January 14, 2024 (Second Sunday in Ordinary Time)

by Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P.

[This is the text composed by the homilist prior to delivering the homily.]

We are easily trapped between our desires and our fears. … We have a dream, but fear stops us, so we are snared by distraction and delay. … Sound familiar?

How many students dream of coming to Stanford, but once here, anxiety makes them feel like impostors? … How many chose a major only to discover they feared it as a career? … For that matter, how many JDs have never practiced law?

Two sobering stats: 25% of collegiate graduates say they did not learn the skills they needed, while 54% never worked in the field of their major.

Jesus’ question is as important now as ever. … What are you looking for? … What are you really looking for? … Sadly, we are mimetic. Are our desires ours, or are we imitating someone else? … What do you really seek? …

This question isn’t just for the young. Too many live dissatisfied lives but are afraid to change. What fears shape you? … What are you afraid of?

When people fail to face these two questions, they often dull the disappointment with distraction or procrastination. They are caught in an unhappiness they refuse to escape. … What fears control you?

The issue isn’t new; the Hebrew scriptures knew that fear traps us; they tell us 365 times: Be not afraid. … God wants you to live boldly. God made you unique; will you embrace that uniqueness?

One way to conquer fear is to fan the embers of that your God-inspired dream into a blaze that spurs you into action. … It is not enough to dream; it has to be translated into a positive plan for growth, … even if it is only one step. That first step creates the possibility of a second.

Three questions face us: (1) What do I seek? (2) What are my fears? (3) What’s my plan? What skills must I practice consistently to make my God-inspired dream real? … This is true for your academic and professional lives and your relational life.

I cannot count how many times I was asked while a pastor in San Francisco by a successful young adult, “How do I meet a beautiful girl, a handsome guy?”

What’s wrong with this picture? … I’m a celibate! I have been trying not to bait the hook. … After they laugh then, I offer some practical tips.

But what was the problem? … Too many didn’t practice the art of relationships; they feared entanglements would get in the way of study and profession. … They imagined the 30s are the new 20s! … Not! … They failed to practice intentionally the skills of friendship and relationship. … They hadn’t reflected, shared, and learned from their experiences to identify the skills they needed to practice. … Rampant individualism denies us the insight and support we need to become whole. We only become ourselves through friends and community.

This is no less true with our relationship to God. These are the lessons of today’s Gospel.

Andrew had a dream, Israel’s dream for a Messiah who would put creation right and restore Israel. … He took a first step and went to hear John the Baptist. … Overhearing John, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” Andrew took a second step, a reluctant one, by following Jesus at a distance. That gave Jesus the space to ask: “What are you looking for?” Jesus asks each of us: “What are you looking for?”

Andrew answers, “Where are you staying?” … That seems lame. … This Greek is richer. John uses the word throughout his Gospel with the sense of dwelling, the mutual indwelling of the Father and Son, the mutual life of Jesus and his disciples, and the mutual friendship of the disciples. Andrew was asking for more than a location; he was asking: “Jesus, where (or should I say, who) are you coming from?”… Andrew wanted to connect with Jesus.

Have you ever met a person and discovered you wanted a friendship? … Andrew’s question was actually saying, I want to get to know you, Jesus. … Jesus returns the compliment: “Come and see!” Or maybe better, “Come and you will see!”

Will you follow like Andrew and make room for Jesus’ friendship? … Friendship stretches us, or do you think it was easy for Andrew to make friends with an apostle who was a hated tax collector and another, a threatening zealot? Friendship with Jesus will stretch you to become more than you imagine. …First, practice friendship skills.

Most of us are too timid, forgetting that friendship is the greatest gift you will give. … Jesus invites you into his friendship, “Come and you will see.”

That invite is always there. Whom did Jesus ever reject? Only God’s friendship can satisfy the deepest desire in all of us. But friendships take time and practice to forge the cords of connection.

In the age of the instant, we want without waiting, without effort, and without tenacity.

Tomorrow, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr; we celebrate his dream.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

….

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!”

When will it become a reality? … Our country is ensnared by fear; afraid of losing position, status, and power, some can see the other as part of themselves. America has always been tempted by a desire for oligarchy that says some are better than others; they want democracy only for the few. And Dr. King’s dream waits, and people are wounded.

Pope Francis has words for them: “…we tell everyone: “Come and see”! In every human situation, marked by frailty, sin and death, the Good News is no mere matter of words, but a testimony to unconditional and faithful love: it is about leaving ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by life’s troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick, elderly and the outcast. … “Come and see.” Love is more powerful, love gives life, love makes hope blossom in the wilderness.” [1]

Practice the skills of divine friendship … with everyone!

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[1] Urbi et Orbi Message of Pope Francis, Easter 2014