Homily originally presented May 17, 2020.
Praise the Lord ... Alleluia!
Last night we celebrated a Special Mass in this room for the 25 Seniors of our Holy Spirit Catholic School. They and just the members of their household were here for their Graduation Mass and Graduation Ceremony.
And so I asked the Graduates of the Class of 2020 ... if someone asked them ...
“How long is Spring Break at Holy Spirit Catholic School?”
What would you tell them?
Well, let’s see, we went away on Friday March 13th and ... we never went back!
Two months! Yeah, our spring break was 2 months.
That was our Spring break from School ... not from School Work!
I reminded them that 2 weeks before break, we began the Season of Lent, that
40-Day penitential season ... where the Church refrains from saying “Alleluia”.
And the whole school was gathered here in Church and before Mass began,
some students took down a big Banner that had the word “ALLELUIA” on it ...
and they folded it and put it in a beautiful Treasure Chest box.
It was a ceremony that we do every year here
to symbolically show that we were burying the word Alleluia for Lent ...
with the understanding that we would unbox it and hang it up again
at the first Student Mass after Easter.
Well, we never had the chance to have a full Student Mass here after Easter ...
so we didn’t get the chance to symbolically raise the expression Alleluia on high.
But as you have heard in our liturgies since Easter,
it’s not buried any more ... and we believers ... can’t stop saying ... “Alleluia”!
For example, right before the Gospel is proclaimed, we sing “Alleluia” ... 4 times!
We know Alleluia is a happy word. We know Alleluia is a joyful word.
But, what exactly does it mean? What does Alleluia mean?
It means ... “Praise the Lord”!
Alleluia ... is the Greek word for the joyful expression ... “Praise the Lord “
We say both the word, “Alleluia” and the expression, “Praise the Lord” a lot
when we gather for an hour each Sunday.
But is that enough? Is that enough time spent ... in giving praise to God?
Well, let me share with you what the great St. Augustine wrote in the 4th Century:
“Our thoughts in this present life should turn on the praise of God,
because it is in praising God that we shall rejoice forever in the life to come;
and no one can be ready for the next life unless he trains himself for it now.”
St. Augustine is saying that ...
the one thought that we should carry with us all the time ...
is the thought ... of praising God ...
because that’s what we’ll be doing forever in Heaven ...
so why not begin to do it here ... to be ready to do it there!
Praise the Lord!
We heard this very invitation just minutes ago as our Cantor
led us in singing Psalm 66. He sang,
“Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
Sing praise to the glory of his name;
Proclaim his glorious praise
Say to God ’How tremendous are your deeds!’
Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you,
sing praise to your name.”
That’s the primary thing that we do when we gather to celebrate Holy Mass …
we give praise to God in a communal way.
And at the same time, we also petition God for our many needs.
Praise & petition!
Our praise is expressed with joy … our petitions with yearning.
we’re yearning for an end to the Corona Virus ...
But, what’s the one thing we all yearn for?
Well, God, in whom we believe and trust, promised Heaven to those who love Him.
and since this life on earth is not Heaven, we yearn for the promise to be fulfilled.
St. Augustine says, “And throughout this time of our yearning,
we continue to praise God still …
until at last we will receive our promise and our yearning will be over …
and then praise alone will remain.”
He’s speaking of two periods of time …
- the one now, our Earthly life ... filled with trials and troubles,
- and the one to come, our Heavenly life ... filled with serenity and joy,
which is why the Church gives us two distinct liturgical seasons …
one before Easter and one after Easter.
The Season of Lent before Easter, that culminated in the Lord’s passion and death,
shows how we must suffer and be afflicted and eventually die in this life ...
like Jesus ... who suffered and died in this life.
While the Season of Easter that we’re now in the 6th week of celebrating,
signifies the happiness that will be ours in our future life ...
like Jesus ... who overcame death in a glorified resurrected body!
And it’s this promise of happiness that fills our hearts with hope ...
and makes us sing out: Alleluia ... Praise the Lord!
How wonderful it is to hear someone say, “Praise God” or “Praise the Lord”
And then to hear the other person respond the same way.
Those greetings reveal the one thought that we should always have in our mind ...
the praise of Our God.
And it’s here that St. Augustine has yet another urging for us saying:
“Be sure that your praise comes from your whole being;
in other words, see that you praise God not with your lips and voices alone,
but with your minds, your lives and all your actions.”
Wow!
