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Browsing Father Michael Deering's Sunday Homilies

You’ll only have my body!

You’ll only have my body!
Homily originally presented February 21, 2021
by Monsignor Deering

 

There was a man who came to prominence 100 years ago in India … the man, Mahatma Gandhi. He was a gentle, spiritual, Hindu man who became a great leader of the Indian people. He did it by using non-violent civil disobedience

to unite the people so that they could be set free from British rule.

 

India eventually did secure its independence from Britain in August of 1947 … but  they discovered: the British Indian Empire had been partitioned into 2 dominions:

a Hindu-majority India … and a Muslim-majority Pakistan.

 

So, as many displaced Hindus and Muslims made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out. And, once again, Mahatma Gandhi undertook non-violent fasts as the way of bringing the opposing cultures to peaceful co-existence.  

 

The Academy Award winning motion picture “Gandhi” that came out in 1982 …

does a fine job of documenting the efforts of this Indian leader.

 

And there’s a scene in that movie where Gandhi, is speaking to his oppressors in the ongoing struggle between the Hindus and the Muslims. And he says to them, “You can starve me, you can beat me, you can cut off my arms, you can even kill me; but then all you’d have is my body  ...  you’ll never have my submission!”

 

Wow, what a bold and courageous statement to make ... to your enemies!

 

That statement could only be made by someone who recognized the distinction

betweenlife in our bodies … and life in our spirit.

 

Our bodies exist in this world of space and time, and one day they’re going to die.

 

Our spirits however, exist outside of space and time ...

and they will never diethey will live on forever!

 

Gandhi understood this … which is why he was able to boldly say to his enemies

that even if they killed him, they would only kill his body

they would never kill his spirit!

 

Many of the early Christians also understood this distinction

   which moved them to suffer deathrather than betray their belief in Jesus.

 

For example, our First Pope, Peter,

 who’s 2nd Letter in the Bible we read from today ...

he accepted crucifixion on a cross

rather than deny his devotion to Jesus!

 

How was he able to do that?

How could he be willing to give his life for his beliefs?

 

It had to be that he too had a clear understanding of the distinction between:

life in our body ... and ... life in our spirit.

 

Our bodies exist in this world of space and time, and one day they’re going to die. Our spirits, however, which are the life force of our temporal bodies ...

                   will live on forever!

 

So even if you’re blessed to live in your body to the ripe old age of 100, that is nothing compared to the life of your soul that is going to live on for all eternity!

 

Do you understand this?         Do you see it this way?

Do you see the distinction between ... life in the body ... and life in the spirit?

 

St. Peter makes this important distinction in our Second Reading today ...

 pointing out that while Jesus was      “put to death in the flesh,

He was brought to life in the spirit.”

 

Yes, one dimension of His life came to an end … that of his mortal body,

But, the other dimension of His life persisted … that of his immortal soul or spirit.

 

You know, it doesn’t take but a minute to realize how awful it would be

to do anything that would separate us from the love of God ... forever.

 

That’s why so many of the early Christians accepted martyrdom.

Many of them died while singing their praises to God. They understood that

their earthly life was short anyway ... whereas their spiritual life was eternal.

 

When Jesus took on our humanity and walked this earth,

He experienced the same tug-of-war that we experience

of always having to choose between following

things of the body ... or things of the spirit.

 

We hear an example of this in our short Gospel reading today from Mark.

It takes place right after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan. 

 

We heard:             The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,

and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.”

 

So Satan was bold enough to tempt even Jesus ... showing that Satan,

the Master Deceiver, never ceases to try to frustrate the work of God!

 

 

But since Jesus was guided by the Holy Spirit,

He never fell victim to Satan’s lies and so He never sinned against the Father.

 

Now, the Spirit that guided Jesus during His trial in the desert is the very same one that descended on us in Baptism and is with us to guide us in our temptations!

 

Yes, just as the forces of good and evil were present there in the desert,

we too have the force of good, God’s Holy Spirit,

alive in us to guard us in our daily battle with evil.

 

This is the very reason why … right before Jesus ascended to the Father ...  

He instructed His Apostles to go out and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

 

Yes, Jesus left us the great Sacrament of Baptism to arm us with supernatural power in our fight against evil. For it’s in the waters of Baptism that we receive God’s saving power with the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit.

 

St. Peter referred to this in his letter today when he wrote of how Noah was saved through water. “God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the

ark, in which a few persons, 8 in all, were saved through water.

This prefigured baptism, which saves you now.”

 

In the Old Testament we see how God used water to separate the good from the bad.

The Flood separated Noah and his good family from the evil people of the world.

 

So here we see the saving power of water.

 

And right after this, God made a covenant with man ...

that never again would He use water to destroy all living creatures.

Now water would mean life … and not death.

 

And that’s exactly what happens in the waters of Baptism.

We are given new life in the Spirit

to aid us during the time we spend here on Earth,         

which is really our time in the desert while away from our Heavenly home.

 

If we’re honest about life here on Earth, we have to admit that this is not Heaven!

 

Life here on earth is not so great.

There’s sickness and injury; there’s strife and struggle: there’s suffering and death

and all kinds of offenses between people, including hatred and wars.

 

You could truly refer to our days here on earth as days of wandering in the desert.

As God’s chosen People, we too are seeking to enter the Promised Land.

It’s a land that we enter ... not in our bodies ... but in our spirits.

 

And that’s why the Church in her wisdom has established this special season

to help us prepare our spirits.

 

Modeling it on the 40 days Jesus spent in the Desert,

 the Church sets aside 40 days of Lent so we can prepare ourselves for Easter.

 

There’s actually a two-fold character to the season of Lent.

 

The first 3 weeks call us to a life of Gospel conversion,

with an emphasis on prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

 

Hence the call of Jesus in the opening of Mark’s Gospel on Ash Wednesday,

“Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.”

 

Then, the last 4 weeks of Lent present us with the Mystery of Jesus Christ

and help us to prepare to celebrate the Paschal Mystery.

 

And as we go, we need to remember that we’re not alone.

The Holy Spirit is with us to help us to always choose to do good. and please God.

 

What have you got to lose?      Just your body.

 

Remember Gandhi, who spent his days working for peace & justice and told his oppressors:

You can starve me, you can beat me, you can cut off my arms, you can even kill me.”

 

Well they did!   They killed him!

 

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30th, 1949 ...

when a guy walked up to him and shot him 3 times in the heart!

 

So they got his body ... but they never touched his soul.

 

This good man, who was faithful to God ... is in the hands of God ...

and will be forever!                  Let’s do the same.

 

As we enter the 1st full week of Lent let’s reflect on the wisdom of Gandhi,

which is the wisdom of Peter ... and the wisdom of Jesus

that there’s a distinction between life in the body and life in the spirit.

 

Others may kill our body, but they cannot kill our spirit, unless we let them. Let’s commit ourselves to prayer & penance over the next 6 weeks to purify & strengthen our spiritsso we make it out of the desert ... and into our Heavenly home.

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