Homily of Fr. Gerard Timoner,
for the Closing Mass of the
Chapter of the Italian Province
- August 28, 2020 -
We are gathered around the table of the Eucharist, the table of thanksgiving, to give thanks to the Lord for the gifts we have received especially in the last two weeks. We give thanks to God for the gift of leadership in your province. We began our journey in this provincial chapter with Peter's response to Jesus: "We have labored all night and we have taken nothing; but at your word, I will cast the nets.” (Lk 5:5). So, after two weeks have you caught many fish? Two weeks ago, we prayed that the Lord would come to your "boat", that the Lord would accompany you in your discernment and in your decisions. Today we thank the Lord for the graces you have received in these days.
The Gospel that we have heard presents a very interesting image. This is the only part of the Gospel that tells us that Jesus knows how to cook! He prepared breakfast for the apostles who went out fishing. It happened at a time when the disciples' hope for a glorious Messiah was shattered. Jesus had died on the cross. Three years ago, they left the boats and nets and followed Jesus. Now that Jesus seemed to have left them, they returned to Galilee, back to the nets and boats. They want to start their lives again.
Maybe, after three years, they lost their fishing skills because they had not caught any fish. Then the familiar voice that ordered them to do the same thing they had done three years before, resounded again: throw the nets starboard! Then the immediate recognition: it is theLord! But this time, Jesus did not invite them to become fishers of men. He simply invited them to eat fish cooked for breakfast. As I meditate on this passage from the Gospel, I ask myself: if Peter and his companions didn't catch anything all night long, where did Jesus get the fish? No one asked him where he got the fish. They were simply overjoyed to see the Risen Lord. It is important to realize that sometimes we work so hard, but there do not seem to be any positive results. We go fishing all night and catch nothing. But even though our work is fruitless, Jesus is there to feed us.
After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon of John, do you love me?” Peter answered him: "Certainly, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, "Feed my lambs, Feed my sheep.” The only way we can show our love for the Lord is by feeding and shepherding Jesus' sheep and lambs. The apostles had the power to do this, because Jesus fed them first at the Last Supper and the First Breakfast. What Jesus asks us to do, he did first: "as I have done, so you must do; love one another as I have loved you".
The best way to manifest our love for the Lord is to become a good shepherd like Jesus, feeding and shepherding God's flock. But, who are the Lord’s sheep? They are the people entrusted to our care. They are your students. They are the parishioners you serve, the immigrants, the sick, children in poor neighborhoods, abandoned children. And, do not forget that your Sisters are also part of the Lord's flock.
One of the questions that bothered me about the parable of the Good Shepherd is: why leave the ninety-nine faithful in search of those who are lost? It is touching to realize that God challenges human logic to look for us when we are lost. But what about the ninety-nine? Take note that the shepherd does not even bring them home safe and sound before going out in search of the lost one. He leaves them in the hills. What if the shepherd's absence translates into more sheep going away? After all, one got lost even when the shepherd was with the flock. How many more sheep could wander away now that he is gone?
But I realized that even though Jesus seems to leave us while he searches for strays, we are never really abandoned. He leaves us with the flock. He leaves us with our community, with the Church. Jesus leaves us with one another, so that we can take care of one another, and be shepherds for one another. When I was assigned as Rector of the Central Seminary in the Philippines, the seminarians chose the theme for that year: Brothers Shepherding Brothers. I believe it was an inspired and inspiring theme, Brothers Shepherding Brothers. In your case, Sisters Shepherding Sisters. As preachers of the Word of God, we should be able to inspire, encourage and even convert others, including our Sisters.
St. Augustine, whose feast we are celebrating today, reminds us all in the Rule: The essential reason why you have come together is that you might live together in unity and haveone soul and one heart prostrated towards God. Our charism of preaching the Gospel makes us shepherds; but a convent or house truly becomes a domus predicationis and our common life becomes an eloquent preaching when we become Sisters Shepherding Sisters. A theologian brother reminds us: for a Dominican to live in community is the first apostolate!
Dear Sisters, the Lord Jesus asks you: "Do you love me?” Then He tells you: Feed my sheep, feed and love one another.
