3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Life is Beautiful” Mass
Basilica of the Assumption
January 24, 2021
Note: Audio of this homily is posted at the end of this page.
Is the Call to Repentance Harsh and Unkind?
In today’s Scripture readings, both Jonah and Jesus call us to repentance …. Repentance: a notion that many people find chilling, harsh, and off-putting. A public relations firm might have advised Jonah and Jesus not to lead with a message of repentance, but rather, to start with something softer, something more appealing to their audiences, something likely to win over the public. The would-be advisors of Jonah and Jesus might also say that, later on, they could cautiously introduce some idea not unlike repentance, but those advisors would carefully gauge the public’s reaction to that debatable idea.
Come to think of it, if we were advising Jonah and Jesus we might say the same thing. We might tell them that repentance is, for sure, necessary, but if they lead with it, they’ll turn a lot of people off. They will come across as unfeeling and angry—in a word, a scold, and nobody likes a scold.
Jonah and Jesus Call Us to Repentance
Neither Jonah nor Jesus would have followed such advice. For, they understood that repentance, while not easy, is something beautiful. Turning one’s life around, away from sin and towards the face of God is – beautiful. Yes, it requires that we uproot false ideas and vices; part with friends and colleagues; endure withering criticism; and undergo an emotional and spiritual catharsis. Yet, it is this process of repentance and purification, that opens our eyes to God’s love, and frees us, perhaps for the first time ever, to embrace God’s truth and love.
Convinced that his mission was good and life-giving, Jonah went about the very large city of Nineveh preaching repentance. His missionary journey was all the more remarkable because Nineveh was not a city of believers, but rather the heart of the pagan Assyrian Empire. Nonetheless, everyone in Nineveh repented, from the great to the small. Was Nineveh better off for having repented? The biblical verdict is clear: Yes it was! It became a place of peace and goodness, of justice and love.
As Jesus utters his first public words: “repent and believe”, he takes up, not only the theme of Jonah, but also of John the Baptist. Yet, those same words, coming directly from the mouth of the Savior, are different. As one author put it, “When Jesus himself repeats those same words …, he speaks them as the Light that has dawned over every people, [and] over every individual squatting helplessly in the darkness…” (E-M, Fire of Mercy, p. 158). Repentance, this author goes on to say, is more than a call for moral reform, but rather a recognition of the compelling presence of God standing before us (Ibid). To transition from darkness to light, from sin to grace, from death to life is difficult. Yet, repentance is beautiful because it means we’ve turned our face towards the One who is all good, all beautiful, all truthful, all loving – the author and lover of our life.
We Are to Call Our Nation to Conversion
In our day, any suggestion that our nation needs to repent is considered harsh and ugly. Any suggestion that our nation need to turn away from laws and policies that violate human dignity and result in the destruction of innocent human life – is regarded as inappropriate or even an extremist attack on national unity. Other voices would say that such a call violates the separation of church and state, in that it amounts to an imposition of religious teaching on secular society. Yet, when Jonah went through Nineveh, he called the people of that city to follow the law of God written in their hearts – just as the command, “Thou shalt not kill” is written on every human heart, no matter how confused or how muddled any given heart might be.
And so, it is a courageous and beautiful exercise of our freedom of expression to proclaim to those in power and to our fellow citizens that life itself is beautiful, and that, therefore, as a nation, we need to repent of the destruction of the unborn. These little ones have the preeminent claim on our consciences not because of political ideology but because they are most vulnerable of all. It is a beautiful thing to bring about a moral awakening in our society that will lead to justice for the unborn and thus for many others who are vulnerable. Reawakening to the beauty of the unborn will reawaken our love for their mothers, and will help open our eyes to dignity of the chronically and terminally ill, the dignity of immigrants, victims of racism, even those slated for capital punishment. How beautiful if we were to become that society which leaves no neighbor behind!
Jesus’ words, “repent and believe” are even more beautiful and life giving than Jonah’s. For the One who spoke those words is author and redeemer of human life, the One in whose image we are made, the One who sustains our existence . . . the Son of God who became one of us, assuming our very humanity. Therefore, do not the words, “Repent and believe”, spoken from Jesus’ lips, shine the spotlight of divine glory on the immeasurable worth of every person, at every stage of life, from the moment of conception until natural death? For any and all who claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior, for any and all who claim to be a part of his Body, the Church, Jesus’ words open our eyes still wider to the beauty of human life, for by them we come to understand that God loves all persons to such a degree that he seeks to unite himself to them and to befriend them, eternally, in heaven.
We Are Called to Be Disciples and Pro-Life Missionaries
If we can agree that the call to repentance on behalf of life is good and beautiful, then the question arises, who will deliver this call? In today’s Gospel, Jesus called Peter, James, Andrew, and John to follow him with the intention of forming them into his apostles, apostles whom he would send to the ends of the earth with his message of repentance and redemption . . . . Accordingly, bishops, successors of the Apostles, and their co-workers, priests and deacons, must surely be the bearers of Jesus’ call to repentance in our day, as also witnesses to the truth, goodness, and beauty of unborn life and every life. Yet, the call of Jesus to be his messengers does not stop with those who are ordained. The Lord calls every member of his Church to bear witness to the beauty of life and in so doing, to call to repentance all those who lead or support the culture of death. As messengers of the beauty of life, we will be criticized and resisted, yet in the power of God’s grace, let us persevere.
Today, at this Mass we will honor effective and courageous disciples of the Lord, who, by word and deed, convey the message that life is beautiful – Helen Alvaré together with John and Cathy Stephano. As we learn of their unstinting work in promoting a culture of life, let us be inspired, first, to respond the Lord’s call to repentance, and second, to become ourselves messengers of the beauty of life. As we spread this message far and wide, we will be doing something good and beautiful, for we are advancing in our midst, in our own time and place, the Kingdom of God. May Mary, the Mother of a Redeemed Humanity, pray with us and for us, as we undertake our missionary journey for life, seeking to convince as many as possible that life is indeed beautiful. May God bless us and keep us always in his love!