First Reading: Jer
31:31-34
Responsorial Psalm:
Ps 51:3-4, 12-15
Second Reading: Heb
5:7-9
Gospel: Jn 12:20-33
St Monica Catholic
Church - San Antonio, TX
Saint Josemaría Escrivá said:
“The Cross must …
be inserted in the very heart of the world. Jesus wants to be raised on high,
there: in the noise of the factories and workshops, in the silence of
libraries, in the loud clamour of the streets, in the stillness of the fields,
in the intimacy of the family, in crowded gatherings, in stadiums … Wherever
there is a Christian striving to lead an honourable life, he should, with his
love, set up the Cross of Christ, who attracts all things to himself.” (St
Josemaría Escrivá, The Way of the Cross,
11, 3)[1]
This
my friends, is the Gospel message for us today. It is a call to discipleship, a
call from our Lord to follow him, to do what he did, to live our lives boldly
as Christians, and to bring others to him by our example. Our Gospel reading
today begins with Greek converts to Judaism approaching Philip and Andrew,
seeking Jesus. This is a critically important point in the Gospel. Greeks were
the Gentiles, the outsiders. They are not the people to whom Jesus had been
preaching for the last three years of his life. And yet, they sought these two
Apostles in order to learn about Jesus so they could follow Him. Why these two
Apostles? It is significant that both Philip and Andrew are Greek names – all
the other Apostles used their Jewish names. The Greeks likely approached them
because they had found something in common with them. They shared a point of
connection with the Greeks. We all have different interests, personalities and
social circle. I want you to think about what you have in common with the
people you encounter in your lives – at work, at school, among your neighbors
and friends, even within your family. Every point of connection you share with
another person is an opportunity to evangelize. Your gift of discipleship was
not given to you to keep to yourself, but to be shared with others.
What does it mean to be a disciple
of Jesus Christ? What does it mean to serve the Lord? We heard Jesus himself
tell us powerfully in the Gospel today: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and
where I am, there also will my servant be.” That is a strong statement. The
message of the Gospel led Jesus to the Cross. It leads us to the Cross today.
When John’s Gospel was written, Christians were being persecuted and martyred
for their faith. If we follow Christ faithfully, we must be willing to endure
persecution and some sort of martyrdom for our faith. Christians in other
countries are dying for their faith. While it is not likely we will be forced
to die yet in this country, we may suffer because of our public witness. Cancel
culture is run amok. Refusing to conform to the social narrative of the
powerful…at least in terms of earthly power…can bring down ridicule, scorn, and
mockery upon our heads. Are we willing to make that sacrifice? To be a disciple
of Jesus Christ means to follow Him to the Cross.
Jesus teaches us in the Gospel today
that “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a
grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” We are those grains of
wheat. When we suffer, Christ suffers with us. That includes persecution. Suffering
means dying to this world and it bears much fruit. The first martyrs died and
the Church grew, nourished by their sacrifice. Their faithful witness to the
Gospel has been passed on to us through the ages. This beautiful and fruitful
gift of faith is to be passed on to the rest of the world so that more fruit
can be harvested and more souls can come to know Jesus Christ through us. We
die to this world and produce fruit when we choose to love others as Christ has
loved us. We plant the seeds – God brings forth the harvest! To be a disciple
of Jesus Christ is to endure suffering as He did.
The Gospel also said something
curious and kind of makes us want to scratch our heads and go “What?” Jesus
said that “whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this
world will preserve it for eternal life.” To our 21st century ears,
that sounds very odd indeed. When Jesus instructs us to ‘hate life in this
world’ he does not mean to hate human existence. Human existence is good
because God created it! What he means is he wants us to detach ourselves from
sin and all the things in life that lead us away from God and cause us to rebel
against him. We fall away from the Cross and become attached to this world when
we live as if all meaning in life is found in the here and now – we chase after
power, prestige, pleasure, wealth, and accomplishments. But, when we embrace
the Two Great Commandments – to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and
strength, and to love our neighbors (all our neighbors) as ourselves, and put
them into practice, then we preserve our lives for eternal life. When we accept
the teachings of Holy Mother Church, the Bride of Christ as his own and follow
them, we provide true witness to the world and plant the seeds that bring forth
the harvest. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to reject the lies of this
world and speak the entirety God’s truth in the fullness of Christian love.
You may recall that when Mary asked
Jesus to work a miracle at the wedding feast at Cana he told her it was not yet
his hour. When the Pharisees tried to arrest Jesus when he taught in the
temple, he escaped because it was not yet his hour. When the Greeks approached
Philip and Andrew looking for the Messiah, Jesus knew that his hour had finally
come. It was time for him to glorify God’s name by his saving death on the
Cross. It was time to overthrow the ruler of this world. Now it is our turn to
embrace the Cross and glorify the name of God in our lives by our works and our
actions, and through our love. Now is the time for the followers of Jesus
Christ to reveal the glory of God to the world so that the entire world might
believe. Now is the time for each and every one of us to live boldly as true
disciples of Jesus Christ, following Him to the Cross, proclaiming the truth of
the Gospel, and accepting whatever ridicule or persecution comes our way. Now
is the time for us to be the grains of wheat, to die to this world so that
others receive the gift of faith through us, and to be the light of Christ to a
world stumbling in the darkness.
St.
Joseph. Terror of Demons, Pray for Us!
[1] The Navarre Bible: New Testament
(Dublin; New York: Four Courts Press; Scepter Publishers, 2008), 414.
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