Homily of Fr. Gerard Timoner,
Master of the Order,
for the Opening Mass of the
Chapter of the Italian Province
- August 28, 2020 -
St Dominic is among the blessed carriers of the Good News to whom Isaiah renders homage in the first reading: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger of good news, of the one who proclaims peace, the messenger of good who proclaims salvation, who says to Sion, ‘Your God reigns’” (Is. 55:7). This first reading makes us wonder: why is Isaiah praising the beautiful feet of the one who brings good news? Of all the parts of the body that he could have admired in a preacher, why the feet? Why not his voice? Of all the things we could have admired or noted in an orator or preacher, like the voice, or an interesting idea, or even the expression on his face, why the feet? Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 10, throws light on this not really clear passage from Isaiah.
After having called the Twelve, Jesus gives them apostolic advice before sending them out. This advice is an important memory check for us Dominicans, who are sent out by Jesus to carry the Good News. What immediately captures our attention is the urgency of preachingthe Gospel. Those whom Jesus sends out must travel lightly, without purse or sandals. Towards the end of the Gospel, we hear the last piece of apostolic advice: when an apostle experiences refusal he must shake the dust from his feet. While sandals or tunics or purses for money symbolise the good things that we like to carry around, the dust on our feet symbolises the negative and toxic memories thatwe shouldn’t carry around, but which might notbe easy to throw out from our lives.
Jesus advises those who are sent out to preach the Gospel, “shake the dust from your feet!” If Christians want to become effective bearers of the Good News, then they should ensure thatno bad news, no toxic memory can contaminate the goodness of the Gospel. Christians who are unable to shake the dust from their feet are those whom Pope Francis calls: Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter.
As The Joy of the Gospel tells us, we can only proclaim the Good News convincingly if we proclaim it with joy!
But the question remains: how do we shake the dust from our feet, how do we get rid of toxic baggage?
Pope Francis has said that the best way to new evangelisation is through reconciliation. The best way to heal fractured relationships and broken hearts is through reconciliation. Jesus says to us, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that you have something against your brother or sister, leave your gift, be reconciled first, then return and offer your gift.
If reconciliation is impossible because the other person is dead, or simply refuses to be reconciled, you can shake the dust from your feet through forgiveness. A saint once said: “Forgiveness transforms the circumstances of sin into occasions of grace”.
Jesus counsels the bearers of the Good News to shake the dust from their feet. It seems that the apostles found it difficult to cast off some toxic memories that could have contaminated the Good News of the Resurrection, and so Jesus took on himself the task of cleansing their feet of all this “dust”. This is why, during the Last Supper, Jesus took a towel and a basin of water and washed the feet of his apostles. Yes, it was an act of humility and hospitality. But it was also a gesture which prepared the apostles to proclaim the Good News, uncontaminated by all dust. When we find it completely difficult to forgive, be reconciled or let go of a painful memory, let us ask Jesus to wash our feet: Lord, wash my feet, purify me from the dust that has accumulated over the years. Only in this way shall we be able to hear the words of Isaiahechoing in our ears: How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger of glad tidings proclaiming peace. The messenger of good who proclaims salvation, who says to Sion: “Your God reigns”.
In today’s Gospel, we see Peter, James and John who meet Jesus in the context of failure. They are good fishermen, but have caught no fish after a night of effort. But having obeyed Jesus’ instructions, they catch so many fish that they fill two boats. Peter realises that a miracle has taken place, and becomes aware of a divine presence. In the presence of holiness, Peter is aware that he is a sinner. But Jesus reminds him that he is not just a sinner but a fisherman; he goes on to offer him a higher vocation, that of becoming a fisher of men.
Jesus says to Peter: “Do not be afraid – from now on it is people you will catch”. The Greek word used for “catch” here is zogron, found rarely in the New Testament; it means “catch alive”. Naturally, fishing with nets meant that the fish were alive, but those living fish would soon be dead. Here Jesus is calling Simon and his companions to a new vocation of catching people so that they might live, a life-giving vocation of being involved in God’s mission of salvation for all.
How often do we resist God’s invitation to us to become a better person, or to do something for him, because what he asks us to do seems foolish, or not practical enough? How many times do we avoid immersing ourselves in the deep water of following and witnessing to Jesus, because we are convinced that we shall not see any results? What could it mean for us to go and fish in deep waters with Jesus – to trust him and follow him out of our comfort zones, to leave our certainties, to have our lives radically reoriented?
Let us invite Jesus into our boat, let us invite him to our Provincial Chapter, even if we are sinners. And then let us listen to Jesus who is saying to us: "Come, follow me”.