Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights

Last month we dedicated our new stained glass window in the Chapel of St. Joseph.  Since then, some have commented on the many stories that are weaved into the various holy persons that are depicted.  Some, however, may still be unconvinced of the power and beauty that stained glass has to tell a story, but let’s consider the passage we’ve just heard from Luke’s gospel concerning the Good Samaritan.

Incidentally, my love of stained glass probably took root when about eighteen years ago I visited the Cathedral of Chartres (near Paris, France) and beheld the beauty of its world-renowned windows.  In one of the windows, the story of creation and the fall of man is interwoven with the narrative of the Good Samaritan.  Instead of merely giving us a parable of moral kindness and a rebuke of prejudice, that window reflected deeper theological truths that can be missed if we hear the story of the Samaritan outside of the context of our Catholic faith and tradition.

Recall how Jerusalem is always depicted as a heavenly city, God’s city, the city of salvation.  Remember, too, that at the dawn of creation, the Garden of Eden was God’s dwelling place with the human race.  We’ll also recall how Adam and Eve were expelled from God’s company, God’s dwelling, the Garden once they sinned against God.  Well, the unfortunate man in Jesus’ parable who makes his way from Jerusalem to Jericho represents the human race which has fallen from the glory of the heavenly city to the degradation of the city of sin.  Leaving God’s dwelling (Jerusalem), the traveler in our Gospel was vulnerable…and so we see how he falls in with robbers.  His conditionbeing half-deadcan now be seen to symbolize all of humanity after the fall: robbed of its dignity and rendered incapable of saving itself.  The first two to pass him bya priest and a Levitedon’t merely choose not to help, but are, in one sense, incapable of helping the victim.  This represents the incapacity of the law itself and ritual itself to save us from sin…more is needed in order for mankind to be rescued.

Then, a hated Samaritana half-breedstops because he is moved with pity.  He pours wine and oil into the sufferer’s sores.  This character represents now Jesus: God and man, who applies the balm and comfort of the Sacramentsthe wine of the Eucharist and the oil of baptism, confirmation and the anointing of the sickto the wounds of the sin-sick soul.  Even more, the Samaritan brings the poor man to an inn and offers to pay for his treatment, thus continuing his care for the victim until the man is restored to full health.  Well, recall that the Church calls Christ “the Redeemer of the world”.  The word “redemption” means quite literally “to buy back” and “to pay for”.  And Jesus, bearing the burden for our sins on the cross, He has paid our debt, he has bought us back.

We are the victim fallen in with robbers.  We are the ones who dwell outside of the heavenly city.  We are the ones who need another to pay our debt.  Our human experiences, as well as our faith, inform us of who we are.  But our faith also tells us that we have One who can save us, heal us and restore us.

When you look at the stained glass in our chapel, just like the window of Chartres Cathedral, there’s more than meets the eye: there’s a depth of story there…there’s a faith and holiness which are uncovered and revealed.  It just takes time and reflection: pondering the depths of our human experience and then reflecting on the glory of God revealed throughout our faith.

May the mercy of God comfort us; may the lives of the saints inspire us; and may our desire to live in and with God always inspire and invite us into His dwelling among the human race.

Just this week, Pope Francis issued his first encyclical called “The Light of Faith” which echoed, among other things, the importance of newly evangelizing the world and its peoples.

I’m not sure about each of you, but I am aware that many American Catholics don’t understand this “new evangelization”, wondering why and how we are to accomplish it, squeamish about the prospect of going door-to-door and preaching the Good News to total strangers (by the way, not necessarily what we mean).

Instead, consider the gift of faith that you first received in Baptism and that you continually receive by the grace of the Sacraments or by your humble, simple prayers offered each day.  That gift of faith is a gift from God intended to build us up into His people.  And if we are to be “His people”, we see that we are not isolated or alone, but rather each of us enters into a kind of spiritual community, easily witnessed by our gathering together as a parish each Sunday, but more difficult to see when we go forth from here, dispersed into our own elements of the world…in our jobs, our homes, among our friends, in our own particular schools, our own individual works, etc.  And it is in those often-times more difficult places where…

• our faith might be tucked away for fear of ridicule;
• our faith might not challenge the world for fear of offending another;
• our faith might take a backseat so that we don’t have to risk someone identifying us as a Catholic when we’re engaged in sinful behavior.

I am all too aware of these fears, because I struggle with them as well…

• it’s difficult to propose faith as a response to anything in a world that doesn’t care about it;
• it’s challenging to propose faith to a culture that allows people to think without logic or reason, and then celebrates their ideas as equal or worthy of consideration, or even masterful;
• it’s nearly impossible to propose faith in a society where the three people who matter most are “me”, “myself”, and “I”…to the extreme detriment of caring for, or even considering ‘the other’ and their good.

