HOMILY FOR 3RD SUNDAY IN YEAR A.
AIM: To challenge the hearers to respond to the
Lord’s call today.
A cardinal was visiting a community of
Carmelite nuns in Italy
They visited the refectory, where the
nuns sit on wooden benches without backs to eat their simple meals off bare
wooden tables. The cardinal saw one of the cells where they sleep: a small room
furnished with a narrow bed, a table to serve as a desk, and a hard-wooden
chair; a single light bulb overhead and a gooseneck lamp on the table. Instead
of a basin with running water there was a large washbowl on a stand, and on the
floor next to it a large crockery jug. The nun explained that water was brought
from the bathroom down the hall.
At the end of the short tour the nun
led the cardinal up a narrow stairway to the flat terraced roof above,
furnished with hard benches and a railing all round. “On feast days like Easter and Pentecost,”
she explained, “we can come up here, if the weather is fine, for our recreation
period.” The view was beautiful. Across
a valley they could see a magnificent villa surrounded by formal gardens and
several fountains. It was summer. A gardener was cutting one of the hedges. Children
were frolicking in the swimming pool. A couple were playing tennis on one of
the two courts.
The cardinal turned to the nun who was
showing him round.
“How long have you been here in Carmel
“I entered twenty years ago next
Easter,” she responded.
“Sister,” he said, “if the young man
of that house had asked you twenty-one years ago to come and live there with
him there as his wife, do you think you would be here today?”
“Your Eminence,” she replied. “That
was my house.”
Why? Why would a young woman give up
all that luxury and all that beauty? I think if we could have asked her, or
hundreds like her round the world, she would have said something like this:
“I wanted to be with Jesus.”
Our gospel reading today tells of a
similar sacrifice by two pairs of brothers: Simon and his brother Andrew, James
and his brother John. They were fishermen.
Yet at Jesus’ call, our gospel told us, they immediately leave their
nets and boat and follow him. Their nets and boat were their livelihood, their
security. They were burning their bridges behind them. Why? If we could have asked them, I think they
might have said something like this: “You would have to have known this man
Jesus. There was something about him that made it impossible to say No.”
Somewhere in this church right now
there is a young woman whom God is calling to be a religious Sister. Somewhere
there is a young man who God wants to be a priest. Let me speak very personally
to you.
Jesus is offering you something he
offers to only a few, something precious beyond words. He is offering you a
life that will sometimes be hard, but which will be filled with meaning and
filled above all with joy. How do I know that? Because eighty-eight years ago
Jesus made that offer to me. He called
me when I was just twelve years old by placing in my heart and mind the desire
to be a priest. Since then I have never wanted anything else.
Thirteen years later I fulfilled that desire. That
was almost sixty-six years ago. And I’ve never regretted it, not one single
day.
And, I say to you, whoever you may be,
whatever your age, whatever your circumstances: When Jesus calls you, go for
it! And one day you too will be able to say what I say to you right now: What a
wonderful life! I have experienced already here on earth a little bit of
heaven.
Is God’s call just for religious
professionals, priests and nuns? Don’t you believe it! While you were still in
your mother’s womb, God already had a plan for your life. He calls each one of
us, as he called those four rough fishermen in today’s gospel. He calls us to
walk with him, to be so full of his love that others will see the joy on our
faces and want what we have. Christianity, it has been said, cannot be taught. It
must be caught.
“I could never do that,” you’re
thinking? You’re wrong! Here is a list of some of the great people in the
Bible. Every one of them had a reason for thinking God could not use them. So,
the next time you feel like God can’t use you, remember:
Noah was a
drunk. Abraham was too old. Isaac was a daydreamer. Jacob was a liar. Leah was ugly. Joseph was
abused by his brothers. Moses had a
stuttering problem. Gideon was afraid. Sampson had long hair and was a
womanizer. Rahab was a prostitute. Jeremiah and Timothy thought they were too
young. David had an affair and was a murderer. Elijah was suicidal. Isaiah
thought himself unworthy. Jonah ran away
from God’s call. Naomi was a widow. Job went bankrupt. Martha was a perpetual
worrier. The Samaritan woman who spoke with Jesus at the well was five times
divorced. Zacchaeus was too small. Peter denied Christ. The disciples fell
asleep while praying. At Jesus’ arrest,
they all forsook him and fled. Paul was too religious. Timothy had an ulcer. And Lazarus was
dead!
So, what’s your excuse? Whatever it
may be, God can still use you to your full potential. Besides, you aren’t the
message. You’re only the messenger.
When you were born, you were crying,
and everyone around you was smiling. Start today (if you haven’t started
already) living your life so that when you die, you’re the only one smiling,
and everyone around you is crying.
