Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton
HOMILY
Closing Mass for the Annual Novena to St. Jude – October 28, 2010
St. Mary, Help of Christians Church, Pittston
For all that we bring to these solemn days of prayer, for all of the hopes and needs that we hold in our hearts and place before the Lord, for all of the commitment of time and effort that we expend to join in prayer for this novena, the scripture passages offered by the Church on this feast of Saints Simon and Jude (and yes, lets not forget Saint Simon) seem rather anti-climactic, don’t they? We hear a three verse passage from Saint Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in the first reading and the gospel essentially just gives us the names of the twelve apostles.
Wouldn’t you think that the Church would offer us something more – some great promise to those who hope and pray – some lofty, poetic discourse that touches our hearts? Instead, we hear of how we form a building of sorts and we hear a list of names.
Yet, these seemingly mundane words are indeed the Word of God spoken to us today on this feast. And like all words that come from the mouth God, they have the power to give us life and to speak to our hearts if we listen with care.
Let’s reflect first for just a bit on the gospel. After he had spent the night in prayer on a lonely mountain, Jesus chose the twelve Apostles. From a group of disciples numbering at least seventy-two, only twelve were selected. We might wonder how he called them. Did he do so by name? Andrew, James, Simon, Jude? Perhaps he pointed to them. Maybe he walked through the crowd and laid his hand on the ones he wanted. Do you suppose that the other sixty felt relieved that they weren’t chosen or rejected, let down?
Simon and Jude were among the twelve chosen – two of the twelve who would serve as the foundation stones of the Church that has now existed in all corners of the world for two thousand years – two of the great twelve apostles of Jesus – and yet we know so little about them. Simon is the quiet one. This Simon was not Simon Peter. We have no information about him other than the fact that he was on the official list of Apostles. Jude, also called Judas, is sometimes referred to as Thaddaeus. He’s mentioned only in passing. … And that’s all we know. … That’s all we know. … They were common, ordinary, in between people – not the Apostles that we hear about most: Peter, James, John.
That’s what we hear in the gospel on this great feast. Two common, ordinary men, like us are chosen by Jesus to do an incredible work. Now let’s look at the first reading, the three verses that we heard from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In it, Paul speaks to the Church at Ephesus – and to the Church here tonight. Listen to what he says: You are strangers and aliens no longer. No, you are citizens of the saints and members of the household of God. You form a building which rises on the foundation of the apostles – which rises on the foundation laid by two common, ordinary men, Simon and Jude, and their colleagues – with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. You are a part of the temple of the Lord. You are a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.
Simple words, aren’t they? Yet words that suddenly begin to seem more powerful than we might first have imagined. On a foundation laid by ordinary men, no different than ourselves, WE become the place where God dwells. God dwells in me and in you.
St. Paul reminds us – challenges us – to understand that when we speak of the presence of God, we’re not restricting him to a place or a building, no matter how important and cherished that our houses of worship may be. He is reminding us that through Baptism, WE become temples housing the very presence of God.
What an incredible reality – God is in me and in you; in my family and in yours; in my office and in your workplace. A second-century letter reflected upon Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and what we are called to embrace today. Listen to what it says: “Christians do not dwell in some strange place of their own, nor do they use any strange variety of dialect, nor practice an extraordinary kind of life. … But while living in cities and following local customs, both in clothing and food and in the rest of life they show forth their belief in God in all that they do.”
Very often when I preach, I tell stories about my family. And so often, people will remark about my homilies. Yet interestingly enough, they will remark less about what I might teach and much more about the stories. I suspect that’s the case because such life stories remind us of precisely what St. Paul is trying to convey and what Saints Simon and Jude offer to us by their example. Our faith is most clearly lived, challenged, spread and nurtured in our daily experiences of life. And it is lived, challenged, spread and nurtured when we not only recognize the treasure that we’ve been given through the indwelling of God in our lives but when we give that presence of God away; when we take his life and present it as a gift to another.
I’ve talked often about my dad’s grandmother who died well into her 90’s when I was in high school. She was an immigrant from Poland who came to America at the ripe old age of thirteen. She married not too many years later and had eleven children and then raised six grandchildren, including my father, when her oldest daughter died in childbirth. Her life was far from easy, raising a total of seventeen children and grandchildren, operating a grocery store and letting countless numbers of customers put their bills “on the books” during the depression, welcoming passers by to her table when they needed a meal (just like many of your families did) and trying to provide for all the lives entrusted to her care.
Listen to the words that I vividly recall her telling me and virtually every one of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren throughout her many years of life: “Don’t be afraid to give from what you’ve been given by God. Give and it will come back to you – not in dollars and cents but in love and compassion.” Pretty profound words for a simple immigrant with little formal education.
Aren’t those words reflective of the Gospel message? Don’t they really capture what God is speaking to our hearts today as we bring these days of prayer to a close?
No matter how the prayers that we have placed before the Lord during this Novena are answered, know that God is with us, with you and you and me. May we be grateful for all that God has given to us – the gift of life, no matter how strong or frail … loving relationships, given for many or just a few years … faith, which has the power to sustain us throughout our lives, no matter what comes our way … and peace, if not throughout our world, at least at our center, where God is present.
May we be grateful for ALL that God has given to us. And like the great Saints whom we honor this day, may we, God’s simple, ordinary, common instruments, take what he has given to us and give it away and so continue to build up the temple of God’s presence – his life and his love – right here in our midst.
