Homily - Sunday
December 17, 2017
Everyday good habits lead people to Christ
John 1:6-8, 19-28 (Readings) John testifying to the light
Deacon David Lewis
Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA
The excitement is building,
Christmas is almost here, Jesus is almost here. The joy is in our heart in
anticipation. Just one more week. I can only Imagine what it was like for Mary and Joseph, anticipating
the arrival of their son, as they traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the
census with Mary so far along in her pregnancy.
The events of Christmas, the
nativity, the birth of Jesus take place long before today’s Gospel of John
preparing the way for the Lord, baptizing with water, leading the way for the
Lord that would baptize in the Holy Spirit.
Today’s Gospel of John preparing people, leading them toward Jesus, wouldn’t
occur until over thirty years after the birth of Jesus.
But today’s readings join together
the joy of anticipation of the new born Jesus with the joy they would have had in
anticipation of meeting the adult Jesus as he lives out his ministry, to learn
his teaching, to meet the Messiah face to face, and possibly be healed of life
long burdens. And it joins together the joy we should have from our own newness
of life after being led to Jesus.
We have all been led to here, to church, to Jesus, by
someone, whether it was a grandparent, parent, sibling, friend, or even a
stranger, or perhaps it may have even been the Holy Spirit by himself. We may
not be able to point out exactly who it was or who they were that led us to Christ,
but coupled with the desire we have written on our heart to love God, we were
drawn into the church through the invitation of someone else.
Earlier this week, one of our
parishioners who is off studying at college, posted a video on Facebook, it is
what drove my homily this week to be about leading others to Christ. The
presenter in the video was a motivational speaker named Simon Sinek. In the
video he asked the gentleman sitting next to him, “Do you love your wife? …
prove it, what is the metric? Give me the number that lets me know? … because when you met her you didn’t love
her right? Now you love her? Tell me the day that love happened? It’s an
impossible question, right?”
He went on to explain what he meant,
and I will do my best to summarize without taking out any key points.
He went on to say: While its
impossible to answer, it doesn’t mean that it does not exist. It is like
exercise, you go that first day, come home stand in the mirror, and … nothing,
no measurable change, next day, same thing, so you stop going because you didn’t
see results. You must maintain going to the gym, and over the long term you
will get in shape. It’s like going to the dentist. If the only time your teeth
get cleaned is your two visits to the dentist each year, your teeth will fall
out, you must brush three times a day or eventually your teeth will rot away.
But what measurable difference does brushing make by itself?
He continues: Whether the gym or brushing your teeth,
or any other good habit, you can miss a day, a chocolate or two, or if you miss
a brushing here and there, you will still be ok, it is about committing to the
long term. You can’t go see a high powered Tony Robbins seminar on leadership
and expect to magically become a good leader, these types of seminars are more
like the dentist visit, they give us an opportunity to refocus, to re-examine
what we are doing on the day to day basis. To realign ourselves with our good
habits, and perhaps take away a new tool or two to be more effective. It’s not
about intensity, it is about consistency. It’s about doing things every day, over and
over no matter how tedious, so that we may reap the long term benefits.
Mr. Sinek goes on to say: Your wife didn’t fall in
love with you because it was her birthday and you bought her flowers and a
card. She loves you because
when
you woke up in the morning you said “good morning” before you checked your
phone,
she
fell in love because when you went to the fridge to get a drink you got her one
without even asking,
she fell in love because when you had an amazing
day, and she gets home and had a bad day and begins to tell you about it, you
listened, you didn’t say but wait, listen to how my amazing day was. You sat and
listened to her awful day and didn’t say a thing about you amazing day.
This is why she fell in love, no specific event, no
specific day, it was the accumulation of all the good habits, the small individual
acts of kindness.
Simon Sinek’s video made me think beyond leadership
to about how our Catholic lives, in fact anything we do, if we do it day after
day, it becomes who we are,
if
we brush everyday, we have good teeth,
if
we go to the gym and eat well everyday we become in shape and healthier,
if
we perform small acts of kindness – we become kind,
if
we perform acts of love we become loveable.
If
we pray everyday, we build a relationship with God,
if
we fulfill our promises we become trustworthy,
if
we listen to others, we become friendly.
And if day by day we learn about the saints and adopt
their habits, like Saint John the Baptist from today’s Gospel, leading others
toward Christ, Like our parish’s namesake Saint Charles Borromeo who from age
12 dedicated himself to service the church and the poor and fought corruption within
the church, we will not only lead others toward Christ, but likely will become saints
ourselves.
And from today’s second reading If we Rejoice
always, and pray without ceasing, and in all circumstances give thanks we will
through daily acts find ourselves reaping the rewards in the long term. And
while looking back we may not be able to identify what day we fell in love with
Jesus, or specify when exactly it happened,
we will without a doubt be able to say that your mutual love of Jesus does exist.
And by living a life following the steps of Jesus, we will lead those in our
footsteps towards him as well.
