Deacon Steve's Homily - Listening to God - 21st Sunday Ordinary – B

A few weeks ago I had the honor of taking part in a mass presided by a Cardinal.

Cardinal Edwin O’Brien is a past Archbishop of Baltimore and of the Military.

Currently he is the Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Cardinal O’Brien resides in Rome as he carries out his duties.

One of those duties is to take part in papal conclaves to elect a new pope.

Cardinal O’Brien was part of the conclave a few years ago that elected Pope Francis.

During his homily at the mass a few weeks ago, the Cardinal shared a few of his experiences at that conclave.

He told the congregation that all of the Cardinals gathered on the first day and were seated around tables discussing who they thought our next Pope should be.

He said that there were many names brought up with no clear consensus.

In fact, there were almost as many names as there were attendees.

That evening, the Cardinals gathered for prayer to ask God to open their hearts and minds to the will of God.

The prayer went on for hours before they finally retired for the evening.

Cardinal O’Brien shared that the next morning when he awoke the name Jorge Bergoglio was on his mind.

He said that prior to that he didn’t even know who Jorge Bergoglio was.

The Cardinal said that as they were walking to the conclave, there was a mist hovering over the ground that seemed extraordinary.

When the Cardinals gathered, there was an overwhelming peace and sense among many of the Cardinals that one man should be our next Pope.

That man was Jorge Bergoglio, a Cardinal from Argentina.

What a contrast from the first to the second day of the conclave.

After intense prayer and listening to God, the Cardinals voted and elected Jorge Bergoglio as Pope.

Cardinal O’Brien told the congregation that this man was handpicked by God to be our Pope,

to be our pope for this particular time and place in the history of our church and world.  

<pause>

What a great example of listening to God, of listening to the Holy Spirit.

My friends, who is it that we listen to?

We may need to listen to others when seeking advice for finances, what kind of car to buy, what school to attend, or how to deal with a certain situation.

Of course, there are many other areas in which we seek advice and need to listen. 

We seek advice from family, from friends, from professionals, and from our pastors.

As I reflected on today’s readings, I thought about who it is that we listen to.

In our first reading, Joshua challenges the people of Israel to make a decision about who they were going to serve.

He  says to them: ‘Decide today whom you will serve. The Lord our God, or the gods of the Amorites?’  ‘Which is it going to be?’

He then goes on to say: ‘For me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’

Now that was great advice!

The people listened to Joshua and answered: ‘We also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.’

The people made the right choice, didn’t they? They listened to Joshua and followed his advice.

The last few weeks we have been reading from John’s Gospel - what’s known as the Bread of Life discourse.

Jesus made some radical statements about the Eucharist – about eating his body and drinking his blood. 

These were difficult words for the people to accept.

In this week’s gospel we continue reading from John chapter 6.

Jesus says in today’s reading: ‘It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.”

What happens then?  Many of his followers left when he said these words.

They probably left because they were confused and didn’t fully understand what he said.

But the bottom line is that they didn’t listen to his words and they left anyway.

And Jesus asks the apostles: ‘Do you also want to leave?’

Simon Peter answers him: ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

You see, Peter and the other apostles listened to Jesus and began to understand  and live out his words.

They began to live and share the Good News of Jesus.

The Good News, my friends, is really not good news - it’s Great News!

The Great News is that all of us can have ‘eternal life’.

We have a God who loves us beyond our wildest imagination.

We have a God who wants each of us to spend eternity with Him.

Imagine what eternity will be like in the heavenly kingdom in the presence of God himself.

Surrounded by God, surrounded by the one who is pure love!

What can be better than that?

<pause>

Today’s readings remind us that we have a choice to follow God or not.

Do we listen to and take the advice of Joshua and Jesus and follow the Lord?

Or do we follow those who walked away from Jesus?

These are good questions for us to think about today.

My friends, in just a few short minutes, as we come forward to receive our Lord in Holy Communion

Let’s be thankful for the gift of the Eucharist.

And may it strengthen us so that we always listen to and follow Jesus

As we remember Peter’s words to Jesus:

‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’