Now that sounds pretty dire, I know.  But it’s the world in which we live, isn’t it?  And if that’s the case, then the world needs some kind of remedy, some kind of aide to see the errors and to feel invited again into correction, into “the Good”.

In today’s second reading, St. Paul expresses that because he has faith in Jesus Christcrucified and raisedthat faith makes him a new creation.  Instead of any other demand (like circumcision) or any work that HE must do, St. Paul is recreated by God…Paul is made new when God deposits faith into Paul…as faith enters into his heart and flows through his whole being.  Note well: his whole being is now consumed in Christ, thus, every aspect of his life is now affected properly by faith.  His words, his gestures, his writings, his thoughts, his desires, his actions…everything now must have the trace of Jesus Christ sewn throughout.  So, for example, he can’t separate and compartmentalize the issues of faith away from the issues of the world.  He can’t, for example, say his morning prayers and then go out and harm another person; he can’t, on one hand, extol the virtue of justice and then, on the other hand, act cruelly or unjustly toward another.  So, St. Paul is one new man because he has now been brought to faith in Christ Jesus, and that new man is rightly and completely saturated by Christ and holiness.

Will he be tempted away from faith?  You bet, but he begs others who would wish him ill: “from now on, let no one make troubles for me; for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.”  In other words, Paul wants to bear those marks of faith…he wants to show Jesus to others…he wants to leave his sin behind and live in the peace of Christ with everyone.  Even amidst discomfort, fear, ridicule or torture, Paul’s faith now charges him to live according to faith…always and everywhere.

Now, by extension, because of our own baptism and growth in faith, each one of us, too, is a new creation.  Every person who comes into contact with the Holy Trinity in baptism thus receives the gift of faith from God.  Each of us, then, is called into the communion of God’s family.  And that family begs us for our full participation, our clear witness to faith, our help to build up and protect this growing family.  Just like Paul, we too are fully and wholly enflamed with the gift of faith, thus

• we cannot set it aside at one point and pick it up at another;
• we can’t profess it when convenient, but ignore it when difficult;
• we can’t, on the one hand, discard it when its costly, and then, on the other hand, cling to it when we need its comfort, its support, or its truth;
• we can’t “live as I wish” and then expect faith to purchase our ticket into the heavenly kingdom at our death.

What we can do, however, is learn how to trust Him and receive His love, and then live anew in the faith of Christ Jesus.  What do I mean by this?

If we are to grow this family of faith and respond to the invitation that God issues to all, then we have to consider:

• what (or WHO) we’re inviting others into;
• how we’re inviting them;
• why we’re inviting them.

We’re inviting them into a living and rewarding faith.  We’re sharing with them the relationship that God has built in each one of us who have faith.  We’re expressing the fact that “God is our GOOD…and God is ALL GOOD”, …God is the good that everyone seeks…He is the Good that everyone can find…and we find Him in His Church.

So, how then, do we invite them?  This is the difficult part: we invite as God invites…in LOVE.  If, for example, I say to another person that if they don’t practice faith they’ll go to hell, that doesn’t sound too inviting, does it?  If I come to Church with a scowl, witnesses of my entry won’t want to follow, will they?  If I chastise and condemn sinners during the week, this tells others something very clear…and it’s not very inviting.

This is not to say, that we need to be without sin in order to invite others.  But our own humility, our own sorrow when we’re wrong, our own joy about faith and God and virtue, our own patience with ourselves and others…all these are kindly and gentle invitations for others to see us for who we are: a sinful people, yes, but nevertheless a people of love, in love with God.

Look at all of the encounters people had with the Lord throughout the Gospels: not onenot a single oneincluded Jesus condemning them.  Rather, He always looked at them with love, and encouraged them to follow Him.

Finally, why would we invite others to come to faith?  Maybe that’s the wrong question: instead why wouldn’t we invite others to faith?  If we’ve discovered ‘the Good’ in faith, then it’s only natural for us to share that Good News.  Look at our Gospel: it’s God who invites, we are simply sent to proclaim Him, to show His truth to the world…a world that is oftentimes hostile, but still needy for such a remedy.  We can show the world a joy that it lacks, a true and enduring peace that is missing, a forgiveness that it only lightly grasps, and a love that is forever eternal and full.

So like the disciples of our gospel, we too will be sent…and are sent at the end of each Mass when we’re told to “Go forth, go and announce the Gospel of the Lord, Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”  We are sent to proclaim His name, to profess our faith, and to build up the Kingdom of God in our midst.

This…is our New Evangelization.

May God go with you always, as your Guide and your Love.