19th Sunday in Ordinary Time "C"

19th Sunday in Ordinary time "C"

Finding the Faith to Live each day as if it was our last.

My Sisters and Brothers, some of us have been Blessed with near death experiences, there are those among us who have survived Cancer, that have lived through Heart Attacks, and have walked away unscathed from total car wrecks.

Many sadly of course do not live through these types of experiences, and we are often left to wonder why some survive and some do not, perhaps for those who live for another day their job is to remind the rest of us how fragile and temporary this life that we share for a brief time really is.

February 6th this past year for most of us was the day that Snowmegedon came to Baltimore, the whole state was paralyzed for about a week. I was away up in RI attending the celebration of the fifty year anniversary of my Catholic Elementary School's opening. I had caught the last plane out of Baltimore the day before, just as the snow had started to fall here in Baltimore.

While up there in RI, I suffered a major Heart Attack and was fortunate enough to be delivered to a Trauma Center within 8 minutes of my attack. I had found the Grace of God's Providence in Providence.

That very same day another friend named John back from my old elementary school was living in Boynton Beach Fl, and he also had a Heart attack, sadly he was buried the day after they put three stents in my clogged artery.

If my Heart attack had happened here in Baltimore that day, there is no doubt in my mind that I would not be standing here in front of all of you. I'm quite sure that the ambulance would never have been able to make it through my neighborhood.

Faith is something that we profess to believe, but yet at the same time we also confess that we can no easier prove it then we can explain why some of us live to survive and others don't.

The living have an obligation to go out and to live as witnesses to the Grace and Love of the truth of the Gospel, proclaimed by Christ Jesus and his disciples.

In our second reading today we are reminded of the great faith of our fathers from the Old Testament.

The letter to the Hebrews starts out by saying; "Brothers and Sisters, Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen". Because of it the Ancients were well attested.

We know that their faith was constantly being tested, and that many times they stumbled but they none the less persevered.

Our Father Abraham journeyed in Faith, to become the Father of many nations.

He did this by the time that most men of his age were already dead.Three of the major religions of the World; Judaism,Islam, and Christianity all count him as a Spiritual Father.

His descendants lived and died in Faith for the Homeland that was promised to them.

We have come to trust and believe that it is the same Homeland that Christ Jesus speaks of, the same Homeland that has been promised to us by him.

In today's Gospel he says affectionately "Do not be afraid any longer little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom"

He goes on to tell us the parable of when the son of man will come, and how we must be prepared for that faithful encounter. I am not sure that I was ready for that encounter back that day in February and I pray that my friend John, God rest his soul was there with his lamp lit waiting for the Master to arrive, ready to greet him and to join him.

I know that having had this near death experience that I am more ready now to go out and to greet him then I was that day.

When I was there in my Hospital Room my window looked out at the Steeple of the Church that I was Baptized in. The light of the Steeple brought me great comfort, and greatly helped strengthen my Faith in God's plan for me as a Deacon, as a Father and a Husband.

One Hundred and Six years ago on September 8th, 1904 James Cardinal Gibbons dedicated this Church that we are now in, he spoke that day here in front of 1500 people who were in attendance as he presided over the Ceremonies of Dedication.

We wonder where we get our Faith, perhaps it is by standing on the shoulders of those many early believers who have stood in this Church that we now stand here today, together with one common Faith as a Community.

Cardinal Gibbons in his book "The Faith of our Fathers" was speaking at the time of our Catholic Faith and the truths of our Church when he wrote :

"The prophecies were fulfilled. The Apostles scattered themselves over the surface of the earth, preaching the Gospel of Christ. "Their sound," says St. Paul, "went over all the earth and their words unto the ends of the whole world." 6 Within thirty years after our Savior's Crucifixion the Apostle of the Gentiles was able to say to the Romans: "I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ because your faith is spoken of in the entire world" spoken of assuredly by those who were in sympathy and communion with the faith of the Romans.

St. Justin, Martyr, was able to say, about one hundred years after Christ, that there was no race of men, whether Barbarians or Greeks, or any other people of what name so ever, among whom the name of Jesus Christ was not invoked.

St. Irenaeus, writing at the end of the second century, tells us that the religion so marvelously propagated throughout the whole world was not a vague, ever-changing form of Christianity, but that "this faith and doctrine and tradition preached throughout the globe is as uniform as if the Church consisted of one family, possessing one soul, one heart, and as if she had but one mouth.

For, though the languages of the world are dissimilar, her doctrine is the same. The churches founded in Germany, in the Celtic nations, in the East in Egypt, in Libya, and in the centers of civilization, do not differ from each other; but as the sun gives the same light throughout the world, so does the light of faith shine everywhere the same and enlighten all men who wish to come to the knowledge of truth."

We who are here today are part of that great tradition of faith started with Abraham and lived out in the never-ending story that we proclaim in our Liturgy.

Friends within our Liturgy we enter into the timeless and eternal brotherhood of the faithful who have come before us, and that hopefully that we ourselves will lead those who will one day follow after us into, till we all meet in that same Heavenly Kingdom that Christ Jesus has promised to each of us.

Until that day, let us continually be strengthened by the frequent reception of the Body of Christ to Live each day as if it were possibly our last.

Ready always to go out immediately when he knocks and to joyfully greet him in Faith and in Love when our own last hour finally arrives.