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Driving
through the backroads this past week, I was thinking that Easter came
about four weeks too early this year. In the brilliant sunlight, the
individual flowers and trees seemed to compete with one another in a
battle of wills to determine which would reveal itself most perfectly in
its glory and, thus, give glory to God their Creator Who entrusted each
the task of completing His work of creation.
The
experience of seeing all of those trees and flowers in full bloom is not
only delightful to the eye but it also nourishes the soul. Think about
it: How many times during the past two weeks as you were driving along
did you see a tree in full bloom and wished that the glory of springtime
would not end? Or, perhaps the question might be put this way: How many
accidents have you just about had looking about and drinking in the
beauty of God’s “springtime symphony”?
For me,
this is the time―as the trees and flowers give glory to the Father who
created them and entrusted to them the work of completing creation―when
Easter Sunday should be.
In
today’s gospel, Jesus delivers his farewell discourse in which he
prays―think again of the springtime symphony―“I have given you Father
glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” Then, Jesus
closes his farewell discourse with another prayer, saying “I am in the
world no more but [my disciples] are in the world as I come to you.”
Like
the trees and flowers in full bloom, our lives give glory to the Father
as we complete the work He has entrusted to us. The important question,
of course, is whether we do.
One of
the most obvious ways our lives give glory to the Father and complete
the work He has entrusted to us is through heroic acts of faith, hope,
and love. This all sounds so very “lofty” and “holy,” the stuff of
saints. But, in reality, we are heroic when we do right things not
because we are told to do them but because God has entrusted us with the
mission of doing right things so as to complete His work of creation.
Think
of the many couples in our parish who have sacrificed so many material
things and creature comforts in order that Mom can stay at home and
minister to the domestic church. Think of all of our teenagers who say
“No” to drugs, alcohol, or illicit sexual activity by walking away from
parties or situations that constitute a “proximate occasion of sin.”
Think of all of our fellow parishioners who turn down much-coveted
promotions at their workplaces because it would mean uprooting the
family. Knowing that a move like this would make it nearly impossible
for one’s children to experience the kind of family life and love that
naturally occurs when cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents are
nearby, many of our fellow parishioners have done the right thing by
turning down lucrative opportunities.
When we
do right things not because we are told to do so but simply because it’s
the right thing to do, that’s not only heroic but also how we give glory
to the Father and complete the work He has entrusted to us.
Furthermore, just as people marvel at the springtime symphony of trees
and flowers in full bloom, so too some people will marvel when we act
heroically. At the same time, however, let’s not forget that there also
will be many others who will question our motives and cast aspersions
upon us when we do right things. But, as St. Peter wrote in his epistle
when members of the Church were being attacked because they did right
things: “Happy are you when you are insulted for the sake of Christ, for
then God’s spirit rests on you.”
A less
obvious but greatly appreciated way we give glory to the Father and
complete the work He has entrusted to us is through what appear to be
trivial, mundane, and simple acts. These are not “random acts of
kindness,” as the bumper sticker proclaims, but conscious acts that
demonstrate our faith, hope, and love alive and at work in the “little
things” of life.
Parents
give glory to the Father and complete the work He has entrusted to them
when parents read bedtime stories to their children and never forget to
kiss them “good night”…even when they are quarrelsome teenagers.
Parents also do this when they give it their all and cheer their kids
on, especially when parents have very little interest in their kids are
doing. Perhaps most importantly, parents give glory to the Father and
complete the work He has entrusted to them when parents love, honor, and
obey each other in front of their children. We’ve all heard, I’m sure,
the saying “The greatest gift a father gives his children is to love his
wife. And the greatest give a mother gives her children is to love her
husband.”
But,
there’s more.
Spouses
give glory to the Father and complete the work He has entrusted to them
when spouses pay the bills, help with the laundry, pick up the dry
cleaning, fill the car with gas, and remain faithful.
Kids
give glory to the Father and complete the work He has entrusted to them
when kids keep their telephone conversations short, complete their
chores (like cleaning up their bedrooms and picking up after
themselves), and never forget at the end of each day to tell their
parents how much you love and appreciate your parents for all they do
for you…especially when you parents have been on your case for not being
responsible.
Grandparents give glory to the Father and complete the work He has
entrusted to them when they baby-sit their grandchildren and cuddle
them, as grandparents share their wisdom and hope with their
grandchildren, and as grandparents tell their grandchildren how proud
they are of them.
