Trust In Jesus Christ

Homily 10 06 2013
27th Sunday OT - C

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Luciano Pavarotti was the charismatic successor of the legendary opera tenor, Enrico Caruso. In his autobiography, Pavarotti: My Own Story, he describes how he was trained by a great master, Arrigo Pola. "Everything Pola asked me to do, I did, day after day, blindly. For six months we did nothing but vocalize and work on vowels."

Pavarotti worked hard under Pola for two and a half years and then worked just as hard under Maestro Ettore Campogalliani for another five years. Finally after putting so much faith and trust in his mentors, Pavarotti made a breakthrough at a concert in Salsomaggiore in Northern Italy where he thrilled the audience and was catapulted into fame.

This story about faith and trust leads us into today's readings which focus on the same themes. As Luciano Pavarotti put his trust in his teachers, today's gospel instructs that we too must put our trust in our mentor Jesus Christ. (Albert Cylwicki in ''His Word Resounds").

The sales manager of a large Real Estate firm was interviewing an applicant for a sales job. "Why have you chosen this career?" he asked. "I dream of making a million dollars in Real Estate, like my father," the young man replied. "Your father made a million dollars in Real Estate?" asked the impressed sales manager. No," replied the young man. "But he always dreamed of it."

Have you ever noticed that the Bible never mentions the dreams of the Apostles? It doesn't even mention the ideas of the Apostles. However, it devotes an entire book to the Acts of the Apostles. Some of the most impressive commercials on television have been the Nike shoe commercials with the theme, "Just do it." These commercials have normally featured famous athletes, such as Bo Jackson, to get their message across.

These commercials carry a good message for all of us, not just for people who are physically challenged. However, if the people at Nike think they invented the phrase, "Just do it," they might be surprised to find that they are a few thousand years late.

In Ezra 10:4 we read, "Be of good courage and do it." (Or, we could translate it, "Just do it.") This is, in effect, the answer Jesus gave his disciples when they asked him to increase their faith. He said, "Just do it," to paraphrase him in today's language. This is a curious answer to a request for more faith. "Just do it."

Today the church celebrates Respect Life Sunday. Indeed, this whole month of October is dedicated to Respect for Life. When we speak about our respect for life, it creates so many conflicts in people in that we see society and ourselves polarized with the slogans of pro-choice and pro-life.

On September 11th 2001, we had the greatest sin against life that most of us will ever have experienced, that is the tragic day of terrorism against life in our nation.

WE cringe when we witness an act of violence! At the movies, we turn away and squint our eyes. When passing a traffic accident we rubberneck and then wince at what we have seen.

The children in a schoolyard first form a crowd to watch a fight and then cringe when the first blow falls. Most of us experience a numbness or cringe hearing terrible news about violence, terrorism and even the wars on our globe.

There's something deep inside that tells us violence is wrong and violence against an innocent is abhorrent. That's why after so many years we grow impatient. How long, O Lord, will we have to wait until our country no longer allows us to take the lives of unborn children? How long, O Lord, until we stop taking the life of those whose crime is taking another's life? How long, O Lord, until as a nation we respect and cherish the life of the old, the sick and the severely handicapped and the unborn, and we develop ourselves as a nation where all will respect life.

Saint Paul exhorts us today "to stir into flame the gift of God." It is precisely this gift which best equips us for the task. The opposite of this gift, Saint Paul tells us, is cowardice and shame. But true faith, characterized by love and self-control, endures all hardship, for the strength required for the task comes not from our pitiful human resources, but from God.

The next time you fear to defend the unborn child, the prisoner, the terminally ill, the poor and forgotten and when you remember the great tragedy that recently occurred against human life, remember Saint Paul's words. Stir the gift of faith into flame, and God will transform the face of the earth!

We hear the simple words we've heard since we were a child. "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can do anything." Human Life is important at every point of our lives from conception til death and it is my hope that our parish committee and our whole parish will focus on and support all LIFE.

St. Francis of Assisi whose feast we celebrated this past week was one who respected and celebrated life. May we follow his example!

There are people with lots of Faith who still contribute very little to God's kingdom. They are like a man Ernest Fitzgerald tells about in his book Keeping Pace. The man was a wealthy English philanthropist named Jeremy Bentham. In his will, Mr. Bentham bequeathed a fortune to a London hospital on whose Board of Directors he had sat for decades.

There was, though, one peculiar stipulation. Mr.Bentham's will read that in order for the hospital to keep the money, he, Jeremy Bentham had to be present at every board meeting. So, for over 100 years the remains of Jeremy Bentham were brought to the board room every month and placed at the head of the table. And for over 100 years in each secretary's minutes was a line that read: "Mr. Jeremy Bentham, present but not voting."

Two-thirds of the world and 50 percent of all church members will not even roll out of bed on Sunday morning. They don't need more faith. They just need to roll out of bed. [Michael B. Brown, Be All That You Can Be (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 1995), pp. 55-56]

Our call on this Sunday for Life is a call for us to get out of our beds, to support life...to just do it!

jjl

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