Homily for 27 Dec 2016

27 Dec 2016

It’s just natural: you receive a gift, and at some point you say thank you.  And the same goes for our faith.  Someone gave us the gift of faith, the gift of knowledge of God, the gift of hope.  And, of course, we thank God for that.

But we can also thank the Apostles.  St. John puts the gift of faith in a neat little package when he says, “What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you.”  And in that category of “apostles” we would also put Mary Magdalene, who was the “apostle to the Apostles.”  She’s the one who first told the Apostles about what she had seen and heard.

And what the Apostles gave us wasn’t so much a doctrine, but the story of how they themselves encountered the living God in Jesus.  They give us their own personal witness as a gift.  And they gave it so we would have real faith and hope.  And for that life-giving gift, what else can we say to the Apostles, the Saints, and all those inspire us . . . what else can we say but simply Thank you.