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We’ve just
heard how Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs to every town and place
that Jesus intended to visit. “The harvest is abundant but the laborers
are few,” Jesus said, “so ask the master of the harvest to send out
laborers for his harvest.”
Over the years,
how many times have you heard a homilist use this particular passage as
a springboard from which he launched into a discussion about the
critical need for vocations to the priesthood and religious life? I
know I sure have, on so many occasions in fact that I haven’t been able
to keep count. In contrast, I’ve never, never, ever used this
particular passage to discuss the critical need for vocations to the
priesthood and religious life.
Why?
It has to do with
the fact that Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs. Aware that
he couldn’t possibly visit every place—to the ends of the earth—before
he would fulfill his salvific mission in Jerusalem, Jesus commissioned
his disciples by pairs to go forth and to live and teach people in
distant locales, just as Jesus would have if he could have. Jesus
reminded the thirty six pairs he was sending forth, “…say to them, ‘The
kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ ” This is how Jesus ensured that
the gospel—the Good News of Salvation—would be brought to every town and
place that Jesus intended to visit—to the ends of the earth—even down to
this day and age, two millennia removed.
As a priest, I
sometimes am invited to stand right here in church as Jesus’
representative and to send forth his disciples in pairs to live and
teach as Jesus did and, by their heroic witness of life, to say to all,
“The kingdom of God is at hand for you.” I send forth those pairs from
this church and into the world to build sacramental marriages, to
establish loving homes, to raise holy families, and to give witness to
the world that “The kingdom of God is at hand for you.”
That’s why the
most important part of the church building is the exit, especially for
married couples. As Jesus’ disciples, only after you leave the church
do you get the opportunity to do what you have been commissioned to do.
That is, to be what the Second Vatican Council called “a light to the
nations.” That’s your vocation not mine. “The harvest is great
out here and the laborers are few,” Jesus said. You are to
evangelize others and to get them to church so that I can then do what I
have been commissioned to do, that is, to offer the sacraments that
heal, breathe light into the darkness, and enable them to lead holy
lives and give heroic witness to the gospel.
In light of your
vocation and the need for laborers to proclaim the Kingdom of God,
consider these statistics. In a survey of recent adult converts to the
Catholic faith, eight percent respond that they were attracted by people
like me, the priest (or priests) assigned to the parish. As bad as that
may be, its better than the six percent who were attracted because of
the parish’s programs, and most notably, the parochial school. So, what
might be better? Try television and radio commercials. Nope. These
media had virtually zero ability when it came to attracting converts.
What, then, was the greatest attractor? Seventy five percent of
converts came to the Catholic faith as a result of a personal invitation
from a family member or a member of the local parish.
Today’s gospel
has very much to do with the vocation of marriage and how women and men
united by God in this sacrament are commissioned to go forth into the
world and to be that light to the nations. Unfortunately, however,
while I send forth each of those pairs just as Jesus sent forth those
thirty six pairs to give heroic witness in our world, God oftentimes is
the One left behind in the church as the pairs I send forth rush out of
church in order to get into the stretch limo and to the reception hall
a.s.a.p. Then, as the days, weeks, and months following the wedding day
and honeymoon morph so quickly into years and decades, sad to say, God
continues to remain somewhere way, way back there—way back there in the
church—as the “busy-ness” of marriage, family life, and the
workplace—not to mention our culture in general—conspire to create
pressures that make being attentive to God extremely difficult. That
is, until something potentially tragic or a tragedy itself forces the
couple to realize that there’s more to life if eternity is their
concern.
It happens so
very easy, even to what may be the best intentioned of Jesus’ disciples.
Take, for
example, the email I received two months back from a former VU graduate
student. This fellow is a rock-solid, good man. He’s solidly Catholic
and comes from a great family. He’s also trying to build a good
marriage and I believe he has his head in the right place.
But, considering
what happens to many of those pairs I send forth on their wedding day
and the way events conspire to make God central to marriage and family
life, does he really have his head in the right place?
Here’s what this
fellow wrote:
Hi Father,
I was just emailing
to ask a favor. Can I have a letter of recommendation from you? I am
putting my application packet together and I think a letter from one of
my professors would look good.
My infant daughter,
Grace, had her surgery on April 12th at CHOP for her lung issue and has
totally recovered (on the outside). She had one half of her left lung
removed. She is slated to make a full recovery and will have no
limitations what so ever.
To tell you the
truth, I had not prayed in a while before this whole situation went down
and it kind of made me feel bad that I only started praying again
because I felt like my family needed a little boost from above. But, it
worked and it also got us back in church on a much more regular basis.
Thanks.
So, what would
you say—as one of Jesus’ disciples commissioned to go forth into the
world to announce that God’s kingdom is at hand for him—in response to
his email? And, furthermore, let’s not forget that Jesus sent those
thirty six pairs forth into the world by telling them it is likely they
would not receive, as Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “much respect.”
Recall exactly what Jesus said:
Whatever town you
enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, “The
dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off
against you.” You know this: the kingdom of God is at hand. I tell
you, it ill be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.
So, what does
this husband and father need to hear from you?
Because I have a
lot of respect for this fellow and don’t want him wandering any farther
away from the narrow path, I decided to take him “out to the woodshed”
for a “come to Jesus” meeting. Here’s what I wrote in response to his
email:
Hi:
I'd be very happy to
write a letter of recommendation. I personalize each so it's best to
send me the names, etc., when you apply. That way, it’s fresh,
personal, and not “canned.” More effective that way.
I don’t recall
knowing about your daughter’s problem. I’m glad it’s resolved. But, I
am going to kick you in the butt—from Boyertown to VU to Hell and then
back again—for your lack of attention to what’s most important in life.
