Rekindle The Flame

8^th Sunday Ordinary Time – Cycle A

Isaiah 49: 14-15; 1 Corinthians 4: 1-5; 

Matthew 6: 24-34

I love being a deacon. One of my favorite things that I get to do as a deacon is baptism. But there is one thing that bothers me about the baptismal ceremony. We light a baptismal candle, hand it to the godparents and instruct them that this candle symbolizes the light of Christ and it should always burn brightly. Then, when the blessing is concluded, the candle is blown out, taken home, and stored in the back of a closet, never to see the light of day again. That is something that needs to change.

These past few Sundays, we've been hearing Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Today, as that sermon continues, we find Christ offering hope and reassurance to those who can surrender to God – to those who can trust in God. It is a concept that looks easy enough on paper, but putting it into practice is a completely different kettle of fish. Faith and commitment of this magnitude is something very few of us can ever hope to achieve. And yet Jesus asks us to do it.

“No one can serve two masters.” The things of this world matter not in the Kingdom of God. And yet – the things of this world are all that we know. We work, we earn our paychecks, we pay our mortgages, we buy our food and our gasoline, we educate our children. None of this happens by itself. We spend our whole lives laboring to provide ourselves and our families with these things. And maybe this is exactly what Jesus is warning us about.

I would like everyone everyone to stop for just a moment and recall what you did this past week. Make a list and arrange them in order of time and effort. Where does your job rank? First or maybe second? Now – where does worship rank? Or prayer? I would have to go down my list quite a bit to find either of these. Clearly something is amiss.

So what does Jesus expect us to do? Rearrange our whole lives and trust that God will provide? I don't know about you, but I would find that extremely difficult – maybe even impossible to do by myself. God never intended for this to be a solo project. God the Father, creator, loves us unconditionally and forgives us our shortcomings. Remember Isaiah? “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” He sent his only son, Jesus into the world. Through the incarnation, God has bridged the gap with humanity. Jesus, fully human, thinks the way that we think and feels the way that we feel. He experienced doubt, felt temptation and endured pain. Through the Holy Spirit, God's guiding hand continues to influence and inspire each of us. We don't have to do it alone.

Jesus knew that what he was asking us to do would be difficult. That is why he left us with so many wonderful gifts – to help us in our quest to seek God and to know him more fully – gifts like the Gospel, the sacraments, the church, and most especially, the Eucharist.

When I was a young man, fresh out of high school, I drifted away from the church. It wasn't because I no longer believed, it was because I couldn't be bothered. God and church were no longer important to me. Later I met my wife, got married and began a family. I began to realize that something was missing in my life. That something was God. I came to understand that without God, my life was incomplete. So I began to rediscover God. As for worship, I visited many churches, both Catholic and non-catholic. Some of the christian churches that I visited were nice. The singing was inspired. The preaching was quite good in some instances. But at the end of the service, I was left wanting more. Their service felt unfinished to me. Something was still missing and I eventually came to realize that what I was missing was the Eucharist.

There is something holy and mysterious about the Eucharist. We take ordinary bread and wine, gifts of ourselves, and bring them to our altar. And together with the priest, we participate in their transformation into the most sacred body and blood of Christ. But the transformation doesn't end there. As we come forward to receive, if we are open to the graces that the sacrament intends, we become the body of Christ. We become the tabernacle that holds our Lord. And we take Christ with us when we leave this place and go back to our homes and our lives. We take Christ with us.

I want you to look at the tabernacle for a minute. There next to the tabernacle is a lit candle. That candle burns continuously, proclaiming to the world that Jesus is present within that tabernacle. Every time we come to communion, come to receive that true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's as if we are re-lighting our baptismal candle and and proclaiming to the world that God dwells within each of us. Carry that light of Christ proudly.

We rekindle that flame – that light of Christ – with every Eucharistic celebration. My prayer today is that each of us recognize and respect that flame. Use it's light to seek out the Kingdom. Use it's warmth to feel God's love. As we go forth, remember Jesus' words: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.”

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 27, 2011