The following is my homily from Sunday, May 4, 2014 – The
Third Sunday of Easter:
This Gospel passage might have been the inspiration for the
TV series “Undercover Boss”. I’ve only
seen, at most, maybe one and a half episodes of the show. But from what I’ve seen, the boss usually
undergoes some kind of conversion. The
boss realizes that procedures and policies are inadequate and need to be better
communicated to the employees. So the
boss sets up new processes to fix the issues.
But in this Gospel story, we see a conversion in the two
disciples. They are still stuck in the old
mindset. St. Luke tells us they were looking
downcast. Why? They have heard reports of a vision of Angels
announcing the Lord’s Resurrection and an empty tomb! And they are still looking downcast? Then one of them says: “We were hoping that
he would be the one to redeem Israel.” Aha,
there’s the issue. They missed the
Lord’s invitation to conversion. Jesus
did redeem Israel, but it wasn’t a redemption that fit their mindset or agenda. They wanted Israel to become politically free
from the oppression of the Romans. They
are looking for a worldly redemption. Jesus
offers them a different redemption, one that frees them from the oppression of
sin and death. And not only did the Lord
redeem Israel, He redeems the whole world, all of humanity, you and me. That’s the Good News.
And this Good News comes with an invitation to conversion,
just like it did for those two disciples.
The Lord calls us to a conversion of heart according to his agenda, not
some worldly agenda we might have.
In this Gospel, we see the most awesome catalyst for this
conversion of heart that all of us need.
It has two parts: Liturgy of the Word, and Liturgy of the Eucharist. St. Luke tells us Jesus interpreted the
Scriptures for them. That’s the Liturgy
of the Word. St. Luke said He took
bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. That’s the Liturgy of the Eucharist. That’s what we are doing right here today. The Lord Himself gives us the means to
transmit the Good News to the entire world and down through the ages: the Holy
Mass.
Notice in the Gospel, after their conversion, understanding
and embracing the Lord’s agenda, and letting go of their own, what do they do? They go and share the good news with others. They are normal Christians and they are
called to spread the Gospel. You and I
are charged with the same task: spread the Gospel.
We have a great opportunity to invite people to this most
awesome catalyst for conversion of heart.
Many Catholics blow off Sunday Mass.
They are missing out in this intimate encounter with the Living God. They are missing out on the profound joy and
fulfillment that comes from the conversion of heart to which the Lord invites
us. So we have the opportunity to invite
them. We all know people in this
situation. Perhaps we can make a
resolution to invite at least one person to come and encounter the living God
on an upcoming Sunday.
The living God is not only here for us to encounter during
Mass. He stays… right here in this
tabernacle. We can come in and make a
visit, and adore the Lord who is present in the tabernacle, Body, Blood, Soul,
Divinity.
Some people don’t come to Mass and don’t spend time adoring
the Lord because they say they don’t feel anything happening. Notice the disciples in today’s Gospel. They didn’t notice until later that their
hearts were burning within them.
It reminds me of a Catholic speaker who uses an
analogy. When he started surfing, he
spent four hours surfing in overcast weather without sunscreen. He figured since he couldn’t see the sun or
feel anything, he would not get sunburned, but he did. His roommate, an experienced surfer, told him
it doesn’t matter what you see or feel.
Something is still happening. A
few weeks later, the same novice surfer went surfing on a cold sunny day
without sunscreen thinking once again that he would not get burnt in the cold
temperatures because he didn’t feel anything.
After a second bad sunburn, his roommate asked him: “How many times to I
have to tell you it doesn’t matter what you feel?”
The disciples noticed later that their hearts were burning
within them. Perhaps we will notice
something later today, maybe next week, maybe next year.
Let’s continue our intimate encounter with the Living God.
