“They are like angels, and they are the children of God.”
Those words
are from Jesus, from the Gospel passage we just read. He’s trying to help us understand what our life
will be like after we die. He says we
will be like angels.
We’re so
blessed to have little Donald with us, this little angel here in the front pew
with his mom and dad, Heather and Larry.
Of course, Heather is our religious education director at St. Edna
Parish. We’re going to baptize their son
Donald in a few minutes.
It may seem unintuitive
to be baptizing a little child after we’ve just heard these words about life
after death. But of course, that is what
baptism is: through our baptism, our immersion in water, we die and rise again
in Jesus. The grace from this holy sacrament
will help and strengthen Donald in this life, so he can be ready to meet God
after his own resurrection someday.
“They are
like angels”. When babies come into our
lives, we often refer to them as angels, don’t we? So it’s interesting that angels are invoked
in our Gospel story this evening. Jesus tells us that we will be like
angels. We will rise from the dead, and like
angels, we will not die again.
What does Jesus
mean, that we will be like angels? I’d
like to mention four things that we know about angels, to give us some idea of
what Jesus may mean.
The first
thing is that angels are God’s servants.
When Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert, angels waited upon
him. And near the end of his life, when
he was experiencing the agony in the garden, an angel came to strengthen
him. Heather and Larry, I know you are
already waiting upon Donald; babies need a lot of help and care. You’re acting as angels for him. And if you can teach him to help others, then
you will help him to be like one of God’s angels.
Second,
angels are God’s messengers. An angel
appeared to Mary to tell her about God’s plan for her. And an angel appeared to Joseph to instruct
him not to divorce Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus through the power of the Holy
Spirit. Larry and Heather, God is calling
you to be his messengers to Donald, to teach him all about God the Father who
made him, and his son Jesus who saves him, and the Holy Spirit who will fill
him with love, joy and peace. And then
you must teach Donald to be one of God’s messengers himself, to share his love
and faith with others. If you can do
that, then you’ll be helping him to be like one of God’s angels.
Third, angels
guard us. We have guardian angels who
watch over us and protect us from evils of the physical and the spiritual worlds. Little Donald has his guardian angel,
too. Heather and Larry, you’re guarding
and protecting Donald already. You’re
already cooperating with his guardian angel.
And God is calling you to teach Donald to be like a guardian angel as he
grows older, to protect the young, and the elderly, and members of his family,
and those who are vulnerable to evil, and even God’s creation. If you can teach Donald to protect, you’ll be
helping him to be like one of God’s angels.
Fourth, angels
praise God. When Mary gave birth to
Jesus, an angel appeared to the shepherds and their flocks in the fields, and the
sky filled with the heavenly host of angels, singing praise and glory to
God. Larry and Heather, if you can help
teach Donald to praise God, here at St. Edna and in the midst of his home and
family, and out in the world, then you will help him to be like one of God’s
angels.
Heather and
Larry, this is the sacred vocation that God has called you to: to share your
faith with Donald and help him to be like one of his angels. Teach Donald to serve God and others, and to
be the messenger of God’s word, and to guard those who are vulnerable, and to give
praise to God. If you do that, then you
will have done your part to prepare Donald, not only for this life, but for our
real life to come when you and Donald and all of us can be with God and his
saints and angels.
Deacon Jim, no fooling: I never expected to see an inspiring homily on angels. In fact, until a few minutes ago, I would have bet that I'd never see a homily on angels that didn't make me cringe. I would have lost the bet. My expectations were wrong.
ReplyDeleteTom, thanks. I admit I don't have much point of comparison: I can only think of one other time when I heard a homily about angels.
DeleteMany times when I preach, I get feedback after mass from people. In this case, nobody gave me any. That may be because this one was kind of a yawner; and certainly a big part of it is that the baptism was the memorable thing about this particular mass, and understandably, after mass everyone wanted to fawn and fuss over the infant (actually a 3 year old; he's adopted, which is a wonderful thing and something I may try to highlight in a future homily). But it's kind of cool that a sacramental celebration rather than the preaching was thought to be the chief feature. There is something about that that strikes me as appropriate.
