Homily: Friday - 2nd Week of Easter 2016 - An unstoppable Spirit for a never-ending job.

As we’ve heard this week from the Acts of the Apostles, the untiring preaching of the Resurrection of Jesus by the Apostles infuriated the Sanhedrin.  Remember, the Sanhedrin had conspired to put Jesus to death. Remember, on Easter how we also heard how they conspired against the Apostles, claiming that the Apostles had stolen the body of Jesus from the tomb to make it look like he had risen.

Yet, on the Sanhedrin was a Pharisee named Gamaliel. This is the same Gamaliel who was the teacher of St. Paul. Gamaliel argues that if the message of the Apostles is not from God, it will eventually die out…” But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.”

The Gospel message has endured, two thousand years. We’ve survived every attempt to destroy us.  The Roman Empire, the Nazi Regime, the Communist Party.  Yesterday, I spoke of our current secular State’s attempts to silence the Gospel message. In the end the State will lose; the Church will endure until the end of time, for she is from God.

The Church is not a man-made institution, though she is made of men. Really, she is not an organization, but an organism—a living being, with a soul.  Just as our soul animates our body, the Holy Spirit animates the Church. The Church is the most powerful force on earth not only because she has the highest ideal—the glory of God, but above all because she has the greatest power within her.  The gates of hell shall not prevail against her, for Jesus died for her, rose for her, gave the Spirit to her, for the most important mission of all time: the salvation of souls.

The secret of the Church’s enduring power throughout the centuries, through the persecution of her martyrs and saints, the source of the truth of her doctrines, her infallibility and consistency in faith and morals throughout two thousand years is not dumb luck.  Nothing less than God could perform this miracle in history. 

However, this does not give us the right to relax our efforts.  Evil prevails when good men do nothing.  So our efforts of spreading the Gospel must be constant, like the Apostles. 

In the Gospel reading, Jesus feeds the hungry crowd of 5000 with 5 loaves and two fish. There are souls who are hungering to know Jesus, to know his truth, to be fed by his word and his body and blood.  Our Lord wants to feed the hungry souls of the world through us. For us to neglect our mission of evangelization is to allow hungry souls to starve. God gives us an unstoppable Spirit for never-ending job.

Bringing the food of God’s word and sacraments is not someone else’s job, it’s our job.  We can never give the excuse “well, I’m too ordinary, I have nothing to offer.” For the same Spirit which animated the Apostles has been given to us—the same Gospel message, the same Sacraments.

May we be faithful and courageous in our mission bringing hungry souls to the table of the Lord, to be fed as we are by Word and Sacrament for the glory of God and salvation of souls.