Deacon Michael’s Homily for 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time - October 1-2, 2022

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (October 1-2, 2022)

The readings on which this homily is based can be found HERE

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Back in my college days I served on a freshman orientation team.

It was made up of senior year students that organized and operated a 2-3 day overnight experience for the incoming freshman class before the start of their first year of college.

We had our own training and preparation and team building exercises to get ready.

I don’t remember too much about it except that we did this “trust fall” exercise

…the one where you step up on a little footstool, close your eyes, lay back and fall backwards into the arms of a few of your teammates who are hopefully, ready and able to catch you

…before you hit the hard gym floor

There were a couple of impressions that I took away from this exercise.

The first is that this is a different experience for someone that weighs 100 pounds compared to someone like me that weighed 200 lbs.

The second was the lasting but fleeting impression about what not being in control felt like.

This trust fall exercise reminded me of what it means to live a life of faith and what to expect

...in a world in which we aren’t in control.

Today’s readings speak to us of various aspects of this reality.

The first could have been ripped right from today’s headlines. 

The prophet Habbakuk sees violence and destruction and “clamorous discord” all around him.

He doubts whether the vision, the promise, of God to Israel was going to be fulfilled. 

Many in today’s world see all these things too, both close up and from a distance.

Think of Ukraine, and Russia, and Nigeria and even some aspects of our own American realities.

And, many today doubt the vision and promise of Christian belief to deliver as well.

But God speaks to the Habbakuk the prophet. 

God doesn’t make any promises of relief from all this.

Rather the prophet is told to “write down the vision clearly”

..so that on the day it is fulfilled the people will remember that “I told you so”.

“Trust me, it may be delayed, but it is coming”…God tells him.

“Don’t be rash. Stay focused.” 

How many times Christ himself offers much the same admonition to his disciples

….don’t be afraid…

…you’ll see lots of bad stuff, maybe experience it yourself

…people will come pretending to be me, there will be lots of false prophets speaking nonsense

…but the time has not yet come.

Don’t be rash. Stay focused.

But how to stay focused and grounded?  What does that look like?

The focus and grounding is found in the nature of faith itself, which is, fundamentally, a trust in the presence of God

…of God being somehow present to us in all that we experience.

This trust is what enables and makes effective the gifts that God has given us to manage and navigate the times that we are in.

Saint Paul in today's 2nd reading reminds us what these gifts are.

He reminds us that God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, one that we make us fearful and anxious,

…but one of power and love and self-control.

Consider how these might work together.

This power enables us to focused and under control in the face of fears and anxiety

…staying focused and under control so that we can love as the Lord called us to.

It’s the power not to be blown around by the crowd, and fads and our fears and the need to fit in to feel secure

…not to join in with the voices of violence and discord around us

…all very powerful forces

…all amplified by social media in ways that we are only beginning to understand.

So by our own baptism and confirmation we are given and strengthened in this Spirit of power and love and self control

…but it is up to us to “stir it to flame” as Paul urges us,

…like blowing on an ember to get a fire going.

This won’t happen by being passive consumers of “religion”, treating it like a movie or a sporting event that we “watch”, or a hobby we dabble in.

It will only come with our active engagement and receptivity

…with an active and disciplined prayer life, individually and present here together

…with effort put into going deeper into our Christian faith, the faith of so many that have gone before us through the ages facing their own challenges

…and with focused energy put into living our lives in the ways of love that our faith calls us to.

In the face of all of the issues and challenges in our world and in our lives this may feel like that “trust fall”.

But, maybe this is how we can learn once more that the “doing” of such things is in fact its own reward, has its own power

…and come to see that this “doing” is just what we are obliged to be about.