The following is the homily I gave on Friday, February 21st, 2020 at St. Michael's. The scripture readings for it can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/022120.cfm
There’s two saying that I’m sure we all know: “Actions speak louder than words” and “if you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk.” We can say a lot of words about how we love the Lord. We can go to church every day and pray a lot of prayers, yet if we ignore those in our lives (our family and friends) that may need us, then we’re not really putting our money where our mouths are!
All throughout the gospels, Jesus is calling us to do what St. James is telling us in this letter: to love God with our whole mind, hearts and body, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Further, through the parables, Jesus taught us that works go hand in hand with faith. The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us that to be concerned with things of God (prayer and worship) needs to be coupled with our concern for those who we see suffering. St. James in today’s reading says, “…(if) you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?”
One example of someone following what St. James was teaching was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She had a strong faith in God. She could have stayed in the convent praying to God and showing Him how much she loves Him through prayer, but she heard the words of St. James that “faith without works is dead” and went out of her way to serve those in India, to the poorest of the poor, to put her faith into works.
We are called to follow this example of faith and works in how we live our lives. We are challenged by St. James to take the faith that we proclaim here in church to those in our lives. We will have our challenges in doing so. But by doing this we are doing what our Lord says in the gospel for today, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” By proclaiming our faith in Jesus Christ and bringing His love to others through action, that will be our cross. Following Jesus and doing what we need to do in faith and love of Him is not easy. But it’s what is expected of us as Christians.
Excellent! St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is a perfect example of the balance between a life of prayer & a life of good works. She spent many hours in prayer before JESUS in the Eucharist & then went out to minister to people,"the poorest of the poor"in whom she saw JESUS. So in loving & serving them she was loving & serving the LORD Himself. She demonstrated a truly living faith through her works, living both the admonition of St. James & of JESUS Himself in Matthew 25: "whatever you do to the least of my brothers & sisters you do to Me."
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of service to people as a way of taking up our Cross to follow JESUS. Usually I feel a measure of fear when I think of taking up a Cross because I anticipate terrible suffering, which I fear & want to avoid. If taking up my Cross can be seen as loving & serving others it does not seem so bad & it seems like something I have been doing.