WHAT YOU GET
WHEN YOU GET CHRIST
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 29th Tuesday
in Ordinary Time is, “What You Get When
You Get Christ.”
PART ONE: LIFE
WITHOUT CHRIST
Today’s first reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians
[2: 12-22] begins by telling us what we get - without Christ.
We get alienated from the community. We are strangers to the covenants of promise.
We are without hope. We are without God in the world.
I don’t know about you - but when I read that - I feel
for relatives - who have dropped out of church and religion. I also am thinking of those who have been
dropping out of the Catholic Church because of the priest scandal.
It also triggers all those people I sense have no church sense. They
tell me by body language, they are at the edge of faith. I always hope I’m dead
wrong - but my belly and their standing
back - at edges in church at funerals
and weddings and baptisms - is telling me something.
Of course I’ve been wrong in my judgments many times but
….
I’m praying to God to touch these folks who are going it
without Christ. I have been talking to some people one to one - who were at a
wedding - and a few at funerals - who got the thought, “I need to revisit faith
and God” and they gave me a call.
So the beginning of today’s first reading from Ephesians
triggers what it is like to be - without Christ Jesus.
PART TWO: LIFE WITH CHRIST
Then Paul in this letter to the Ephesians tells us, “But
now in Christ - you who once were far
off - have become near by the blood of
Christ.”
Paul tells us Christ is our peace. Paul tells us Christ
is one with us. Paul tells us Christ broke down the dividing wall of enmity,
through his Flesh.
Paul then tells us the great message in Romans - the
great Christian breakthrough from Judaism - the great message that there is a
new covenant: The law with its commandments and legal claims are abolished.
Have we got that message yet - that breath of fresh air
Good News - that the Old Law, the old way of seeing existence, living, under
dread of hell - under fear of God - is over - because Christ - came and lived among us?
Christ put that way of thinking to death with his
death. The veil of the temple was torn
that day - and the Spirit of God freely flew out and roams the earth.
As Paul puts it right here in this reading, “He came and
preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for
through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”
So Christ is not just in here - at Mass - but Christ is
out there in the mass of details that is called Daily Life.
Paul is telling us there are no walls - we are to no
longer be strangers and sojourners - but all of us are fellow citizens with the
holy ones and members of the household of God - built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Do we get this profound vision - this profound image -
that we are one - no walls, no borders, no divisions by skin color, no language
barriers, no nationality, no party, none of these divisions made of walls made
out of words - but the one word that became flesh - Christ - sent to us by the
Father can give us what we all need, all we hope for - that will give us peace?
CONCLUSION
This message is found here in Ephesians and in other
places in the scriptures in various ways.
This profound message can be found in the documents of Vatican II,
especially in the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Lumen Gentium, where it says that the kingdom of God is proclaimed
in 4 ways: first from pastoral life - raising animals. We are a sheep in s
sheepfold with Christ as our Good Shepherd. Secondly, we are a field to be cultivated, to become bread and wine. And Thirdly, this image is
from from architecture and home building -
we are a building in progress.
This third image is the main image from today’s reading from Ephesians.
Then the last image is from marriage and family. We are
the body of Christ - and without Christ we are missing so much.
Now of course this is dreamy - slippery stuff. It’s
idealistic stuff. It’s spiritual stuff.
We’re citizens of a country - with concerns about our different
peoples - our economy - our place in the world.
However, we are more than being citizens of our country.
We are citizens of this planet - this world.
For the sake of
transparency, I am also a member of a worldwide group of brothers and priests
called the Redemptorists - all over the world
For the sake of transparency, I also a member of a worldwide
Church - the Catholic Church - all over the world.
