Negotiating The Trials Of Life
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series I, Cycle B
"In the seventh year of his reign, two days before his sixty-fifth birthday, in the presence of a full consistory of cardinals, Jean Marie Barette, Pope Gregory XVII, signed an instrument of abdication, took off the Fisherman's ring, handed his seal to the Cardinal Camerlengo and made a curt speech of farewell." So begins the power novel The Clowns of God, the second volume of a trilogy of tales about popes and faith written by Morris West, the Australian-born author. In the story the Pope has seen a vision of the Second Coming. He feels that the message of Christ's return must be promulgated throughout the world. Therefore, he gathers his closest advisors, the curia and college of cardinals, and asks their advice. They tell him that such a message cannot be published. "It will throw the world into a panic," they claim. The Pope is confused but feels that he has only one alternative; he must be true to himself. Thus, he decides to abdicate his position. This he does, placing himself under the obedience of an abbot in a monastery outside of Rome.
After one week at the monastery, Jean Marie receives his first visitor. His name is Carl Mendelius, a long-time friend and former Jesuit priest, who now as a married man is teaching theology in a prestigious German university. The two friends speak and begin to map out a strategy for the promulgation of Jean Marie's vision to the world.
The plan is foiled, however, before it can be enacted. Mendelius, working in Germany, is felled by a letter bomb sent by a would-be assassin just as he made ready to present the text of the message to a group of the world's scholars. Meanwhile, Jean Marie, in England to give a speech that will reveal the message, suffers a severe heart attack. As he clings to life in a London hospital, the former pope receives a strange visitor. The man is young, about thirty years old. He is tall, strong, and speaks with a Middle Eastern accent, although his origin seems a mystery. He wears a beautiful and ancient ring which has inscribed on it the Christian symbol of a fish. This man calls himself Mr. Atha. The stranger tells Jean Marie that he must persevere but that the message which he feels must be told is already present if people will only recognize it.
Several weeks later Jean Marie returns to his native France to recuperate fully. One day he goes for a walk in Parisian park. He sits down and observes the scene. There is a group of children playing nearby. They are a special group; they are mentally handicapped. He sees that these children each day live a great trial of faith, and they don't even realize it. These children live for the moment and endure their handicap with no fear and apparent concern. In this experience Jean Marie begins to realize that the essential message of his vision is to accept God's plan and to endure the trials of faith. He can see this in the unpretentious lives of these children whom he calls the "Clowns of God."
Months later Jean Marie is present with his new-found friends, the Clowns of God. They have gone to a remote mountain villa to celebrate the Christmas feast. To this isolated place Mr. Atha comes quite unexpectedly. Jesus, the Christ, has returned as was predicted to claim his own. Jean Marie has endured the great trial of faith and discovered God in the process.
Morris West's epic tale illustrates an important lesson in every human life, namely the need to persevere, to maneuver through the maze of life, a journey which only seems to become more complex with time. Summoning the courage and strength to navigate the ofttimes troublesome waters of daily life is not easy, but in securing assistance we can generally count on our brothers and sisters, the Christian community, and we can always count on God. When the path we need to trod is strewn with obstacles and hurdles we may despair, but we need not knowing others will help. We need to negotiate these trials of faith with others at our side.
It is hard to imagine the difficulty of the life of the first followers of Jesus. The apostles and the other disciples of Jesus, like their ancestors during the period of the patriarchs, Abraham and Moses, lived in a very hostile environment that was not open to their presence or the message given them by God to promulgate. Some of the trials most assuredly came from the community's lack of acceptability by the ruling forces or possibly its forced ostracization from the elite. Because the forces around them were numerous and powerful, the people banded together to gain strength from their numbers. The Acts of the Apostles tells us that the fledgling Christian community was united in mind and heart. The unity of the community helped its members endure the great trials that came their way. The people needed each other and they were happy to express that necessity in their lives.
Peter, who we hear in today's lesson giving a speech to Jewish leaders, was converted to the knowledge of a higher reality in his life and gained a greater depth of faith through the miracle of the resurrection. Peter had endured several trials of faith as reported in the Gospels. He could not understand Jesus' need to suffer and die and he abandoned the Lord when he needed him most through his infamous three denials. Now, after the resurrection, Peter is a new man. He speaks out fearlessly in his speech, which is similar in several ways to the one delivered on the day of Pentecost. Peter begins by correcting the false impression that he was responsible for the renewed health of the crippled beggar. He then says that God glorified Jesus, but the Jerusalem Jews nonetheless handed him over to Pilate. Lastly, Peter invites the Jewish leaders who were responsible for Jesus' death to repent and return to God. Peter's new resurrected faith gives him the strength and courage to carry out his mission as a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ.
