I offered this homily at a Day of Reflection given to all deacons and wives of the Diocese of Winona. The Gospel was on the Prodigal Son. I have only the text to share.
Saturday, 2nd Week of Lent, Cycle C
March 2, 2013
To the Assembly of Deacons of the Diocese of Winona and their wives gathered.
“He welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
I can only hope that a similar complaint is registered against us, my brothers. I can only hope that someone has good reason to charge with this.
Not that we would welcome the sin or partake in it. Not that we would fail to speak the truth when confronted by ignorance or evil. Not that we would lose the purity of our consciences or of our hearts.
Only that we would welcome the sinner and minister to them, that we would know them in their sin so as to lead them back to the Church which offers them reconciliation and peace.
“He welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
It is quite a responsibility, actually, to welcome the sinner and eat with them. To eat with them is synonymous with knowing them, with being present to them. Is this not one of the ministries given to us by our bishop at ordination? Does the Church not invite sinners over and over again to be reconciled with God and the Church, and then come and share in the Eucharist, and aren’t we deacons sent to those places where those in need of reconciliation dwell? Is it not our role as deacons to be present to those who live on the margins of the Church and to carry them in their need back to the Body of Jesus Christ, to the Church? To bring them back by bringing their needs, their sins to the attention of our bishops and his priests?
Brothers, how well do we know our people? How well do we eat with them? How well do we engage them? How well do we bear their needs, their lives back to the Church which we both love and are ordained to serve?
Think of what we will hear on Palm Sunday. Jesus rides a colt on his way to Jerusalem, surrounded by the people. As long as he remained outside the city walls, the walls of power, the he is acclaimed Messiah and King. The people on the margins of ecclesial and civic life, those on the fringes, people without power or voice, people who no doubt were considered steeped in sin, surrounded him. He was knew them. He bore their sin, their needs, their lives and he took all of that to the altar of sacrifice, the altar of reconciliation. He took it all to the Father of reconciliation.
Of course, as soon as he entered those walls of political and religious influence, it cost him his life, which he willingly gave so that the prodigal sons and daughters of his time and ours might be reconciled.
What did Jesus do? He welcomed sinners and he ate with them. He knew them. He gave himself to them. He died for them.
May God help us in our effort to be the Icon of Jesus the Servant in today’s world.
