May 4 Homily by Father Tom - Sacred Heart Catholic Church



Catholic Community of Jeffersonville St. Augustine Parish Website		Catholic Community of Jeffersonville St. Augustine & Sacred Heart Homily by Father Thomas E. Clegg Ascension Sunday A St. Augustine/Sacred Heart 2008 A burglar found a prime neighborhood with a lot of nice houses. He watches one particular house for several hours before deciding that it would be safe to hit. It was pitch black inside as he made his way through the kitchen, then the dining room and into the den where he finds a safe. He starts to pick the lock when he hears a voice: "I see you and Jesus sees you," a voice said. The burglar froze in his tracks. Then he heard it again, "I see you and Jesus sees you." When nothing more happened, the burglar took out his flashlight and shined it in the direction of the voice. There he saw a parrot sitting in it’s cage. "I see you and Jesus sees you." the Parrot said. The burglar laughed. "Just a dumb bird," he said. Then he turned back around and saw a large Doberman pincher! The parrot looked back at the burglar and said, “Sick him, Jesus!” If I were to name my sermons, today I would simply call it… “Five words that changed my life.” Because our gospel reading contains five words that I know have changed my life— and I think they can change yours as well. They occur right at the beginning of the Gospel when the apostles get to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. It says when they saw him….and here are the five words…. They worshipped, but they doubted. They are easy words to miss. I don’t think many people find their significance. I know I didn’t until I had my Gospel course in seminary. There my professor pointed out that this passage had perplexed scholars and translators for years. Literally it says what we heard today, But for many translators this presented problems. If they doubted, why would they worship. And so they changed the wording: Some translated it this way, “When they saw him, those who had entertained doubts, fell down and worshipped.” They put all their worship in the past… They doubted, but now that they saw him, everything was okay. Another translation put it this way, “When they saw him, those who believed worshipped, but some still doubted.” This translation divided the apostles into two groups— those who believed and worshipped and those who doubted and did not worship. And the reason for these various translations is that the translators had a hard time believing that you could worship even in the midst of doubt. But doesn’t it make sense to worship even in the midst of doubt. That’s why I said those five words changed my life…. Those five words give me permission to not have all the answers. Those five words tell me that it is okay to sometimes question… It’s okay to question you priest…. It’s okay to question your bishop… It’s okay to question the Church… It’s even okay to question God… BUT DON’T GIVE UP! THEY WORSHIPPED, but they doubted You notice the apostles didn’t say, “This is too much for us, we quit.” They worshipped in the midst of their doubt. And that is how it changes our lives…. There are so many times that I think we find ourselves in the midst of questioning. So many times we find ourselves in the midst of doubt… And sometimes our tendency is to stay away during those times: To stay away from God…. To stay away from our faith… To stay away from the Church… But my friends, during those times is when we need to do just the opposite… We need the Church most during those times… We need our faith the most during those times… We need God the most during those times… It is during those times that like the apostles, we need to worship our way through our doubt. 5 words…they worshipped, but they doubted…. 5 simple words… But 5 words… that if you let them…. have the power to change your life!

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