That really ups the ante. That really raises the bar on how we’re to praise God.
Yes we are praising God when we gather here each weekend in Church,
but the question is, “do we continue or cease to praise God after we leave here?”
Out there in the world … Do we continue to praise God?
Do we praise Him in our personal prayer ... in additional communal prayer ...
Do we praise Him... in our thoughts ... in our actions... in our daily conversations?
Or do we turn off our thoughts and words of praise when we leave this Church?
St. Augustine challenges us to praise God all the time ... to get ready for Heaven.
How can we do this?
How can we praise God ... all the time ... with everything we say and do?
We get a valuable hint from our Second Reading where St. Peter says,
“Beloved: Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.”
Upon first hearing this, you may think that St. Peter has it backward when he says,
“Sanctify Christ”
How are we to sanctify Christ ... who is all Holy?
Isn’t He supposed to sanctify us … to make us holy?
Well, you see, Jesus doesn’t ... make us ... do anything.
Rather, Jesus invites us ... to take Him in ... and become holy.
It reminds me of a story of the alcoholic sitting in the circle of many people at an AA Meeting where he’s so impressed with the spirit of the people that he cries out:
“Why are you people so happy? Can you give me some of your happiness?”
A hush came over the room ... and his sponsor leaned over to him and said,
“We can’t give it to you.
But if you keep coming back, you can help yourself to as much as you can stand!”
You see, AA can’t give you happiness, but if you open yourself to the process,
you can take away ... happiness ... as much as you can stand!
It’s the same way with Jesus,
He won’t force His way into your heart.
But if you open yourself to Him ...
you can have ... Him ... as much of Him ... as you can stand.
What is it that you think about when you first wake up in the morning?
Is God even a thought? Do you have a Crucifix hanging over your headboard?
To open your eyes and see the image of Jesus above you would be the perfect time to sanctify your day to Him ... to open yourself to receiving His help.
You can’t make Him Lord … He already is.
But you can take Him with you ... as “Lord of your heart”.
This is why Morning prayers and the Morning Offering are so important.
Like putting yourself in the circle at an AA Meeting ...
each day you consecrate yourself to Jesus ...
you get to take Him with you ... as much ... as you can stand.
There are many morning offerings to choose from. Here’s the one I pray:
O Lord God Almighty, who has safely brought me to the beginning of this new day,
please defend me this day by Thy power
so that I may not only turn away from all sin,
but also that every thought, word and deed may proceed from and be directed
according to Thy will … Thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Please try it! It’s a powerful way to start your day ...
formally sanctifying Christ ... as Lord in your heart.
It’s by opening yourself to Him that you allow God’s Holy Spirit, the Advocate
to come and guide your every thought, word and deed.
And we need this guidance because of the next thing St. Peter tells us to do today.
After Peter says to sanctify Christ as Lord of your hearts, he says, “Always be ready to give an explanation, to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”
If someone asked you the reason for your hope in Eternal Life, what would you say?
You could answer in one word ... Jesus!
You see, Jesus was dead ... and came back to life ... and lives forever.
He did it ... and He promised that we can do it too.
Jesus is the reason for our hope.
At Christmas we say, “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”
At Easter we say, “Jesus is the Reason for our Hope.”
In our Gospel, Jesus says, “whoever has my commandments and observes them … will be loved by my Father and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
So, the reason for our hope in Heaven is … The Risen Jesus!
And Peter clarifies his instruction saying,
“Always be ready to give an explanation
to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,
but do it with gentleness and reverence.”
Think for a minute of how you’d like to be instructed in something new.
Think of the person who taught you how to drive or how to type ...
or how to use the computer or a new cell phone app.
Did they lord their knowledge over you so that you felt ignorant & uncomfortable?
Or did they teach you with gentleness and reverence?
Everyone appreciates gentleness and reverence when learning something new.
That’s how we need to be when we tell people about Jesus, the reason for our Hope.
Then they’ll be listening and they’ll never forget and always appreciate
that you helped them ... and you did it with all gentleness and kindness.
You’ll all have many opportunities to do this ...
especially when you live your lives praising God.
People will notice your happiness ... like the man did at the AA Meeting ...
he couldn’t help but notice the happiness around him ...
and they’ll want to know ... how they can get some of your happiness.
Remember, you can’t give it to them ... but if they keep coming to Jesus ...
they can help themselves ... to as much ... as they can stand!
How wonderful! Praise the Lord! Alleluia!
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