topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)
 20 January 08


 

Dr. William Barklay, the famous 20th century Presbyterian minister, preacher, writer, and editor of The Daily Study Bible Series, once noted that of all the days in a human being’s life, the two most important are “the day we are born and the day we discover why.”

That is a great aphorism and I wouldn’t be surprised that, when many people hear it, they stop and think, “That’s a great insight.  I’m going to reflect upon it.”  But, in light of today’s scripture reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, I think the Rev. Barclay is incorrect.  The first and most important day of our lives is not the day we were born.  No, it was the day God created each of us in our mother’s womb.  As Isaiah noted, “The Lord formed me as his servant from the womb....I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord….”

God has created us and we are glorious in His sight.  That is  important because it bespeaks the sanctity of human life not from birth but from the moment of conception.  But, as important as that is, God also created us on that day to be a light to the nations so that salvation will reach to the ends of the earth. “The Lord says…‘I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’ ” That is extremely important because it bespeaks the personal vocation God has entrusted to each of us and, as fulfill that personal vocation, we are not only glorious, but we also bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

If we consider one of the two most important days of our lives the day we were born, as Dr. Barklay suggests, we will focus upon things like birthday parties and overlook, perhaps completely, why God created us in the first place.  Then, as the pressure mounts day in and day out to get everything done that needs to get done in between those annual birthday parties, we will fail to reflect upon why we do what we do.  We’ll find ourselves so busy that the “what” of our routine trumps the “why” of our lives.

That’s a very important spiritual lesson for spouses.  Certainly your wedding day was an important day, the “birthday” of your marriage.  But, celebrating your anniversary each year is one matter.  A much more important matter is to reflect frequently upon why you got married in the first place and the vocation of marriage.  That is an entirely different matter altogether.  When was the last time you took time to reflect and talk together about your marriage, where it’s come from and where it’s headed, its up’s and down’s as well as its highlights and lowlights, so that you might continue growing in authentic married love?  For example, when was the last time you looked at the pictures in your wedding album and shared with each other your dreams and hopes and your failures as well, so that as a married couple you will be glorious in God’s eyes and bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth, namely, into your marriage?

That’s also a very important spiritual lesson for parents.  Begetting children and raising a family is one matter.  But, reflecting upon why you are parents in the first place as well as all of the responsibilities that go along with parenting—the vocation of being a parent—is an entirely different matter.  Sure, many parents talk about the kids, especially when they’re in some kind of trouble.  But, when was the last time you took time aside together to talk reflectively and thoughtfully about your parenting—why you are doing what your are doing—in order to better fulfill your vocation as parents and to become glorious in God’s eyes as you bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth, namely, to your children?

That spiritual lesson also goes for young people: celebrating your birthday with your family and friends is one matter.  But, when was the last time you seriously and thoughtfully reflected upon the person God has created you to become when God formed you in your mother’s womb as well as the quality and content of the character of the person God has created you to become?  Birthday parties come and go.  So, too, do human beings.  Who has God created you to become so that you will be as glorious as God has created you and your life will bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth in your own unique and unrepeatable way?

I think it safe to say that many of us are so busy doing the “what” that we oftentimes don’t reflect enough—if at all—upon the “why.”  Yes, we celebrate our birthdays but we tend to forget that God has formed each of us in our mother’s womb with a purpose and a destiny—the why of our lives—that is revealed in our words and actions—the what of our lives.

The ancient Sufis likened human beings who find themselves so busy doing the “what” that they overlook the “why” to animals on a merry-go-round.  Think about it.  Those animals move in a defined circle that never changes.  They are entirely focused upon what lies ahead which, more often than not, is another animal’s behind.  Round and round the animals go, traversing the same path and smelling the same scent, time and time and time again.  Then, the merry-go-round stops.  The current passengers disembark, the new passengers embark, and then it’s back to trudging along the same old, same old, same old boring path.

The lesson is clear enough: by focusing upon what we do and neglecting to focus upon why we do it, we can spend our entire lifetimes missing out on all that’s happening around us.  Each day, each week, and each month—building into each year and, then, into decades which disappear in the flash of an instant—we follow the same old path on the merry-go-round we call “life.”  And, so it is.  We get up, we go to work, we come home, and we go to bed, without ever looking around to see all that’s happening around us and never thinking that God has created us for something else of far greater importance for our world.  Yes, we may celebrate our birthday.  But, neglecting the day God created us in our mother’s womb, we fail to live the one life God has given to us.  Forget about the “to the max” part.  We barely live our lives to the minimum, if only because—by never reflecting upon the all-important “why”—the “what” becomes all-important.  We can actually die without ever having lived, all the while celebrating our birthday each year!

