Homily for August 25, 2002
Year A - Cycle II
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time 

We’re familiar with this Gospel, it is the commissioning, really, of Peter as chief among the apostles. Jesus asked all the disciples, "Who do they say I am?" And they say, "Well, some say Elijah. Some say you’re John the Baptist." And then he says, "Who do you say that I am?" speaking to his apostles. And of course, Peter answers. And Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And then Jesus says, "Blessed are you, for no one has told you this but my father."

So he changed his name. His name was Simon bar Jonah, Simon son of John. He said, "Blessed are you, Peter. You are Peter, and upon this rock" (which is what Peter means) "I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it." So this is the commissioning of Peter as the vicar of Christ, as the successor of Christ on earth. The fact that he changed his name is significant. We see it elsewhere when there is a mission change, or a mission given. Abraham and Sarah became the parents of a great nation in their 90’s. But their names were Abram and Sarai. And when God gave them the mission, He changed their names to Abraham and Sarah. Jacob wrestled with God, and God selected him to be the leader among his brothers of Israel, and he changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Paul, (whose name, of course, was Saul when he persecuted the Christians) when he became the great evangelist to the Gentiles, God changed his name. So, the name change is really a commissioning, or an ordination, if you will, for a new mission.

But I don’t want to really talk about that so much, today, but rather I want to ask you a question. The same question that Jesus asked his apostles. Who do you say Jesus is? Who is God to you? And there’s 400 of us here, and there’s probably 400 various answers to that. And the answers to "Who is Jesus? Who is God?" is largely based on our age.

To a child, God is Creator. After, I don’t know at what age, but after several weeks, babies begin to have a self awareness of themselves and that they exist, and that they have parts. Once in a while, you’ll see a baby look at his hand and go, "Whoa! Where did that come from?" And then they are, like,6yu amazed. "This stuff moves, and you know…." Then they’ll pick up their foot and do that with their toes. They’ll even show you their toes. And then as they get a little older, they ask the questions. Do your kids ask a lot of questions? After the last mass, someone said their grandkid recently asked a question, "What keeps my eyes from falling out?" Or "Why is the sky blue? Why is this? Why is that?" My father used to tell me, "Will you shut up with the questions, here?!" Because they’re inquisitive, and kids are amazed at stuff. They’re amazed. And that, by the way, that amazement is fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And fear of the Lord, most perfectly, is awesome respect for God’s incredible goodness and power. And so children experience that.

Children can’t sin yet, because they don’t have the reason, the full capability to commit wrong acts. But they will. And so, for pre-teens and teenagers, sometimes the primary view of "Who is Jesus? or Who is God?" is no longer is creator, He is now The Judge. "Here comes the Judge." Because as they grow, they get rules. Like, you never chew gum in church, as one rule. (Hi, Chris, how ya’ doin? Good to see you! Busted again! ) There are rules in church. There are commandments. There are rules in school, and there are rules in families. (Right Juanita? You raised nine kids, ten, one in heaven. That’s because you had rules in that house.) And teenagers, especially, like to test the boundaries of those rules. And what happens when you overstep them is that you get punished. And so God becomes this Judge. And a lot of times young people won’t do something, not because they shouldn’t, but because if they do they’ll be punished. So, God is Judge. And the reason you don’t sin is because you don’t want to go to Hell. That’s a good reason.

The adult faith, though, hopefully goes beyond this. Sadly, some Christians never get beyond "God is Judge." Now, I hear this in confessions all the time. "I did this four times, I did this once, I did this six times." I don’t hear any remorse for hurting God. I just hear a checklist, then, "I’m OK." That’s because they see God as Judge, which He is. He is also Creator. But he is more than that. And an adult faith recognizes "Who do you say that I am?" "You are my Savior." Look at that crucifix. He did that for you.

We have a seminarian, David Phillipson. I was his vocations director. He came to see me years ago. He was born in New York, his father was Jewish, his mom was a lapsed Catholic. For some reason he was baptized, but he was never catechized. Didn’t practice his faith. He was very wealthy. The family was wealthy. So David just went to school, and when he finished high school, he went to college. He went to graduate school, then another graduate school, and kept going to school. It’s amazing he didn’t end up in Los Alamos, with that kind of track record. You think you’re so smart! (Last night I could not turn the lights off in this church. I couldn’t figure it out. Some PhD put the lights in and me, I can’t…. Anyway…) So, David was seeking God, is what he realized, now, that he was after. He landed up in India. And he studied Hinduism and Buddhism. He’s very bright, and he learned a lot. He impressed his teachers. But, he said, one morning he woke up and he looked in the mirror and he said, "I need a savior." And those philosophies don’t furnish that. There’s only one religion, I think, yeah! It’s ours! We’re the only ones that have a savior. Jesus Christ. And so David went to Calcutta and worked for a while for Mother Theresa. He will be ordained, God willing, next May. He’s going to be a good priest. God is our Savior.

Now, we don’t sin, not because of judgment, so much. We don’t sin, because, how can we be that ungrateful? After all He has done for us? To sin against Him. But is that it? No, there’s more. The fullness of our faith we’ll understand that God is our Lover. The Lover of your soul. That’s the reason He created you. That’s the reason He redeemed you. And that’s the reason you have the freedom to sin. You know, we do, we have the freedom to sin. God could have created us without the freedom to sin, but then we would have been His pets, or His puppets. He created us divinely, in His image. He created us freely, and so we have the freedom to sin. That itself, strangely, is a gift. Because it makes us capable of choosing Him. And, if you don’t freely choose, you don’t love. Love connotes freedom. Jesus Christ, God, is the Lover of our soul.

And you know I often say that sin offends God, and it does. But do you know why? Sin offends God, not because He goes "Ouch!" Not because we hurt Him. He’s done that, on the cross. Sin offends God. He’s not saying, "How could you do that to me? After all I’ve done for you? Don’t make me come down there! You people are really getting me mad, sinning!" That’s not it. Sin offends God because it hurts you, me, the sinner, whom He loves.

Last week, a mother came in and she’s having trouble with her daughter. She’s about to go to college, and she’s just worried about her. She’s got a big time bad attitude. She’s disobedient, rebellious, disrespectful. She’s concerned about drugs, the mom is. She’s hanging around with some Gibroni, who mom doesn’t trust. She dresses like a tramp, and she’s got all this weird jewelry. She’s expecting her to come home any day with a bone through her nose. But, I didn’t hear once from this woman, "How could she do this to me? What did I do wrong? Me and my husband…" She didn’t say any of that. You know what she said? She had her eyes filled with tears, and she said, "Father, I am so worried about her. And I’m afraid she’s going to get hurt. I’m afraid she’s going to get pregnant. I’m afraid she’s going to get into drugs. I’m afraid she’s going to die. And I love her so much." That’s divine love. That’s how God loves you. The way that woman loves her daughter. So that’s why we don’t sin.

You know, husband and wife don’t cheat on each other, if they love each other. Not because they’re afraid of getting caught. But because they’d never do that to the one they love. And that’s why we don’t sin, that’s why we try not to. That’s why we want to be holy. Because we love God.

Please bow your heads. This simple prayer is in many of your hearts. You know it by heart. If you do, please say it with me.