Editor’s note: The following is Bishop Lucia’s homily from the Dec. 29 Jubilee Mass.
Years ago, the British journalist and world traveler H. V. Morton wrote a fascinating book called “In the Steps of the Master.” It was an account of a trip he took to the Holy Land and retraced all the steps that the Bible says Jesus took 2,000 years ago.
One Sabbath morning he was walking through the narrow streets of Jerusalem’s Old City where he came upon an old synagogue. The journalist went inside and found it arranged just as synagogues were when Jesus lived. The women sat in one section and the men sat in another. Again, he found also the synagogue service to be much as it was when Jesus lived. It was a blend of prayer, songs and readings from the Scriptures — what you and I, sisters and brothers, in our Catholic liturgy would call the “Liturgy of the Word.”
After the service, Morton went outside. There he found a boy of about 12 years of age conversing with some older men with beards. They listened attentively each time the boy spoke. Sometimes they nodded in agreement. Yet, in other moments, they peered over their glasses and frowned in disagreement. All the while the boy stood his ground respectfully. When the conversation ended, the boy gave a little bow to the bearded men and went on his way.
That’s when it struck H. V. Morton that the sight he had just witnessed was very much like the one described in today’s Gospel where Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the Temple conversing with the teachers. An ancient Jewish text referred to as the Talmud, says of a Jewish boy: “At five he must begin sacred studies, at ten he must learn about the religious tradition of his ancestors; at thirteen he must know God’s law and begin to practice as all adults do.” All of this culminates in the religious rites of Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah, which celebrates a Jewish boy or girl’s passage from childhood to young adulthood, accompanied by some type of act of service towards one’s neighbor — for instance, through participating in a blood drive or being part of a neighborhood watch program or some similar giving of self in a concrete manner.
As I reflected upon Morton’s experience, it struck me that it is right here that today’s Gospel contains a special lesson for our young people and indeed for all of us adults. For our young people, it says that there’s a time in life when we begin the first movements out of childhood into adulthood. One begins to think for oneself and to ask questions about things that we never thought about before.
From a religious point, it says that there is a time in life when we need to learn in earnest about our Catholic faith and make it our own. There is a time when we must begin to make the transition from being a Catholic Christian by birth to being one by choice. Here, even adult Christians need to keep something in mind — the process of acquiring an adult faith and of growing in it is a process that never ends. It is a process that goes on for all our lives!
Case and point, five years ago, I thought I was getting to a point in my life where, like my peers, I could start stepping back from so many responsibilities and maybe just coast a bit. So I thought. The Lord had other plans and instead of kicking back, I found myself diving even deeper into the living of my Christian faith now as a bishop — as a successor of the apostles, especially through evangelization, service and expanding my experience and understanding of the Church’s social and moral teachings.
In truth, brothers and sisters, some of us may think we are too far gone to grow in our faith because of age, infirmity or even more, our sinfulness. Let us not forget, it is the third oldest pope who has led us into this Jubilee celebration even as he struggles with his own infirmity. Also, the day after Christmas, he went to the Rebibbia prison in Rome where he opened another Holy Door — a symbol that no one is “confined to their mistakes” or too lost to be saved by Christ. What one needs to do is to give Christ space and He will do the rest!
This brings you and I to this particular Lord’s Day in our Diocesan Church as Jesus stands at the door knocking and inviting us to become once again a pilgrim people through our entrance into a Year of Jubilee. My nephews as kids loved to tell their Uncle Doug knock-knock jokes. I was thinking of that as I reflected on our celebration this Holy Family Sunday. I could hear Jesus’ childlike voice calling out, “Knock, Knock!” “Who’s there?” “Jesus!” “Jesus who?” “Open the door and come and see!”
For me, that is what this Holy Year in the life of the Church is all about. Not only will we celebrate the 1,700 years of the Church’s profession of faith using the Nicene Creed and have the same Easter Sunday throughout the entire Christian world, but even more like Mary and Joseph in today’s Gospel, you and I, brothers and sisters, will have the opportunity to search and discover a treasure worth spending time looking for … Jesus, the Christ! In his prayer for the Jubilee Year, Pope Francis wrote:
Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us
in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us
into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel …
May the grace of the Jubilee
reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven …
To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever.
Amen
