Sunday's Gospel:
My homily:
William Hatherell - Behold the Lamb of God
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world... The reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known" Jn 1:29,31
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
January 16 homily
January 16, 2011
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
“It is too little.” That’s the message the Lord delivers to his beloved people Israel through the prophet Isaiah. “It is too little for you to be my servant...and restore the survivors of Israel.” What does God mean by that?
Well, God has always had a great plan to make himself known to all the world… to each and every one of us and everyone we’ll ever meet throughout our lives. He didn’t want salvation to be just for his chosen people, but he had an even greater plan that the people of Israel would be “a light to the nations, that salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” The gift of God is too great to be hoarded within one family or nation. It overflows whatever vessel it is poured into and so flows to the ends of the earth. “It is too little,” God says, “The message cannot stop with you.”
The Bible is full of stories that teach this point. However big you can dream, you can’t dream big enough when it comes to God. From Abraham and Sarah, a couple that was too old to have children, God not only brought a child, but a whole nation.
Moses was destined to die at childbirth, and yet he led his people out of slavery.
David was the youngest in his family and tended the sheep, and he became a King remembered for all ages.
The list goes on and on. God contually looks down on the great things he does and then says, “It is too little. I can give more.”
One of the greatest examples of this in our time was the life of Karol Wojtyla, known to most of us as Pope John Paul II. Out of the darkness of a period in Poland’s history where the practice of the Catholic faith was being stifled, a young man became a humble priest, then a bishop, and finally the first Polish Pope. Many of you watching today are filled with memories of John Paul II who was Pope for nearly 27 years. And if you haven’t heard the news, this week the beatification of John Paul II was announced. On May 1, 2011 Pope Benedict XVI will make John Paul a Blessed, the last step on the road to Sainthood.
As a young man, when John Paul was working in a stone quarry in Poland, he heard the Lord speak in his heart, “it is too little.” In the midst of the Second World War it was too little for him to sit aside and watch the terrible events of hatred and violence unfold around him. Yet he felt called to battle them not with guns and more violence, but with a different kind of weapon: the holiness of God.
In our second reading we heard St. Paul address his letter to those who are called to be holy. That’s all of us. We are all made for holiness. But what is holiness? Pope John Paul II told us that holiness is “the joy of doing what God wills.” (Homily, Jan 18, 1981). To be holy is to be filled with joy – the joy that comes from doing God’s will.
John Paul certainly lived with that joy, and so we know that he was a holy man. And it was too little for him to keep that joy to himself. He, like so many in Christ, was called to extraordinary things – called to share the Gospel with all the world.
But Father, what does this have to do with me, lying in my sickbed? What difference does all this make to me as I face my disabilities and limitations every day?
And I respond just as St. Paul did: You are called to be holy. You are meant to have great joy, no matter what your circumstances. God tells us “it is too little” for us to allow our difficulties and pains to keep us from being who God wants us to be. He wants to make himself known in every time and every place. To you and through you he wants to make himself known.
Perhaps many of you remember the last years of John Paul’s life. He was severely slowed in his body by Parkinson’s Disease. But in mind and spirit he was as alive as ever. Someone said “The Pope has taught us how to live. Now he is teaching us how to die.” Even in his weakened state, he was able to bring the light of the Gospel to all. To give up was too little. The Pope would love to the end.
In this the Pope was inspired by the one who came walking toward John the Baptist on that day - Jesus - the one who came to prove that for God NOTHING WAS TOO MUCH to give up for our sakes. John the Baptist said: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
The Pope speaks of that encounter saying: “He comes to us, the one who brings the joy of doing the will of God. The one who brings holiness” (Homily 1-18-81).
He comes to us, the Lamb of God, bringing the forgiveness of sins and bringing holiness. On this joyous day when we hear the news of John Paul’s beatification, it is too little for us to give up on holiness. Baptized in the Spirit, we are called, each and every one of us, to the joy of living out God’s will.
“It is too little.” That’s the message the Lord delivers to his beloved people Israel through the prophet Isaiah. “It is too little for you to be my servant...and restore the survivors of Israel.” What does God mean by that?
Well, God has always had a great plan to make himself known to all the world… to each and every one of us and everyone we’ll ever meet throughout our lives. He didn’t want salvation to be just for his chosen people, but he had an even greater plan that the people of Israel would be “a light to the nations, that salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” The gift of God is too great to be hoarded within one family or nation. It overflows whatever vessel it is poured into and so flows to the ends of the earth. “It is too little,” God says, “The message cannot stop with you.”
The Bible is full of stories that teach this point. However big you can dream, you can’t dream big enough when it comes to God. From Abraham and Sarah, a couple that was too old to have children, God not only brought a child, but a whole nation.
Moses was destined to die at childbirth, and yet he led his people out of slavery.
David was the youngest in his family and tended the sheep, and he became a King remembered for all ages.
The list goes on and on. God contually looks down on the great things he does and then says, “It is too little. I can give more.”
One of the greatest examples of this in our time was the life of Karol Wojtyla, known to most of us as Pope John Paul II. Out of the darkness of a period in Poland’s history where the practice of the Catholic faith was being stifled, a young man became a humble priest, then a bishop, and finally the first Polish Pope. Many of you watching today are filled with memories of John Paul II who was Pope for nearly 27 years. And if you haven’t heard the news, this week the beatification of John Paul II was announced. On May 1, 2011 Pope Benedict XVI will make John Paul a Blessed, the last step on the road to Sainthood.
As a young man, when John Paul was working in a stone quarry in Poland, he heard the Lord speak in his heart, “it is too little.” In the midst of the Second World War it was too little for him to sit aside and watch the terrible events of hatred and violence unfold around him. Yet he felt called to battle them not with guns and more violence, but with a different kind of weapon: the holiness of God.
In our second reading we heard St. Paul address his letter to those who are called to be holy. That’s all of us. We are all made for holiness. But what is holiness? Pope John Paul II told us that holiness is “the joy of doing what God wills.” (Homily, Jan 18, 1981). To be holy is to be filled with joy – the joy that comes from doing God’s will.
John Paul certainly lived with that joy, and so we know that he was a holy man. And it was too little for him to keep that joy to himself. He, like so many in Christ, was called to extraordinary things – called to share the Gospel with all the world.
But Father, what does this have to do with me, lying in my sickbed? What difference does all this make to me as I face my disabilities and limitations every day?
And I respond just as St. Paul did: You are called to be holy. You are meant to have great joy, no matter what your circumstances. God tells us “it is too little” for us to allow our difficulties and pains to keep us from being who God wants us to be. He wants to make himself known in every time and every place. To you and through you he wants to make himself known.
Perhaps many of you remember the last years of John Paul’s life. He was severely slowed in his body by Parkinson’s Disease. But in mind and spirit he was as alive as ever. Someone said “The Pope has taught us how to live. Now he is teaching us how to die.” Even in his weakened state, he was able to bring the light of the Gospel to all. To give up was too little. The Pope would love to the end.
In this the Pope was inspired by the one who came walking toward John the Baptist on that day - Jesus - the one who came to prove that for God NOTHING WAS TOO MUCH to give up for our sakes. John the Baptist said: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
The Pope speaks of that encounter saying: “He comes to us, the one who brings the joy of doing the will of God. The one who brings holiness” (Homily 1-18-81).
He comes to us, the Lamb of God, bringing the forgiveness of sins and bringing holiness. On this joyous day when we hear the news of John Paul’s beatification, it is too little for us to give up on holiness. Baptized in the Spirit, we are called, each and every one of us, to the joy of living out God’s will.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
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