Homily by:
Father Paul Weinberger
Saint William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
March 2, 2008
Jesus found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He said, “Who is He sir that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him; the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “I do believe Lord”, and he worshipped Him.
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
Recently, I was at a friend’s birthday party celebrating an anniversary in AA. After my friend got up to speak, I heard others get up to speak on their birthday anniversary. It was interesting to be where you are sitting listening to someone give a talk person after person, men and women were giving different testimonies, and they all included the same line, that somewhere along, in their lives, they felt as if they were totally alone and that God did not exist. They weren’t copying any other lines from each other; in fact their talks were totally unique.
Mother Teresa’s Spiritual Director, Father John Hardon, who I have been quoting over the last couple of months, in speaking on the angels and demons, says that even though we are alone from time to time, we are never alone and that God is constantly speaking to us, communicating to us through our Guardian Angels. The downside of this is so is the other team (devils) constantly in communication and trying to derail us in the spiritual life. So many people believe that they are alone in this world and that is exactly what the other team wants them to believe.
When we heard this Gospel today we saw some very religious people who refused to believe in religion. We see the Pharisees, who are the most expert in religion, present at the cure of a blind man letting us know that they are themselves blind. So, take no comfort in being religious; these Pharisees are religious, but they are blinder than the blind man, who has now been cured.
Last week I mentioned that Father Hardon said that the way we can make up for not having loved God in the past…for having sinned in the past, is to love God now and in the future more generously, patiently, and lovingly than we have in the past. Notice that there is not a great emphasis on dwelling on the past, but on moving from there to God’s service. We have some examples like Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee, and an expert by every Pharisee’s opinion. He was persecuting the Church. When he met Jesus he was knocked off his horse and blinded. He was then baptized and regained his sight. Then he began to love Jesus and serve Him more generously, patiently, and lovingly than he’d ever done in the past. He had been a stinker, as he turned people over who were Christian to be persecuted, but now he focused on the future. The same with St. Augustine and by his own confessions was a grand case, a stinker par excellence. But, when he came to his conversion he began to love and serve God generously and patiently. This is possible if we only give in to God trying to communicate to us.
On the inside cover of the bulletin you see at the top, “Translations” and it says “Laetare Sunday”, and then “Introit”. It says “Laetare Jerusalem” and on the other side it says, “Rejoice O Jerusalem”. Today is Laetare Sunday. This vestment that I am wearing is normally purple, but this day and the Third Sunday of Advent, this robe colored vestment is worn…only twice a year. Why? Well, what I am about to tell you is not a joke but you are going to think I am kidding. The reason this vestment is worn is because the Church, which is Mother and Teacher to us all, actually believes that you and I have been so assiduous in prayer, fasting, and works of mercy, that if we don’t put the brakes on just a little bit that we will wear ourselves out. We are spiritual Lenten machines! Yea right! You must have drifted off, right? Each one of us has to take our own inventory because God can read the heart, whereas you and I go by appearances, which is made perfectly clear in the First Reading. God can read our hearts.
How about a pop quiz? Even when you are not in school those words give you a knot in your stomach. Just the thought of all the pop quizzes I have taken in my lifetime…. The pop quiz is in preparation for the final exam. Here is the quiz. Last Sunday I mentioned that the six most perfect forms of prayer are the following…the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and worthily receiving Holy Communion on the Lord’s Day, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and worthily receiving Holy Communion during the week, going to a Communion Service and receiving Holy Communion worthily during the week, and if you can’t get to Church for some reason, making a Spiritual Communion at home, going to Church and making a Holy Hour in the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, or if you can’t get to Church, you make a Holy Hour at home, uniting your heart with the Heart of Jesus in the Tabernacle. Seven days have passed since I preached on this last Sunday.
Here is the pop quiz. Did you follow through? In the bulletin it was titled, “Problems with Children, Problems with Children Now Adults, and Problems in the World”. What are the most perfect forms of prayer that you and I can offer to God for these problems? In the last seven days how many times did you follow through with that? This is indeed a pop quiz. What you see on the cover of the bulletin is the final exam.
“I didn’t know that was going to be on the test!”
Here we see a painting from the 1400’s, a famous painting. The man who is sitting up in the bed is the same man at the foot of the bed in that green robe. The man in green is going about his business and the man in bed has just come to his last moment. If you look at the bottom you see armor and a sword. This is like one of those magazines you see in the doctor’s office for kids, a Highlights from Hell, right? Can you find the Indian, the canoe, the axe? Can you find the demon? Oh, I see them all around. Draped over the bottom of the picture is the man’s garment that he wore under his armor; this man obviously made his living as a soldier, and from the strong box there at the end of the bed, he made a very lucrative living at being a soldier. Look at the man at the foot of the bed; he has a cane in one hand and he is dropping some coins into the strong box. Next to his cane you see a Rosary and next to the Rosary is a key. I wonder which one he uses more often, the key or the Rosary? Hum…I think we can kind of tell, right? As Father Hardon said, we are never alone and are constantly being communicated with. God sends His angels to guard us. Psalm 91 says he will even guard us lest we cast our foot against a stone. The beauty of God communicating to us through an angel is a Dogma of the Catholic Faith. If you don’t believe it then you are not a Catholic.
