Homily for 13 Oct 2016

13 Oct 2016

(School Mass)

This is kind of a hard gospel today.  I mean, Jesus is yelling at the Pharisees and the scribes.  He doesn’t even give them a chance to say anything—he just yells at them and then goes away.  And so, it’s a hard gospel today. 

We don’t like to think of Jesus as somebody who would yell at us.  And, you know, I don’t think he would—mainly because we’re not the Pharisees and the scribes.  I mean, they wouldn’t listen to Jesus at all.  We’re at least trying to listen to Jesus and be good friends of his.  And so, I don’t think Jesus would yell at us.      

But, you know, what he would do is tell us the truth.  Right?  That’s what we expect Jesus to tell us: the truth.  And that’s what he does.  Everything Jesus says is true.  And whatever he tells us, he says it with great love.  That’s how we know it’s Jesus speaking to us in our hearts.  You know, if we feel like Jesus is scolding us, or if we feel like he’s just whispering in our ears and playing with us, if the truth isn’t spoken to us with great love, then it isn’t Jesus speaking.   

So, if Jesus was standing right in front of you, what might he say to you?  Whatever it is, it’s going to be said with love, and it’s going to be the truth. 

He would say: “I am Jesus and I care about you.”  He would say: “You’ve made some mistakes, haven’t you?”  And we’d have to shake our heads, right, because we know he’s telling the truth—we do make mistakes; we are sinners.  But he would say: “If you let me, I’ll forgive your sins.”  And he’s right again; he will forgive us and make us better—if we let him.  And he would say: “You are my child—you are my son, my daughter—and I love you more than you can imagine.” 

He says all this to us because it’s true.  And he says it in a spirit of love.  So, what do you think Jesus is trying to tell you in the Eucharist?  When he says, “This is my Body, this is my Blood,” maybe he’s trying to say, “Here, just so you know, I do love you.”  And we believe him—because he always tells the truth, and he tells the truth with very great love.