Today we mark
a new chapter in St. Luke’s mission
and a new chapter in Fr. Antonio’s
priestly vocation.
We mark the
convergence of St. Luke’s mission
and Fr. Antonio’s vocation.
Today they
come together as one.
This is the
point in the story when St. Luke’s and Fr. Antonio
make common cause, work hand in hand.
But this
chapter is part of a larger story.
It begins
with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
It begins
with a spiritual jolt to the universe.
God slapped
our chest with Jesus,
like defibrillator paddles shocking
us into life.
Our story
begins with Jesus who by every word, every healing,
every forgiveness, by his death and
by his rising,
planted seeds of the
Kingdom of God in our midst.
Jesus was
the cosmic game change.
We were on
collision course with death.
Jesus
knocked us off that course with truth and mercy
stronger than death.
He cracked
the shell so grace could get in.
But all of that
just started the process.
The Kingdom
of God, the reign of truth and love,
just began there.
This
darkened world has been infiltrated
by a ray of light, but is still a
darkened world.
Violence
from Washington, DC and Zamboanga
to Nairobi, Mombasa, Adra, Cairo, Islamabad,
Chicago, and our own streets
reminds us that this
world, although infiltrated by God,
is still as C. S. Lewis
said, “in enemy hands.”
In the face
of so much cause for despair,
it might be easy to forget that ray
of light.
As Blessed
John said, “The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome
it.”
Our job is
to be the bearers of that light, here now, in the darkness.
Down through
the years, the saints have reminded us
of the light and that we are called to walk in that light.
This weekend we commemorate St. Francis of Assisi,
with his immortal prayer,
“Make me an instrument of your
peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow
love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light.”
These are
beautiful words about the light.
But their
value is to remind us to walk in the light.
St. John
said “Let us love not with words or speech,
but with deeds and truth. . . .
Whoever has the world’s goods and
sees his brother in need
and closes his heart against him,
how does the love of God abide in
him.”
Christianity
is not an idea in our heads.
It is action
with our hands.
It is the
action of peace standing up against war,
love standing up against hatred.
It is what
we do in our homes, at our jobs,
in the church, in our communities
as we participate in the world.
We all
participate in the world.
We walk
about in it every day
with our hearts open or closed,
our eyes open or closed,
our hands open or closed.
Churches are
the ongoing incarnation of Christ.
St. Theresa
of Avila said,
“Christ has no body but yours,
no hands, no feet on earth but
yours.
Yours are the eyes with which he
looks compassion on the world.
Yours are the hands. Yours are the
feet. You are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours.”
We are to be
the Body of Christ here and now.
Here in
Nevada, where we have
the
3rd worst school drop out rate in the nation,
here where more women per capita die
in domestic violence than in any
other state,
now when 750,000
elderly American women live on less than $15 per day,
now when
11.5 million of us live under fear of deportation,
this is the time, this is place
we are to be the light of Christ.
Ours are the
hands; ours, the feet; ours, the eyes.
Christ has
no body now but ours.
This matters
for how we treat each other at home.
It matters
for how we treat each other at work.
It matters
for whether we raise our voices for justice
or sit by silently in the face of a
merciless system
that chooses to close the government rather than
afford medical care for the poor.
This Church
is the place where we will be formed for mission.
It is not
automatic that a Church will do
what Christ created the Church to do.
Some churches
teach hatred.
Far more are
private little enclaves of like-minded people
pretending the rest of the world
isn’t there.
If each of
us individually falls short of the glory of God each day,
so does the Church.
But after we
fall, by the grace of God, we get back up
and resume God’s mission.
This church is
the place where we learn how to turn hatred to love,
injury to pardon, error to truth,
doubt to faith.
Fr. Antonio
is not here to do these things on behalf of the Church.
He is here
to coach the church to do these things.
When St.
Theresa said, “Christ has no body now but yours,”
she was not talking to a priest.
She was
talking to the laity, to you brothers and sisters, to you.
For this
Church to be the Body of Christ in Las Vegas,
it will take every one of us doing
our part.
No part is
too small.
Ironing the
altar linens is not too small.
Greeting
people at the door is essential.
When
Nevadans for the Common Good meets to work on immigration
or school drop outs or to support the
vulnerable elderly,
we need some of you there – not just the priest,
not just your usual representatives
– though we are grateful for them.
We need new
faces from St. Luke’s bearing the Christ light in Las Vegas.
Now here’s
the kicker.
When the new
Kingdom showed its face as the Early Church,
the first generation of Christians,
it showed up multiculturally – as
Jews and Gentile
serving God together,
having become one in Christ.
As Paul
said,
“In Christ there is neither Greek
nor Jew,
neither slave nor free,
mal
and there is no male and female
for you are all one in
Christ.”
I now say to you, as a word from the Lord,
“In Christ there is neither Filipino
nor Latino,
neither Republican nor
Democrat,
and there is no straight and gay.
For all are one in Christ.”
This is how
we see God’s Kingdom breaking into the darkened world.
When old
divisions rear their heads,
It is the fighting back of the old
system of domination.
When you
join hands across the lines of old divisions,
that is God happening here and now.
Fr. Antonio
is here to help you find your part in Jesus’ mission
and to help you bridge differences for his sake .
Fr. Antonio
is here to guide you and to help each of you
find your part -- not to draft you into it,
not to coerce you into it,
but to help you find
your part.
This is where
it stands.
The world is
broken, in pain, groaning under the heel of oppression.
But God,
through Christ Jesus, has infiltrated the world for our salvation.
He has
infused the power of grace and mercy.
Christ Jesus
is the tip of a wedge that will split the power of evil asunder.
But we are
the wedge. We are the only wedge.
We place our
trust in God. Praise Jesus.
But don’t
forget God has placed his trust in us.
