IT'S GOING TO SNOW! Fr Tom's homily for 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Its amazing how much energy gets generated by the threat of a big snowstorm.  Some are scared, some are annoyed, some are overjoyed at the prospect of a snowy day.  It is funny because we live in the Northeast and a nor easter is nothing new or out of the ordinary.  We have been getting them for years and we survive.  Besides, how much milk and bread does one person need for a couple of days?  I remember one of the blizzards of the 1960’s and walking to Mass when the storm ended.  I was excited because I could wear my snow boots and jeans!

How can we generate the same amount of energy about Jesus and his mission?  Maybe like the snowstorm it means we must change our habits and realize to follow Jesus is often inconvenient and challenging.  I am sure Peter and those on the shore of the lake had the same feelings.   Imagine Peter’s thoughts: I have a good business here and he wants me to give up?  How will I feed my wife and family?  I have a house and he wants me to travel and maybe sleep outside.  Peter and the others could have said: thanks, but I am good. 

To follow Jesus and to live his message is exciting.  On Monday night, I preached about the small ones who made great differences because of their energy.  Daniel against the Philistines, Francis of Assisi and his father, Carlo Acutis and contemporary society.  This is what Mary sang about in the Magnificat:  The mighty will be cast down from the thrones and the lowly will be exalted.  What has enabled the saints, named and unnamed to do what they did for Jesus is that they were excited about following Jesus; honestly, like Peter and those on the lake shore, they fell in love with him in the deepest meaning of the word, love.

Can we accept that God is excited about each one of us?  He is.  Why would he send Jesus to save us?  His love for us changes us so we can change the world.  As I reflected on the life of Martin Luther King on Monday, his excitement about following Jesus and his energy about civil rights can be heard so clearly in the “I have a dream speech”.  We need that excitement today.  The new wine of Jesus, his mission, can be down; but it us up to make it happen.  The new wineskins of the Kingdom of Heaven are right in front of us, but we keep pouring the new wine into the old ways of doing things; what it means to be church, not wanting to risk our own comfort, wanting what was at the expense of who we are called to be.

My dream has always been for us here is to be a church excited because Jesus believes in what we can do.  My dream is that our churches are filled with people of all colors, ages, races, ethnic backgrounds, who love no matter who that is, and all are excited by Jesus.  We can do this if we get our of God’s way and just listen to Jesus.

So, big storm coming!  It will melt in a few weeks and spring will come.  But Jesus is stilling calling us to follow him.  Let us be as excited and filled with energy to follow him and bring a storm of God’s love into the world and change it!