Homily 14th Sunday Ordinary A Today, we celebrate the 14
th Sunday in the Ordinary Time. And in my homily, I’ll focus on two main points.
My first point is an invitation to all of us to contemplate Jesus in prayer and to imitate Him
Long ago, in my parish in France, one of my parishioners gave me a beautiful image of Jesus in prayer, in the kneeling posture with his eyes lifted up to heaven. Today’s Gospel shows us Jesus in prayer. So, you can take one minute of meditation, to close your eyes, and then, imagine Jesus knelt, and his eyes lifted up to heaven praying and talking to God his Father of heaven. The Gospel gives us the content of that prayer, which finally is a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to the Father: “
I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.” Who are these wise and learned to whom God has hidden these things about the kingdom? They are all those who are proud of themselves, proud hearted and narcissistic; those who rely not on God but on themselves, on their ego, their knowledge, their honorable social status, their wealth and material possessions; those who are equal to themselves. However, who are these little ones to whom God has revealed these things from the kingdom? These little ones are humble people who rely only on God, those who fear God and avoid doing evil; those who believe in Jesus Christ as their God and Savior. To give you two simple and concrete examples, I’ll refer,
first, to the story of the Magi during the Epiphany of the Lord. The Gospel of Matthew tells us how all important personalities, all VIP’s like King Herod, the Pharisees and Scribes, and other notable experts didn’t recognize any sign of the presence of Jesus, the Savior of the world in their midst. But only the Magi, people of good will, humble, simple, and open-hearted and believers, who finally, saw and recognized the divine star that led them to Jesus the Son of God.
Another example is about the famous scientist and cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin. He was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who, in 1961, became the first human to journey in Space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race. Yuri Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation’s highest honour. When the Journalists asked him about what he saw in his Journey in Space, Yuri Gagarin said, “
I went to Space, and I looked and looked, but I didn’t see God.” In other words, what Yuri Gagarin meant was, “
as I didn’t see God in Space, then God does not exist”. He was totally wrong because Space is not Heaven. And as Pope Benedict said, “
Heaven is a Person: Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” Therefore, Jesus was right in his prayer when he said, “
I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise, the learned and famous scientists like Yuri Gagarin, you have revealed them to your little ones and humble parishioners of Saint Patrick of Placerville and Saint James of Georgetown California, who believe in your Son Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, and know that the true dwelling where they can find you Father is here on earth, within their hearts, in their neighbors to love, in the poor and those suffering to help, in the sacraments of your Holy Church, in their parish churches made with stones as your House of prayer, and everywhere, but not in Space.”
Let us welcome Jesus’ invitation when he says, ”Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened.”
As Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis says, this “
passage begins with a prayer of Jesus to the Father that we are allowed to overhear; only then is an invitation extended to us. The marvelous thing about this man, Jesus of Nazareth, is that, when we go to him, we encounter not just a great (or even the greatest) human being, but always God his Father, the Lord of heaven and earth. Jesus is a window to the freedom and vastness of eternity, the entryway into the abyss of God’s Trinitarian Being.” Jesus’ invitation is concerning a wide range of people. This invitation is addressed not only to Christians but to everybody, all men, women and children from the whole world: “
Come to me, all who labor and are burdened.” So, the question is: Who really are the burdened of today? Who are those who labor and are heavy burdened in life? Many people fit that description. We too, Parishioners of Saint Patrick of Placerville and Saint James of Georgetown, belong to that category of those who labor and are burdened. Each of us has his specific burdens: burden of incurable or chronic illness, burden of coronavirus pandemic, burden of unemployment, burden of work, burden of despair and anxiety, burden of marginalization, burden of solitude, burden of domestic violence, burden of family issue, burden of alcoholism and drug addiction, burden of gambling addiction, burden of rejection, burdens of life. Today, think about your own burdens. And you, what is your burden? Whatever your burden is, Jesus is inviting you today to come to him and offer him your burden so he can make it light. Come to Jesus and lift up your eyes on his Holy Cross, and offer him your worries; offer him your family; offer him your life; offer him your joy; offer him your sorrows, your failures and everything of your life. And you won’t be disappointed because he will uplift you with his mysterious breath of divine life within you. For He who carried the heavy Cross on his shoulders falling three times to redeem us; and He who took the weight of our sins on him to free us from sin, is the only one able to take also on him the weight of all our burdens because as he says, his yoke is easy, and his burden light. Meanwhile, Jesus invites us to contemplate the wonder of his Sacred Heart, which is meek and humble; his Sacred Heart which is the fountain of love and Mercy; his Sacred Heart which is the Tabernacle of God’s fullness; his Sacred Heart which is full of kindness and patience; his Sacred Heart which is a Treasure-house of wisdom and knowledge. Let us come to that divine fountain to drink the living water of hope, love, peace, joy, reconciliation and fraternity that Jesus gives us in the Eucharist. Only when we have drunk at the fountain of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we’ll then have strength to love our neighbor as ourselves because transformed and galvanized by Jesus’ love. Only when we have drunk at the fountain of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we’ll be able to become what we receive, to become the Body of Christ overflowing of love and shining of divine peace, joy and mercy; to become like Jesus himself, gentle and humble of heart.
Rev. Fr Pepin W. F. DANDOU Georgetown, CA July 4, 2020.