The opening lines of the Gospel this week raise some questions: Why were Greeks, who were raised to pay homage to the pantheon of Greek gods--gods like Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, and Aphrodite, why were these non-Jews going to Jerusalem for Passover? Well, these Greeks were known as proselytes, non-Jews who had come to believe in the God of Israel, but who had not yet undergone circumcision. Well, that answers who they were, but why were they there? Why…how…had these Greeks, these gentiles, these pagans, come to believe in the One True God of Israel?
Well, why does anyone convert?
I came across an internet video a few weeks ago. A young woman who is described as “A Major Protestant YouTube Star” announced in this internet video that she was converting to Catholicism.” She explains, “I did not want to be Catholic. Not only did I think Catholicism was wrong, I just didn’t like the vibe of Catholicism. I wanted to be anything but Catholic… I fought so hard to get out of this intellectually.”
So why is she converting? Well, she had been planning on going to Thailand as a Protestant Missionary, when she came across internet videos that challenged some of her preconceptions about the Catholic Church. One video she said was titled “10 Lies Protestants Believe about Catholicism.” So, to verify Catholic teaching for herself, she started reading the Early Church Fathers, and discovered, these guys were Catholic. She discovered how the Catholic Church’s teaching about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is clearly biblical. And through reading and study even became convinced of the truth of the papacy.
She, like countless souls before her, had searched for the Truth with an open mind and open heart, and found it, here, in the Catholic Church.
In today’s Gospel, the Greeks had come to Jerusalem searching for the Truth, and that search for the truth led them to declare to the Apostle Philip: “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
Their simple request reflects a universal sentiment in the heart of every human being. We want to see Jesus. We want to know God. We want to be in His presence.
Throughout my years as a priest, I have worked in the RCIA at several different parishes. We’ve had Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Southern Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, and folks raised without any religion whatsoever, even some souls who were once very vocal critics of Catholicism, who urged people to leave the Catholic Church. But their search for the Truth, their search for the face of God, had led them here, had led them home.
“Sir, we would like to see Jesus” is the reason each one of us is here today. We are here because we want to see Jesus in eternity, and in order to do that, we must be His faithful followers, now.
The desire to see Jesus, has impelled us throughout Lent to undergo Lenten penances like abstaining from meat on Fridays, fasting from non-essentials, engaging in extra prayer-time throughout the week, and offering our meager earthly treasures to help the poor. Praying, fasting, and almsgiving help us to see Jesus.
This desire to see Jesus is fulfilled when we come to Mass. We enter the church, genuflecting to the tabernacle, believing that Jesus is really here. I can go to any Catholic church or chapel in the world and see Jesus and visit Jesus in any tabernacle in the world. And at Mass, we can “see Jesus” become present under the appearance of bread and wine.
And we come to Mass every week, we follow the Lord’s teachings, we engage in penances and acts of mercy, not only because WE want to “see Jesus” but because Jesus wants others to see Him in US. The way we act, the words we utter, how we use our time, are to help others “see Jesus”.
How had the Greeks in the Gospels come to believe? How have the billions of Catholic converts throughout the millennia come to believe? News of Jesus Christ was shared with them. They had seen Jesus speaking and acting in the lives of ordinary Catholics like us.
There have certainly been some extraordinary saints who have made it their life’s work to help others see Jesus. I think particularly of the Saint we honor this weekend: the great patron of Ireland, St. Patrick.
Many of you know some of the stories of St. Patrick: Patrick was born in Roman Britain. And when he was fourteen or so, he was captured by Irish pirates during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave. At the time, Ireland was a land of Druids and pagans, but Patrick, the son of a Deacon, kept his Catholic faith.
Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty years old, when he escaped slavery after having a dream from God in which he was told he could find his freedom by fleeing to the sea coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain where he was reunited with his family.
Patrick wasn’t home long, when he sensed a call from God to return to Ireland to preach the Gospel. He was trained as a priest and was ordained by the bishop St. Germanus, who sent Patrick back to Ireland as a missionary bishop.
The legend of Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland is symbolic of driving paganism from the Emerald Isle, and leading its inhabitants to Christ. And Patrick was successful because he was filled with the life and love of Christ.
The famous breastplate of St. Patrick speaks of the saint’s immense trust in the strength of Christ, but that other may encounter Christ through him: "Christ be within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me, Christ in the eye of every man that sees me, Christ in the ear of every man that hears me."
There are people in our lives who long to see Jesus, and we like the apostles, like so many saints, are called to help them to see the Lord, by patiently and clearly and zealously sharing Jesus with them.
After the Greeks share their desire to see Jesus, Jesus gives a teaching that his followers must become like grains of wheat, that die to themselves in order to truly live. The life of God cannot dwell in us if we are unwilling to die to ourselves. Christ cannot be seen in us, unless we decrease. So we must willingly pursue dying to our selfish desires, dying to the errors of the world.
In two weeks, we will celebrate again the great Paschal Solemnity of Easter the feast of new life--the new life God wants for us, but in those two weeks, we still have much dying to do. Pray more deeply, fast more assiduously, seek Jesus in the poor who need your assistance, and help others see Him, in your kindness. If you have any family members or neighbors who have fallen away from the Church, invite them to attend sacramental confession or invite them to attend our Good Friday veneration of the cross. Invite them to see Jesus. Through the dying and rising with Christ may we come to see Jesus face to face in the glorious resurrection, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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