So Many Different Ways To Follow Jesus

 

Image Credit: www.catholicregister.org

by Deacon Steve,
Homily for 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2024

In our contemporary films and TV programs, and thus for many of us, the perfect hero is one who responds to rejection, persecution, or some form of personal attack with a dazzling display of power and most likely, violence, enhanced of course by CGI and AI. For our modern society the measure of a hero is measured in body counts and timely explosions.

In our first reading today, from a section of Isaiah known as the Song of the Suffering Servant, the hero responds with silence, patience, and unwavering determination. The Suffering Servant knows that they are guided and inspired by our Lord. As this faith grows, they develop the courage and patience to face every kind of adversity for they have come to believe deeply that God will be the source of their strength.

Thus, Isaiah writes, “The Lord God helps me; therefore, I have not been disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.”

We may think that we have to be a fanatic. But a fanatic, is self-centered and willing to use force, violence and hatred to impose their own vision of the truth and believes everything depends on them. In contrast, the one who is truly listening to God and is called by God, is God centered and does not wish to undermine God’s work with violence and hatred. It is God’s show - and their strength and success will only come from our Lord. They will quietly and peacefully stand firm in their ideals and let the power of truth itself win the victory.

And so, they say, like Isaiah, “It is the Lord God who helps me.”

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“What good is it my brothers and sisters. If you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?
If a brother or sister is without clothing and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So, faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.” James 2:14-18 – Second Reading 

The Letter of James reminds us that religion is not about focusing merely on our own personal salvation – in other words, the “me and Jesus” form of spirituality.

Scott Lewis, a scripture scholar reminds us,
“Although faith springs from the depth of our own heart, it must always be expressed in concrete ways, most notably in the care and concern for the well-being and happiness of others (all of our brothers and sisters). Any form of religion or theology that turns a blind eye to the human suffering of others or theologizes it away is human selfishness and a lack of love cloaked in pious platitudes. Faith as love – is always manifested in deeds.”

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Jesus in our gospel today from Mark, asks the apostles a simple question. “Who do people say that I am?” After they give the usual pat answers, Jesus asks them, and so us, “Who do you say that I am?”

Peter, who has been quiet, lost in deep thought and silent communion in the depths of his soul, blurts out the answer, “You are the Christ.”

The gospel writer, rather than Jesus praising him, has Jesus tell them sternly to tell no one.
What follows reveals why Jesus does this. For Jesus goes on to tell them what it really means to be the Christ, the Messiah. It is about suffering, humiliation and death, which we know the apostles, like ourselves at times, do not want to hear. Jesus reveals to them that they are thinking, “as humans do” and as the world does. As humans we tend to think of comfort, safety and reputation. 

Jesus…then says to them, “Whoever wants to become my follower, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Mk 8:34

Taking up one’s cross means one thing – being willing to focus on God’s will regardless of personal cost.
Today, we can see all sorts of examples of people who do this very thing, volunteering at soup kitchens, clothing and food banks and Out of the Cold programs. Right here in our parish we have the CWG, the Knights of Columbus, the bereavement ministers, our ministers who volunteer to help at our liturgies.
As well there are our outreach volunteers, bringing communion to those who cannot be here. In addition, there are our Vincentians, members of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, who, with the help of our weekly donations, go out each week to bring food cards and baskets to those in need. More important is the time they spend with our brothers and sisters who feel weak and vulnerable.
Together all of these ministers, day by day, deepen their faith by their works, becoming followers of Christ by taking up Christ’s cross.

Thomas Merton a famous monk and spiritual writer in our modern times, wrote, “It is not a matter of God or humanity, but of finding God by loving humanity, (all of our brothers and sisters) and discovering the true value of humanity in our love for God. Neither is possible without the other.”
And further he writes, “…we exist solely for this, to be the place God has chosen for our Lord’s presence, God’s manifestation in the world.”

Our Eucharist speaks to us, tells us that we are the Body of Christ, Christ’s manifestation to the world. Let us then, each day, try to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow our Lord and with God’s grace and blessing, grow in our confidence that God will stand with us and help us.

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, Our Founder

 

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam

The feast of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam is celebrated on September 9. Pope John Paul II beatified him on August 22, 1997. The following biographical snippet is taken from the SSVP Canadian Rule and Statutes.

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam is recognized as the main founder of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. He was that rare type of individual of intellectual genius and extraordinary holiness. He was a husband and father, professor and researcher, journalist and author, apologist and defender of the faith. Above all, he personified the Good Samaritan.

Antoine Frédéric Ozanam was born in Milan, Italy, on April 23, 1813, where his parents, residents of Lyon, France, had moved temporarily. His parents were devout Catholics who passed on to young Frédéric a deep love of God and the poor. After graduating from high school at the Royal College of Lyon, he moved to Paris to study law as his father wished. There, he was confronted with a society in deep turmoil and detached from its faith, as a result of the Revolution of 1830. Guided by André-Marie Ampère, an eminent scientist and Catholic, he came to the unshakable certitude that Christianity was the only remedy to cure the evils of his time.

He gathered around him students of like mind and faith and they confronted faculty members of the Sorbonne University who attacked their faith. He persuaded the Archbishop of Paris to have Father Henri Lacordaire, a renowned preacher, deliver a series of lectures at Notre-Dame Cathedral. The success of those lectures, or conferences, was overwhelming and the Conférences de Notre-Dame were launched. 

Ideas about social justice were promoted in the Tribune Catholique, a newspaper founded in 1832 by Emmanuel Bailly. A literary circle, La Société des bonnes études, was linked to this newspaper. The aim of this circle was to develop among Catholics a taste for historical, philosophical and religious research. Ozanam had a similar idea and he and his friends became active in what became known as the Conférences d’histoire. It developed into a dynamic forum of discussion and research at the university. One March night in 1833, a fellow student who was a non-Catholic, challenged Frédéric and friends. His question was “What are you doing for them (the poor), you and your fellow Catholics…? Show us your works!” Ozanam knew that faith must be translated into action and that, like the apostles, they needed to evangelize by the practice of charity. He rallied the group when he cried out, “The blessing of the poor is that of God…let us go to the poor.”

One evening, on April 23, 1833, Frédéric and five other students met in the office of Mr. Bailly and the “Conference of Charity” was born. They asked Sister Rosalie Rendu, a Daughter of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul to teach them how to minister to the poor with love and respect, and she did so with much kindness. By 1834, the conference had more than 100 members. Taking the saint as an example to follow, it renamed to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and placed it under the protection of the Blessed Virgin.

... In addition to the service he gave to the poor, he researched the conditions of the working classes and defended their rights as human beings and workers. He co-founded the newspaper l’Ère Nouvelle (New Era) to propagate his social and political ideas. Ozanam was one of the first to formulate the idea of a “natural salary” to claim compensation against unemployment and accidents, and to ask that a pension be guaranteed to workers.

From the Canadian Rule and Statutes of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.

Grace Before a Meal

 

Grace Before a Meal

Our Father in Heaven,

We thank you for our daily bread which you provide, for the fresh food in our fridge and the groceries in our pantry, and the food on our table. 

Fill our hearts with your generous compassion, that those of us who have more than enough might share with those who do not have enough. 

Bless them, and bless us, Lord, and these gifts which we receive from you who make the sun to shine and the rain to fall on all of us, good and bad, poor and rich. 

We ask this though Jesus your Son, who is Christ the Lord. Amen.