“So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation.” (John 11:47-48)
We had a very interesting homily this past Sunday. We had a fill-in priest this week. Father Tony Taschetta. He helps out periodically when our regular pastor is not in town or needs some time off. Father Tony is 80 years old but has the energy and a passion for the faith representative of a man half his age. His homily on this Sunday was on the Bible verse regarding the need for a grain of wheat to die in order for it to give new life. And to top it off, this weekend was our family mass. Which means Father Tony had to deliver this complicated bit of theology to young children!
So how did he get the message across? By the way, I find that the best homilies, and the most understood homilies, come when they are being delivered to children. It seems like the congregation relates best when the sermon is brought down to a level that does not resemble a theology lecture. Or a sermon filled with platitudes and no “meat”. But I digress.
So, Father Tony begins by bringing a baby and a toddler up in front of the congregation and explains how nice and warm it must be inside of a Mother’s womb. Why would ANYONE want to leave that world to come into a world that is cold and noisy!? But then he refocuses on the toddler who is all about having fun, playing, experiencing new things and forming relationships. He then brings up a grade school aged child and demonstrates how tough it is for a youngster to leave their Mom, to go into this foreign world that is school. Strangers, rules and unfamiliar surroundings. But after a time a youngster realizes how amazing it is to learn new things. To grow. And the same is said about moving into high school, then college or the working world. Or maybe moving from working life into retirement. Every step is a passage and transition into something new.
And that new world, that new existence, would not be possible unless at each stage the person was willing to let go. To die in a sense to their former self. Because without that death it would be impossible to grow into what God intended for us to be. Ultimately that transition is death that comes at the end of our lives and, hopefully, leads to life eternal. So it is about letting go. About dying to ones self many, many times throughout our lives. And even dying to self on a daily basis. Every decision can move us towards or away from our relationship with Christ. And often those decisions mean we must die a little bit to ourselves for the good of others and for where we stand with God. A seed cannot grow if left in its package. It must be planted in wet, maybe cold, soil in order for it to then germinate and grow.
The Jews in today’s Gospel from John did not want to let go. They needed to cling to the laws and traditions of the past so much that they could not see the Messiah standing right in front of them. Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead. And what were the Pharisees worried about? That the Romans might come along and take away their land and nation.
I just finished watching the last episode from Season 3 of The Chosen in preparation for watching Season 4. One of the main story lines in this episode is the feeding of the 5000. Towards the end of the scene, a group of Pharisees show up as the crowd is streaming away heading back to their homes. When one from the crowd informs a Pharisee that Jesus had just fed 5000 people with a few loaves and fish, the only thing this religious leader could focus on was that Jesus broke Jewish law by dining with Gentiles. The person from the crowd, as he walks away, exclaims that “Jesus just performed a miracle and all this Pharisee cares about is who Jesus ate with”.
As Catholics we sometimes get all caught up in minutia. The “little Ts” as our ex-choir director used to call them. Do we receive communion on the hand, or tongue. Do we stand or kneel. Do we shake hands at the sign of peace. Novus Ordo Mass or Traditional Mass. What type of music is being sung. What are other congregants wearing. I think sometimes we lose the focus that a miracle happens at every Mass? That simple bread and wine actually become the body and blood of the one who gave his life and suffered so that we all might live. Mahatma Gandhi is often reported to have said something like: If Catholics really believed that God Himself were present in the Eucharist, they would crawl toward the altar on their stomachs.
May we all learn to Let Go at times. To not let ritual get in the way of the “Big Ts” of our faith. That we are all sinners but all we have to do is call upon the Lord and receive Him. And maybe we can one day leave the familiarity of this world and be born into the uncertainty and the glory of the one to come.
ACM Website Issue:
As some of you may have seen, you are not getting ACM posts into your email inboxes. There seems to be an issue with the system that allows you to subscribe to ACM emails. We are hoping it gets fixed soon. It has been an issue for a few weeks now. I been using a work around to get reminders to go to the ACM website each day:
Go to Google Calendar and create an event titles ACM. In the description field enter the ACM URL (https://www.acatholic.org/). Create an email notification for this event. Then have it repeat every day before saving the event in Calendar. You will then get an email from Google Calendar every day with the link you can click on to go to the ACM site.
Hope that helps.
