Homily for Thursday, 4th Week of Easter

Homily for Thursday
4th Week of Easter

May 16, 2019

Collect
Nativity, Washington, D.C.

“You restore human nature to yet greater dignity than at its beginnings” (Collect).

In the beginning, men and women had the dignity of having been created in God’s image (Gen 1:27).  Now—in the Easter season—we praise God for restoring that, because sin had spoiled the image, like slashing a priceless painting.

Being raised to Christian dignity:

St. Patrick baptizes a pagan Irish king

(St. Catharine Church, Spring Lake, N.J.)

But the prayer speaks of “yet greater dignity”—greater than being an image of God.  What dignity could be greater?  The dignity of being his adopted children, members of his family, because of our intimate relationship with his true Son, Jesus Christ.

We come then to the actual prayer.  We plead with God to “look upon the amazing mystery of your loving kindness.”  It is amazing that God should do for us sinners what he has done, take us back and even upgrade our status.  Come on up from coach to first class!  And he’s done so out of “loving kindness,” out of his own benevolence toward us, as undeserved as it is.

We ask this further grace:  that God “preserve the gifts of your enduring grace and blessing” in “those you have chosen to make new through the wonder of rebirth.”  Our restored and upgraded dignity is that rebirth of which Jesus spoke to Nicodemus (John 3:1-8); we’ve been born again, given a new life, thru the resurrection of Jesus.  The former translation of this prayer emphasized that this “rebirth” refers to Baptism, and “those chosen” are the newly baptized.  But all of us have been baptized, so in truth the prayer speaks for all of us.  We share in Jesus’ new life thru “water and the Holy Spirit,” thru the water of Baptism and thru the whole sacramental life of Christ’s Church, in which the Holy Spirit always plays a vital role, as you can note, for instance, at the consecration of the bread and wine at Mass.

All this is by God’s choice, by his having chosen us.  At the Last Supper, Jesus told the apostles, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16).  We may think it’s our decision, but it’s only our response to the gift that he offers.  Would you like to be given eternal life, eternal happiness?  Jesus offers it to you!  Please say yes!

We need God’s help to say yes day after day, as all of us know.  There are days when we don’t quite feel like saying yes.  So we pray that he preserve his gift in us.  The Church has always advised us to pray for the gift of perseverance:  that God’s grace endure in us thru holy lives, that God’s blessing go with us all our lives and into eternal life.