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Browsing Father Michael Deering's Sunday Homilies

Have Faith in God and in our coming glory!

Homily originally presented March 17, 2019

 

Have Faith in God and in our coming glory!

 

Back in my College days, I came upon a great big poster that I liked so I hung it on the wall in my Apartment. It was a 6 foot tall image of a glass mug of beer.

 

Across the top were the words:          “Some things never change”.

Across the bottom were the words:             “Stroh’s beer”

 

You see, the poster was an advertisement for a brand of beer called Stroh’s ... and this poster was suggesting that the great taste and satisfaction this beer provided...

would always be there ... it ... would never change.

 

It was good publicity because I’m sure it was reassuring to all those who drank Stroh’s beer ... that they could count on enjoying this product for years to come.

 

But things changed! That Midwest beer ... so popular in the 1970’s ... was no longer made by the late 1990’s. Through some bad acquisition decisions and their reluctance to come out with a “Lite” beer version, Stroh’s went out of business!

 

How long before things changed?      20 years!

 

There are many things that we can hope will never change ...

like your favorite beer, or your favorite restaurant, or your good health.

 

But sure enough, many things do change ...

restaurants come and go,   fashions and music change,

and our health is sure to change as we age.

 

Yet, given all the things that do change in the world ...

there are indeed some things that really never change.

And one of them ... is God’s love for all of us.    God’s love never changes.

 

God loves us with a faithful and enduring love ...

a love that mankind has experienced through all of Salvation History.

 

And what does God want?      He wants us to love Him in return.

 

Now, to love Him ... we first have to know Him and have faith in Him.

And how long does God want this to go on?

And how long does God want us to know Him, have faith in Him and love Him? Forever.

 

Yes, God wants our love for Him to mirror His love for us ...

and be something that never changes ...

  something that never goes away!

 

God wants us to have faith in Him ... and He blesses us when we do!

 

We hear a prime example of this in our First Reading today from Genesis 15,

God is telling Abram that he will make him the father of a Great Nation.

 

Scripture says, “God took Abram outside and said,

“Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can

just so shall your descendants be.”

 

At this point, Abram is very old and childless ...

so he had to be wondering “how could this be?”

 

And we wonder ... is Abram going to believe and trust God ... or not?

 

In our mind we just see Abram looking up at a starlit sky ...

and when he sees more stars than he could possibly count

he decides to place his trust in God.

 

But that’s not what happened at all!

 

Because, you know what … when God took Abram outside  

and told him to look up at the sky and count the stars ... it was daytime …

which meant that Abram couldn’t see any stars at all!

 

How do we know? Because 7 verses later, in verse 12, we just heard,

“As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram.”

 

And 5 verses after that in Verse 17 we heard, When the sun had set and it was dark,

there appeared a smoking firepot and a flaming torch.”

 

So, you see, when God told Abram to look up in the skyand count the stars ...

it was daytime ... and God challenged him saying, “Count them, if you can.”

 

In other words, God was saying: “They’re there  ... you just can’t see them!”

 

No, we humans can’t see the stars during the day ... but God can!

He sees everything.

The Stars are there all the time ... they don’t go on and off.

 

When we say, “The stars come out at night.” That’s a figure of speech.

They’re on all the time; we get to see them when the sun sets and the sky is dark.

 

Abram didn’t place his faith in God because there were too many stars to count.

 

No, Abram placed his faith in God because ... he knew the stars were there ...

and recognized that he just couldn’t see them at the moment!

 

In the same way, when God asked Abram to believe ... that He would one day be

the leader of a great nation with descendants as numerous as the stars.

 

Abram realized that while he couldn’t see them at the moment; God certainly could.

And so Abram placed his faith in God ... that what God promised would happen.

 

That’s what faith is ... believing without seeing.

 

Just as Abram trusted that the stars were in the sky even though ...

he couldn’t see them at the moment ...

Abram decided to trust that God would keep his promise of him being the leader of a great nation ... even though he couldn’t see it at the moment.

 

Scripture says,

“Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.”

 

What Abram did is exactly what God wants each of us to do every day …

to have faith in Him ... even though we can’t see Him …

and to believe that following Him ...

will be the best plan for our lives ... and will guide us to the Promised Land.

