Monday, January 25, 2016

Homily for 26 Jan 2016

26 January 2016

God makes himself known through the community; there isn’t any one person who can say, “I have it all figured out!  I know the Will of God!”  God doesn’t work that way.  And that’s a unique and beautiful aspect of the Judeo-Christian faith. 

We have all the prophets of the Old Testament, all the Patriarchs, a succession of Judges and Kings.  Even Moses had Aaron and Joshua by his side; he didn’t go it alone.  Of course, we have the Twelve Apostles, Mary and Joseph, and those first leaders of the infant Church who were appointed by the Apostles—among them, Timothy and Titus, whom we celebrate today.

God works through the community of believers, and through the generations of believers and converts to the faith.  St Paul praises the faith of Timothy’s mother and grandmother.  And he calls Timothy and Titus his “children” in the faith; the revelation of Jesus Christ was passed on through Paul, through Timothy and Titus, and onto all the future generations of Christ’s disciples, up to the present day.

And just think of all the spiritual writers and examples through the centuries: St Theresa of Avila, St Thomas Aquinas, St Augustine, St Francis, St Benedict . . . and even more contemporary examples: Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, the Second Vatican Council, bishops, priests, deacons, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.

God reveals himself through the community (and we could extend that community to include the whole of Creation).  Our spiritual life isn’t just: “God and me.”  It’s always: “God and me, God and us.”  We always try to live as brothers and sisters in Christ, for our own sake and for the generations to come.

Thanks be to God for the Church, for the community of believers.  Because through it, our God comes to us, and we come to know God.

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