The fact is that demons are all around us as well. In the picture you can see one above the man in bed. Now, his guardian angel is trying to get the man to look up at that tiny window where there is a Crucifix the size of a postage stamp worthy of most Catholic homes.
“Oh sure, I have a crucifix; it is right over here and it is the size of a postage stamp.”
The angel is trying to get the man to look up but he is distracted. You can hear him saying,
“ Bu…but…uh…uh”
He sees the representative from the IRS walking in the door. I am sorry, that is death. What do they say? There are only two things sure in this life and that is death and taxes. But the response is the same to both death and taxes. If an IRS auditor walked into the door you would stutter, too. The man is saying that it is not his time. Notice that even a demon is handing him a bag of gold to distract him further. I always like it at funerals when we are headed to the cemetery and behind the hearse is the armored car. No, I don’t see that. The Pharaohs of Egypt built great pyramids in which to be buried, and they put all their stuff in there, too. Now Pharaoh is sleeping in the British Museum and all of his stuff has gone either to museums or to thieves. Eventually, someone got into the pyramids and stole their stuff, and that is exactly what is going to happen to you and to me with all the stuff that we didn’t give away to the poor; it won’t follow us to Heaven.
Father Hardon is right; this man in the picture was caught totally by surprise. A pop quiz is given to us today if we have eyes to see. The men in this Gospel today are religious people. They are in Church all the time. But, if you and I are not holier than they are then the same fate will be ours. You and I will be blind. Just because we spend one hour a week in Church and the other 167 hours not turning toward the Lord, is that the recipe for Heaven? Maybe it is according to you, but not according to God. These Pharisees were experts in religion and they refuse to see Christ; they are blind on their own. Now, if you believe as I believe, and as the Catholic Church believes and Christ teaches us, that He is really and truly Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity present in that Tabernacle, then there is the prayer every day…either a Spiritual Communion from home or a Holy Hour. You don’t have to go to Jerusalem to worship God. People say all the time,
“I don’t go to Church on Sunday; I can worship God anywhere.”
We miss the opportunity by turning to them and saying,
“So, do you?”
“ Do I what?”
“Do you worship him anywhere?”
“HUH?”
See? We miss the perfect opportunity while people are shooting their mouth about being religious to ask them if they actually stop and turn toward the Lord.
“Oh, Amazing Grace, I love that song. I once was lost but now I am found, was blind but now I see.”
Are you doing anything about it today? Blind and deaf and somehow we believe that just because we spend an hour with Him on Sunday that we are going to breeze through the final exam. Really? And of course, we know that nobody dies unless they are really old…over thirty. Hum…I saw where that woman, who was twenty years old was driving to work and nearly made it there when an 18-wheeler fell off the ramp and landed on her and killed both the 18-wheeler driver and her.
“Wait a minute…that is not supposed to happen!”
You see how wrong we are on so many levels. Fr. Hardon said, about God communicating to us through our Guardian Angel that we’d better listen to him. Our Guardian Angel prompts us to stop what we are doing and to turn to the Lord throughout the week. There is work to be done. Parents, your children may be very good children now and they grow up and move out of the house and then go into the world where there are lots of rotten people looking for them. If that is not a problem that will bring you to your knees, I can’t make up anything. There are problems in our families, in the world, in the Church, and these are the most perfect ways that I have spelled out that God has given us to meet those needs and we won’t lift a finger. Father Hardon said this in his series on angels and demons.
When the man in the Gospel, who had never seen before, was given his sight, what did he do? He said,We must be ready believers otherwise dare we say, God will not waste his communication to unbelieving minds.
”I do believe Lord”, and he worshipped Him.
In the Pope’s book, Jesus of Nazareth”, he quotes Fr. Alfred Delp, who was killed by the Nazis.
Can you really tell it by your life? The same question has to go to me, too. Oh, I am a priest; I get a free ticket to Heaven. Oh is that right? Where is that written down? Everything I am saying to you is directed even more so at me. If there is nothing of belief in God and our belief in God does not lead us to turn to the Lord in adoration, we can be guaranteed that this is not belief. That is something, but it is not belief, and the other team is saying “Don’t listen to him, he is a crackpot.” Fine, and how are you going to do on the final exam?Bread is important; liberty is more important, but what is most important is unbroken fidelity and adoration
Jesus found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He said, “Who is He sir that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him; the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “I do believe Lord”, and he worshipped Him.
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen