Homily for
November 3, 2019
Thirty-First
Sunday of Ordinary Time
Fortitude
The day
was November 2, 1950. The Korean War was raging, as American soldiers fought
for freedom abroad. A cohort of American soldiers was overrun by over 20,000
Communist forces. In the ensuing battle of Unsan in North Korea, one particular
American showed heroic courage – a military chaplain named Fr. Emil Kapaun. He
would run out into no-man’s land to provide the sacraments and prayer to dying
soldiers. As much as possible, he would try to drag them back to the safety of
the American side, despite bullets flying in every direction. Even after the
retreat was sounded, he continued to go from man to man in the battlefield,
providing the last Sacraments. Because of such fearless courage, he was taken
captive by the North Koreans and put into a POW camp.
Within
the camp, he was the face of Christ. He fashioned a bowl out of metal so that
the Americans could boil water, preventing dysentery. He was always available
for prayer or a word of comfort. Frequently he would sneak out of the camp to
find extra food to give to the starving soldiers. His mere presence boosted
morale – so the Koreans had a special hatred for him, making him stand naked
and freezing for days on end. His last act before he was taken away to the POW
hospital (more like the “death house”) was to forgive and bless his captors.
For his
courage, he is the most decorated military chaplain ever – and he is also on
the path to sainthood – currently a servant of God.
To be in
the military – and to be a Catholic – takes intense courage. The kind of
courage that chooses the good in spite of any difficulties. We call this the
virtue of “fortitude” – the courage to choose the good amidst difficulty.
Zacchaeus
is a perfect example of that. He wanted to see Jesus – so he chose the
difficulty (and humiliation) of a grown man climbing a tree. He wanted to
welcome Christ into his home – so he did not back down even when the crowd
started to grumble against him. He wanted to follow Christ – so he chose the
humiliation of having to give back the money he cheated from people, admitting
that he was wrong and a sinner. He was convicted by the love of God – and he
had the courage to put it into action.
We must
have that same courage! We live in a post-Christian society. Perhaps fifty
years ago, everyone was a Christian,
so it was easy to be Christian.
Stores were closed on Sundays, the worst thing they had on TV was showing a
belly button or two, and people prayed in schools. Now that everyone is not a Christian, it takes courage to be a Christian. To have faith
in Christ is to go against the tide. Here are a few aspects of our life that we
must courageously live our faith.
First, pray in public. Once when I was in
college, some buddies and I went out to Red Lobster to eat – which was
definitely a budget-buster for us poor college students! We said grace before
our meal but didn’t make a big deal about it. At the end of the meal the
waitress said, “That couple over there was so impressed that college students
would pray grace that they paid for your whole meal!” What a gift! Praying in
public inspires others to reverence God. For example, when you pass a Catholic
Church in your car or on foot, make the sign of the Cross – it is a powerful
witness to everyone else that you believe this is the house of God. Pray grace
before meals. Don’t be afraid to have your Rosary in your hand as you wait for
your doctor’s appointment. Courage!
Second, don’t be afraid to insist on practicing your
faith. When I used to visit the sick at a hospital in Baltimore, I was very
impressed that Muslim doctors and nurses were granted time each day to do their
prayers – so they would go down to the small chapel, face Mecca, and spend ten
or fifteen minutes in prostration and bowing to Allah. In that same hospital,
nurses would tell me, “Oh, I missed Mass because I was working last weekend.”
Wait a second – why is it that our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters get
time off to worship in their Faith –
why do we not take advantage of it? We have to be serious about our religious
obligations! So, don’t be afraid to tell your boss you can’t work fourteen
hours on Sunday because you need time to get to Mass. Have the courage to tell
your kid’s soccer coach that little Johnny will be late to the game because we
have to attend Mass first. Only if Catholics insist on practicing their Faith will it be granted.
Third, have the courage to repent of our sin.
St. John Chrysostom said, “We should be ashamed to sin and courageous to
repent, but Satan tries to make us courageous to sin and ashamed to repent.”
Sometimes we are too afraid to repent, because repentance means we have to 1)
admit that we were wrong and 2) actually change. That can be frightening! We
get so used to sin that we think we can’t live without it. At the same time, we
don’t want anyone to know how sinful we are. We have to have the courage to
say, like Zacchaeus, “I will do whatever is necessary to follow Jesus – even if
I have to change my ways and admit that I was wrong.”
Finally,
don’t be afraid to speak about Jesus.
St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary, use
words,” right? NO! He never said that and he certainly didn’t practice it,
considering he spent the last twenty years of his life as a traveling preacher!
There is this almost-embarrassment about saying the name of Jesus in public –
we just don’t talk about religion and politics, right? Not at all! As a
Christian we are proud of our faith
in Christ, and should not be afraid to speak about Him to others.
Zacchaeus didn’t care with the
“crowd” thought – he was following Jesus, no matter what. I pray that we are so convicted of the saving truth
of our faith in Jesus Christ that we have the courage to live our faith fearlessly.
No comments:
Post a Comment