We all know that the Catholic Church is absolutely and completely “pro-life.”  That’s what the Church was, what it is, and what it always will be.  But, why is the Church so absolutely and completely pro-life?  What is the purpose—the “why”—for the Church’s being so adamant  about life?  What does it mean for those of us who call ourselves “Catholic”—whether we’re spouses, parents, or young people growing up—in terms of why we do what we do in our daily lives?

In the most simple of terms, all human life has value just as diamonds have value.  A diamond’s value is determined by the price that someone is willing to pay for it.  If you believe that God has created you—“formed you in your mother’s womb”—is that not what should be most valuable in life and worth sacrificing for, no matter what the cost?

The value of your spouse isn’t determined by calculating what your spouse does for you.  No, the value of your spouse is determined in the sacrifice you are willing to make—the price you are willing to pay—for your spouse simply because God created you to be married to your spouse.  In this sense, marriage isn’t a 50-50 proposition but a 100-0 proposition on the part of both spouses.  The value of married life—the two human lives that make a good marriage—is determined as the “why” spouses are married in the first place motivates each of them to sacrifice lavishly on behalf of the other.  This is how spouses bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth...their marriages.  Sure, this is an ideal, but picture the opposite.  Whoever would want to be married to someone who actually believes that what you do for me determines your worth as my spouse?  Absent that “why”—the vocation to be married—marriage itself becomes nothing more than going round and round on that merry-go-round alongside someone else until one of you dies or you get so sick of the boring routine and selfishness that you divorce.

Our parents also valued human life and, so much so, they made great personal sacrifices so that each of us would have the best possible opportunity our parents could provide for us to grow, not just physically, emotionally, and intellectually, but morally and spiritually as well.  Our lives are valuable because our parents—each of whom God created with the vocation to be a parent—were willing to pay such a great price.  What our parents did—by providing us the food, shelter, clothing, and educational opportunity we needed—pales in comparison to why they did it, namely, God created them to be parents and they cooperated with God to beget us.  The why behind the what our parents was so valuable that they willingly paid the great price of personal self-sacrifice to bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth...in our lives.  Absent that “why,” parenting becomes nothing more than going round and round on that merry-go-round and where everyone is looking forward to the day the kids move out of the house.

Young people value human life as they worry less about what they will do in life and worry more about why they will do what they will do in life.  Yes, fantasizing about careers and professions as well as money and possessions is normal.  Yet, if young people truly value human life, then what is of far greater value than all of those fantasies is the reality of that person God created each young person to be.  When God created you in His divine image and likeness and entrusted each of you with a personal vocation, God made you a unique and unrepeatable human being in all of history.  Think about it: there never has been, there is not, and there never will be another human being like any one of you.  That “why”—the personal vocation that is the singular way God will bring salvation to the ends of the earth through you—determines the “what” you will do in your life.  Absent that “why,” the “what” becomes nothing more than going round and round on a life-long ride on a merry-go-round.  You may acquire all of the trinkets, baubles, and toys that society associates with success.  But, you will never be truly happy.

Yes, the Church is resolutely pro-life because God is the Author of all life.  A man and a woman are glorious as participate in God’s authorship of human life through their married love and their parental love.  Each of us is glorious as we participate in God’s authorship by responding wholeheartedly to our personal vocations.  That “why” is the value of each and every human life from the moment of conception to natural death.  It is measured in terms of the self-sacrifice we are willing to pay as spouses, as parents, and as human beings each of whom God has created His divine image and likeness.  God has endowed each of us with a purpose—a “why” of infinite value—from the time God formed us and called us in our mother’s womb.  In this is found our true happiness.

Yes, many of us are extremely busy and what we do can become our primary focus and orientation in life.  In the end, however, all of that has absolutely no value except in material terms which, we all know, withers and fades.  When why we do what we do becomes our primary focus and orientation in life, we celebrate the day God created us in our mother’s womb and avoid hopping onto the merry-go-round with its stultifying routine.  When we focus upon the purpose for which God has created us, our lives will to testify the value of human life as we make the self-sacrifice required to bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth...in our marriages, in our families, and through gospel of our lives.

The story is told of a man who was walking along in the woods one day.  He happened upon a little girl who was freezing from the cold and crying due to hunger and frostbite.  The man cried out to God: “Oh, God, where are You?  Why don’t you do something for this poor, innocent girl?” And God answered: “I have done something for her: I created you!”

The day we were begotten in our mother’s womb is far more important than the day we were born.  But, as Dr. Barklay rightly reminds us, the day we discover why we were begotten can make all the difference in the world as our lives reveal that we, too, are a light to the nations and the glory of God’s people in whom God is well-pleased.

 

 

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