Life Restored

Homily for the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Deacon Thomas Stephenson

June 5, 2016

Today is the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary time. We finished the Easter Season on Pentecost, and have been in Ordinary time for three weeks now; but we celebrated Trinity Sunday two weeks ago, and Corpus Christi last Sunday, so the last time we actually had Mass for a Sunday in Ordinary time was February 7th. Although we don’t usually give Ordinary time much thought, it’s worth taking a minute to consider it. Ordinary time covers the periods of the year that fall between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, and then between Pentecost and the First Sunday of Advent. Just because we call this time period ordinary does not mean that it is not important. Just as the natural seasons are essential to our mortal lives, all of the liturgical seasons are necessary for our spiritual lives. Pope Paul VI said “The celebration of the Liturgical Year has a special sacramental power…which nourishes and strengthens the life of Christians…(t)he Liturgical Year is to help believers, through their faith, hope, and love, to share more fully in the entire mystery of Christ as it is unfolding throughout the year”. As we attend Mass faithfully every Sunday, attentively listen to the Word of God, and reverently worship the Lord, we can recognize how each Sunday connects with the previous and following Sundays, and help us to live our faith throughout the week.

In Ordinary Time, we also hear Gospel readings of events in Jesus’ life that may not specifically be connected to another season, but that in some way reveal His power or teaching. The focus of today’s Gospel is the restoring to life of the son of a widow, which directly parallels what we heard in the first reading, of Elijah asking God to restore the life of the son of the widow of Zarephath. These passages are similar, but they are not identical. Jesus recognized the need of the widow of Nain on His own; He wasn’t requested to do anything, while Elijah had to implore God three times to raise the son of the widow of Zarephath. In the Middle East of ancient times, being a widow meant relying on male relatives, primarily sons, for support. The death of the only son would have left these women not only grieving their loss; it would also have left them facing a challenge to even survive. In the case of the widow of Zarephath, the area had been experiencing a drought, (you can read the preceding parts of the First Book of Kings to find the reason for the drought), so that would have made things even more difficult for her. We can imagine that the situation would have been similar, if not quite as dire, for the widow of Nain. In both cases, the Lord had compassion for these women, restoring their sons to life, and returning each son to his mother.

In His mercy, Jesus has come to also restore us to life. He told us “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. Have we been dead? Are we dead? We may be breathing, living in the ways that are obvious to us – and yet we may need to have our spiritual life restored, in ways that are obvious to the Lord. That is why Jesus gave us the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to restore our spiritual life when we are dead because of sin. And, we have the Eucharist, to help us maintain our life, for as Jesus said, “he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life”. At some point, all of us will die physically. But through Jesus, we may have everlasting life with Him.

Let’s return to widows for a moment. In chapter six of the Acts of the Apostles, the first deacons were chosen in large part because the widows, especially the Greek-speaking ones, were being neglected. As mentioned earlier, widows were among the most vulnerable people of that time, and the early Church was offering them assistance. But that assistance was often not reaching where it was needed. So the Apostles decided to have seven men, the first deacons, appointed to assist in distributing food to those widows, and the diaconate has grown from there. The word deacon is an English variation of the Greek word for servant, and that is mainly what deacons are ordained for – service. Much of that service involves the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In the case of the first deacons, their initial task was taking care of the widows, feeding the hungry. And one thing that many deacons are currently involved with is prison ministry, another corporal work of mercy, visiting the imprisoned. You may recall that, for the first five years after I was ordained, I worked with prisoners who had just been released, helping them to reintegrate into society. Many other deacons in our diocese are active inside the prison on Innes Road, visiting prisoners and conducting prayer services for the inmates. In a few minutes, we will see a video about visiting the imprisoned. Most of us would be able to do this, and there are organizations such as the John Howard Society for men and Elizabeth Fry for women that could use your help if you are so inclined. Whether still in prison or recently released, these people need our help if they are to have a chance to not re-offend and a hope of becoming stable, productive members of society. Even from a strictly practical viewpoint, it does us no good if these people continue to be forced to live on the margins of society. They need our help, and the Lord’s help, to be restored. Please listen to the video carefully, with an open mind and an open heart.

Next Sunday, as Ordinary time continues, we will hear once again of the mercy and compassion Jesus has for repentant sinners, restoring them to life from spiritual death. May God bless us and restore us, so that we too, may have eternal life with Him.