Homilies

St. Basil Seminary, 9-11, 2005 and 9-10-06

(John 3:13-17)

"GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON SO THAT
EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM MIGHT NOT PERISH BUT MIGHT HAVE
ETERNAL LIFE." (JOHN 3:16)

“Being loved is …”
A long time ago, I heard a statement which left a permanent impression on my
mind and which helped me cope in difficult situation. Here it is: “You know that
you are loved when anything you say or do is not going to be taken against you.”
The opposite is also true: When you hate people, anything they say or do is
going to be taken against them. Oh! What a relief to know that you are among
people who love you; then you can let your hair down and be yourself. And, let
us face it, you cannot clean your head if you don’t let your hair down! Happy are
we when we have people who love us. Yet we are the happiest if we know that
God loves us.

God loves us all
Good news! God loves us. God loves you. God loves me. He loved us so
much that “He gave His only begotten Son to deliver us from death through His
own death on the Cross. If we believe in Him, we obtain forgiveness of sin and
eternal life. If we reject Him, He is not the one who judges us. As we heard in the
Gospel of the day: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:17) Being
excluded from heaven, God forbid! would be of our own making. Being with Jesus
or being without Him makes the difference between heaven and hell.

Is there heaven and hell?
Sometime, I hear people say casually: Who can tell if there is a heaven and a hell
or a life thereafter? Nobody knows. (This is what they say, and they are dead
wrong!)
People talk sometimes about “life after life.” Books have been written on this
fascinating and sometimes frightening topic. But to every story there is an
objection. We may be wasting our time proving or disproving a thing of which
nobody has a first hand knowledge. And even if we proved it beyond doubt, to
our head, how could we pass it on to our heart and then to our daily life? It has
been said: “The greatest distance in the world is 22 inches, between our head
and our heart.

Of course, nobody knows for sure; because nobody went there and came back to
tell...

Is that so? Did you hear of a man called Jesus Christ? This God Man Jesus is the
only one who can give us an answer.

Jesus alone knows. He went and came back.
Our Lord Jesus is the only one who has a first hand knowledge. We heard in the
reading of the day: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has
come down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven. (John 3:13) He had
first hand knowledge and He was willing to die as a sign of His sincerity and as a
ransom, a price, for our deliverance, to assure for us eternal life. This is why St.
John continues: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have
eternal life.

The story of the serpent in the desert)
(Numbers 21:8-9 & John 3:14)) See the bishop’s staff… The serpent mounted
over the pole made a cross. That was a symbol of our Lord on the cross.
Anyone looking at Him and believing in Him will get the needed healing and will
have eternal life.

“The wage of sin is death,” writes St. Paul. God, who creates us and wants the
best for us, would not give us death. On the contrary, He loved us so much that
“He gave His only begotten Son to deliver us from death through His own death
on the Cross. If we believe in Him, we obtain forgiveness of sin and eternal life. If
we reject Him, He is not the one who judges us. As we heard in the Gospel of the
day: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world might be save through Him.” (John 3:17)

GOD’S PROMISE
This is God’s promise to us, eternal life. God loved us, you and me, form all
eternity. He loved us so much – and it feels so good to repeat it again! -- “that
He gave His Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but
might have eternal life.” What a reassuring promise!

A little boy was playing on the deck of a ship. A great storm hit the ship. Tidal
waves were tossing it up and down and threatening to sink it. The little boy was
having fun following his playing ball from one side to the other of the deck, back
and forth, as the waves were rocking the ship up and down, right and left. A
frightened passenger who was clinging to the rail of the deck with his two hands
shouted at the boy: “Stop your silly game! Little boy. Aren’t you afraid? The boy
answered confidently: “No! I am not afraid. My Dad is the captain of the ship. In
the mind of children, their parents can do anything. As children of God, with the
confidence and the pure heart of children, as our Lord recommends us, we
believe in God’s promise and we know that He is going to give us eternal life.

CONDITION TO OBTAIN ETERNAL LIFE:
1) Faith 2) Faith with trust 3) Acting faith, with good deeds 4)
Growing faith.

1 - FAITH

But that promise is attached to some cooperation from our side: Belief, faith.
"Whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life.” “Go, make
disciples of all nations.... whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Whoever
does not believe will be condemned. Our Lord Jesus wandered sadly, and He
told His Apostles: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

-- Of course He will, thanks to you and me; but first, thanks to Him who will keep
us faithful!

2 - FAITH WITH TRUST

Not mere ascent, but trusting faith, as "We entrust, recommend, one another to
Christ our God. Faith/trust of a child in his/her parents....

3 - ACTING FAITH - “Show me your faith by your deeds,” writes St. James in his
universal Epistle... Inactive faith stagnates. Stagnant water is a source of death,
instead of life...

4 - FAITH ALIVE, which means GROWING FAITH

In nature, a tree, an animal or a human being cannot stand still. Either they grow
or they decrease. Means of growth: Religious Education Programs, for children
(Sunday School) and for Adults (Bible study, retreats, workshops, religious books,
etc.... Blind faith is an ideal. “Blessed are those who did not see and yet
believe.” However, “faith seeking understanding” is much more worthy of our
efforts.

Other ways of continuing our spiritual education: Pamphlets and booklets at the
door of the church, religious magazines, and articles about religion in secular
press (with warning - People talk more and more about religion on these days, but
know about it less and less...)

Conclusion:

God is faithful, his promises can be trusted; but He demands our cooperation - "If
we believe..." If you grow in your faith and if you act on your faith. Have you
read a religious book lately? Have you read a page from the Scriptures or a
religious article today? Keep growing in the faith and in the love of God and of
each other.

Our great exemplar of a living, active and growing faith was Mother Teresa of
Calcutta, now Blessed Mother Teresa. She exemplified Christian charity and self
giving to the extreme. She kept working and helping the poor until the day of her
death. To the three religious vows taken by all religious, poverty, chastity and
obedience, Blessed Mother Teresa added one more vow in her Congregation:
The vow to serve the poor.

Do we keep an active faith? When was the last time we did a good deed to a
person in need? “I believe, Lord, strengthen my unbelief.” Give me faith and
trust and growth and active faith to create a better world as did Mother Teresa
and many saints. For you are the Savior of our souls and bodies, and to You we
render glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever.
Amen.

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