by Fr. Tommy Lane
You have something in common with the Hebrews gathered in Shechem in the first reading (Josh 24:14-29). They had crossed the Jordan to begin their new life in the Promised Land. You have begun a new life in the seminary or returned again after the summer break. Joshua asked the Hebrews to set aside their former gods, to accept only God and he renewed the covenant with them. In the eyes of the world, you have given up much to come here but the eyes of the world may not see so clearly what you gain. What you gain is expressed in the response to the Psalm, “You are my inheritance, O Lord.” That particular Psalm, Psalm 16, was most suited to the tribe of Levi. The Levites, who included the priests, received no part of the land but they could make Psalm 16 their own, “You are my inheritance, O Lord.” You have crossed the Jordan of entering seminary and in the eyes of the world, you have sacrificed your share in the land of Canaan; you have given up what others receive, but you can pray, “You are my inheritance, O Lord.” While you have made a sacrifice, the Lord is giving you the gift of himself because he loves you. The Lord calls you because he loves you. In Deuteronomy, Moses said to the Hebrews, “It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you are really the smallest of all nations. It is because the Lord loves you.” (Deut 7:7–8) When Jesus calls you, it is not because you are better than anybody else but because he loves you. His call to you is a gift and expression of his love for you. This love of Jesus for those he calls is specifically mentioned twice in the Gospel of John. As the Last Supper commences John writes, “He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end” (John 13:1) and during the supper Jesus declared, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.” (John 15:9)
Of course you can only see that your inheritance is the Lord if you have the attitude of childlike humility and simplicity that Jesus requests in the Gospel (Matt 19:13-15). No matter who we are or what age, we can approach the Lord in humility and simplicity. We can see this, for example, in the personal lives of the Popes. We all heard about Pope Francis, when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, riding the subway. There are similar examples in the life of Pope Benedict. I was with a group of pilgrims in Bavaria three years ago (2016) and we learned about Pope Benedict. As professor in Regensburg he took the bus to the university every day from his house in Pentling. We visited his house and saw the bus stop across the road. Earlier in his life, when his father retired from the police force and the family could finally live in their own house instead of living over the police station, his father bought a 200 year old farmhouse out in the country (in Hufschlag near Traunstein) which had no running water but they used a well nearby. Yet the family was very happy in that old farmhouse which we also visited. On the morning that Joseph Ratzinger left their family home to celebrate his First Mass, he left the old farmhouse with no running water and returned to it again that evening. No matter who we are or what age, we can approach the Lord in humility and simplicity. With childlike humility and simplicity, even when others concentrate on what we have given up to go to seminary, we can see the gift the Lord gives us because he loves us and we can pray, “You are my inheritance, O Lord.” We also receive Our Lady’s love for us. We will hear soon in the Preface (39 in Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary) that Our Lady
stretches out her arms
to embrace all
who take refuge in her
and call upon her in their distress.
She is the Mother of Mercy
always attentive to the voice of her
children
(Preface 39, Mass of Our Lady, Queen and Mother of Mercy)
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2019
This homily was delivered in Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland.