Homilies

Back to Homilies menu

The Father shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth.
John 14:16-17

The gift of the spirit which was conferred on the apostles in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost transformed them from a timid band of frightened disciples, huddled together behind locked doors for fear of Jesus’ enemies (John 20:19), into a company of intrepid missionaries, prepared to go to their deaths in proclaiming the gospel of Christ. 
            This change in the apostles would turn the Roman Empire upside down and eventually lead, after the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, to Christianity becoming the state religion, in place of the old pagan gods. 
            Where has all that dynamic energy gone?  Why is Christianity today considered a spent force?  Why do we have empty churches instead of the vast throngs who hung on Peter’s every word, as he preached to them on that first Pentecost (Acts, chapter 2)?
            The reason, I believe, is that the church has lost its sense of mission.  To be more precise, here in the West the church as come to identify its mission with the mission of our liberal, secular democracy. 
            When General Synod met in Montreal nine years ago there were excellent TV reports on the forgiveness of international debt, on neighborly cooperation during a catastrophic ice storm, on aboriginal rights, on the protection of refugees and merchant seamen coming to Canada. 
            These are all worthy causes, in which church has every right and duty to become involved.  But they all have to do with the transformation of society.  Where was the concern for the transformation of the individuals who make up society?  The only thing I heard about individual transformation was a lack-luster report by a church official on evangelism.  The speaker conceded that when it had first been proposed that the 90’s be made the decade of evangelization, he had been opposed to the idea. 
            If the church simply adopts the socio-economic agenda of secular society, it will have made itself redundant.  When I attended my high school reunion some years ago, one of the present students mentioned that although she had been raised a Roman Catholic, she was now practicing Buddhism.  Is this, perhaps, a sign of the times? 
            Christianity used to offer its adherents something which was higher, better, and purer that what they experienced in the ordinary course of their everyday lives.  If people today, especially young people, are turning to the East, is it because they feel that the church has reneged on Christ’s promise: “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10)?
            These reflections are of little use unless we turn the spotlight on ourselves.  Do we feel transformed by our Christian faith, or is it just a habit that we have never outgrown?  The spotty church attendance, even by some of the faithful. suggests that the public worship of God may not be at the top of our agenda. 
            As we grow older and our energy for work in the external world recedes, the call to inner transformation becomes every more urgent.  I would like to close with some words from that great spiritual classic, The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis:

Blessed is the soul which heareth the Lord speaking within her, and from his mouth receiveth the word of consolation.  Blessed are the ears that catch the pulses of the divine whisper.  Blessed are the eyes that are intent on things inward.  Blessed are they that prepare themselves for the receiving of heavenly secrets. Consider those things, O my soul, that they mayest hear what the Lord thy God speaketh in them.

May 27, 2007

back to top