Jim, I like your "four things we know about angels". I lot of people think of angels, if they think of them at all, as pious fantasy. But the four things you mention are Scriptural, and angels do play a part in salvation history.
ReplyDeleteI used to enjoy the show Touched By An Angel, which does fall under the category of fiction. But angels are fascinating to think about.
I am remembering that they used to use the Mass of the Angels for a young child's funeral rather than the standard Mass of Christian Burial. Don't know if that's still the case or not.
Katherine - I'm sorry to say that I missed the series "Touched By An Angel".
DeleteThat said, I did glom onto an angel series a decade or so ago. It was called "Saving Grace". It aired on TNT. It starred Holly Hunter as this tough-as-nails and self-destructive OKC police detective to whom an angel appears to try to redeem her. It was really gritty - not family friendly at all. I have no idea how one would even see it anymore, but I found it pretty compelling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_Grace_(TV_series)
I will have to check out "Saving Grace". Everything is out there if one knows where to look.
DeleteDon't know if you saw the movie "City of Angels" a number of years back. It starred Nicholas Cage as an angel in love with a mortal woman. It was definitely on the weird side, made me think of that strange passage in Genesis 6:1-4.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe angel in love with the mortal woman was the central conceit of "The Bishop's Wife".
ReplyDeleteIn composing my other homily for the past weekend (the one that talked about arranged marriages and marriages for love) I contemplated composing a list of films from Hollywood's golden era about people who were married or engaged but tempted to enter into affairs of love/lust with handsome third parties. I think there were two basic variations: the younger woman married/engaged to an older man who is tempted to have an affair with a handsome younger man; and a single man who falls for another man's young, attractive wife/fiancee. "The Bishop's Wife" would go on the list. So would "The Philadelphia Story" and "An Affair To Remember". There is a Christmas movie popular in my family called "Christmas in Connecticut" that is a variation on these situations. They all contrast one's rather blase current marriage/prospects with the possibility for something zingier. I didn't leave myself sufficient time to do the thought and work to put a better list together. But I think there must have been something about that era for which those situations resonated. And it caused me to reflect that maybe there are, or were back then, other categories of marriage than the marriage for love and the arranged marriage.
Or maybe I'm simply describing the age-old temptation to stray and there isn't really anything very period-specific about it.
Jim, Remember the original bet in "Guys and Dolls" was that Sky could bed Sarah. The authors were told that wouldn't fly with the New York archdiocese, it would erupt, Catholics would stay home, and the (show) angels would lose their stakes. But instead of going to bed, Sky and Sarah had to go to Cuba (same thing). That's the era you are thinking about.
DeleteTom, I didn't know that - very interesting. Gives me a new insight into "If I Were A Bell".
DeleteThere is a '70's-vintage Stephen Sondheim musical called "Company" that is about a single guy's failure to get married. Among the implications of the show is that there is a lot of pressure on people to get married, even if it's not a perfect match. That may explain why some people settle for a much-less-than-ideal spouse. I don't think the social pressure exists nearly as much anymore to be married - one of the reasons that the show hasn't necessarily aged well. But I could be wrong about that.
Delete"..pressure on people to get married.." A lot of it was self inflicted. As a young person, I told myself that I needed to at least be engaged by age 21. If not, maybe I'd better consider being a nun. Bad reasoning, for either vocation. Fortunately I met the right person.
DeleteAnd Company gave us this, as only Madeline Kahn could do it:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrRDrz53Q1E
"... some people settle for a much-less-than-ideal spouse."
DeleteGood Lord, is there any other kind?
Jean - can we agree that there are degrees of much-ness?
DeleteTom - yes! In the annals of patter-songs, that is right up there with anything Gilbert and Sullivan came up with.
Delete