April 27, 2003 Homily by Fr. Robert Altier Divine Mercy Sunday
Reading I (Acts 4:32-35) Reading II (1 John 5:1-6)
Gospel (St. John 20:19-31)
In the second reading today, Saint John tells
us that we have conquered the world and that what gives us this victory over
the world is our faith in Jesus Christ. And we read at the very end of today’s
Gospel reading that all of these things that have been written down are written
so that we will have faith, so that we will know that Jesus is the Christ, the
Messiah, the Son of God, and that we will have life in His Name. So it is
evident that the life Saint John is talking about is different than the natural
life that we already have. It is also evident that he is talking about things
in the immediate rather than just saying, “so that you will be able to go to
Heaven.” That is what faith will do for us, ultimately, but even in this world
the faith that we have gives to us a life which is different from just the
natural and worldly life.
And
so we have to ask ourselves, “What does it mean to have conquered the world?”
The Lord tells us in Saint John’s Gospel that He has overcome the world. And
when we look at what we celebrate in this glorious feast of Easter, it is
precisely the fact that in His humanity Jesus Christ has indeed completely overcome
the world and everything of the world. He has destroyed death. He has destroyed
everything that is not of God. Not destroyed it in the sense that it is not
there any longer, but rather destroyed it in the sense that it has no power
over us. Now the way that it will have no power over us is if we are living our
faith in Jesus Christ – and that choice lies entirely with us.
We
have spoken many times about the dignity which is ours because of our baptism,
what it means to be a member of Jesus Christ. We know that in Baptism we were
baptized into the death and the Resurrection of Christ. We already share, then,
in His Resurrection. Last week, we heard from Saint Paul that we are to keep
our focus on the things above rather than on the things of earth because we are
already seated at God’s right hand in Christ. If we are members of Jesus Christ
and He is resurrected and ascended, then we are resurrected and ascended with
Him, which is why faith in Jesus Christ overcomes the world. But we need to
look at ourselves and ask ourselves, “Are we keeping our focus on the things
above rather than on the things below? Are we really living our faith in Jesus
Christ?”
To
live one’s faith in Jesus Christ does not
mean to show up for one hour on Sunday morning. That is not living one’s faith
in Jesus Christ. That is saying, “Well, since I claim to be a Christian, I
guess I have to act a little bit like it. And there’s an obligation to be at
Mass on Sunday, so I guess I have to do that.” But that is not living one’s faith
in Christ; that is putting one’s toe in the water and seeing what the
temperature is. To live one’s faith in Jesus Christ is to take the plunge off
the diving board into the deep end. In fact, that is precisely what our Holy
Father has asked us to do. A couple of years ago, he wrote a document that is
called Duc in Altum, which means
“Put Out into the Deep”. Do not be wading around in the shallow end anymore,
get out into the deep where you are going to be able to make a catch.
We
need to look at this faith of ours. Are we immersing ourselves in the world or
are we immersing ourselves in Jesus Christ? It is one or the other; you cannot
have both. We have to live in the world, but as we have already seen, there is
a life and a way of life even in this world that is not of this world. And that
is what we need to ask ourselves if we are living. If we are living for this
world, it is to have more, better, more expensive, fancier, bigger, all of the
worldly things, everything that the marketing people can convince us that we
need to have. Why do we think we need them? Look at the life of Jesus: He lived
in this world with nothing. Look at the early Church, what we heard in the
first reading: The community of believers
was of one heart and one mind, and none of them considered anything to be their
own. Now that is not something we are able to do in the situation of
today; one can only do that in a small community, which is what the early
Church was. We have that, for instance, in monastic life. You look at the monks
and the nuns, and none of them own anything of their own; everything belongs to
the community. But in a family that can certainly be the case.
So
I challenge you: When you go home today, look around your house – not only for
all of the stuff that you really do not need – but look around the house and
ask yourself, “What do I consider to be mine?” as opposed to, “What do I
consider to be ours?” If we are living a true life in Christ, it isn’t about
“mine” and “yours” – it is “ours”. It would be “our house” and “our car” and
“our things” not “mine”. We need to really think about that. We look at the
generosity and the charity of the people in the early Church that we hear about
in the first reading. When there were people in need, they sold the things that
they had and distributed to the needy. Most Americans, the studies tell us, can
live no longer than about two months if they were to lose their job today. And
it is not because they are spending their money only on what is necessary; it
is because we have this problem that if we have more money, we think we need to
buy more things with it. And it is all about the self! It is all about “me”; it
is all about “getting more for myself”. “I’ve got more money, I need a new car.
I’ve got more money, I need a bigger house. I’ve got more money, I need more
stuff” – a new cabin, a new boat, whatever it happens to be. Why? There are
things that are necessities, and they are just that; the rest of it is not. We
do not need to have these things.
We
really need to look at ourselves that way and compare our life to the life of
the Holy Family. Look at the example of Jesus and Mary and ask yourself quite
simply, “Is this the way that Our Lady would live her life if she were in the
21st century? Would she be living the way that I am?” Would she want
to have the fanciest, brand-new car with all the buttons and gadgets to impress
everybody? She might have a car; I doubt she would have the fanciest one she
could find. Would she want the biggest house with the most expensive TV set so
she could watch the filth that is on there? I kind of have my doubts. Just look
around your house and ask, “What would not be in the house if Jesus and Mary
lived here?” If we have faith in Jesus Christ, He does live there! And so you
can look around your house and ask yourself if you have overcome the world or
if you have immersed yourself in the world. Are you living your faith in Jesus
Christ or are you living your faith in the almighty dollar?
These are the things we need
to look at. If we really, truly believe what we profess, we have risen in Jesus
Christ, we are already seated at God’s right hand in Jesus Christ, and we have
conquered the world in Jesus Christ. Instead, most Americans, rather than
believing in the Resurrection and living it, have given into death and have immersed themselves in it.
Putting ourselves deeper and deeper and deeper into materialism and money would
be tantamount to Jesus saying, “You know what? I like being dead in the tomb
and I think I’ll stay here.” We do not seem to want to rise above the world –
we want to immerse ourselves deeper into it. That is not living our faith in
Jesus Christ. That is what we need to look at. What is being offered to us is
life, life in Christ. Jesus has conquered the world and this faith of ours
gives us victory, not only over sin and death, but over the world itself and
over Satan. So the life that is being offered to us is a life of true freedom;
it is the life of Jesus Christ and all that that entails. But the choice is
ours: to immerse ourselves in the world or to immerse ourselves in Jesus
Christ. And it is this faith of ours in Jesus Christ that has conquered the
world.
* This text was
transcribed from the audio recording of a homily by Father Robert Altier with minimal editing.