Homily for Nativity for Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time 6/20/2021 Fathers Day - Fr. Andy
Happy Fathers Day to all fathers, grandfathers, godfathers and spiritual fathers.
Since it is Father’s Day, and inspired by today’s Gospel, I feel compelled to talk a little bit about being on the boat with my father. I have many memories in the boat with dad, mostly on the lake, which is really where the Gospel story today took place - the “Sea” of Galilee is actually a big lake which would only rate as the second biggest lake in the state if it were in Iowa.
But some of my earliest memories with my dad were on the river, no, not the Mississippi River but the Iowa River, which near my hometown is a fast flowing river that in no way would be crossable on foot. We would take our 16 foot flat bottom boat out with a little 25 horsepower motor on it, armed with poles equipped with 20 lb test and a variety of baits, searching for huge, often elusive catfish.
From early on I remember my dad putting the fear of God into me about the river. He told me there was to be absolutely no messing around, because if I were to go in, there was no way he was coming in after me. He often joked about the way he swam, he would always say, “I sink to the bottom and run like heck to the shore!”
But it was a dangerous place, the river, that is, it seems from time to time we would hear of people drowning, and when you were on it, you could see the swirls and imagine the undertows that went along with them, that was where we’d always try to find the big cats at.
I enjoyed being on the boat with my dad… I was always a little nervous though... I respected the power of the river, especially since my dad, who is still the strongest man I know, respected it and took it so seriously himself. Not even he could control the river.
In many instances in the Bible, water, the sea symbolizes a place of evil forces that only God can control. By Jesus showing he could control the sea, He showed Himself to have the power of God, and the disciples began to recognize this: “They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?””
The disciples are learning, through this experience and several more after it (such as driving out demons and raising a girl from the dead), that Jesus is God in their midst and they must trust in Him, that their faith in Him will conquer every fear. This is a lesson that we must learn ourselves.
How many experiences of God’s presence does it take for us to trust Him fully? Do we fear the evil in this world that we cannot control? Do we think that Jesus is in our boat but He is asleep?
St. Augustine suggests that Christ is not asleep in our boat, but rather it is our faith that is asleep. Augustine says, “You are afraid because you are asleep; you are tossed about on the stormy desires raised by the breath of those who tempt you to do evil because your faith is asleep. ‘Your faith is asleep’ means you have forgotten your faith. To wake Christ means to awaken your faith, to recall what you believe. Remember your faith; wake Christ within you. Your faith will immediately [calm] the frightening winds and waves of those who tempt you to do evil.”
St. Augustine is dead right, it is our faith, not Jesus, that goes to sleep. We forget those times when Jesus was really present. We let our beliefs go, and give in to temptations, we let our faith be lulled to sleep.
We fear because we do not trust in God as we should.
An example that I see happen almost every year is when I help lead this Kairos retreat for high school juniors. When they come into it, they are a little afraid. Many haven’t been living their faith very well, most people lose their faith in middle school, age 13 in fact, according to national studies.
They might not even realize they’re afraid, they might just think they’re too cool or that this isn’t a good use of their time, but I think more often than not, those feelings are actually rooted in fear.
So, as the retreat leaders, we have to encourage them from the start, Trust The Process. TTP (- it was written in chalk outside the front door of the Nativity for a couple of months after we hosted Kairos here.) Don’t fear, don’t anticipate, don’t worry, just Trust.
And they do, and you know what happens? They have amazing experiences of God’s love for them.
Oftentimes, either directly or indirectly, I am asking you to do something, outside of your comfort zone, whether it be to examine your own fears or hesitancies or to come to the church on a Wednesday night for a Holy Hour, or to attend one activity or another, I am encouraging you to do something, in order to move your faith.
I am trying to be like Jesus here in the sense that I’m trying to wake you up, if you are in fact asleep. Only you know that, but you can tell by your response to my “asks,” to these opportunities and encouragements regarding your faith.
For many of us, our faith goes to sleep, we let fear take control when we should let God, and this goes for my “asks” as well. Often, we also might not even realize that it’s fear controlling us. It can show up as different excuses. Everyone says they’re too busy to add anything to their calendar.
I’d like to challenge that idea by suggesting that maybe we’re just afraid to let go of something that keeps us too busy to be with God. What if we offend someone by insisting we go to Mass on Sunday when we are visiting them out of town? What if we let our kids down by not letting them compete in every single sport and thus ruin their childhood?
What if it’s hard to make the sacrifices that God is asking of me? Even like getting up earlier so that I can go to Mass before work? I believe that it’s actually fear behind these excuses.
Whenever we are tempted to fear, especially things that are good and Holy, we need to recognize that lack of faith and turn to Jesus, turn to God who calms the storms of our hearts with His abiding love.
As we heard Paul say in our second reading, “The love of Christ impels us.” His love for us, our love for Him, it impels us to move forward in faith, to keep our own faith awake while encouraging others in theirs.
Paul goes on to say, “[Jesus] indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
Jesus died to save us from our sins. Saving His disciples on the boat from an evil they couldn’t control was just prefiguring saving them from a greater evil, our sins, which, without forgiveness, would lead us to eternal death.
And since we have been saved, “The love of Christ impels us” or should impel us, to want to bring that salvation to everyone that we know, to awaken their faith.
St. Josemaria Escriva said, “We are urged on by the charity of Christ to take upon our shoulders a part of this task of saving souls. As a result, we will foster in ourselves a vehement desire to live as co-redeemers with Christ, to save all souls with him.”
Today, many, many people are asleep, simply because they think everyone will be saved. For a follower of Jesus, this position does not make any sense. We heard Jesus' question today, ““Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?””
Why is faith necessary if everyone goes to heaven? What good is hope either? But Jesus encourages these virtues.
He says elsewhere, in Matthew chapter 7, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”
And later in Matthew 10:28 too He says, "And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."
Friends, many people have let their faith fall asleep, and this is what the evil one wants! We need to help awaken it for them! I cannot do this on my own, but together we can, that is why we work with Jesus to bring people the Good News of salvation through the forgiveness of our sins.
Just going to Mass when you are on vacation is a powerful witness to others. Prioritizing Sunday Mass over everything else is a powerful witness to children. We witness the love of Jesus to others oftentimes without saying a thing.
This world is dangerous, like a boat caught in a storm on the sea or in a fast moving river, we cannot control everything, as hard as we try, we need the protection and salvation that comes from Jesus.
Our responsibility is to first stay alert ourselves, and then to help awaken others to the evil that threatens their souls.
May God bless and protect us all as we work for the glory of His Kingdom.
