Homily

One thing that I get to hear about—a lot—in my job is what moves people, what gets thin attention, their focus, the items that pull them out of the ordinary, everyday routines and patters and put them in a place where this thing or this person now occupies a lot my thought and deliberation, and very often my emotions as well. What are the things that move people, that get them going into some new thought, or new action, or even the same thoughts or actions but in a more forceful way. What moves you? What gets you going, what grabs your attention and pushes itself into a priority position in the way you give your life? Who moves you, what things get you going?

Some events or situations are longer lasting and so even though they move us we may not feel them as dramatically and acutely as situations that are shorter lasting. When you first see your new child, born or adopted, there is that great sense of mysterious attachment that you now have to care for and raise this child. It's very moving and it stays for a while, but it doesn't last in that same kind of way as time goes on. Your child still moves you, motivates you by his/her needs, has your attention and care and is an indispensible part of your thoughts and actions every day LONG TERM your child, in the short term, can move you to joy. And your child can move you to not the joy. Those are the shorter term types of things that can move us. And eventually we start to look forward to the day when that child will move-out-forever and ever. Amen.

Can you think of a person, or an event or a situation that really and truly moved you last week? A person, or some thing that you gave some serious thought or attention to, something or someone that focused on, even if it didn't last very long. Now, was that person or situation, did it involve something good and pleasant for you, or something difficult or even bad? My guess would be that for most of you it would be a negative. You were moved by a person or an event, and it was not a positive thing.

St. Paul was a man who experienced a lot of negative people and experiences as he went about. We hear about them in some of his letters. People betray him, desert him, mock him, oppose him and work against him, not to mention the people who want to kill him. He's been whipped and flogged, jailed, beaten, shipwrecked a couple of times, gone hungry and thirsty many times and more. And when we hear what he tells the Corinthians today it's a rather harsh description of his life, because his life is harsh. Paul writes: "We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies." Even in his physical appearance, because of all he had been through, St. Paul admits in several places that he knows he looks like hell, like along, old piece of road. And sometimes that even put people off. Look on TV—the preachers that most often have huge congregations are the preachers wearing $1,000 suits, $600 shoes, hair cut every week so every hair is perfectly in place—not like that guy who hangs around at the Safeway bottle return center. (St. Paul probably looked closer to the bottle-return guy.)

But I remember reading something one commentator wrote about St. Paul. "We are used to thinking of glory as a passing thing, short-lived, can't last for long, but troubles and afflictions are the things that last. St. Paul reverses that.

He says that in comparison to true and real glory, troubles are short-lived. We tend to think of afflictions and problems as things that are heavy and weighs us down, not glory. Paul reverses that too." He says in 2 Cor. v. 16 & 17, "We are not discouraged even though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light weight of our tribulation is producing an exceeding eternal weight of glory for us, who are not looking to what is seen but to what is unseen, because what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal."

So what is it that moves St. Paul? Nothing more, nothing less than Jesus Christ. His faith in Jesus is so deeply embedded into the very fabric of his life that he wakes up every morning to know, love and serve God in all that he says, thinks or does. It has altered and changed the way he sees his life in this world so much that he does not put anything above that faithful response to the Lord. He says that even though his body is wearing down dramatically, he himself is being more and more renewed every day. Yes, he is still a sinner, not perfect by any means. But whenever he goes he is able to witness to the saving love of Christ by word and deed, and people are converted by the power of his testimony. Nothing moves him more than Jesus Christ. So I ask myself, "Do I want a faith like that? Can't I just get by as a card-carrying Catholic? It's attractive, but it's also kind of frightening to lose so much of the control I think I have over my life and to invest it more deeply into faith in the Lord. Do I even want a faith that strong?"

Even the patroness of our patroness of our parish tells us what moves her, for she said, "my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name? So I leave you with my same though—Do you want a faith that is so firm that everything you are, and you do is based on your faith in Christ—even in times of trouble, even in times of peace? May the Lord Himself help us to see and embrace all that is truly for our life and our salvation.