Homily for the week of May 20, 2007

Dear fellow parishioners,

There is a fundamental question we Christians sometimes ask: “Why did Jesus come to this earth?” The answer is given: Jesus came to make God real for us. Jesus came to make God immediate to us, present to us. Through Jesus we experience God’s love directly. From Jesus we learn that the more we can love other people with his kind of “Christlike” love, the more a condition is created that makes it possible for God’s love to well up within us. The more open we are to the needs of others the more we will experience God’s love in our own life. The Gospel makes it clear that this “Christlike” love for others is an all-inclusive love. It is not an “Archie Bunker” type of narrow, exclusive love (“Them people”). It is not only that our love for others must be an all-inclusive love: it must be an extravagant love!

Remember that most wonderful story of the Good Samaritan, who encountered a man who was a natural enemy. Reflect seriously on the parable of the Good Samaritan and you will discover, perhaps for the first time, how genuinely extravagant was his love for that total stranger. He poured oil and wine into the man’s wound; he took the man and put him on his own donkey, while he walked in that desolate hot region. When he brought the wounded fellow to the inn, he gave instructions to take care of the man as his guest, do whatever was necessary to insure his comfort, regardless of the cost. He guaranteed payment of the bill. Finally, he did something that probably should impress our modern society more than anything else: he rearranged his schedule! He spent the whole night taking care of the wounded man before turning him over to the innkeeper.

Christlike love is an extravagant love. Ungrudgingly, spontaneously, lavishly, the Good Samaritan poured out love to the man in need. That is the Christlike love we are capable of pouring out when we let Jesus come into our lives. That is why Jesus prays to the Father in today’s gospel reading ((John 17:20-26): “To them I have revealed Your Name, and I will continue to reveal it so that Your love for Me may live in them, and I may live in them.”

Jesus wants in! Jesus wants to bring God’s extravagant love into your life and mine; and, through you and me, into the lives of others. Whether or not this is happening in our lives depends upon the answer we give to these two questions: Are we extravagant with our love? Does that extravagance bring joy into our lives? The spiritual blessing we call “joy” never comes to one who only gives selfishly and grudgingly. A man once complained to his pastor about the Church asking for money. He said: “It is upsetting to me, this business of Christianity is just one continuous give, give, give.” To which the pastor replied: “I want to thank you for one of the best definitions of Christianity I have ever heard!”

In his book, The Kingdom Within, John Sanford writes of his boyhood summers in an old New Hampshire farmhouse. The dwelling was over 150 years old and never had been modernized. Consequently, the family lived their summers without benefit of modern plumbing and electricity. The water supply came from an old well. The pure, cold water it supplied was a joy to drink on hot summer days. The well always ran faithfully, even in periods of drought. The time came when the house was modernized. Electricity and running water were installed. The kerosene lamps were discarded. The old, faithful well was abandoned in favor of an artesian well, which was needed to accommodate the new system. The author writes:

“So many things stood still for several years...until one day, moved by curiosity and old loyalties, I determined to uncover the old well to inspect its condition. As I removed the cover, I fully expected to see the same dark, cool, moist depths I had known so well as a boy. But I was due for a shock, for the well was bone dry. It took many inquiries on my part to understand what had happened. A well of this kind is fed by hundreds of tiny underground rivulets along which seep a constant water supply. As the water is drawn from the well, more water moves into it along the rivulets, keeping the tiny apertures clear and open. But when such a well is not used, and the water is not regularly drawn, the tiny rivulets close up. Our well, which had run without failing for so many years, was dry – not because there was no water, but because it had not been used...”

That is why Christianity is give, give, give! The supply of God’s grace that Jesus brings into our lives is never exhausted. The living waters of God’s gift of love never cease to flow. But our souls can dry up – from non-use. If we are not, as a matter of lifestyle, gathering joyfully at the well with our neighbors, drawing on it, using it, sharing in its living waters, it will dry up.

“I have revealed Your Name...so that Your love for Me may live in them, and I may live in them.” Jesus wants in! Jesus wants to refresh and enrich your life with the living waters of God’s love. Don’t cover up the well-head of your soul. Be an extravagant Christian giver. Be a joyful Christian giver. Give, give, give – and your soul will never run dry.

With love,

Father Charlie Papa