Homily for October 25, 2015
Ordinary Time 30
Progress in the Spiritual Life
You know
what I love about airports? Moving walkways. They’re great! You can just stand
on them and you start moving down the terminal, getting to your destination
faster. And it doesn’t require any effort on our part!
Unfortunately,
the spiritual life is not like a moving walkway – it does require effort to make progress in our relationship with
Jesus. Today’s Gospel is a perfect parallel to that!
The
Gospel is about a healing, but it’s about more than that. The man is not only
physically healed, but he encounters Jesus and experiences spiritual healing through
faith in Him. But notice this man’s progression. First, he is seated by the
side of the road, stuck in a rut. That’s symbolic of how we can be stuck in
sin, in a rut, not moving closer to the Lord. But he hears something – he hears
the good news about Jesus Christ, about how the Lord can heal him
physically…and forgive his sins. So he cries out to the Lord!
But
people tell him to be silent. The world will tell you that you don’t need God
at all. Don’t bother seeking, the world will tell you. It’s not worth it. No
one cares. God isn’t real.
I
remember when I was in sixth grade at a Catholic school, our teacher gave us an
assignment to write and deliver a persuasive speech. For all of us in the
class, it was our first time public speaking, and we were all super nervous.
For the life of me, I couldn’t think of a topic to talk about. My friends were
doing a speech trying to persuade the class to save the environment or
persuading us that the Giants were better than the Jets, but I wanted a
challenge. So I wrote my speech about why we should love God more. I guess it
was my first homily – as a sixth grader!
I was
tremendously nervous about giving this speech, and as luck would have it, I was
the last one in the class to go. Finally, my palms sweating from nervousness
and fear, I was able to give the speech…and no one in my class reacted. Just
blank stares. Afterward on the playground I asked my best friend Philip what he
thought of it, and he said something I’ve never forgotten: He said, “Who cares
about God?”
So, as
we try to seek after the Lord, people will try to silence us and say, “Who
cares about God?” But for this reason, like Bartimaeus, we must strive to seek
the Lord even more. Finally, Jesus calls to Bartimaeus, and what does the blind
man do? He leaps up and throws off his cloak, and runs to Jesus. He is no
longer sitting in the pit of sin and despair. Instead, he throws off his cloak
– the symbol of his old life – and runs to Jesus. Likewise, if we want to be
followers of Jesus, we must throw off the old life of sin if we want to be His
followers.
Jesus
then heals him, because of his faith. And if we have faith in Jesus Christ, a
faith that is alive and passionate, then this faith in the Lord will heal us
too. Does Bartimaeus then go back to sitting down? No! He begins to follow
Jesus, to walk with Him – to make progress in his spiritual life.
There is
no automatic walkway in our spiritual journey – we have to walk, daily, and
follow Jesus! That’s one reason why I love hiking – because hiking is a great
spiritual analogy. If you want to get to the beautiful view, you have to walk the
long, arduous trail. There are no shortcuts.
This
past summer I went out with some friends to Colorado, where we enjoyed the
Rocky Mountains. Our first day there, we drove up Pike’s Peak, which is over
14,000 feet high. A short distance from the top, I asked to get out of my
friend’s car so I could hike. I didn’t want to go to Colorado and say that I
didn’t hike Pike’s Peak! So I found a trail and started hiking…and about ten
feet into the trail, I immediately regretted the decision. I don’t know if
you’ve ever had altitude sickness, but it hit me HARD. I couldn’t catch my
breath because the air is so thin, and I was overwhelmed with dizziness,
nausea, and headaches. As I watched my friends’ car drive off towards the top,
I thought, “This is NOT the best decision I’ve ever made…”
About
forty-five minutes later (and this was only a quarter-mile hike!), I finally
reached the peak, where I found my friends enjoying fudge from the gift shop on
top. But as hard as it was, I was the only one that could say I hiked up Pike’s
Peak!
For most
mountaintops, however, there is no shortcut, there is no automobile road. You
have to hike it. And to advance in your spiritual life, you have to rise and
walk like Bartimaeus, following Jesus.
If you
aren’t making progress in the spiritual life, you are sliding backwards. It’s
like when salmon swim upstream every year. If a fish were to stop swimming for
a moment, they would soon be carried downstream, further from their goal. They
must swim constantly to make progress. Likewise, if we are not constantly
growing in our faith, we will instead lose progress!
What
helps us make progress in the spiritual life? Well, like anything that grows, it
must be nurtured. Spending time in prayer. Reading the Bible and other spiritual
books. Attending things like retreats and spiritual events. Frequently
receiving Confession and Holy Communion. Doing the works of mercy such as
feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, or teaching religion classes.
How do
we know if we truly are growing in our love for God? We ask ourselves: am I
sinning less? Have I given Jesus control in every aspect of my life, trusting
Him completely? Am I growing in virtues such as humility, chastity, kindness,
generosity?
Bartimaeus’
life was changed because he met Jesus Christ, was healed of his blindness and
his sin, and followed Him in faith. No longer sitting by the side of the road,
Bartimaeus began a journey, following in the footsteps of the Lord and making
progress as a disciple. Does our faith in Jesus Christ continue to grow daily,
or has it grown stale? Are we sitting by the side of the road, or daily walking
after Jesus?
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