The speech which Peter makes in Solomon's Portico has one additional dimension that is critical -- an emphasis on faith. Peter's newly-found resurrected faith was necessary for him to negotiate the trials of life that would come his way. He was successful in his mission because he could count on the help of his fellow disciples and most especially Jesus. He was able to do miraculous things, such as the cure of the crippled beggar, because, as we are told by Saint Luke, the name of Jesus has great power. Jesus' glorification and resurrection brought great power to the name. It was Peter's great faith in the name of Jesus, in turn, that brought healing to the beggar.
The Jews whom Peter addresses serve as a contrast to the great faith of the apostle. These religious leaders rejected Jesus, even when the Procurator Pilate was ready to release him. In a great twist of irony, the Jews ask for the life of an insurrectionist and murderer, Barrabas, to be spared, while they, in turn, are responsible for the execution murder of Jesus. Thus, Peter calls for repentance as the first step for the Jews to get their lives back on track, so they can safely navigate through the maze of trials that life will bring. The Jewish leaders will need faith in the resurrection as well.
Easter is a season that provides the opportunity to ponder the resurrection and to discover how this greatest event in all salvation history can be transformative in the renewal of our faith. All of us, to a lesser or greater extent, need to have our faith deepened; it needs to be made more full and complete. This can happen when we allow the resurrection to make a difference in our lives, to be more than an event, but a way of living our life. There is no question that Peter and the other disciples of Jesus possessed faith before the resurrection. Without faith it would have been impossible for any of them to have answered the call to be followers of the Lord. We recall that the Gospel evangelists tell us that the apostles "immediately left everything" to become his disciples. This could not have happened without faith. Yet, there is no question that the resurrection transformed them; the disciples became new creations in their resurrected faith. They were given a renewed faith that would be necessary to negotiate through the vicissitudes, hurdles, and obstacles of the Christian life.
We have many trials of faith that come our way. God throws many curve balls in our direction. People, circumstances, and situations enter out lives and become great trials of faith. In baseball when a pitcher throws a curve, batters tend to bail out of the batter's box, fearful that they may be hit by the pitch, but we must stand our ground when God throws the curve that might throw us off course or off stride. We need to make solid contact with the pitch and we can only do so by meeting the curve head on and refusing to bail out of the batter's box.
What are the trials of faith that have come your way? For some the great trial might be one's day-to-day nine to five job. We work very hard each day and believe that our efforts are not appreciated, possibly not even noticed. Sometimes a person or situation at work is troublesome and makes our time on the job a real cross. There are times as well when we might not receive the raise we know we deserve or, as unfortunately happens sometimes, we lose our job. Many people have the trial of a sick family member, friend, or associate that takes its toll on them. We must make extra time that we simply do not have to be with someone at the hour of need. Sometimes trials of ill-health end in death. At these times we are not sure what to do or where to turn. The trial and the pain it brings seems insurmountable. For some people the great trial may be a personal failure, either in a task, a relationship, or a commitment. If we fail to meet our own personal goals, we often become disheartened and get down on ourselves. If we are not careful, this can lead to self-doubt or, worse still, a poor self-image. When we realize that we have let down someone and our failure cost others in some way, we feel poorly and seek a way to right ourselves. There are those times as well when the great trial is our relationship with God. We wonder why God does not listen, act on our behalf, or grant our requests in the manner and time we know is correct. We become frustrated, even angry with God, creating a rift that leads us, for a time, to choose not to communicate with the source of all love and goodness.
Trials of faith will come our way, in different ways, varied forms, and multiple occasions. How will we respond? Jean Marie Barette was able to endure his great trial of faith through the example of the Clowns of God, whose unpretentious nature and ability to live for the moment taught him some important lessons for life. In a similar way, after the resurrection, Peter had need for greater faith, for the tasks he was assigned were monumental. He realized he could rely on the fledgling Christian community and most especially upon Jesus. There are people who help us, as well, to find our way through the maze of faith's trials. We, like the first disciples, need to build community; we need to help one another. We need to return to the Lord and seek our strength and solace in him. If we have even the slightest doubt of God's abiding presence, love, and care for us, picture this image. It is a hot summer day and a little girl stands on the edge of a big swimming pool. She looks down at the shimmering water and is filled with fear because she knows the water is deep and she cannot swim. She begins to cry. Then she lifts her eyes slightly and she sees her mother with arms outstretched. Mom says, "Go ahead; jump in. There is nothing to fear. I will save you and hold you up." In a similar way, Jesus has his arms outstretched on the cross, and he says to all of us, "Go ahead; take a chance with me. Jump in; I will save you. I will bring you to eternal life."
