Homily 21st Sunday Ordinary Time -- Choices

(below is the text of a homily delivered Sunday, August 23. An audio version of what was actually delivered may be found here.)

The following advertisement appeared in a London newspaper in 1912.
MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL.
HONOR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS.
This was Ernest Shackleton’s ad to recruit members for his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. More than 5,000 men applied to join that expedition. They knew the hardships, but the reward seemed worth the risk.
Today’s gospel concludes the Bread of Life discourse from John’s Gospel which we have been hearing proclaimed for the past six weeks. Things have built up to a time of decision.
Like Shackleton, Jesus asks those who would follow him to make a choice to do something difficult. In this case to believe in Him. As a reward, he offers eternal life. The choice is left up to them.
God always leaves it up to us. We are the ones who have to choose, and the choice isn’t easy. As Fr. Simon continually reminds us, the root meaning of the word “faith” is trust. Faith cannot be instilled in us, it does not come from the outside, but it comes from within. Faith is a conscious choice to put our trust in something other than ourselves, in this case to put our trust in God.
It seems logical that we should do that. Even a pagan would recognize that, by definition, God is that being, greater than which nothing else exists. It would seem logical to trust in that which is greater. If that is true for a pagan, then to a Christian who believes in a God who is not remote, but imminent and infinitely loving, how much more should we be willing to trust God completely and to submit to his will?
But we seldom do. We prefer to rely on that little bit of control we delude ourselves into thinking we have over our lives. We can’t control the weather; we can’t control our appetites and desires; we can’t control our children; we can’t control our hair color without chemical help; yet we hesitate to turn control of our lives over to a God who loves us. We have our plans, we’d rather do it ourselves.
There is the wonderful line… do you want to hear God laugh? Tell Him what you’ve got planned.
We don’t wish to subordinate our wishes to those of God. But this is what God asks of us. This is what Paul is telling us in that second reading. You know the one that we feel uncomfortable about reading because of the line about wives making themselves subordinate to their husbands. We tend to overlook the fact that he asks us all to “be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
It is out of reverence for Christ that Paul is asking us to put our selfish desires second to the good of the ones we love.
To trust him. This is the same thing that was being asked of the Hebrew people in the first reading. Joshua asks whom will you trust? Whom will you serve? To whom will you make yourselves subordinate? Will it be to the nations and powers of the world, or will it be the God of Israel?
This choice set the Hebrew people apart from the rest of the world. It is a choice that sets us apart from the rest of the world. It is increasingly an uncommon choice.
In 1958, about 74% of Catholics attended weekly Mass. In its Data Composite Book for 2008, the Archdiocese of Chicago reports the "October Count" Mass attendance at 474,000 a week. That is just 20% of the reported Catholic population of 2,338,000 in the Archdiocese. The largest single religious denomination in Lake and Cook County, Illinois is non-practicing Catholics. That indicates what the popular choice is.
What Jesus asks is that we make a conscious choice to trust him, to follow him. This is a choice we are being asked to make not just once, but today, and again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.
Our life is to be a constant turning to, subordination to, and reliance upon God. The choice is not easy. It sets us apart. Those who are not here this morning have reasons. They work hard and this is their only chance to rest; or the kids have a soccer game; or Mass is something they don’t get much out of; or the people in church are hypocrites; it is too hot, too cold, too rainy or too sunny to go; or the homily is just too boring.
There are thousands of reasons not to come to Mass. There is, in my mind one compelling reason to come. That is because The Holy Eucharist, as Vatican II tells us, is "…the source and summit of the Christian life". This is the normative way in which we encounter Christ and join in intimate union with the God who loves us. This is a unique act of faith, of trust that unites us with God.
In a few minutes we will be invited to come forth, to express our faith in the Christ who, through the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon our gifts, makes himself present to us ─ body, blood, soul and divinity. Our response is to be a fully conscious decision to trust the Lord. We affirm that decision with our “Amen!”
We place our trust in Him. In return he offers eternal life.
I choose to trust Christ. In the course of the week there will come a time when I am faced with the choice between what I want and what the Lord wants. Sometimes I choose my own desires. It is then that He will ask if I too will leave. Then I pray I have the courage to say with Peter, “Master, to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life."
Jesus, I trust in you.