through His suffering and
death on the Cross. In this way He
made of His own Body the way and the Temple, the price of our redemption and
the source of our salvation. He
gives His all to us by giving His all for us. This eternal life already flows into us through the
Sacraments.
All this is to remind us of what He has done and how dear we are to
Him. God has become human
for us yet this was not enough for Him and His Love, so He suffered and died
for us. Suffered and dying for us
was not enough for Him and His Love, so He gave us Baptism and Confirmation so
that we could be truly one with Him. This was not enough for Him and His Love, so He made His
Sacrifice really present in the Mass and gave us the Priesthood to make that
happen. The Mass and the
Priesthood were not enough for Him and His Love, so He gave us His Himself
really and totally present in Holy Communion so that we could receive Him into
ourselves. Yet this was not enough
for Him and His Love, so He gave the Priesthood power to remind us of His
Teaching, and to wipe away our sins in Confession as well as to heal us with
the Sacrament of Anointing. He has
even glorified the union of man and woman with the Sacrament of matrimony. He is interested in every aspect of our
lives for He loves us. As He said
to King Solomon, this and much more would He do to show His love for us.
Yet how cold and indifferent we are in return. We are blessed in so many ways and how
ungrateful we are. How many of us
count our blessings and give thanks to God even a few times a year let alone
daily? How many times do we go to
Holy Communion without thought of Who it is we are to receive and whether we
are fit to receive Him? How many
prepare properly for Mass? How
many neglect not only to go to confession regularly but even to examine their
conscience daily? How many have
hours to spend in front of the TV or on the computer but have so little time to
pray? He is full of love for us
and we are cold in return. He laid
down His life for us and we are so slow to give anything up for Him in return. We are careless, negligent and
unfaithful with sacred things, with the salvation of our souls and of those
around us and worry and fret over things that do not matter and do not
last. We wander away from Him and
make Him search for us. Then we
resent Him for teaching us the Truth and showing us to the way to the splendour
and glory of Heaven. We do not
deserve Him yet He loves us and shows us mercy still.
Let us no longer wander but let us follow faithfully. Let us no longer abuse His love, His
mercy and His patience but begin to respond to it daily. Let us decide to do the duties of our
life out of love for Him who loves us.
Let us decide to learn more and more about Christ for those who love
want to know everything they can about the one they love. Let us offer any and every sacrifice we
can, however little, in return for all He has done for us. By these little steps we can follow in
His footsteps to paradise. By this
way we can sweep out our lives and rediscover the faith and devotion to Christ
that we have lost. By this way we
can be the means for others to be found by Christ and His Church and we can
draw them back into communion with Him.
By this path we will one day rejoice with Christ and with all the angels
and the saints in the Kingdom of Heaven where there will be no darkness and no
tears are ever shed.
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