After one week at the monastery, Jean Marie receives his first visitor. His name is Carl Mendelius, a long-time friend and former Jesuit priest, who now as a married man is teaching theology in a prestigious German university. The two friends speak and begin to map out a strategy for the promulgation of Jean Marie's vision to the world.
The plan is foiled, however, before it can be enacted. Mendelius, working in Germany, is felled by a letter bomb sent by a would-be assassin just as he made ready to present the text of the message to a group of the world's scholars. Meanwhile, Jean Marie, in England to give a speech that will reveal the message, suffers a severe heart attack. As he clings to life in a London hospital, the former pope receives a strange visitor. The man is young, about thirty years old. He is tall, strong, and speaks with a Middle Eastern accent, although his origin seems a mystery. He wears a beautiful and ancient ring which has inscribed on it the Christian symbol of a fish. This man calls himself Mr. Atha. The stranger tells Jean Marie that he must persevere but that the message which he feels must be told is already present if people will only recognize it.
Several weeks later Jean Marie returns to his native France to recuperate fully. One day he goes for a walk in Parisian park. He sits down and observes the scene. There is a group of children playing nearby. They are a special group; they are mentally handicapped. He sees that these children each day live a great trial of faith, and they don't even realize it. These children live for the moment and endure their handicap with no fear and apparent concern. In this experience Jean Marie begins to realize that the essential message of his vision is to accept God's plan and to endure the trials of faith. He can see this in the unpretentious lives of these children whom he calls the "Clowns of God."
Months later Jean Marie is present with his new-found friends, the Clowns of God. They have gone to a remote mountain villa to celebrate the Christmas feast. To this isolated place Mr. Atha comes quite unexpectedly. Jesus, the Christ, has returned as was predicted to claim his own. Jean Marie has endured the great trial of faith and discovered God in the process.
Morris West's epic tale illustrates an important lesson in every human life, namely the need to persevere, to maneuver through the maze of life, a journey which only seems to become more complex with time. Summoning the courage and strength to navigate the ofttimes troublesome waters of daily life is not easy, but in securing assistance we can generally count on our brothers and sisters, the Christian community, and we can always count on God. When the path we need to trod is strewn with obstacles and hurdles we may despair, but we need not knowing others will help. We need to negotiate these trials of faith with others at our side.
It is hard to imagine the difficulty of the life of the first followers of Jesus. The apostles and the other disciples of Jesus, like their ancestors during the period of the patriarchs, Abraham and Moses, lived in a very hostile environment that was not open to their presence or the message given them by God to promulgate. Some of the trials most assuredly came from the community's lack of acceptability by the ruling forces or possibly its forced ostracization from the elite. Because the forces around them were numerous and powerful, the people banded together to gain strength from their numbers. The Acts of the Apostles tells us that the fledgling Christian community was united in mind and heart. The unity of the community helped its members endure the great trials that came their way. The people needed each other and they were happy to express that necessity in their lives.
Peter, who we hear in today's lesson giving a speech to Jewish leaders, was converted to the knowledge of a higher reality in his life and gained a greater depth of faith through the miracle of the resurrection. Peter had endured several trials of faith as reported in the Gospels. He could not understand Jesus' need to suffer and die and he abandoned the Lord when he needed him most through his infamous three denials. Now, after the resurrection, Peter is a new man. He speaks out fearlessly in his speech, which is similar in several ways to the one delivered on the day of Pentecost. Peter begins by correcting the false impression that he was responsible for the renewed health of the crippled beggar. He then says that God glorified Jesus, but the Jerusalem Jews nonetheless handed him over to Pilate. Lastly, Peter invites the Jewish leaders who were responsible for Jesus' death to repent and return to God. Peter's new resurrected faith gives him the strength and courage to carry out his mission as a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ.