 

And yet throughout the ages, man in his arrogance continues to think he, himself  has a better plan for his own life ... and so he operates as if God isn’t even there.

 

This is the very thing Paul is reprimanding the people for in his letter today, saying, “For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears,

conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Their end is destruction.     Their God is their stomach; their glory is their shame.

Their minds are occupied with earthly things … but our citizenship is in Heaven,”

 

Do you believe that? Do you believe in Heaven … that our citizenship is in Heaven?

          I asked a woman that recently and she shrugged her shoulders!

 

God wants us to believe that.    But how do we know Heaven is for real?

 

Well, Jesus, the Son of God, gave us many indications of the reality of Heaven ...

such as the miraculous event in today’s Gospel ... His Transfiguration.

 

Here He takes three of His Apostles, Peter, James and John up a mountain ...

where He allows them to see two great men from the distant past,

Moses, the giver of the Law      and Elijah, the great Prophet.

 

 

Now Moses had died 1300 years before Jesus, and Elijah, had died 800 years before Jesus … and yet … the Apostles saw both of these men conversing with Jesus!

How was that possible?

 

Could it be that they were still alive and enjoying their reward for being faithful to God ... which was to be in communion with Him for all time?

Could this be another example of something God can see ...

but we can’t see at the moment.

It sure looked that way!

 

And in that same experience,  Jesus was transfigured in glory.  St. Luke records,

“His face changed in appearance and His clothing became dazzling white.”

 

Here, Jesus was showing them what He would be like on the other side of the Resurrection … after He rose from the dead with a glorified body ...

a body that could appear & disappear and walk through locked doors …

a body that was outside of space and time,

a body that would live forever and never die.

 

In being transfigured before their eyes, Jesus was also showing the Apostles

their destiny ... what their future would be if they stayed faithful to Him.

 

Jesus knew that the scandal of Him dying on the Cross would shake their faith ...

so He gave them a glimpse of eternity ... a glimpse of Heaven ...

something that they couldn’t see with their human eyes.

 

St. Paul affirmed this in our reading from his letter to the Philippians saying,

“our citizenship is in Heaven, and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He will change our lowly bodies to conform with His glorified body.”

 

Just as the Stars are there in the sky even though we can’t see them in daylight ...   

   Eternal Life with God in Heaven is there even though we can’t see it now!

 

How did God seal His promise to Abram to bring him to the Promised Land?

He sealed it in a covenant … made with the blood of animals.

 

And how did God seal His promise to the Apostles to bring them to Heaven?

Again He sealed it in a covenant … this time made with the Blood of His Son!

 

The Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus ... is the sign of the Covenant  ...

the New and Eternal Covenant that God made with all of us.

 

Do you believe that?       If you do ... it will be to your eternal benefit.

If you don’t, it will be to your eternal regret.

 

 

God wants you to have faith in Him ... in His Plan and in His Promise.

 

Lent is the time to reflect on the promise of Eternal Life with God

and to make the adjustments in our life that will keep us on the road to Heaven.

 

We’re now 10 days into the 40 days of Lent … so ¼ of the season has gone by!

 

How are you doing? Are you maintaining the penances that you promised to do?

Are you fasting, praying and doing special works of charity?

Are you reading your Little Black Book?

Are you experiencing a deepening in your faith in God?

 

If so, that’s great … and I encourage you to continue.

If not, I invite you to begin.

Don’t despair … there’s still time to make this Holy Season fruitful for you.

 

Realize that the prize of Eternal Life is out there … you just can’t see it now!

You can’t see it with your human eyes ... but God can!

You can’t see it with your human eyes ... so you need the eyes of faith!

 

Be like Abram and put your faith in God!

 

Enable God to bring about the marvelous plan He has for you ... Eternal Life.

 

Remember the saying on my old beer poster,    “Some things never change”.

    And realize that actually everything you see with your eyes will change.

 

But there’s one thing that will never change and that’s God  love for you.

 

 So hold onto your faith in God.

Keep it the one thing this side of Heaven ... that never changes.

 

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