Luke 6:17, 20-26 Homily Notes
--The Holy Spirit writes that Jesus is surrounded by a great crowd of disciples, but also by people from the surroundings of Judea and Jerusalem, as well as people as far as Tyre and Sidon... but very interestingly, he writes that Jesus lifts his eyes towards his disciples and says the "Beatitudes".
-- St. Ambrose: "But being about to utter his divine oracles, he begins to rise higher; although he stood in a low place, yet as it is said, he lifted up his eyes. What is lifting up the eyes, but to disclose a more hidden light?"
-- St. Bede: "And though he speaks in a general way to all, yet more especially he lifts up his eyes on his disciples; for it follows, on his disciples, that to those who receive the word listening attentively with the heart, he might reveal more fully the light of its deep meaning."
-- what do the Beatitudes address?: poverty, hunger, weeping, being hated... and then their opposites: being rich, consoled, filled now, spoken well of
-- why speak these things to the disciples specifically, when so many others are standing around? It is disciples who will find Jesus to be such a treasure now that they can consider themselves blessed, when the reward is really promised as something in heaven later..... or it is disciples who once again will want to treasure him as their all, and therefore not take too much license with riches, consolation, glory in this present life...
-- perhaps those listening in as Jesus speaks to his disciples about delayed gratification... waiting for heaven... perhaps those listening will realize that discipleship is really the only way to make it through this world that tempts us to excess when it comes to consolations and riches of all sorts... and tempts us to despair when we experience the suffering the world has to give
-- you and I have to live as his disciples... followers... students... learning from a master, staying close to him..... and we have to teach this to the crowds around us, especially those in our own home... with this I would like to say some words about family prayer. Perhaps as we begin the season of Lent you might consider your family's spiritual life in light of what is said here. My guess is that once again to some extent I am "preaching to the choir", but least I can encourage the choir, or perhaps bring somebody else to join the choir of family prayer.
-- discipleship will never happen if in your home you teach and practice that going to church on Sunday is all it takes... there has to be daily personal prayers that each member of the family says (morning and nighttime)... but then there really has to be also some corporate family prayer each day. Am I saying that the Mass is not enough? No. The Mass is everything!! But if you and I are not praying everyday, we are really not appropriating all the graces of the Mass. We are not living our lives as an extension of the awesome Mass... since the Mass every week is the center of our prayer. What are we saying if we go to Mass, but do not pray consistently as a family throughout the week, in light of the Mass where we encounter Jesus on Calvary?
-- I've told you before that my college background very much involved the charismatic renewal... and an entire community of about 3000 people grew out of, was created largely by university student conversions... and I've probably listened to 1000 such conversion stories since 1982... What is the refrain one hears in a Catholic university student's conversion over and over and over again?: "We went to church on Sundays, but the faith was never lived in the home."... so by God's mercy a "reversion" happens during the university years. [Just heard it again in Dominican sister's story.]
-- what does it mean to say there was nothing at all faith in the home? I bet if you asked the 1000 students I have heard speak about their conversions, you would learn that often times there were actually prayers said before meals. But still the overall experience of these youth was that their parents really did not care enough about the faith to pray with family beyond meals. I might say it this way: there was really no explicit display of love for Jesus Christ (by means of prayer) initiated by the parents in the home. Sunday Mass could be explained as an obligation. prayer before meals could be explained as an obligation. Where was the positive, creative, initiating love for Jesus Christ on the part of the parents, such that these youth experienced the faith at home? It wasn't there.
-- There has to be a positive, loving approach to Jesus Christ initiated by the parents in each home. There has to be prayer together beyond Sunday Mass and grace before meals. The world is so aggressive evangelizing our youth, acting as if Jesus Christ is not Savior, acting as if there is no objective morality, slamming the Catholic faith at every turn... families must have in place a positive, loving relationship with Jesus Christ, expressed in time and space by means of prayer. We cannot say the relationship with our Lord is there if it is not expressed in some concrete way.
