Sometimes when we look at night into the vastness of the stars in the sky, we can get a sense that the universe we live in is so immense that we can’t help but feel small and insignificant. Even our solar system, as vast as it is, is but a grain of sand in an inconceivably large beach. It is too small to even merit notice in a universe measured in billions of light years. And so it becomes easy to see ourselves as a meaningless speck on a tiny grain of sand on an infinite beach.
But, is this the right perspective? When we look out at the universe, perhaps we should not see it as a reflection of how small and insignificant we are, but rather see it’s immensity as an expression of how infinite God is – and how infinite is Gods love for us.
In our gospel today, Jesus presents to us a vision of God’s infinite love. Jesus reminds us that God knows everything about us – what we’ve been through, every detail of every moment in our life and what our motivations have been in every decision that we have ever made. And God cares, deeply, passionately and profoundly about what happens to each one of us.
It is good to remember this. For many of us, this time of Pandemic has been a low ebb in our lives. A time when we are fearful of how our life will unfold. A time when we may feel alone and insignificant. And so we need to hear Jesus reminding us that we are not insignificant. That our lives DO have meaning and purpose. And that we have a relationship with, a connectedness to, a God who loves us infinitely.
Jesus makes it very clear that there is no such thing as a nameless, faceless person. Every single human being is a member of God’s family and has a place in God’s house. That is a message that you and I need to hear today.
Not just because we are living through a pandemic. But because this is also a time when people across the world are reacting to the terrible events which have led to and proceeded from the murder in the USA of George Floyd, and others.
Almost 60 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream.
Fifty years ago I remember walking in marches and demonstrating in order to support the civil rights struggles of blacks in North America, to make that dream a reality. Fifty years later, and that dream has still to come to fruition. Fifty years have passed, and I wonder if anything I did, we did, in the sixties made a difference in people’s hearts. Fifty years – and there is still so much to be done to combat both the systemic racism in North America and in Canada, and the systemic prejudices and blindness we each still personally carry in our hearts.
The beautiful act of God in the creation of the universe is the root of all of the blessings that we know in our lives on this earth. We are reminded that we are all created in God’s own image and likeness. And so we must recognize in everyone that we meet an equal son or daughter of God. There are no children of a lesser god on this earth. We are all equal in the human family that God alone has made as one.
God’s act of creation is gracious and expansive. It conveys to every person the right to the goods of this world, to equal claims in dignity and society, and to every dimension of justice. Yet too often our world is a place of grotesque economic inequalities, war and institutionalized violence, destruction of life, and devastation of the environment.
It is a bitter mystery of the human soul why we find contentment in looking down upon, isolating and vilifying others because of the colour of their skin or their national background. Why is it that we erect fences around racial and ethnic groups in the core of our souls, refusing so often even to recognize the sinfulness of the prejudice that lurks within us, whether that prejudice be overt or subtle, spoken or acted upon.
If our love for Jesus Christ is to have meaning for us as people of faith, it must compel us to recognize the prejudices that lay within us, and to move to end the sufferings of others imposed by our own actions or the actions of our society.
The voices of people, young and old, coming together across the world to demand substantive, structural change are an immense sign of hope. There are no children of a lesser god. We are all equal in God’s family.
The time has come for you and I as Catholics, as a people of faith, to put our faith into action. The time has come to confront these moments of injustice and racial hatred, of anger and despair, and show through our actions that we are all equal in God’s human family. The time has come to transform the prejudices we hold in our hearts. The time has come to transform our society, to rid it of structures and strictures that perpetuate racial intolerance.
The time has come to finish what was started over 50 years ago.
homily – 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (June 21, 2020)