Homilies
I haven't tried to write a homily in over a month, I've been so busy! I'm putting that right today: here is something I wrote up for this Sunday's readings.
Rebirth
Give me a show of hands-- who here has ever gone through a big change in their life? It could be a big career change, some kind of positive personal growth, or maybe something negative like sickness... who has gone through any of these sorts of alterations in their lives?
So we all know, change is hard! Oftentimes, it hurts!
But by its very definition, it's also transformational! I mean, isn't that what change is? Dictionary.com tells me that change means "to transform or convert". For example, it says, "The witch changed the prince into a toad." Now, I think if I ask for another show of hands about who has ever been turned into a toad, I'm not going to get many takers-- well, I hope not at least!
But we've all gone through change, or transformations in our lives, no doubt-- and the earlier show of hands proves it.
The one constant thing with change is that we feel different after it-- it's that "transformational" aspect of change I mentioned before. I don't know how many of you know this, but I was away from the Faith for about twenty years. I was baptized Catholic, was Confirmed, but I strayed from our ever-loving God in my twenties and thirties.
Maybe some day I could discuss my whole personal testimony-- but that can be for another time. Suffice it to say for now, one day I decided to return. I went to Confession, went to Mass, then within a matter of months I was a Lector, Sacristan, Alter Server, and helping on a bunch of different committees.
This may come as a surprise to a lot of you, but I am a hugely shy person, naturally. As a small child I was one of those kids who would barely stick his face out from behind mom's pant leg when confronted with strangers. Even in high school, I barely said a peep to anyone!
So when the Holy Spirit started directing me to put myself out there in all of these myriad ways, it was super scary! To the point where I felt like my old self-- the shy guy who used to just sit in his bedroom playing video games-- had died, and a new me in Christ was born. Like I was a new person! I even had people tell me that-- "You know Mike, I barely even recognize your personality, you've changed so much."
Selfishness was replaced with putting myself in service to others.
And it hurt-- at first! At heart I was still that super shy person. It's hard to let go of old habits, old ways of being. But eventually the graces and blessings, both to me personally but also to those whom I was serving, became very evident. Now I can't even imagine being my old self-- that "me" is gone, and in its place is a "me" that has grown deeply in Faith and love.
And similarly, think of change in your own life-- sometimes it can result in what feels like loss, but other times it can be super positive! A happy marriage, the birth of a child, the switch into an exciting new job or career, and so forth.
In our first reading today, we are told that a leper named Naaman plunged into the Jordan seven times and "his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child and he was clean of his leprosy." Ok, can anyone tell me which of the sacraments "plunging into the Jordan"-- into water-- reminds you of?
Yes, Baptism!
Even though Naaman was nominally going into the water at the beckoning of Elisha to be cured of leprosy, there is an obvious analogy to Baptism here as well! The old Naaman-- the leper version-- died, and a new Naaman, a cured one, was born! So there is that change we've been talking about-- and a super positive one for Naaman at that! Not only was he cured of his physical ailments, but he declared that he would no longer offer sacrifices to other gods-- only to the Lord!
So just like in my personal testimony earlier, Naaman-- through a baptism of sorts-- was transformed not just physically, spiritually as well! But it's even more pronounced than that.
Being a leper sucks. Not only for the physical ailment, but also because as a leper, you are unclean. Think back to The Old Testament Law-- it talks about being unclean, about not interacting with someone who is unclean, about not eating unclean foods, and so on. So as a leper, you are excluded from the community.
So what do we as Catholics believe Baptism does? Our Catechism tells us that "through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ; are incorporated into the Church".
In other words, in Baptism our old self-- the original sin version of us, the "unclean" version, dies. And in its stead, a new version of us in Jesus is born! But not only that, we are then incorporated into the Church-- into communion! Into the family! Into the community!
This scripture reading is pretty awesome, because it gives us this great, easy-to-remember, multi-layered allegory to help us understand the power of not just Baptism, but the continual spiritual growth we should all be constantly undertaking, even after Baptism! Paul tells us in the second reading that "If we have died with him we shall also live with him", and who here doesn't want to live with our glorious Father, eternally, in heaven, our hearts united with His?
The Gospel reading for today also has this same message. In it we hear of ten-- once again-- lepers who were cured. Only one of them actually returns to Jesus to give thanks. To the one who returned, Jesus says "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you." So we can see that our transformations into better people-- our rebirths-- must also result in us giving praise to God. We must have faith to grow!
So just like when I returned to the Church and the "old" me died, so too I-- and all of you!-- continue to be "reborn" into new and better selves, more united with our heavenly Father's will than ever. And if you ever need to remind yourself or reflect further about the nature of spiritual transformation, just think of the leper Namaan plunging himself into the river Jordan, and hopping out praising God!
