Homily for Monday, 9 February 2015– Ferial

Monday of the 5th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Genesis 1:1-19; Psalm 104:1-2a, 5-6, 10. 12, 24, 35c; Mark 6:53-56

What was the beginning of our universe, or the beginning of our earth, like? Was there ever a time before suffering; before death; before sin?

Our first reading today from Genesis responds to questions like these, but not in the same way science or philosophy would respond to these kinds of questions.

Let us go back to the beginning; I mean literally to the beginning of Genesis. “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,” the Book of Genesis starts, “the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind,” God’s own creative Spirit, “swept over the waters.”

The creation stories in Genesis move from image to image to speak of the beauty and goodness of God’s creation. “God saw how good [it] was,” Genesis 1 repeats no fewer than six times, four in today’s first reading. Genesis’ goal is not to confirm scientific theories like the Big Bang or evolution. These theories may be right, or may be shown one day by science to be outdated.

Genesis points us to another, universal, transcendent truth: That what God created (the universe; the earth; animals and plants; the sea and the sky; us) is, intentionally on God’s part, good. And this good that God created can be observed by the humblest of human beings because we are made in God’s image and likeness. English philosopher Sir Francis Bacon once spoke of our ability to observe God’s goodness both in “the Book of God’s Word,” the Bible, and in “the Book of God’s works” (creation). We are capable of knowing and sensing God’s goodness through God’s creation and giving thanks for it. It does not take a scientist to give thanks to God although, as a microbiology lab technician before I became a Basilian, I often saw God’s awesome goodness in the microscopic creatures I studied.

“God saw how good it was.” We can see this in relationships with one another: Within our households, with friends, within our parish; across oceans and borders between countries and languages. We can see this when we selflessly help other people in need. We can see God’s goodness when we look up at the stars on a clear night. What marvelous expanse; what enormous goodness! We can see this in our beautiful town of Irondequoit and State of New York; the nature and activities that I occasionally get a chance to explore. We can see God’s goodness in the falling snow… Wait: The six inches of snow forecast yet to fall here today and tomorrow may be evidence of the effects of Original Sin (I kid. We will hear more about Original Sin and its effects in the daily readings later this week, though). Please be safe.

“God saw how good it was.” This is the truth of which Genesis 1 speaks to us: A truth that is universal; transcendent; timeless. “God saw how good it was,” and now and forever we can sense how good it is and give thanks to our God for his Word both of Scripture and of creation.

Homily for Tuesday, 9 December 2014– Ferial

Tuesday of the 2nd Week in Advent

Readings of the day: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 96:1-2, 3, 10ac, 11-12, 13; Matthew 18:12-14

Comfort: What is it? What is the comfort that God offers us through the prophet Isaiah in our first reading and through Jesus in our Gospel reading today from Matthew?

Ordinarily do we not think of comfort as having somewhat more than the minimal essentials: shelter, water, food, a clean environment, tolerable weather, and good health? We have phrases like “comfort food,” which describes foods we enjoy from time to time, but that may affect our health if eaten to excess. In Irondequoit, which I recently read has the most per capita pizza restaurants of any town or city in the United States, there is “comfort food” in abundance!

More than minimal shelter, water, food, cleanliness, good weather, and good health, and even occasional “comfort food,” are good things to have. But these are not the “comfort” of which our readings speak today. They are passing comforts. God’s comfort is everlasting.

And what is God’s greatest source of everlasting comfort for us? Our readings today say that God’s greatest source of everlasting comfort is God’s mercy.

“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God,” Isaiah begins. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated.” “Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

Through Isaiah, God speaks of the comfort of God’s everlasting mercy. God speaks to a people who had trusted in other nations’ might instead of in God, and so had been driven into exile in Babylon. Now, Isaiah speaks of pardon for the sin of failing to trust in God; in the everlasting and limitless comfort of God’s mercy:  “Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

In Matthew’s Gospel, God’s mercy is to the point of foolishness. What shepherd would mindfully leave ninety-nine sheep behind to search for and to bring home one stray? This is how great God’s mercy is. It is everlasting; it is limitless; it is not bound by our logic.

Today’s readings call us to trust in God’s mercy more and more deeply. As Pope Francis has repeated, “God never tires of forgiving us,” as long as we never tire “of asking God for forgiveness”; of trusting in God’s mercy. There are many channels of God’s mercy, especially our Church’s sacraments of reconciliation, the Eucharist, and the anointing of the sick. Each of us, should we choose to be, is a channel of God’s mercy; of God’s everlasting comfort in our world. Let us all go out and find at least one person in need of comfort; in need of God’s mercy, and be the presence of God’s mercy to that person this Advent.

“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.” Comfort: May this be our gift to the world. The comfort we offer is not a passing good, like having more than minimal essentials or the occasional “comfort food.” No, we are invited to offer our world God’s comfort. Our gift is to be the presence of God’s everlasting mercy by our words and our works toward one another and to our world.