Good afternoon. The theme of the current homily/message series is "Finding Purpose." What is our purpose in life? At a time when anxiety is on the rise among adults and children and confusion runs amok in our society, that is truly THE question. It is one that we have been grappling with since the time of Adam & Eve. WHAT IS MY PURPOSE IN LIFE? When we think about it, the answer is quite simple, actually. The answer was the same for Adam & Eve as it was for the apostles when our Lord entered into our history and walked on earth as it is for all of us today in 2023. We find the answer to the question - what is my purpose in life? - in the Gospel of John, chapter 2, verse 5: “[Mary] said to the servers (and to us): ‘DO WHATEVER [JESUS] TELLS YOU.’"
Have you ever wondered how things would have been if Adam & Eve had listened to God and DID WHAT HE TOLD THEM and NOT eaten the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Mother Mary tells us to “DO WHATEVER [JESUS] TELLS US.” It is that simple because it is what our Lord and our God desires. . . thus says the Lord: “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people“ (Jeremiah 31:33). Yet, we have the tendency to complicate things because we are a prideful people. The sin of pride ensnares us. We think that we know better than God. We even have the audacity to tell ourselves that we do not need God. The truth of the matter is, we are definitely not better than our Creator and we most certainly need Him. Saint Paul reminds us of this fact in his Letter to the Romans, saying: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!. . . For FROM him and THROUGH him and FOR him are ALL things. To HIM be glory forever.”
Christ calls us to come and follow him (Matthew 4:19) for one reason: only God can give our lives true meaning and purpose. And, as the Gospels remind us over and over again, to come and follow Jesus requires HUMILITY and TRUST. Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). To deny ourselves takes humility. To take up our cross and follow Jesus takes trust. So what can we do to grow in the virtue of humility and be willing to entrust ourselves to God? We ask God for HUMILITY and TRUST, and we can start by praying the Litany of Humility and the Litany of Trust as often as possible. We ask God for the grace to “do whatever [Jesus] tells us” out of humility and trust in Him so that we may find our purpose in life - God’s purpose for us.
We pray the Litany of Humility because humility helps us to overcome the sin of pride. When we are “meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29) we realize that we need Jesus in our lives because “he is our God, we are the people he shepherds, the sheep in his hands” (Psalms 95:7). Jesus asked Peter “. . .who do you say that I am?”, and it was with a “meek and humble heart” that Peter responded to Jesus, saying: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." What did Jesus do for Peter after he answered him? Christ blesses Peter and affirms his identity as a beloved son of his heavenly Father, saying "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.” Jesus then calls Peter by name ("you are Peter") and gives him purpose, telling him: “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven." God does the same with each and everyone of us. At our Baptism and Confirmation, God blesses us and affirms our identity as His beloved sons and daughters through His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our heavenly Father then calls us by name and, through the Holy Spirit, gives us purpose, commissioning us priest, prophet, and king to go and proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 28:20).
We also pray the Litany of Trust because, just as Peter is the “rock” upon which Jesus built his church, trust is the foundation upon which all of our relationships in life are built. Without trust, our relationships fail. It is the same with our relationship with God. The only difference is, when trust is broken in our relationship with God, it is we who harbor mistrust in our hearts that causes distrust of God to manifest in us. God is always faithful to us. In the image of the Divine Mercy are these important words - “Jesus, I trust in you” - and we must take them to heart because it was distrust (among other things) that led Judas to betray Jesus.
I have been reading this book by Alan Ames, titled “Through the Eyes of Jesus,” in which Mr. Ames documents the experiences that our Lord Jesus Christ allowed him to see through his eyes “as he traveled with his disciples through the towns and villages of the Holy Land” during his time on earth (Ames, 9). I want to share one of these experiences from his book to help illustrate God’s desire for us to trust in Him.
In this particular experience, Jesus tells his disciples that he wanted to leave at night to start on their journey to Jerusalem. However, His disciples did not want to travel at night. Peter said to Jesus: “Master, I think it would be wise to wait until the morning. There are many dangers traveling at night” This led to an exchange between Jesus and Peter that should sound very familiar to us all. Jesus asked him, “Peter, do you trust Me?” “Of course I do, but we must be sensible,” Peter answered. “Peter, do you trust Me?” Jesus asked him again. “You know I do but this could be dangerous,” Peter answered. “Peter, do you trust me?” Jesus asked him a third time. “Yes, Lord I do and I will do whatever you ask,” Peter said. Then, Jesus shared this important message with his disciples about trusting in God. Christ said, “Trust is when nothing blocks your acceptance that you are safe in My arms, safe with the Father and safe by the Holy Spirit. Trust is a complete abandonment to the will of God regardless of what dangers may arise, for when you trust you know in your heart that God will protect you. . . It is natural to be afraid at times but it is when you overcome these fears by trusting that God will look after you that you show true faith” (Ames, 83-84).
Therefore, let us pray the Litany of Humility and the Litany of Trust and ask God for the grace to follow Mother Mary’s advice and “do whatever [Jesus] tells us.” In doing so, we will find our purpose in life - God’s purpose for us. Remember when Jesus said to Peter: "Come." and Peter did what Jesus told him and walked on water toward Christ? Peter then stopped trusting and started to sink into the sea. Jesus immediately stretched out his hand and caught Peter when he cried out: "Lord, save me!" (Matthew 14:30). Jesus tells Peter (and us): "Take courage. . . do not be afraid" (Matthew 14:27). When we come to Jesus with trust, we find our purpose. Moreover, when we respond to Jesus with faith, he heals us and frees us. Remember the Canaanite woman whose daughter was tormented by a demon and how Jesus healed her daughter because of her "great faith"? (Matthew 15:21-28). We find our purpose when we have faith in Jesus. Let us therefore believe in these words with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind (Matthew 22:37): “Jesus, I trust in you,” and, with confidence, do whatever Jesus tells us.
I want to leave you with the Collect Prayer from earlier in the Mass because I think it speaks to how we can find purpose in our lives when we listen to Mother Mary and “do whatever [Jesus] tells us. The Collect prays: "O God, who caused the minds of the FAITHFUL to unite in a single PURPOSE, grant your people to LOVE what YOU COMMAND and DESIRE what YOU PROMISE, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.” Finding our purpose starts and ends with God. When we glorify Jesus in who we are as beloved sons and daughters of the Father and in how we live our lives by doing whatever Jesus tells us, we find our purpose - God’s purpose for us.
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082723.cfm
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