HOMILY - TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SEPTEMBER 16, 2018
7:30AM, 5:30 PM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
Tuesday, March 22, 2016 on Hoyt Street, in Saginaw, Michigan, the priests were lining up on the sidewalk outside the Cathedral for the annual Chrism Mass. It was Holy Week. We were vested in a variety of albs – the white robe worn by clergy, acolytes, and altar servers. We all wore off-white stoles from the vestment sets designed during the 1970s that were stored in the closets.
Shortly before the procession was to start, walking across the street was what looked like … Jesus. A man, barefoot, with long hair and a beard; wearing a white robe, a blanket, carrying a Bible, and a Rosary.
He tried to enter the Cathedral, but security teams were on guard against anything out of the ordinary. And after a brief encounter with security, he was escorted off the property.
I turned to the priest next to me and stage-whispered, “Gee! I guess Jesus isn’t welcome here anymore.”
That man is Carl James Joseph, who since 1991 has travelled through 47 states and 20 countries spreading the Gospel, and living a life of radical simplicity. He is from Toledo, Ohio; graduated from high school in 1979; and has never married.
A documentary film was made about him in 2007; it’s titled “The Jesus Guy,” and it’s earned 3.5 stars in customer reviews on Amazon Prime Video.
If you ask him his name, he tells you it’s “What’s your name?” Seeming to answer a question with a question. Perhaps it’s because, what he’s doing isn’t about himself … but about something … and Someone … bigger.
Today is the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
The first reading from Isaiah chapter 50 is what is one of the “Suffering Servant Songs” – which Christians apply as a prophetic description of Jesus during His passion.
This correlates with the Gospel passage from St. Mark – Jesus asks the disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”
St. Peter gets the answer right, but he misses the mark on how this will all be worked out.
The Gospel ends with Our Lord admonishing the disciples saying:
Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
And in a truly Incarnational approach to Christian living, St. James in his letter reminds us that our Faith requires action when he says: “faith … is dead … if it does not have works.”
In our own day and age, I believe we all struggle with these same things. Who is Jesus? Who do we say that He is? How does my faith affect my thoughts … my words … my actions?
And perhaps even more so, Who are we? How does my Faith affect who I am? How is Jesus part of my life? Is He welcome in my home? My heart? My workplace? My prayer life? My church?
A living Faith is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit – dynamic, active, moving.
A living Faith means taking up the cross – every day – and that can be messy … violent … brutal.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ; let us pray for the courage to take up our crosses … in Faith, in Hope, and in Love. Let us welcome Christ into our lives, and in our hearts, and in our homes … no matter the cost … let us resolve to follow Him … wherever He may lead us.