First, I suspect,
you got married in the Church. Was that a mere formality (you like the
nice pictures and video?) or did you intend that God be a part of your
marriage (making it a sacrament rather than cohabitation)? If the
former—hypocrisy—that’s quite out of character for you, in my opinion.
If the latter—falling off of the path—what an awful and terrible way to
treat God! Here He creates the love of your life for you and gives her
to you in the Sacrament of Marriage. And, that’s the thanks you
have...no gratitude to even (at a minimum, weekly) go and give thanks to
God with your wife in Church where you asked God to bless your marriage?
Second, I suspect,
you want to be a father and a good father at that. So, God “Graces” you
with a daughter (pardon the pun), and there you go again...you don’t
even go to Church weekly to give thanks for the gift of a daughter and
the beginning of the family you want to “father”? That’s nothing but
selfish, self-centered egoism. You’re all that counts in the world?
What kind of man, husband, and father is that? It’s “all about me” and
getting everything I want?
Third, your daughter
gets sick. So, now, you want to get God on your side? Oh, come now!
Who’s excluding God from his life? Why don’t you get on God’s side?
That is the only thing that will make you a good man, a good husband,
and a good father.
You had better think
this through, because right now you’ve got it all backwards. Next
thing, you’ll be asking me why God sent the disease into your daughter.
Good can’t beget bad! See how backwards you’ve got things?
Well, enough of
taking you out to the shed for a whoppin’. But you deserve it big time
and it would be a failure on my part not to tell you so. You might also
tell your wife of this whoppin’ and, while you’re at it, tell your Dad,
and you Mom, too. That’s what I’d give you in Confession as a penance!
Get with the program and give thanks where it’s due even if you don’t
“feel” like it. At a minimum, your wife and daughter deserve more from
you, what I call “spiritual leadership.”
FJ
PS: How’s that for a
kick-butt whoppin’?
Now, before you
get all out of sorts about my using a sledgehammer where you may believe
I should have used a velvet glove—after all, this fellow did say that
his daughter’s illness “got us back in church on a much more regular
basis” (whatever that means)—consider what’s going on and what’s at
stake here. A good man has begun to stray from God and, the longer he
continues to stray, the less heroic witness he will be capable of
providing to his wife, children, friends, neighbors, co-workers…to the
ends of the earth. How can one possibly be a “light to the nations” if
one doesn’t seek the Light itself and only when things go bad?
Continuing down
this pathway, how long will it be before this fellow decides that his
work is more important than his family, a co-worker is more important
than his wife, or that he’s busting his butt for everyone else and isn’t
finding any fulfillment for himself? Then, how long will it be before I
hear from his wife that they’ve fallen out of love, that her husband is
leaving her and their children for another woman, and now she’s filing
for divorce? Or, how long will it be before his children come crying to
tell me that they love their Mom and Dad and don’t understand why their
parents can’t love each other?
Furthermore, this
fellow’s young daughter, Grace, has a serious medical condition that
requires a specialist’s care. Not knowing whether or not his daughter
will come through the medical procedure, whether his daughter will have
a physical disability, or whether she will be fully healed, this fellow
now recognizes that he is impotent to do anything about it…no power to
do what he wants to get done. So, he now has to rely upon his infant
daughter’s physician. But, even the physician needs guidance and
inspiration to heal a patient. So, in desperation and not in thanks for
his many blessings, this young fellow turns to God and he begins to
pray. Not a bad start, but it is only a start!
How many times
have you seen or experienced yourself this very situation? “Please God,
answer my prayers!” many, many people pray from the bottom of their
fear. But, then a funny thing happens. If the prayer isn’t answered,
they will damn God for not caring. Or, when the prayer is answered and
the fear subsides, God again becomes an increasingly distant figure,
irrelevant to the realities of daily life.
When people stray
from God, the stakes for remaining silent are too high to worry about
how they will feel when the truth needs to be spoken!
Yet, the simple
truth is that many of Jesus’ disciples remain silent today. How many
parents live in fear of confronting their children about moral issues
and the presence of evil in their lives? How many spouses “just shut
up” rather than speak the truth to one another full of mutual love,
respect, and fidelity? How many of us fear speaking the truth at work
when we see evil being perpetrated because of the consequences we may
well suffer? All of us see the power of evil raising its ugly head, but
many of us fear saying anything because we might find ourselves very
quickly on the receiving end of insults, find ourselves being rejected
or fired, or even made the problem itself because we stated the truth.
In sum, all too many disciples remain silent today because they live in
fear of what other people may think or say about them.
The goal of
preaching the good news that liberates people from sin is not to be
liked or popular. No, as Jesus pointed out in today’s gospel, the goal
is for people to know “The kingdom of God is at hand for you.” This
means, as St. Paul told the Galatians “becoming a new creation.” That’s
all. When people are first tempted and they begin to stray from the
pathway of holiness, they need to be told the truth…whether they like it
or not or whether they want to hear it or not.
Yes, priests
should never shrink from stating the truth. But, Jesus has sent his
disciples in pairs in our own days to go forth and to live and teach
people in our locales, just as Jesus would have if he could have. It’s
husbands and wives who are sent forth today to be the light to the
nations so desperately needed in our world. This is how Jesus
ensured that the gospel—the Good News of Salvation—would be brought to
every town and place that Jesus intended to visit, even down to our town
in this day and age, two millennia removed.
This is the
mission—and the missionary work—of those pairs of disciples whom Jesus
has sent forth into the world to be a light to the nations. Jesus has
commissioned wives and husbands through the Sacrament of Marriage to
preach the good news of salvation by their example and words so that
their children, family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers will
know that “The kingdom of God is at hand for you.” Surely, there are
those who will reject Jesus’ disciples. Yet, even this is a cause for
rejoicing, Jesus told those thirty six couples, “because your names are
written in heaven.”
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HOMILY
