Fr. Thom's Homilies

          “What is this?  A new teaching with authority .”  We are told in the Gospel today that Jesus taught “as one having authority,” and yet this word, “authority,” is for many an ugly word.  For many it is synonymous with the corruption of power.  Perhaps for us as Americans this is a particularly loaded word because it is a part of our history to celebrate the toppling of authority.  We hold on to our revolutionary spirit.  Of course, it doesn’t help that some who wield authority, at least worldly authority, do not always command our respect.  But I think we have to get at this term, “authority,” as it is meant in this context.  After all, Jesus is no tyrant to be brought down, but the benevolent king and shepherd of our souls.           So what is this “authority” that the people in the synagogue sense in Him?  Well, it can’t be the kind of authority that is based on age or experience, because Jesus has neither of these.  He would still be a relatively young man, at thirty,

          “Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed!”  “I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out…For the world in its present form is passing way.”  “This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  Maybe not the most cheerful way to begin the New Year or the new semester.  This feels more like the end of Ordinary Time, as the readings in the cycle of the lectionary at that time of year always become a little darker in tone, a little more apocalyptic.  Either that, or all this talk of repentance might make us feel like we have “jumped the gun” on Lent, which is still a few weeks away.  But I would submit that despite the initial gloomy tone of these readings, there is good news here.  In fact, it’s not hard to find at all. Let’s start with that passage from the prophet Jonah.  We need to be reminded of a little backstory here.  Jonah was called to be a prophet of the Lord.  He was told to go to the city of

          There are some beautiful parallels between our first reading today, from the Book of Samuel, and the Gospel passage, taken from the first chapter of John’s Gospel.  Both are really stories of calling – vocation .  Both demonstrate how God gradually reveals Himself to us and how we gradually respond to His call.  And so, I’d like to look first at that reading from Samuel and attempt to draw out some of the rich meaning that is there.           There is this simple, almost “throw away” line right at the beginning:  “Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was.”  Ignore the fact, for the moment, that Samuel was sleeping in Church.  He was nonetheless in the temple “where the ark of God was,” which contained not only the fragments of the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, but also the staff of Aaron, and some the manna (the “bread from heaven”) that sustained the Israelites on their journey through the desert.  For our Jewish brothers an