-- At the core of family prayer, I can do no better than recommend the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You take 15 minutes a day as a family to say to God that you believe in him... and you realize that the best way to stay close to Jesus Christ is a belonging to his Blessed Mother. There has to be this impetus of prayer led by the parents. Family prayer has to happen! There might be days when it feels very hard to do, when it feels dry, when it feels chaotic, when you simply don't want to do it..... but those are the best days -- the most spiritually beneficial for the family -- to make sure that family prayer happens. All the graces from those mysteries of Jesus' life remembered in the Rosary are poured out to us through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
-- Will young people at times rebel against the idea of a family rosary? Perhaps... but that is too bad. Will young people say it is boring? Parents, you can tell them that they would not be bored if they gave their heart to Jesus Christ through this prayer of the Rosary. You can tell them that a holy heart will not be left unhappy doing something to honor Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary. You could tell them that the Rosary is not simply about how they feel... measuring what they think they get from it on their emotions at the time. If you and I give to Jesus Christ and his Blessed mother 15 minutes a day with the Rosary, it is a metaphysical impossibility that we will get nothing in return. As with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we do it first in order to give him glory, since he is worthy of it... but there will always be a side effect of our own growth in holiness and steadfastness... and a deepening long-term relationship with Jesus Christ.
-- What should a university student really be saying about his faith life up until that point? He should be saying, "My parents insisted on the family Rosary every night. There were times when extracurricular activities -- or even emergencies -- kept one of us away from the Rosary on a given night... but everybody knew that anybody in the house had to be downstairs for the Rosary every evening. Nobody stayed up in his room while the family prayed the Rosary downstairs -- unless he was sick." Or the university student should be saying, "Growing up I knew that God was number one in our household. We spoke about him. In special seasons we had extra prayers and readings from Scripture and the saints. My parents insisted that we follow the rules for fasting and abstinence, and that we attend church on holy days of obligation. Even beyond that, we tried to attend at least once or twice during the week in addition to the weekend."
-- Parents, be insistent on family prayer. Be steadfast leading prayer. You might not appreciate it in a given week, but year after year it is absolutely transformative... and absolutely necessary for a family, if your desire is to send disciples of Jesus Christ into the world when they are grown enough to leave home.
-- Children, follow the lead of your parents. Get your will behind the idea of a family Rosary or other prayer. Take initiative developing your own relationship with Jesus Christ and his Blessed Mother. Way too many Catholics have waited until their adult married years when they have children of their own to try and start a relationship with Jesus Christ at that point. They have lost decades... and it's too bad their parents were not able to build them in Jesus Christ year after year as they grew. It's quite hard all of a sudden as an adult with children to try to put together a religious life that you've never before practiced. Conversions or "reversions" to the Faith can happen, but the ideal is growing in holiness throughout the time of your youth. Children, love Jesus Christ, and do your best to appreciate family prayer when your parents insist upon it. Perhaps when you leave home you will be able to make disciples of other people, rather than drifting in every direction the world pushes you, and then trying to catch up when you finally get married and have children and decide that they ought to have some type of direction.
-- Catechism of the Catholic Church #2685: "The Christian family is the first place of education in prayer. Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is the 'domestic church' were God's children learn to pray 'as the Church' and to persevere in prayer. For young children in particular, daily family prayer is the first witness of the Church's living memory as awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit."
-- Jesus spoke to disciples about how heaven would balance everything out, and therefore how they ought in this life to be steadfast in the midst of riches, fame, worldly adulation... as well as the down side of poverty, mourning, persecution.
-- The blessed life is belonging to him who gets us to heaven, living as his disciple in the midst of whatever it is the world throws at us. The blessed life is allowing the Mass to extend into and motivate everything we do outside of these walls where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated. What a tragedy if we fail to teach our young people discipleship, raising them up in an atmosphere of steadfast, gutsy prayer in the midst of the daily chaos of family life. From this altar today, the Lord will enrich our family prayer life.