The speech which Peter makes in Solomon's Portico has one additional dimension that is critical -- an emphasis on faith. Peter's newly-found resurrected faith was necessary for him to negotiate the trials of life that would come his way. He was successful in his mission because he could count on the help of his fellow disciples and most especially Jesus. He was able to do miraculous things, such as the cure of the crippled beggar, because, as we are told by Saint Luke, the name of Jesus has great power. Jesus' glorification and resurrection brought great power to the name. It was Peter's great faith in the name of Jesus, in turn, that brought healing to the beggar.
The Jews whom Peter addresses serve as a contrast to the great faith of the apostle. These religious leaders rejected Jesus, even when the Procurator Pilate was ready to release him. In a great twist of irony, the Jews ask for the life of an insurrectionist and murderer, Barrabas, to be spared, while they, in turn, are responsible for the execution murder of Jesus. Thus, Peter calls for repentance as the first step for the Jews to get their lives back on track, so they can safely navigate through the maze of trials that life will bring. The Jewish leaders will need faith in the resurrection as well.
Easter is a season that provides the opportunity to ponder the resurrection and to discover how this greatest event in all salvation history can be transformative in the renewal of our faith. All of us, to a lesser or greater extent, need to have our faith deepened; it needs to be made more full and complete. This can happen when we allow the resurrection to make a difference in our lives, to be more than an event, but a way of living our life. There is no question that Peter and the other disciples of Jesus possessed faith before the resurrection. Without faith it would have been impossible for any of them to have answered the call to be followers of the Lord. We recall that the Gospel evangelists tell us that the apostles "immediately left everything" to become his disciples. This could not have happened without faith. Yet, there is no question that the resurrection transformed them; the disciples became new creations in their resurrected faith. They were given a renewed faith that would be necessary to negotiate through the vicissitudes, hurdles, and obstacles of the Christian life.
We have many trials of faith that come our way. God throws many curve balls in our direction. People, circumstances, and situations enter out lives and become great trials of faith. In baseball when a pitcher throws a curve, batters tend to bail out of the batter's box, fearful that they may be hit by the pitch, but we must stand our ground when God throws the curve that might throw us off course or off stride. We need to make solid contact with the pitch and we can only do so by meeting the curve head on and refusing to bail out of the batter's box.
What are the trials of faith that have come your way? For some the great trial might be one's day-to-day nine to five job. We work very hard each day and believe that our efforts are not appreciated, possibly not even noticed. Sometimes a person or situation at work is troublesome and makes our time on the job a real cross. There are times as well when we might not receive the raise we know we deserve or, as unfortunately happens sometimes, we lose our job. Many people have the trial of a sick family member, friend, or associate that takes its toll on them. We must make extra time that we simply do not have to be with someone at the hour of need. Sometimes trials of ill-health end in death. At these times we are not sure what to do or where to turn. The trial and the pain it brings seems insurmountable. For some people the great trial may be a personal failure, either in a task, a relationship, or a commitment. If we fail to meet our own personal goals, we often become disheartened and get down on ourselves. If we are not careful, this can lead to self-doubt or, worse still, a poor self-image. When we realize that we have let down someone and our failure cost others in some way, we feel poorly and seek a way to right ourselves. There are those times as well when the great trial is our relationship with God. We wonder why God does not listen, act on our behalf, or grant our requests in the manner and time we know is correct. We become frustrated, even angry with God, creating a rift that leads us, for a time, to choose not to communicate with the source of all love and goodness.
Trials of faith will come our way, in different ways, varied forms, and multiple occasions. How will we respond? Jean Marie Barette was able to endure his great trial of faith through the example of the Clowns of God, whose unpretentious nature and ability to live for the moment taught him some important lessons for life. In a similar way, after the resurrection, Peter had need for greater faith, for the tasks he was assigned were monumental. He realized he could rely on the fledgling Christian community and most especially upon Jesus. There are people who help us, as well, to find our way through the maze of faith's trials. We, like the first disciples, need to build community; we need to help one another. We need to return to the Lord and seek our strength and solace in him. If we have even the slightest doubt of God's abiding presence, love, and care for us, picture this image. It is a hot summer day and a little girl stands on the edge of a big swimming pool. She looks down at the shimmering water and is filled with fear because she knows the water is deep and she cannot swim. She begins to cry. Then she lifts her eyes slightly and she sees her mother with arms outstretched. Mom says, "Go ahead; jump in. There is nothing to fear. I will save you and hold you up." In a similar way, Jesus has his arms outstretched on the cross, and he says to all of us, "Go ahead; take a chance with me. Jump in; I will save you. I will bring you to eternal life."
