Homily - Why does Jesus want to be friends with us?

The Sixteenth in Ordinary Time (C)

Dear brothers and sisters,

Friendship is a great gift and is filled with wonder. Each of us has within us the great desire for friendship, for companionship, and our Lord, too, being both fully divine and fully human, also sought friendship among humanity. Indeed, he seeks it from us still: “No longer do I call you servants,” he says, “for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends” (John 15:15).

What must it have been like for Mary and Martha and Lazarus to be friends with Jesus? Have you ever wondered about their friendship? How did they come to be friends with Jesus? They lived in Bethany, not far from Jerusalem; Jesus lived briefly in Bethlehem and then in Nazareth, some distance away from Bethany. Together with Mary and Joseph he certainly would have visited Jerusalem each year, but how did he connect with these three? Were they relatives? Did their parents know Joachim and Ann, Mary’s parents, or even Joseph’s parents? I wonder about this, and I marvel at the gift of friendship with Jesus.

It is very likely that Jesus chose to be friends with Mary, Martha and Lazarus, and not the other way around. Why? Because Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Simply consider it for a moment: to be chosen by Jesus to be his friend, to have with Jesus the blending of “honesty with kindness, truth with joy, sweetness with good will, and affection with kind action.”[1] As Jesus chose Mary, Martha and Lazarus to be his friends so he chooses each of us. This truly is a humbling gift if we consider it even for a moment.

Why would Jesus choose to be friends with us? The answer is simple: he chooses us to be his friends because he loves us.

He loves us, not because we are especially good, particularly virtuous, or of any great merit, not because we are useful or even necessary to him; he loves us not, because we are good, but because he is good. He loves us, although we have nothing to offer him; he loves us, even in the ragged raiment of the prodigal son, who is no longer wearing anything lovable.[2]

This is the great wonder of friendship with the One who “is love” (I John 4:16). His friendship is not like our own.

Why did the Lord befriend Mary and Martha and Lazarus? He befriended them because they knew that he loved them – they had heard his words and seen the works he performed - and they “welcomed him” (Luke 10:38). Like those two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Jesus himself drew near” to the three and they said to him, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent” (Luke 24:15, 28). Like Abraham who welcomed the three strangers and put himself at their service, they said to Jesus, “Sir, if I may ask you this favor, please do not go on past your servant. Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest” (Genesis 18:3-4).

As the Lord draws near to us, what is our response? He draws near to us in the Scriptures when they read and whenever they are proclaimed in the Church. He draws near to us in the person of his bishops, priests, and deacons. He draws near to us when the faithful gather together in his name. He draws near to us in the sacraments, especially in the Holy Eucharist. He draws near to us as friend.

When he quietly draws near and speaks to us, when he stands before us, beside us and even within us, how do we respond? Do we recognize his presence and place ourselves at his service? Do we welcome him? Do we invite him to stay with us? Do we listen intently and eagerly to his words? Or do we simply keep walking by in the vain attempt to ignore his call to friendship? Do we truly know who it is who asks our friendship and seeks it out even to the point of giving his life on the Cross?

Woodcut, Urs Graff, 1511

Martha and Mary offer their loving friendship to him each in their own way. Martha follows the way of Sarah, seeing to the duties of hospitality and being “burdened with much serving” (Luke 10:40). Mary follows the way of Saint Paul “to whom God chose to make known the riches of his glory” (Colossians 1:27). The Lord says that “Mary has chosen the better part” – not that Martha has chosen poorly – “and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:42). What does this mean?

Christ Jesus humbled himself and took on our flesh; he became hungry and thirsty as we are (cf. Philippians 2:5-7). The Lord humbled himself to be fed by us whom he came to feed with his own Body and Blood. Saint Augustine tells us that,

with deep concern, [Martha] prepared what the Holy of Holies and his saints would eat and drink in her house. It was an important but transitory work. It will not always be necessary to eat and drink, will it? When we cling to the most pure and perfect Goodness, serving will not be a necessity.[3]

If we are to fault Martha at all, we ought to fault her not because she demonstrated her love through service, but because she failed to follow Paul’s words: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake” (Colossians 1:24).

Amidst the burdens and distractions of serving, Martha complained to the Lord rather than uniting her sufferings with his; but perhaps this is because the Lord had not yet suffered his Passion. Remember that at the death of her brother Lazarus it was Martha who said to Jesus, “And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you” (John 11:22). “Martha’s love was more fervent than Mary’s, for before [Jesus] had arrived there, she was ready to serve him.”[4]

As Martha was busy feeding Jesus, Mary was busy eating what Jesus offered. Saint Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Like Jeremiah who devoured the scroll and found the words he ate to be “a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16), Mary knew that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). She placed herself at his feet, ready to listen, to learn, to follow, and to eat the words he spoke.

Jesus himself is the food, the bread, we need for our pilgrim journey. This is why he gives himself to us in word and sacrament to strengthen us on our way. This is why we sing praise to him, because without his nourishment we could never make the journey. Saint Augustine reminds us that,

at present alleluia is for us a traveler’s song, but this tiresome journey brings us closer to home and rest where, all our busy activities over and done with, the only thing that will remain will be alleluia. That is the delightful part that Mary chose for herself, as she sat doing nothing but learning and praising, while her sister, Martha, was busy with all sorts of things. Indeed, what [Martha] was doing was necessary, but wasn’t going to last.[5]

Let us then, with Mary, choose “the better part” that will not be taken away from us (Luke 10:42). Let us listen intently to the Lord each day, to be friends with him, because we “can find nothing more delightful than God.”[6] Amen.

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[1] Blessed Aelred of Rievaulx, Spiritual Friendship, 20. Lawrence C. Braceland, trans. (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2010), 75.