I
remember a journal article I read years ago. The researchers were
interested in determining what factors correlate with kids not dropping
out of high school, graduating from college, and leading what is
typically called a “productive life.” Amazingly, the one factor that
seems almost infallibly to predict success in school and later in life
is the involvement of grandparents in the lives of their grandchildren
and, especially, when grandparents tell a grandchild―in that way only a
grandparent can―how proud a grandparent would be “if you would….” Think
about it. Who of us would ever purposely let one’s grandmother or
grandfather down?
And,
for all of us, we give glory to the Father and complete the work He has
entrusted to us when we replace the paper towels and toilet paper rolls
and, especially, when we return the TV remote to its proper place!
Trivial, mundane, and simple acts. They aren’t random acts of kindness
but conscious acts of love through which we demonstrate our faith, hope,
and love alive and at work in the “little things” of life. This is how
we give glory to the Father and complete the work He has entrusted to
us. “For these I pray―not for the world…,” Jesus prayed, “they really
are yours….It is in them that I am glorified.”
Perhaps
the hardest and most difficult way to see how we give glory to God by
completing the work that God has entrusted to us is through patient
suffering, what used to be called “long suffering.”
Perhaps
this means dealing with the suffering that is part and parcel of
advancing age. What we might otherwise blame for a rotten disposition,
sour mood, and joyless expression can be transformed into a moment
whereby we give glory to the Father and complete the work He has
entrusted to us by offering up our suffering for another person’s need.
I
remember my paternal grandmother who had very bad arthritis in her
hands. The disease swelled her knuckles until they were the size of
chestnuts. When the arthritis really hurt, she’d pray the rosary,
pushing the decades through the two chestnuts on her index finger using
the huge chestnut on her thumb. Once, when I asked her about this,
Nonnie said: “Why bother other people or trouble them because I hurt.
Maybe I can help what hurts by praying for them.”
Perhaps
one’s suffering has been caused by overwhelming grief at the loss of a
loved one. How many widows and widowers, for example, have allowed
grief to consume them to the point that they wallow in their loss and
blame God for ruining their lives? We give glory to the Father and
complete the work He has entrusted to us when we transform the death of
a spouse, a child, or a dear friend into new life by giving thanks to
God for having revealed His love to us through the person whose loss we
mourn.
I
remember a sixth grader whose father―a good friend of mine―who died of
melanoma. “Why did God do this to me?” she asked me just before the
funeral. “Samantha, honey,” I responded, “do you remember how much your
dad loved you?” “Yes,” she said with her voice trembling. “Your heart
is broken and hurts so much because you were so lucky to have a father
who loved you so much. God blessed you in a way that many young people
never experience.”
The
selfishness that grief can breed becomes so consuming that those who
remain behind might fail recognize how God blessed and enriched their
lives through another person’s love. It was a great gift but, like all
earthly gifts, one would that not last forever. We give glory to God
and complete the work He has entrusted to us as we seek God’s love which
does not perish.
Perhaps
the suffering one patiently endures is a consequence of the death of a
relationship or an estrangement caused by evil and malicious behavior.
We give glory to the Father and complete the work He has entrusted to us
not by wallowing in self-pity and engaging in blame-finding. No, we
give glory to the Father and complete the work He has entrusted to us
when we remain resolute in our purpose and in our commitments and as we
pray for that person’s conversion of heart and quick return to one’s
purpose and commitments. Yes, we give glory to the Father and bring His
work to completion by our fidelity and firm resolve even, for example,
when a spouse betrays and abandons us.
We give
glory to the Father as we bring to completion the work the Father
entrusts to us. Like the springtime symphony of trees and flowers which
bring to completion the work God has entrusted to them when they come
into full bloom each spring, so too our heroic acts of faith, hope, and
love nourish peoples’ souls. Our trivial, mundane, and simple―but never
random―acts of love, also nourish peoples’ souls. But most of all, our
patient, long-suffering provides nourishment for the souls of other
people. In this way, we experience and give others the gift of
opening themselves to experience what we prayed in today Psalm’s
response: “I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the
land of the living.”
All
of these works give glory to the Father and bring to completion the work
that the Father entrusts to us because they flow forth from a heart
disciplined by love, in imitation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is
for us, then, who Jesus prayed when he said, “I am in the world no more,
but these are in the world.” |
HOMILY
