Homily for the week of June 27, 2010

HOMILY, 13TH SUNDAY, YEAR C, 2010

As an old man walked the beach at dawn, he noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Finally catching up with with the young man, he asked him why he was doing this. The answer was that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun. "But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish," said the old man. "How can your effort make any difference?" The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to safety in the waves. "It makes a difference to this one," he said.

Our three readings today tells us that followers or disciples of God and Jesus must make a difference. Followers of Jesus are like volunteers.

We are given a check list and examples of what Jesus expects from those who volunteer for him. The first condition is to be homeless. That does not mean a person who travels the streets, but a person always willing to keep on doing more. Such an attitude changes the way we see things, and we do things. It is best expressed in the words of Peter: I WILL BE YOUR FOLLOWER WHEREVER YOU GO.

The next condition is that our religion must be practical. Religion must link our faith and our life. So often there is a split between the faith we profess in church and the way we conduct our daily lives. It must also be based on our commitments in life. Single persons, married persons, and priests are all challenged to be spiritual, but we come to that spirituality in different ways. For instance, when a man and woman decide to marry each other, they must say goodbye to their past understanding of themselves as single persons. Their married life together will no longer mean I, but We -- no longer Me but Us. Too often couples get married thinking that the 50/50 approach to living together will keep them together. But, they soon discover that this approach will soon lead them to devour one another as St. Paul mentions. Marriage means that both husband and wife give 100% to each other all the time. It is a vocation which requires total dedication. And this is only possible with unselfish love.

The next condition is that Jesus must be number 1. Many of those whom Jesus invited to be his volunteers had excuses, none of which were bad in themselves, but they showed a lack of priority. Some excuses were:

We must bury the dead person,

I'm not ready to turn everything over to the Lord yet.

I'll be with you some day, but give me a little more time.

Those who follow Jesus will be known by whether or not they leave all things behind, and do this immediately. It does not mean neglecting responsibilities of family, jobs, and other persons. But it implies a detachment from all that would prevent us from being willing to follow. We must be a person like Elijah who felt called and responded, ready to enter into the mystery of those who travel without knowing the destination.

Paul scolded the Galatians because they were wavering in their faith. We are called to live lives of integrity and freedom. But freedom isn't free, as the soldiers who fought our war of independence discovered. It can only be found in obedience to Jesus. It is the freedom to serve others. To some, such a "law" will be nothing but a restriction, a straitjacket to personal freedom. Before Jesus came laws did not make us free. They were restrictive. They were telling us don't do this or don't do that. With Jesus we don't only avoid bad things, but we are asked to do good things. Before Jesus laws were more concerned about how a bridge was built; but with Jesus, the quality of our faith is where does the bridge get us.

The lessons of today is that God's call must be answered without reservation or questioning. Today, right now Jesus is asking us to answer the invitation he issued years ago. He wants our wholehearted, joyful response.

For Jesus, freedom is not doing what we want when we want it and how we want it.

We are not offered a freedom from something.

We are offered a freedom for something.

Our freedom is a choice we make: do I want to live my life for myself, or do I want to live my life for God? In the end that is the only free choice that matters. That is also the choice that my conscience or your conscience makes for us when we have to choose between good or bad. We are free to choose. Let us choose Jesus who will set us free.

We honor this weekend young women and men who are taking a new turn in the road of their life as they graduate from the various high schools represented by our parish. They have had the opportunity to not only know about the world but perhaps, more importantly, to know about themselves. While we honor them, we also honor those many persons who helped to transform them from young boys and girls into young adults. These include their parents, their teachers and their role models and their religion. All of these have given them love.

Like the starfish, it is only in this way that we will be brought back to the water that gives us life.