Father Rick’s Two Minute Homily
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051423.cfm
What Do You See?
Ellie signed on to teach for a year in Bolivia. She enjoyed the work, the country, and the people- especially one young man, Oscar, who was intelligent, good-hearted, and handsome. That year, she and Oscar fell in love. Eventually, he came to the United States, and they married at her parish church in Boston.
Oscar had held an important job in Bolivia, but his hard-earned credentials didn’t transfer to the United States. His grasp of English could have been better.
The only job he could find was a banquet waiter at a local hotel. Guests called him “Boy,” whistled or clapped at him to get his attention, and felt free to boss him around. But mostly, they ignored him; they didn’t see him.
He would come home from work sullen, and Ellie felt excruciating pain that people treated this proud man as nothing. The world did not see Oscar, but Ellie saw him. Today, Jesus tells the apostles, “In a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me.”
The world passes Jesus by on the street and ignores him. They whistle to get his attention and call him “Boy” because they don’t see him in Oscar.
It cannot be like this for us, my friends. Jesus left a beautiful gift with us, his Church, and he left us his heart filled with His Spirit of love. It’s a heart that sees what he sees.
We have his heart to see him in the grieving, the abandoned, the persecuted, and the Oscars.
We will understand that Jesus’ ministry of love did not end with his death but continues through his body, the Church.
As Saint Teresa of Ávila wrote, “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands; yours are the feet; yours are the eyes; you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
Gospel Challenge:
Let us pause for a moment, pray for each other, and look beyond the busboy’s appearance to see Christ in each other.
Fr. Rick Pilger, IC
www.bscchurch.com
