Wednesday, May 17, 2017

HOMILY for May 14, 2017: 5th Sunday of Easter, Cycle A

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5th Sunday of Easter, Cycle A
Terranova Hermitage
May 14, 2017
In the End “Looks” Do Matter!
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

 


What Does the Baby Look Like?


Practically all of us, and especially you who are parents, have had the wonderful experience of seeing a newly-born baby.

One of the things that almost always happens is that family members and friends look closely at the baby’s physical features.  They try to see who the baby looks like or takes after.

We hear things like: “He has his father’s forehead and hair.”  Or: “She has her mother’s eyes and complexion.”

What’s underneath this is that we like to see family members in the physical features of the newborn. We like to see parents or even grandparents in the baby’s traits.

What Does God Look Like?


Perhaps we have not thought about it this way, but Jesus gets us caught up in something like this with God.

We and perhaps most individuals have wondered: “What is God really like?” And so, over the centuries, our human imagination has produced many images of God. 

Some artists have depicted God as a grandfatherly old man with a gray beard.  Others have depicted God as simply a brilliant, bright light.  

And such images of God are important.  They have had consequences on us as persons and on the way we have related to God and how we relate to one another.

For example, we may have an image of God as vindictive or punishing, like some of the Old Testament writers did.  This can lead us to be insensitive or harsh toward others.

Or our primary image of God may be as a judge.  This can lead us to feel distant from God and afraid of God and inappropriately guilty. 

So, what we think God looks like and how we see God’s traits is very important.  As I said, it forms us as persons and effects how we relate to God and one another.
      

We See God in Jesus


In today’s Gospel, Philip asks Jesus to, “Show us the Father.”

He wants to know what God is like.  And Jesus responds, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”  “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.”

So Jesus is saying that he is like a clear pane of glass through we which we can see God directly and clearly.  He is, in himself, the full and accurate self-disclosure of God. 

In Jesus’ thoughts, feelings, words and actions, he shows us the mind and heart of God.  So, like looking at a baby and seeing the parents or grandparents in the baby’s features, we can look at Jesus and see the Father, God himself.

And So God Looks Like…


So for example, we hear Jesus saying, “Let those among you who are without sin cast the first stone.”  From this we know that God is patient and accepting of our humanity. 

We see Jesus mingling with tax collectors and prostitutes.  From this we know that God is inclusive and outreaching.

We hear Jesus saying, “Let the little children come to me.”  From this we know that God greatly values those whose life is vulnerable, from unborn children to the disabled, all the way to the frail elderly.

And we hear Jesus saying, “Whatever you do for the least of my brothers and sisters, that you do for me.”  From this we know that God is especially compassionate toward those who cannot afford to pay for both food and electricity, those who are homeless or refugees or minorities, and on goes the list.

Conclusion


So, we see that by looking at Jesus and his thoughts and feelings and words and actions, we can know a great deal about God. 


And these images of God that Jesus gives us have an effect on whom we become as persons are and how we relate to God and to one another.

Sunday, May 07, 2017

Daily HOMILY for May 4, 2017: Thursday in the 2nd Week of Easter, Cycle A

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Thursday 2nd Week of Easter
St. Luke Institute Day of Recollection
May 4, 2017

FROM SIN TO GRACE +++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø  In the Epistle we see the Spirit attracting the Ethiopian eunuch to a deeper understanding of life, thru his reading Isaiah’s Suffering-Servant Songs
Ø  The individual was grappling with the Scriptures, but still felt unable to understand their mysterious message
Ø  Notice that the steps of his full conversion are not so much a progression from sin to grace, but as a grasping the opportunity offered by grace, and wanting its full realization
WHAT GOD IS DOING IN OUR LIVES ++++++++++++++
Ø  Like the Ethiopian we must be “God-fearers,” that is, reverencing what God is doing in our lives
Ø  Like this foreigner, we join regularly in worship, as he did in the temple
Ø  Like this “unclean” person, we wait for the Lord to enlighten us
Ø  When he meets Philip he is very soon ready to be received into the Church
THE HOSPITABLE CHURCH +++++++++++++++++++++
Ø  This hospitable church is the ideal persuasively urged on us by Pope Francis
Ø  It is the desire of the community to let the joy of the Gospel shine on the lives of all who are ready to welcome it
Ø  It is this welcoming Church that I found in my years of ministry at St. Luke
Ø  And after most residencies ended, reconnecting with men and women in the Continuing Care Program, it was a joy for me to see how the Good News was spreading
Ø  It was akin to the Ethiopian journeying back home to bring the faith aflame to his own country
CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø  As with the eunuch, I would ask you what verse of Scripture are you struggling with?
Ø  Who is your Philip in these days to assist and support you in breaking through to new life?
Ø  Let us take a moment in silence to acknowledge him/her or the small group where this life is emerging
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++