Sunday, March 2,
2003 Homily
Among many other things,
Christ teaches us today the meaning of Christian common sense. A general understanding of common sense might be the ability
to perceive the right thing to do at the right time and in the right way. The problem is “tuning in” to exactly
what is “right”. Is something right because it suits me, or because it’s popular or unpopular? Christian
common sense refers to what is Christianly right. And the only measuring stick for what is Christianly right is Christ Himself.
Jesus does not chide the disciples of John or the Pharisees because they fast, but because they fail to see that the reason
for all fasting is to be able to welcome and celebrate the presence of Christ. When He is with us, fasting is folly; when
He is taken from us, fasting means getting ready for the joy of His return, the warmth of the new cloak, the taste of the
new wine. We pass from fasting to feasting!
By God’s design,
we live between Christ’s physical departure from us at the Ascension and His physical return at the end of time. Yet,
quite apart from what our faith teaches us, Christian common sense tells us, nevertheless, that He is present to us in the
sacraments, in the Church, in Scripture and in many other ways. As Lent approaches, I encourage you by all means to fast from
sin and from all excess, but to do so, not focused on yourselves - that would be folly!-, but focused on Christ, with Christian
common sense. That means fasting in the joy of knowing that His mystical presence to us now assures us that one day He will
emerge out of that mystical veil, like the Bridegroom from His tent, and grant us the vision of His full, divine beauty. Let
your fasting be a longing, a hungering for the beauty of the Risen and Ascended Lord: in that way you will yourselves become
more spiritually beautiful, worthier guests at His feast.
I end with two Scripture
quotations. First, the astonishingly consoling words of Yahweh as spoken through the prophet Hosea in the first reading: “I
will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity,
and you shall know the Lord.”
Second, Psalm 62, one
of my favorites, which sums up all I have been saying:
O God, you are my God, for you I long.
For you my soul is thirsting;
My body pines for you like a dry, weary land without water.
So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory.
For your love is better than life; my lips will speak your praise.
In your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul shall be filled as with a banquet, my mouth shall praise you with joy.
On my bed, I remember you; on you I muse through the night,
For you have been my help; in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
My soul clings to you: your right hand holds me fast.
Msgr. P. Magee
St. Matthew’s,
10.00 am Mass
Washington
March 2nd, 2003
