A homily for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
It was the Friday and Father Ron retired to the parish, said to me, can you do tonight’s rehearsal? I got a wedding tomorrow. Rehearsal tonight. I don’t have the energy for it. I said, sure, I’ll do it. Well, it turned out it was a little chaotic. Get them all seated for a 6:00 rehearsal and the doors of the church open, and they all jump up.
Bridesmaids, bride and groom to greet. Uncle Fred let’s say. Because they had invited everybody to the rehearsal. I get them seated again. I get on the microphone. Please sit down. They ignored me, I had to go back there, bring them back. Sit them about to start the rehearsal a second time. The doors of the church open aunt Mabel, and they all go running back. There to greet and, please sit down. Bridesmaids sit down. They ignored me, I had to go back there, bring them to the front, about to start the rehearsal. It happens a third time and I’m getting married. And I said I can’t get married because all theyll remember is the Priest got mad. So I’m thinking, what can I do? And I said, I have to reprogram myself.
What I think I did was I, allocated an hour and a half for the rehearsal. That’s what it normally takes. I’m going to give these people to 10 p.m., and if they’re still not rehearsing, then I’ll get mad because that’s four hours instead of an hour and a half. Well, we got the rehearsal done and before 10 p.m., but I realized then it’s not out there that anxiety comes from. It’s not out there that anger, it’s in here or it’s in here. And by Reprograming, everything worked up because as soon as I said till 10 p.m., peace fell upon me, calm washed over me. Today in the gospel, Jesus sent out the 72 and he tells them, when you enter some place, say, peace upon this household. He’s sending them out on a peace mission, but he’s telling them how to do this.
Don’t take all this extra stuff you’re going to worry about. Don’t take food. Don’t take knapsack. Don’t take staff. Don’t take extra sandals. Just go. Don’t worry about that stuff. And then if they’re not peaceable people, they’re just leave. Don’t worry about them. He’s teaching them how to be at peace themselves. So that they then can bestow peace upon these households in this peace mission of today’s gospel.
St. Teresa of Avila says, and it’s her her grasp of peace, “for a soul surrendered into God’s hands doesn’t care whether they say good or evil about it”. That’s the key of today’s gospel. Surrender yourself. Surrender all that stuff you worry about. Surrender what your people are going to say about you, or think about you or laugh at you. Surrender that all into God’s hands and then you won’t care. You will be at peace. That’s the call of today’s gospel.
