Editor’s note: The following is Bishop Lucia’s homily from the May 12 Religious Jubilarian Mass at Immaculate Conception Parish, Fayetteville.
“In all wisdom and insight … [God] set forth in Him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth. In Him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of His will, so that we might exist for the praise of His glory, we who first hoped in Christ.”
See Ephesians 1:8-12
These lines, taken from our second reading of St. Paul’s letter to the Church of Ephesus, remind me of a story recounted by Baylor University Coach Grant Teaff in his book, I Believe. In it, he describes an incident that happened earlier in his career at McMurry College. One Saturday night, he and his team had just taken off in a chartered plane to return to Texas. Suddenly, the plane developed serious trouble. The pilot announced that he would have to attempt a crash landing. The plane was loaded with fuel, so an explosion was likely.
As the plane sped downward, one of the players called out, “Coach Teaff, would you lead us in prayer? We are all pretty frightened.” Teaff then prayed aloud for everyone. Seconds later, the plane bellied across the ground. A shower of sparks engulfed it. Miraculously, however, it did not explode, and no one was hurt.
The next night, the coach and his family were in church together. Right in the middle of the service, Teaff got up, left the church, and went to the McMurry Fieldhouse about a mile away. He went directly to the team’s dressing room and knelt down and prayed: “God, I know that you have a plan, a purpose, and a will for my life and the lives of these young men. I do not know what it is, but I’ll … try to impress upon the young men I coach this year and forever that there is more to life than just playing football; that you do have a purpose for our lives.”
Dear sisters and brothers, as we gather as a family of faith this afternoon to celebrate and honor the devotion of our jubilarians in seeking to answer and follow God’s purpose for their lives, the Word of God invites us once again to examine our motivation in giving one’s life over to God in service of our neighbor. The ideal is summed up in the simple command of Jesus: “Love one another” (John 15:17).
One Scripture commentator suggests that there are three ways you and I can look at this commandment of Jesus. First, we can look at it as a restriction on one’s freedom. Case in point (a name from the past), the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, surprisingly said he admired many teachings of Jesus. But not surprisingly, he also said he disagreed with some of Jesus’ teaching. One of them being “to love one another and to turn the other cheek.” “If someone wrongs me,” said Khrushchev, “I won’t turn my cheek. I’ll hit the other guy back so hard that his head may fall off.” And if we are honest, we still face that same crisis today in seeking to take Jesus’ teachings to heart.
A second way to look at Jesus’ command to love one another is as a guide to our growth. In his Angelus message this past Sunday, Pope Leo XIV had this to say about the commandment of love: “’If you love me,’ Jesus says to His disciples, ‘you will keep my commandments.’ This statement frees us from the misconception that we are loved because we keep the commandments, as if our righteousness were a prerequisite for God’s love. On the contrary, God’s love is the basis for our righteousness. We truly keep the commandments, according to God’s will, when we recognize His love for us, just as Christ revealed it to the world. Jesus’ words are therefore an invitation to enter into a relationship, not a blackmail or a suspicious ultimatum.”
That leads us, brothers and sisters, to the third way we can look upon Jesus’ command to love — an invitation — a way to show our love and continue the mission of Jesus in today’s world! This final way of showing forth the Good News that is Jesus Christ is something that all of you, dear jubilarians, have been collectively doing for over 1,350 years of combined service. Yet, the Word of God this day also invites us to check our motives even now:
- How have we looked upon Jesus’ command to love in the past — out of fear of punishment, out of hope of reward, or out of love for Jesus?
- How ought we look at this command of Jesus even now in our lives?
- What can we do about this command even now?
Let me leave all of us with one final image as with “exultation and sincerity of heart” (Acts 2:46) we continue to seek to “exist for the praise of [God’s] glory” (Eph 5:12). In her book, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now, poet laureate Maya Angelou shares memories of her grandmother, who raised her in the little town of Stamps, Arkansas. Her difficult life caused her to rely utterly on the power of God. Angelou writes that Mamma would clasp her hands behind her back, look up into the distant sky, and declare, “I will step out on the word of God.” Maya continues, “She would look up as if she could will herself into the heavens, and tell her family in particular and the world in general, ‘I will step out on the Word of God’… Immediately, I could see her flung into space, moons at her feet and stars at her head, comets swirling around her. Naturally, it wasn’t difficult for me to have faith. I grew up knowing that the Word of God has power.”
Dear Jubilarians, words cannot sufficiently express my gratitude, nor that of the local churches and the Church universal, that you have served and continue to serve by stepping out on the Word of God and sharing its power. Through your profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, you have sought to let Jesus’ commandment to “love one another as I love you” (Jn 13:34) be known through you as a living gospel for all people to hear. Together then, as we seek to serve our God with the time He gives us, let us close our reflection with these words of Harry Emerson Fosdick: “Fear tends to paralyze, love releases. Fear imprisons; love frees. Fear sours, love sweetens. Fear wounds, love heals. Fear avoids; love invites.”
Again, dear Jubilarians, congratulations and ad multos annos gloriosque!
