Homily for Sunday, January 15, 2006
"What are you looking for?"
"WHAT are YOU looking for?"
What are we looking for when we come to Mass, Sunday after Sunday, year after year? What is it that our heart seeks most deeply? And what will we find when we're here?
Is it money, or fame, or power? Or is it attractiveness, pleasure, or "the good life"? Maybe it's friendship, companionship, and a loving family? Whatever the deepest longing of our hearts, we come to the Altar, and discover there not just a temporary remedy for our desires. Instead, we find the "Lamb of God," Jesus Christ Himself, forever united to our human nature so that we can be joined to His Divine nature.
So when we hear those words, "Behold the Lamb of God," whether from John the Baptist or from the priest at Mass, our spine should tingle and our breath should catch in our throats. THE Lamb of God -- no longer the blood of countless goats, sheeps, pigeons, and cattle, incapable of salvation. But THE Lamb, THE Son, freely given in Sacrifice and dwellling with us here under the veil of a Sacrament.
"What are you looking for?"
Sometimes we miss it when we find it: when I was teaching High School (I know, it looks like I should still be IN High School), one of my seniors -- a Lutheran -- asked a really pointed question during a class about the Holy Eucharist. As I was describing the reality of Jesus Christ, really, truly, substantially present after the words of Consecration, I was struggling with how to make the point. The Eucharist isn't bread and wine, I said, but the body, and blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. He's here among us, just the same as when He spoke with the apostles and died upon the Cross.
That's when the student stopped me: "Mr. Bloomfield, if you're saying that Jesus Christ is really present at Mass," - "That's right," I said - "Then why," he continued, "aren't we there every day?"
Why aren't we there every day? What are we looking for? And what have we found, here in the Body of Christ? Jesus Christ, Himself, invites us to Come and See. And once we have "spent the whole day with Him," what can contain our joy? How can our hearts not share the truth of WHOM we have found -- the deepest longing of our hearts -- with all we meet?
St. Andrew responded by first telling his brother Simon Peter. Are we prepared to do the same? When we know that we have found THE Lamb, THE Messiah, do we keep this hidden secret to ourselves? Or do we respond to the grace of St. Andrew and invite others to join us? I'd like to challenge each of us today to bring someone with us to Mass next Sunday. Maybe it's a co-worker, or a friend; maybe a family member is separated from the Church; maybe it's a neighbor, but in all those we know, have we really shared our joy at the truth of the Gospel? Have we found where Jesus is staying, and realized that He has given us Himself?
"What are you looking for?"
Come and see.
"WHAT are YOU looking for?"
What are we looking for when we come to Mass, Sunday after Sunday, year after year? What is it that our heart seeks most deeply? And what will we find when we're here?
Is it money, or fame, or power? Or is it attractiveness, pleasure, or "the good life"? Maybe it's friendship, companionship, and a loving family? Whatever the deepest longing of our hearts, we come to the Altar, and discover there not just a temporary remedy for our desires. Instead, we find the "Lamb of God," Jesus Christ Himself, forever united to our human nature so that we can be joined to His Divine nature.
So when we hear those words, "Behold the Lamb of God," whether from John the Baptist or from the priest at Mass, our spine should tingle and our breath should catch in our throats. THE Lamb of God -- no longer the blood of countless goats, sheeps, pigeons, and cattle, incapable of salvation. But THE Lamb, THE Son, freely given in Sacrifice and dwellling with us here under the veil of a Sacrament.
"What are you looking for?"
Sometimes we miss it when we find it: when I was teaching High School (I know, it looks like I should still be IN High School), one of my seniors -- a Lutheran -- asked a really pointed question during a class about the Holy Eucharist. As I was describing the reality of Jesus Christ, really, truly, substantially present after the words of Consecration, I was struggling with how to make the point. The Eucharist isn't bread and wine, I said, but the body, and blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. He's here among us, just the same as when He spoke with the apostles and died upon the Cross.
That's when the student stopped me: "Mr. Bloomfield, if you're saying that Jesus Christ is really present at Mass," - "That's right," I said - "Then why," he continued, "aren't we there every day?"
Why aren't we there every day? What are we looking for? And what have we found, here in the Body of Christ? Jesus Christ, Himself, invites us to Come and See. And once we have "spent the whole day with Him," what can contain our joy? How can our hearts not share the truth of WHOM we have found -- the deepest longing of our hearts -- with all we meet?
St. Andrew responded by first telling his brother Simon Peter. Are we prepared to do the same? When we know that we have found THE Lamb, THE Messiah, do we keep this hidden secret to ourselves? Or do we respond to the grace of St. Andrew and invite others to join us? I'd like to challenge each of us today to bring someone with us to Mass next Sunday. Maybe it's a co-worker, or a friend; maybe a family member is separated from the Church; maybe it's a neighbor, but in all those we know, have we really shared our joy at the truth of the Gospel? Have we found where Jesus is staying, and realized that He has given us Himself?
"What are you looking for?"
Come and see.
posted by Andrew Bloomfield @ 8:49 AM
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