Let me leave you with a Saint Vincent Ferrer quote: "Every baptized person should consider that it is in the womb of the Church where he is transformed from a child of Adam to a child of God." So I exhort you using the same words as Peter: repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Rebirth
Give me a show of hands-- who here has ever gone through a big change in their life? It could be a big career change, some kind of positive personal growth, or maybe something negative like sickness... who has gone through any of these sorts of alterations in their lives?
So we all know, change is hard! Oftentimes, it hurts!
But by its very definition, it's also transformational! I mean, isn't that what change is? Dictionary.com tells me that change means "to transform or convert". For example, it says, "The witch changed the prince into a toad." Now, I think if I ask for another show of hands about who has ever been turned into a toad, I'm not going to get many takers-- well, I hope not at least!
But we've all gone through change, or transformations in our lives, no doubt-- and the earlier show of hands proves it.
The one constant thing with change is that we feel different after it-- it's that "transformational" aspect of change I mentioned before. I don't know how many of you know this, but I was away from the Faith for about twenty years. I was baptized Catholic, was Confirmed, but I strayed from our ever-loving God in my twenties and thirties.
Maybe some day I could discuss my whole personal testimony-- but that can be for another time. Suffice it to say for now, one day I decided to return. I went to Confession, went to Mass, then within a matter of months I was a Lector, Sacristan, Alter Server, and helping on a bunch of different committees.
This may come as a surprise to a lot of you, but I am a hugely shy person, naturally. As a small child I was one of those kids who would barely stick his face out from behind mom's pant leg when confronted with strangers. Even in high school, I barely said a peep to anyone!
So when the Holy Spirit started directing me to put myself out there in all of these myriad ways, it was super scary! To the point where I felt like my old self-- the shy guy who used to just sit in his bedroom playing video games-- had died, and a new me in Christ was born. Like I was a new person! I even had people tell me that-- "You know Mike, I barely even recognize your personality, you've changed so much."
Selfishness was replaced with putting myself in service to others.
And it hurt-- at first! At heart I was still that super shy person. It's hard to let go of old habits, old ways of being. But eventually the graces and blessings, both to me personally but also to those whom I was serving, became very evident. Now I can't even imagine being my old self-- that "me" is gone, and in its place is a "me" that has grown deeply in Faith and love.
And similarly, think of change in your own life-- sometimes it can result in what feels like loss, but other times it can be super positive! A happy marriage, the birth of a child, the switch into an exciting new job or career, and so forth.
In our first reading today, we are told that a leper named Naaman plunged into the Jordan seven times and "his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child and he was clean of his leprosy." Ok, can anyone tell me which of the sacraments "plunging into the Jordan"-- into water-- reminds you of?
Yes, Baptism!
Even though Naaman was nominally going into the water at the beckoning of Elisha to be cured of leprosy, there is an obvious analogy to Baptism here as well! The old Naaman-- the leper version-- died, and a new Naaman, a cured one, was born! So there is that change we've been talking about-- and a super positive one for Naaman at that! Not only was he cured of his physical ailments, but he declared that he would no longer offer sacrifices to other gods-- only to the Lord!
So just like in my personal testimony earlier, Naaman-- through a baptism of sorts-- was transformed not just physically, spiritually as well! But it's even more pronounced than that.
Being a leper sucks. Not only for the physical ailment, but also because as a leper, you are unclean. Think back to The Old Testament Law-- it talks about being unclean, about not interacting with someone who is unclean, about not eating unclean foods, and so on. So as a leper, you are excluded from the community.
So what do we as Catholics believe Baptism does? Our Catechism tells us that "through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ; are incorporated into the Church".
In other words, in Baptism our old self-- the original sin version of us, the "unclean" version, dies. And in its stead, a new version of us in Jesus is born! But not only that, we are then incorporated into the Church-- into communion! Into the family! Into the community!
This scripture reading is pretty awesome, because it gives us this great, easy-to-remember, multi-layered allegory to help us understand the power of not just Baptism, but the continual spiritual growth we should all be constantly undertaking, even after Baptism! Paul tells us in the second reading that "If we have died with him we shall also live with him", and who here doesn't want to live with our glorious Father, eternally, in heaven, our hearts united with His?
The Gospel reading for today also has this same message. In it we hear of ten-- once again-- lepers who were cured. Only one of them actually returns to Jesus to give thanks. To the one who returned, Jesus says "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you." So we can see that our transformations into better people-- our rebirths-- must also result in us giving praise to God. We must have faith to grow!
So just like when I returned to the Church and the "old" me died, so too I-- and all of you!-- continue to be "reborn" into new and better selves, more united with our heavenly Father's will than ever. And if you ever need to remind yourself or reflect further about the nature of spiritual transformation, just think of the leper Namaan plunging himself into the river Jordan, and hopping out praising God!
Let me leave you with a Saint Vincent Ferrer quote: "Every baptized person should consider that it is in the womb of the Church where he is transformed from a child of Adam to a child of God." So I exhort you using the same words as Peter: repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.