[2] Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), What It Means to Be a Christian: Three Sermons.  Henry Taylor, trans.  (San Francisco, California: Ignatius Press, 2006), 69.

[3] Saint Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 252.2 in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament III: Luke. Arthur A. Just, Jr., ed., et al.  (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter Varsity Press, 2003), 182.

[4] Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron 8.15 in Ibid., 183.

[5] Saint Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 255.1-2, in Ibid., 183.

[6] Ibid., Sermon 385.

125th Anniversary of the Death of Good Father Gus

The Venerable Servant of God Augustine Tolton died of heat stroke at the age of 43 on this day 125 years ago. Area Catholics gathered in Quincy today to commemorate his death, to seek his intercession, and to pray for his canonization as they have done for the past five years on this day. This year, however, there were a few noticeable differences.

First, the weather could not have been more perfect. Whereas in the past we processed to Father Gus' grave in 90+ temperatures, combined with high humidity, today the temperature hadn't yet reached 80 when we finished our prayers and the humidity was low. It was truly a gift!

Second, instead of praying Morning or Evening Prayer at the grave, we offered the Holy Mass on the Anniversary of Death, celebrated by the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.

As in the past, we gathered at the statue of Father Tolton that stands outside St. Peter's church for an introductory prayer and a few remarks before setting off on foot to the cemetery about a mile away.

We hadn't done so in previous years, but this year we sang the Litany of the Saints as we made our way through the streets of the Gem City.

Once everyone arrived at the cemetery we had some time for them to take their seats and grab a bottle of water if they needed one, as well as time for the Bishop and priests to vest for Mass.

The text of the homily Bishop Paprocki preached follows:

It is good for us to be here today at the grave of the Venerable Servant of God Augustine Tolton to offer the Holy Mass on this 125^th anniversary of his death. We have gathered at his grave because Mother Church holds him up as one worthy of our respect because of his heroic virtue in living the Christian life. But because he has not yet been raised to the dignity of the altars, we have gathered at his grave to ask the Lord that Augustine Tolton, his servant and priest, may “gaze on the Lord’s beauty” with the angels and the saints (Psalm 27:4). We know that Augustine was chastised more than a little throughout his life and so we gather today to implore the Lord God not only to bring him into his heavenly home, but also to give us some sign he has done so, particularly through a miraculous healing attributable to his intercession (cf. Wisdom 3:5; Psalm 27:4).

It is our love for good Father Gus that brings us together today, to make this pilgrimage to the grave of this holy priest. As we do so, we ask the Lord to allow us to imitate the virtue we see exemplified throughout the life of Father Tolton.

Chief among Augustine’s virtues is the virtue of patience, or what the late Father Roy Bauer was fond of calling “long-suffering.” King David encourages each of us to practice this virtue when he says, “Wait for the Lord, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14)! As a boy, Augustine certainly showed a courageous patience when he lived in slavery and when he was taunted by some of his classmates and their parents. As a young man, he showed courageous patience as he was refused acceptance into seminaries and religious communities one after another here in the United States, which fortuitously resulted in his being sent to study for the priesthood in Rome. As a priest, he showed courageous patience when he endured the persecution of one who was supposed to be a priestly brother, which may have been motivated by racism or clerical envy, or both.

In all of these difficult and painful situations, his stout heart paved the way for compassionate love to prevail, just as it did in the life of our Master, Christ Jesus. From his birth until his death, Augustine Tolton suffered with Christ and because of his union with the Crucified Savior we pray that he will “may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17). Here we have to ask what it means to be glorified with Christ.

To be glorified with Christ is to share fully in the Paschal Mystery, in the Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of the Lord Jesus. Each of us has already died and risen with Christ in the saving waters of baptism and have received a share in his divine life. For Father Tolton, this occurred on May 29, 1854, at St. Peter’s church in Brush Creek, Missouri. His sharing in the Paschal Mystery began that day, and now we await the Church’s declaration that it will certainly be completed when the Lord comes to raise us all from the dust of the earth.

If we are to imitate the virtue of Father Tolton, we, too, must seek to be united to the sufferings of Christ throughout our lives so that we might also be glorified with him. A most important way for us to be united to sufferings of Christ is to imitate the courageous patience of Father Tolton, especially in a society that is so quick to rage.

There is unquestionably no shortage of occasions for each of us to practice this same virtue of courageous patience in our own lives. Opportunities for long-suffering abound in our families, in our places of employment, in our schools, and in society generally. What is needed for us is that we be stout-hearted and wait for the Lord, as Augustine did.

Living lives of courageous patience will, by God’s grace, produce in us that same compassionate love that led Father Tolton to welcome whoever came to him, from the greatest to the least brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus (cf. Matthew 25:40). Father Gus’ own day was marked by deep divisions within this nation, some of which have begun to heal, but are still in need of much healing. In our own day, other divisions are become ever wider and are in need of being bridged. Whatever the division, Father Tolton shows us the way forward, the way to advance the coming of the Kingdom of God: courageous patience marked by compassionate love in the manner of the only Redeemer of mankind.

As Bishop of this local Church, I urge each of you to strive to follow Father Tolton’s virtues in your own lives, so that the Gospel may take greater hold in each of our hearts and throughout our nation. I also ask you to continue to ask Father Tolton’s prayers for those who are gravely ill, so that the Lord God may grant a miraculous healing attributable to his intercession. Then we will know Father Tolton to be not simply Venerable, but also Blessed (cf. Matthew 25:34). May God give us this grace. Amen.

Following the Mass, we offered prayers for and to hatred and violence and for priestly vocations through Father Tolton's intercession. We also prayed the official prayer for his canonization.

And, as I always do, I left a small token of aloha at his grave:

Father Gus, pray for us!