Homily for Easter 3
May 4, 2025
Three Signs of Spiritual Maturity
Many
times, little kids will want to act like grown-ups. Sometimes they’ll play
dress-up in work clothes, or pretend to be doctors or teachers. But rarely does
it go the other way – we don’t often find adults acting like children. Which is
why Jesus’ word is so surprising when He calls Peter and the other Apostles “paidia”
– “little children”. This would have been a very demeaning term to call a
burly, sea-toughened fishermen!
But
Jesus chooses that term purposefully. Peter is acting spiritually immature at
this point in the Gospel – and we can take three major lessons from Jesus’
word!
First,
Peter is fickle. He’s probably bored, so instead of praying or waiting
patiently, he just goes with his whims – “Let’s go fishing.” It’s his
comfort-zone, his fallback. Praying and waiting is hard – fishing is what he’d
rather do. His restlessness makes him go along with whatever whim presents
itself.
By contrast,
spiritual maturity is steadfast. A person who is spiritually mature has
serious spiritual disciplines – a life of prayer, fasting and mortification,
discipline, weekly worship at Mass – and isn’t just tossed about by emotions
and whims. It is spiritually immature to say, “Oh, I don’t feel like praying,
so I won’t do it” or “I know I’ve committed to spiritual reading, but I’m too
tired and plus there’s a show on I want to watch.” A spiritually mature person
has serious spiritual disciplines, and keeps to them, whether they feel like it
or not.
St. John
of the Cross was a Spanish Carmelite priest from the mid-1500s. Every day he
used to record what inspirations he received in prayer, Scripture verses that moved
him, or conversations he had with God. But for several years, he wrote only one
word in his spiritual journal: nada. Nothing. He went for years without
feeling God’s presence, without feeling like Scripture spoke to him, without
any inspiration or desire to pray. But he was faithful – and after many years
of dryness, he experienced mystical union with God.
Spiritual
maturity requires that we have serious spiritual disciples that are unchanging
and steadfast – daily prayer, sacrifice, and Sunday Mass – regardless of whether
we “feel” like doing them. Faith is not feelings – it is the firm commitment to
enthrone Jesus Christ as Lord of our life.
Connected
to this fickleness is Peter’s disobedience. Jesus already told them what
to do: go to Galilee and wait for Jesus to meet them there. Just wait –
not go fishing, not return to your old way of life. Peter was supposed to be
the Pope, not a sailor. But Peter shirks his duty.
Many
Christians struggle to obey Christ or His Church. Christ says we must forgive
without condition and love our enemies. But how many of us have said to
ourselves, “I’ll never forgive that person for what they did to me!” Christ
says that we must worship Him on Sundays – but how many of us have said,
“Ah, it doesn’t matter if I miss a Mass here and there, I’m so busy.” Christ teaches
us that marriages must always be open to life, but many Christians say, “Eh, what
does the Church know?”
You know
who else is disobedient? Two-year-olds. (No offense to any two-year-olds here
today). Sometimes we can have that same spiritual immaturity – “I want to do
what I want to do, and no Church or religion or holy book will tell me
differently.” But the root of the word “religion” in Latin, religare,
means “to bind” – it means that we bind ourselves and humbly submit ourselves
to Christ as Lord of our lives. Americans cherish their independence, but this
isn’t a blind or servile obedience. Rather, it’s the obedience of sons and
daughters to a good Heavenly Father and to Holy Mother Church, who love us and
always want our best.
A final
sign of spiritual maturity is the ability and desire to give. Consider –
little children are takers, not givers. They don’t do chores or say “thank you”
or contribute much to the household. But the older we get, we are expected to
give more – more service, more kindness, more contributions to charity. Peter
still isn’t getting this, but we have to go back to the Greek to understand why.
Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love Me?” but He uses a specific Greek word for “love”
– agape, which means total self-giving love. Peter responds, “Yes, Lord,
You know that I love You” – but he uses a different word, philia, which
only means friendship. Jesus says, “Do you agape Me – love Me with total
self-gift?” and Peter replies, “Yes, Lord, I love You with friendship only.” He’s
not yet ready to give his life to follow Christ – but he’s still wants to bask in
the delights of their friendship.
A
spiritually mature person wants to give. They want to give their time,
their talents, their treasures. They want to bring other souls to Christ. They don’t
come to church just to be “takers” but also “givers” – thinking, how can I
serve? How can I use my gifts for the Kingdom?
The
wealthy Philadelphia millionaire Katherine Drexel, who lived in the late 1800s,
took a cross-country trip and was very moved by the poverty and the plight of
the Native Americans and the free Blacks who suffered under such poverty. In
1886, she took another trip to Rome, where she met with the Pope and told him, “You
really must send some priests and nuns to these poor people! They are suffering
so much!” And the Pope responded, “Why not you?”
It was
the spark that she needed to give up her wealth and start the Sisters of the
Blessed Sacrament, a religious community of nuns who ran schools, hospitals, and
orphanages for Native Americans and Blacks in America. We now know her as St.
Katherine Drexel. She was challenged, not just to identify the problem, but to be
the solution.
I can’t
tell you how many people say to me things like, “The Church should…” The Church
should reach out to young adults. The Church needs better hospitality. The
Church needs a ministry to single-parents. Great – so why not start it? You are
as much a part of the Church as I am – those who are spiritually mature want to
find ways to use their gifts to give, so that we can bear much fruit for
Jesus Christ.
Now, in
all of this, I don’t mean to knock Peter. I really love St. Peter – he is my
Confirmation saint, and for good reason – because I am very much like him. Far
too spiritually immature. But the good news about Peter is that Christ was
patient with him until he finally grew into the great saint that Jesus knew he
could be. Around 64AD, there was a tremendous fire that broke out in Rome,
burning over ¾ of the city. Most likely the Emperor Nero ordered the fire to be
lit so that he could have space to build a new palace, but when this news got
out, Nero sought to put the blame on the already-disliked Christians, launching
a major persecution and putting many Christians to death. Peter had been
preaching in Rome, but began to flee the persecution. Very famously, as he was
heading out of town on the Appian Way to save his skin, he had a vision of
Jesus coming up the road heading into Rome. Peter famously asked, “Domine, quo
vadis?” – “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus responded, “I am going to Rome to
be crucified again.” Peter got the hint – it was his cowardice which made him
run from suffering – so he turned around and headed back to Rome, where he was
arrested for being a follower of Christ. The soldiers wished to crucify him,
but he said that he was unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord, so he
was crucified upside-down instead. And, hence, Jesus’ prophesy in the Gospel
has was fulfilled in Peter’s ultimate self-gift of martyrdom.
(As an
interesting aside, a church was built upon the spot where Peter met Jesus on
the road, appropriately named the Church of Domine Quo Vadis. Within that
church is a marble slab with two footprints in the marble – and tradition says
that these are the footprints of Christ! In case you’re wondering, he wears a
size 10).
So what’s
our takeaway? If we wish to have spiritual maturity, we must be steadfast in
our spiritual disciplines, obey the Lord in His teachings, and be ready and
willing to give. It’s never too early or late to reach spiritual maturity – so whether
you’re seven years old or seventy-seven, let’s strive to be mature in Christ,
who wishes to call us not “little children” but “friends”.
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