topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
Sixth Sunday of Easter (A)
29 May 11
 


 

An ancient Greek proverb teaches: “There are two things that one cannot hide: being drunk and being in love.” Perhaps that explains why both drunkenness and love have figured so prominently historically, appearing not only in verses of poetry and novels but also in self-help books, homilies and sermons, and television talk shows.

The prominence accorded these two human behaviors has very much to do with something that lurks deep within each and every one of us: the power of desire.  According to Thomas Hart, in his book Hidden Spring: The Spiritual Dimension of Therapy, every problem we have comes down to what we desire.  Every one of us desires things in some way, shape, or form.

The issue we must contend with is not desire per se, but the object we desire.  As Blessed John Paul II once famously said about premarital sex, “desire is good—God created it—but we need to be educated in desire.”

So, let’s consider today that “education in desire.”

The Bible is the book par excellence that teaches about “holy” desire, especially as this has been depicted in God’s love for humanity in and from the beginning and as this has all been made concrete in the Law, the Prophets, and especially in the life of God’s only begotten Son, Jesus.  At the same time, the Bible is also the book par excellence that teaches about “unholy” desire, as this has been depicted in the tragic choices human beings have made in and from the beginning as all of this has been made concrete in the way that many of the good people God has created have become very bad people and whose exploits have been recorded in the annals of history.  They failed to follow the Law, to listen to the Prophets, or to imitate Jesus’ way of life.

Those stories in the Bible that teach us about “holy” desire—the love God has for human beings in and from the beginning and as this has been made most concrete in God’s only begotten Son, Jesus—remind us that desire becomes inflamed when we place our hope in God.  Then, as we engage us in spiritual warfare, our minds—our imaginative, rational, and intellectual powers—wrestle against our feelings.  The outcome when we are educated in “holy” desire is that we define ourselves as “good people”—“God’s holy people”—because we desire and place our hope in God.

In contrast, those stories in the Bible that teach us about “unholy” desire—those tragic choices human beings have made in and from the beginning­—remind us how desire also becomes inflamed when we place our hope in “the world, the flesh, and the devil.”  Each of these immerse us in spiritual warfare whereby our minds—our imaginative, rational, and intellectual powers—wrestle against our feelings with the outcome being that we decide to define ourselves by the world, the flesh, and the devil.  The outcome when we are educated in “unholy” desire is that we define ourselves as “bad people” because we desire and place our hope in everything but in God.

Let there be no doubt about it: This spiritual warfare is extremely challenging and in those battles between our minds and our feelings, we are very susceptible to “unholy” desire, especially when we dupe ourselves into believing that what is “good” for us is really “bad” for us and that what is “bad” for us is really “good” for us.  Just think about something you’ve done or said in your life that would cause you to blush today.  I’m sure every one of us possesses first-hand experience in this regard, because we all would like to undo some of those past choices we’ve made, no?

What’s important for us to consider about this education in desire is that we are in complete control when we engage in spiritual combat: it all starts when we choose what we desire and place our hope in it.  This object of desire then informs our decision-making process and that’s how we shape our identity.  In the end, and for the better or worse, for richer or poorer, and in sickness and health, we become what we desire, having placed our hope in it.

In the end, we are “good” through our free choice and we are “bad” through our free choice.  No one else can be blamed, try as we might.

I thought about this idea of desire because St. Peter wrote in today’s epistle that we should “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for you hope….”  That statement raises the question: “In what do you really place your hope?”

Surrounded as we are today by so many creature comforts, it’s easy to desire more and more of those creature comforts and for them to shape our identity and to define us.  To think that a house or a car or a job or an IPad or IPod can provide the source of one’s identity seems silly, doesn’t it?  It is, of course, unless you have placed your hope in those things.

It’s the same with the schools we attend, the people and places with which we associate ourselves, and the books, magazines, and television shows we watch.  To think that these provide the source of our identity seems silly, no?  It is, of course, unless you have placed your hope in those people, places, and things.

Now, in light of all this, consider what St. Peter wrote.  If we are to share in the glory of the Risen Lord, we must desire—that is, we should put our hope in—being united with Christ.  His way of life and death teaches us by means of his example how to allow the desire for God to inform our decision making so that we also will be innocent of wrongdoing and our consciences will be clear.  We can do that only when we desire God.

This is what St. Peter means when he writes “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.”  As we united ourselves with the Risen Lord, he will strengthen us as we engage in spiritual warfare.  But, we must first imitate his way of life and holiness and allow this to direct our desire so that we increasingly place our hope in God, who will never forsake us.  Then, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope…” St. Peter reminds us.

Like drunkenness and love, let us consider our honest answer to that important question: “What do you truly desire that you cannot hide?”

And let us resolve to become educated in “good” desire, “To die to sin” as St. Peter wrote, not as a fait accompli but as something we struggle to achieve day by day as we engage in spiritual combat by increasingly desiring the good—God—and placing our hope in Him.

 

 

How your family might celebrate the Easter Season:

Easter is so important that it cannot be celebrated in just one, single day.  To celebrate Easter appropriately, the Church takes fifty days (forty days leading to the Ascension and ten days leading to Pentecost Sunday, fifty days that culminate on what used to be called "Quinquagesimea Sunday").  These are the days that constitute the entire "Easter Season."

Here are four simple ways you might celebrate the entire Easter Season with your family:

    1.   Place a white pillar candle in the center of your kitchen table.  Each night before dinner, assign a member of your family to light the candle and to recall what a person said or did that day to reveal the Risen Lord.  As part of the blessing prayer, give thanks to the Lord for the gift of that person.

    2.  Take a daily walk around the neighborhood.  Identify one sign of new life each day.  After completing the walk, sit down together as a family in the living room or family room and relate each sign to the new life that God has given all of us in the resurrection of His only begotten Son.

    3.   Invite an estranged family member, relative, or friend (or a family member, relative, or friend who hasn't been to visit for a while) to dinner each of the Sundays of the Easter season.  Before the prayer of blessing over the food, read a resurrection appearance where Jesus says to his disciples, "Peace be with you."  Following the blessing of the food, offer one another the sign of peace before partaking of the meal.

    4.   In preparation for the Solemnity of Pentecost, have each member of the family on Easter Sunday write down on a piece of paper a gift of the Holy Spirit that he or she needs in order to become a more faithful disciple.  Fold and place these pieces of paper in a bowl in the center of the kitchen table.  At dinner each evening, pray the "Prayer of the Holy Spirit" to send for these gifts upon the members of the family so that your family will become a light to the world.  Then, before the prayer of blessing over the dinner on Pentecost Sunday, burn the pieces of paper to call to mind that the gifts have already been given in the Sacrament of Confirmation.  The challenge is now to live out those gifts in the ordinary time of our daily lives.

 

Easter is an event that happens each and every day.  During the fifty days of the Easter season, in particular, you and your family can prepare to make Easter happen each and every day of your lives by "practicing" these simple exercises which connect Jesus' risen life to yours as well.

 

 

 

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