Homily: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, YR C
“Our Mission is to be In-Dependence of Christ”
July 4, 2004
by Fr. William Holtzinger

Three deacon were chatting after church one Sunday when the pastor asked them, “When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning over you, what would you like them to say?”

The first said, “I would like them to say I was a wonderful husband, a great spiritual leader and a great family man.”

The next deacon said, “I would like them to say I was a wonderful teacher and servant of God who made a huge difference in people’s lives.”

The third deacon said, “I would like them to say, ‘Look, he’s moving!’”

Today’s Gospel depicts Jesus sending out his 72 disciples in effect telling them to get moving. We too are to get moving. We too are to go out and tell the world about the Good News. The harvest is abundant so what are we waiting for?

How many of you have gardens or are professional farmers? You know that growing a crop involves preparation, planting, feeding, and then a great deal of just waiting. You see, at that point God’s actions are at work growing the plants until you can then harvest them. The world is like that too. God is moving in people’s hearts and we need simply tell them and invite them. Did you know that most people who have joined the Church did so because they were personally invited by someone, or they knew someone who modeled the faith for them? So, our jobs are to go out and invite people in.

Notice that Jesus gives them special instructions not to take a lot of things with them. He’s trying to impress upon them that they need to go out without being distracted. The world has many enticements that can distract us. One of the biggest is our own sense of independence.

We often say that I don’t want to force my beliefs on others. We want to honor other’s sense of independence. Yet, we are depriving them of the one thing that will give them the greatest freedom, a faith in God. Besides, if Communism has proved anything, it has proved that nobody cannot force ideologies on others. Looking at Cuba, China, and the former Soviet Union, Christianity has never been squashed. While Communism is anti-Christian, all the communist (or formerly communist) countries have large populations of believers. Jesus never kept the Good News to himself. And neither should we. It is our duty as Christians to evangelize our society. It is our duty to be the moral check and balance of government. Especially in today’s political climate, we must not abandon our faith.

Yet, too many people, in the name of freedom and independence, have made themselves the arbiter of truth and have never asked what God thinks. This is totally backwards. If we don’t live it, then we don’t believe it! As Catholics, we must be involved in the process of sharing the plan God has for us all. But too many believers have been duped to think that following the Church will take away their freedom and independence. Remember that the Church is the Bride of Christ and has been given the Holy Spirit in order to safeguard the truth. She exists to live for Christ. And Christ wants us to be free. Recall the Scripture, “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:17). And again, “For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love" (Gal. 5:13). Only through a life in the Spirit will we truly be free. We can choose not to follow the Church’s teachings about God’s law of love, but our lives will not be truly free nor life-giving.

An analogy that is helpful involves a car. There is a label near the gas tank that says, “Unleaded Fuel Only.” It was put there by the manufacturer. Now we can choose not to follow those directions and put diesel fuel in the car. But, what will happen then? It won’t run at all or it will run very poorly. But, in the name of freedom, we decided to not listen to the auto maker and do it our own way. This is much like society today. We have made ourselves the arbiter of how to live and have chosen not to listen to Christ. Instead of consulting the author of life, we have decided to put ourselves in the place of the maker.

As Catholics, we must make Christ our center. “What would Jesus do?” was a popular bumper sticker not long ago. Now, is the time to quit asking the question and get moving. We should have another bumper sticker that says, “Do what Jesus would do!” Today now more than ever, our society is in need of God’s truth. And we are the ones who have been commissioned, through our baptism, to tell the world. It is simply not Catholic to keep it to ourselves.

If we move aside and let God take control of our lives, we will be like the city of Jerusalem mentioned in Isaiah today. We will be people of prosperity and our lives will flourish. When the storms of life come, our faith in Christ will keep us steady. We will be people of great joy even when death is at our doorstep. When we have submitted ourselves to Christ and allowed our wills to be crucified on His cross, then in that death we will be truly free! Freed from the bondage of sin, we turn to Christ in total dependence and are given a freedom that the world does not know.

This weekend, we celebrate our Independence. It is a time to celebrate the gift of freedom. But let us not make independence and freedom our god and make idols of our lives. Let us not use this freedom as an opportunity to bind ourselves. Rather, let us truly love by sharing the Good News and being active in our faith-lives. As Catholics we celebrate this day in a very powerful way. You see, with our independence, we can freely choose to be “in-dependence” of Christ. That’s right, instead of making “freedom” or “choice” our god, we freely choose to submit to the will of God who will guide us and show us the way of true freedom. My dear friends in Christ, by being in-dependence of God we will be truly free. Now that’s something worth celebrating!