St Joseph Homily June 25th, 2023
Introduction
To prepare our hearts today to reflect together on the readings I would like to share a piece written in 1930 by Blessed Merloni:
Act so that your life is hidden in God with Jesus. When one is hidden with Jesus, one is in the company of his holy example, of his adorable maxims, of his humble Heart. In such company who could be anything but humble?
Since a day will come when Jesus Christ will appear in his glory, then you too will shine in glory. But for now, you must remain hidden like him in the manger and as he was in his death. Thus, no praise, no glory for us here below! Let us unceasingly desire to want to appear only when he will show himself in the infinite splendor of his glory.
As we go through the readings today let us imagine the second coming of Jesus. When he will appear in all his splendor and magnificence. There will be no hiding on that day. We will see ourselves as we are. No masks, no excuses, no missing in action. Just me the way I am. Who here would like to be found ready on that day? Pause…me too.
St Paul to the Romans:
Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned…But how powerful is sin anyway, maybe it’s not so powerful as we think?
There is no doubt the Church has always taught us that the evil forces at work in the world are real and very dangerous. When was the last time you spoke to your children about sin and evil? Obviously, it’s something that requires an age-appropriate approach. But don’t wait so long that the evil force beats you to the punch. Let’s not pretend or close our eyes to the evil that is working overtime in fabric of society.. What would it take to equip our young people to be agents of change and not victims of disaster.
I think we are doing some things well at St Joseph’s. One signature program is our faith formation. The altar servers, the choir for young people, our youth group. But like all things we need to continue to push forward challenging each other to ‘up our game.’ If you have some suggestions, please come to the office and we can talk about it.
I need your help more than you realize. We depend on each other to make St Joseph’s a home where we come and be nurtured and sent out to be missionaries in the field hospital of the world.
Our brave Shepherd has gone before us to show us how to engage the world. The Gospels are our road map. Stay close to scriptures and put them into practice and you will automatically be protected by the Good and Brave Shepherd.
Book of the Prophet Jeremiah:
For to you I have entrusted my cause. What does it mean to be entrusted with a mission?
Jeremiah was entrusted with a mission as you may remember from your bible studies:
In the midst of the confusion of a godless policy of despair at the approach of destruction the prophet from Anathoth, stood as “a pillar of iron, and a wall of brass”. The prophet of the eleventh hour, he had the hard mission, on the eve of the great catastrophe of Sion, of proclaiming the decree of God that in the near future the city and temple should be overthrown.
Life wasn’t easy for Jeremiah, it’s not known exactly how he died but it’s assumed he was stoned to death in Egypt. He died a glorious death because he was faithful to the God who made him into the prophet he was.
And now we will see now how we can apply his life to ours:
All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. Have you ever lost a friend because you are a believer?
I like to remind many of our young people that one they will be in college and surrounded by people who don’t know God and they will have the ‘mission’ of telling them about Jesus. But it’s also important to remember that you will lose friends…Is it better to have many friends or to lose the life of God in your soul? Is not God preparing you to keep the life of grace alive in your souls and be a witness to the truth of real love? We will all be faced with this at some stage in our earthly life. At Mass we are strengthened!
Jesus words to us today:
Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.
As I prayed over and reflected on the readings for today I was drawn to the part of Mass after the Our Father and it should give us massive confidence as we walk through this complicated world together.
“Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Do these words which we pray at every Mass help you understand you are not alone? That Jesus has us all covered with graces and especially when we are faced with challenges from the world?
We need to convey peace to those all around us especially when we decide to act by the grace of the Holy Spirit and to stand up for our faith. Don’t become anxious and uptight, the devil will use that even and especially when we are doing something good.
To conclude, let’s go back to the reflection that we started with:
Act so that your life is hidden in God with Jesus. When one is hidden with Jesus, one is in the company of his holy example, of his adorable maxims, of his humble Heart. In such company who could be anything but humble?
During summer months, try and slice more time for contemplation and reflection. Our souls need to be rejuvenated. You have my permission to slow down where that is possible. This can be our take away for this week.