A Practice Homily: I Believe I Can Fly!

A Little Behind Schedule...

This "Practice Homily" Series is offered in conjunction with my journey towards becoming a Deacon in the Catholic Church. While I still have a little less than a year to go, our formation program has called us to begin writing homilies, or reflections on specific Sunday readings.

Reflection on Sunday Readings - April 28, 2013 (Fifth Sunday of Easter)

Acts 14: 21-27; Psalm145: 8-13; 

Revelations 21: 1-5a; John 13: 31-33a, 34-35

I Believe I Can Fly!

Ever notice that people need process? We love beginnings, middles and ends. No good story can be told, and no good experiment can proceed without them. When you follow a recipe, it is required that you take it step by step, otherwise it doesn’t turn out too well. There are processes for learning, mathematics, physics, grammar, and even understanding relationships. Processes can move us from a general nature to a specific outcome, or move one from specific starting point to a general result. It would seem that once a successful process is observed, it is destined to be used again and again, hopefully with a similar set of results for those using it.

Take science for example. Progress always begins with the promise that something new is possible! The process of using the Scientific Method always begins with a question, like “Why can’t we fly like the birds?” Research and study usually follow, leading us to conclusions like, “Birds can fly because they have wings,” or “humans cannot fly because they do not have wings” are obvious realities, but the process of asking “why?” eventually evolves into “why not?” This is when a hypothesis results; that is a real plan that actually considers the possibility that, in this example, maybe we can fly after all… We just need to have wings, right? Thus experimentation begins… In the case of human flight, we can begin with the ancient Greek myth of the flight of Icarus, and his attaching wings made of feathers and wax to his arms, only to have them melt in the heat of the sun. After such experiments, we can easily conclude that wax does not make for a good base to a set of wings, and that we humans just don’t have the muscle structure or arm strength for all that flapping. But time marched on, and the ancient Chinese found that kites could fly, and Leonardo da Vinci envisioned a flying machine that would ultimately become the helicopter. The French developed and used the hot air balloon, and the Germans get credit for the glider. In our own country’s history, there are of course William and Orville Wright who tested out their own hypotheses regarding human flight. They tested and retested, designed and redesigned many times over, but at 10:35am on December 17, 1903 at Kill Devil Hills on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Wright Brothers first flew their 600 pound powered plane a grand distance of 120 feet in twelve seconds. Since then, in a little more than 100 years, we’ve made this new way of life common place as passenger and cargo flights are now a natural part of our humanity. Why bring all of this to the Altar today? Many people, over many millennia, refused to give up on an idea that maybe we could fly like a bird. For the record, not only can we fly like birds, be we’ve also done a few things that birds cannot do… like go to the moon.

Today’s Word offers us a similar process, with an even more ambitious goal. The hard work of the Apostles sought to make good on the idea, or dare I say the hypothesis that they could make disciples of all nations! They acted with a sense of endurance that called upon their entire strength and the need for continuous study. They lived out their calling, testing and retesting the strategy of serving God’s people and proclaiming the Word. Paul and Barnabas made many such visits to towns along the Way, as they knew that they had to endure and “undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22) They, and all the Apostles were sustained by a sense of promise, and fed by the Eucharist, as they gathered together regularly for worship, for they were empowered by the fact that their actions were worth it, and would indeed “open the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27) truly making disciples of those nations!

The vision of John’s revelation offers us all more than just a promise of a new way of living here on earth, it offers us a new life with a new purpose, and a new heaven that lasts forever and ever. This promise can motivate us, and helps with our work and our journey along the Way. We have the assurance that with Christ “all things [are] new!” (cf. Rev. 21:5) But “all things” also includes new ways of working, and journeying, and sharing the love of God. Today’s Gospel reminds us of some very important advice given to us back on Holy Thursday. If you remember, the Apostles were treated to a very important example that was the key to the process of their work to come, for after Christ had washed their feet, he said, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13: 34-35) The disciples observed the process as it was meant to be. Serve, then share and together do the work of the Lord! Which brings us back to the example of the first reading, and the way that Paul, Barnabas, and the Apostles made the work of the Lord their own. They committed themselves to continuing the process of sharing the Gospel, enduring hardships, and discovering new ways to reach the hearts of those along the Way. Like those who wondered if we could fly, asking the question, “why not”, and beginning that bold new path of discovery that will someday lead us farther into the miracles of God’s time and space, we have the opportunity to continue a much more rewarding journey. If the goal of science is to embrace previous successes through research and study, only to improve upon those successes by taking new risks, and trying new approaches… Then I dare say that our faith can work in the same way, for as the popular song says, I believe we can fly, and I believe we can touch the sky! We stand on the Apostolic tradition of successfully serving, sharing and doing the work of the Lord! Our job is to use our gifts in this day and time, enduring whatever hardships that come our way, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ through our actions, our tweets, and even those phones that go off every now and then during Mass. Let us pray that when we arrive to the end of our own journey, our Church will get together, like those in Lystra, Iconium, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Perga, Attalia, and Antioch, and report what God had done with us and how we have opened the door of faith to the people of our world… After Mass, I have to catch a plane!