Homily at the Cathedral of the Madeleine for the 49th annual Southwest Liturgical Conference

Intermountain Catholic

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Bishop John C. Wester delivers the homily at the 49th annual Southwest Liturgical Conference.

“Like you, I’ve been enjoying our conference very, very much, and I was very taken by the fact that we have these opportunities to participate in raffles, and to get our cards stamped and all of that. I liked that idea, and I thought, ‘Well, why couldn’t we do that with the homily?’ So I have here for you a riddle. And if anyone gets the riddle, then you will receive, I don’t know, I’ll think of something! We’ll find something we can do very special.

“So here’s the riddle. What do these three characters have in common: Jack Benny, Woody Allen, and the character Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind?

“I’ll give you a moment.

“Good. Let me tell you what it is. Jack Benny – remember the famous gag –‘Your money or your life!’ ‘Well?’ ‘I’m thinking.’

“Woody Allen: ‘I don’t mind dying, I just don’t what to be there when it happens.’

“Scarlett O’Hara: ‘I’ll worry about that tomorrow.’

“All of these characters in one way or another are putting off. They don’t want to be in the now moment.

“I find I have some of these characteristics. I think of all of the things that I have to do and I solve my problem by getting my old computer out and making a list. Then I turn the computer off and go watch a movie.

“And so advertisers are very, very sharp. They know what they’re doing. They make big money for companies. If you look at lots of packaging and advertising, I would guess that the two words you almost always find are ‘new’ and ‘now.’ Particularly now. Call now. Buy it now. Now is the time. This is the last suit of its kind, if you don’t buy it now you’ll never get it again. You’ve got to get the ticket now because the prices are going up tomorrow. Etcetera, etcetera. They know that we have a tendency to procrastinate as human beings. And so they emphasize the ‘now.’

“And so I wonder, did our Lord know about this part of our personality and become the first to advertise with real “punch?” You see, Jesus is beginning his public ministry, and so he wants to come out with, so to speak, something to get people’s attention. So there’s this great pause, and all eyes are on the Lord Jesus, and he says, ‘Today, this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.’

“Jesus was calling them to faith now. And he’s calling you and me now. Not tomorrow, but now. Perhaps what lies at the heart of our procrastination is that, if I truly believed that Christ through his spirit in the Father was working in me right now, then I would have to change. And as Bishop Kincanas pointed out so beautifully this afternoon, we don’t like change. But the good news is that I don’t have to do this on my own. Jesus is not only proclaiming the good news, but in the proclamation and in his ministry he is teaching us how to embrace him and accept him now, in this moment. Let’s look at two ways in which Jesus is teaching us to live the NOW moment:

“One, Jesus reminds us and teaches us that the Holy Spirit is working in him now.

“Last night I was delighted and intrigued by Father Paul Turner’s talk to us, in which he talked about the dewfall of the Holy Spirit. But I was particularly caught up in the way that Fr. Paul so passionately and so beautifully talked about that phenomenon of dew. That it’s just there. That indeed we don’t see it fall from the heavens, it’s just there. As if it had always been there. And it’s part of the nature of the thing that has dew on it, it permeates that thing.

“Jesus surely has that sense, that the Spirit is in us now. And that, like Jesus, we are caught up in the Spirit. We don’t have to do anything. We just have to open our eyes. We just have to open our hearts and recognize that the Spirit is in us, impelling us to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, to recover sight for the blind, to free the oppressed and to proclaim a year of favor.

“You and I are called to embrace that Holy Spirit right now and to rejoice in the truth, that every single unrepeatable human being is sacred and loved by God, and that each of us is especially caught up in the Spirit, and that each of us is called by that same Spirit to discipleship. The great tragedy is that so many people can’t see themselves worthy of such unfathomable love. So Jesus tells us that the first step to following him is to embrace the Sprit that is within each of us.

“Secondly, we’re called to allow that Spirit to move us into action.

“We know that Jesus, filled with the Spirit, was anxious to go about doing good things to bring about the kingdom. We know that he was anxious to heal and to teach, to love and forgive and to bring hope. And so, too, you and I, impelled by the Spirit, are called now to further the kingdom of God. We’re not called to wait for another time, we’re called to do it now. Because, to borrow the terminology of Jesus in his kingdom theology, we are right now the treasure. We are now the fish and the seed and the yeast and the pearl, the salt, the light, the guest, and the seven maidens. Each moment of our lives is a new invitation to respond now to the Holy Spirit and to live and to act fully as Jesus did, bringing about the kingdom of God.

“And so, as we celebrate this Eucharist tonight, we are called to delve into its mystery right now. And to become deeply aware of this moment, this Spirit-filled moment.

“Now is the time for me to start trusting people more. Now is the time for me to start seeing the good in others instead of speaking about them behind their backs. Now is the time for me to start eating right, or to quit smoking, or to exercise, or to join AA. Now is the time to read a good book, to listen to some wonderful music, or to go visit a museum. Now is the time to surrender a grudge or to forgive a spouse, a parent, a child or a friend. Now is the time to trust a friend with a deep dark secret and to get that help that I know, deep down, I really need. Now is the time to drop by that hospital, or that convalescent home, or that homeless shelter, or that food pantry. Now is the time to volunteer some community service, to study Scripture, to pray more, to read more about my faith.

“I don’t know what to say. I keep going to my lists. I keep putting it off. Maybe I should just pull out a book of sayings: A stitch in time saves nine. Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today. Better now than never. There’s no time like the present. I like that one. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Kind of negative, but it works. The early bird catches the worm. Carpe diem, for the Latinists in our midst. Live for today. Don’t worry about tomorrow, today has enough troubles of its own. Don’t live in the past with guilt or the future with fear; live rather in the present with awe and gratitude.

“Those are all wonderful intentions, I suppose, but I think we’ve already heard the best: ‘Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.’ Indeed it has. You and I, my sisters and brothers, are the kingdom of God -- now.”