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Homilies | Thursday, September 20, 2018

Do not be afraid of holiness

Archbishop Wenski's homily at archdiocesan priests at evening vespers

Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily Sept. 19, 2018, during evenin prayer with archdiocesan priests gathered for their annual convocation, Sept. 18-20, 2018, at the Hilton Miami Downtown.

In a beautiful reflection published a few months ago, called Gaudete et Exsultate, Rejoice and Be Glad, Pope Francis reminded us of our call to holiness, the common or ordinary vocation of all the baptized faithful. 

He wrote: “Do not be afraid of holiness. It will take away none of your energy, vitality or joy. On the contrary, you will become what the Father had in mind when he created you, and you will be faithful to your deepest self.” (Gaudete et Exsultate 1:32).

But we are, in fact, often afraid – and the reason that we are is found in the Book of Genesis, which tells the story of the original sin of Adam and Eve. Sin alienates us from God who is all holy. Our shame can lead us to hide from God – as Adam and Eve hid from God in garden. The Evil One – that Master of Deceit – can lead us to think that to be faithful to God is to be unfaithful to our true selves. 

This is the sad fate that both original sin and our own actual sins have bequeathed us – a fate from which we are saved, as St. John tells us, through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus comes into a broken world to heal it. This broken world is, in many ways, a world turned upside down. And Jesus lives in the world right-side up – unlike the sons and daughters of Adam, he is not turned away from God but is always turned towards God, his father. 

Sin obscures who we are – who we are meant to be, creatures made in the image and likeness of God. In Christ, we rediscover our truest selves. In Christ – the new Adam – we rediscover what it means to be made in God’s own image and likeness. He opens to us the path to wholeness – and holiness.

This happens when, united with Jesus, we walk with him in this upside-down world right-side up – living in the world as Sons of the Father in imitation of Jesus. Or as John tells us, “The way we can be sure we are in union with him is for the man who claims to abide in him to conduct himself just as he did.”

But living right-side up in an upside-down world is not easy – for we will encounter opposition as Jesus did from the Pharisees and Scribes who accused him of casting out demons by the power of the Prince of Demons, and even members of our family – like Jesus’ relatives who thought that he was out of his mind – might think of us as a bit crazy.

To quote again, Gaudete et Exultate: “Do not be afraid of holiness. It will take away none of your energy, vitality or joy. On the contrary, you will become what the Father had in mind when he created you, and you will be faithful to your deepest self.” (Gaudete et Exsultate 1:32).

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