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This is a summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily delivered at St. Charles on May 16, 2004
"Whoever loves me will keep my word…Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you." John 14: 23-29
A FORMER PASTOR OF ST. CHARLES and a good friend of mine used to sing a Scottish song; "As fair art thou my bonnie lass, so deep in love am I, and I will love thee still, my dear, tho all the seas gang dry. And fare thee well my only love, and fare thee well awhile, and I will come again my love , tho it were ten thousand mile." Robert Burns' singer expresses his deepest sentiments as he is about to leave.
In the final chapters of John's Gospel we find Jesus summing up his emotions and values as he prepares his disciples for his departure. His word is a call to love one another as he has loved us. This is his testament.
Last week we reflected on the call to love within the family. This week's first and second readings are a call to go beyond blood and tribe to the other. Peter tended to side with the Judaizers who wanted the gentile to be Jewish first before he or she could be a Christian. Paul took a bolder approach to opening the door of faith to the Greek world. His perspective won the day as more reflective of the Spirit.
The second reading goes even a step farther. The seer of Patmos presents a utopian vision.of the heavenly city.. "There were three gates facing east, three north, three south, and three west….I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. The city has no need for sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light and its lamp was the Lamb."
This passage reminds me of another song, "Imagine". When John Lennon sang about a world without nationality or religion, a brotherhood of man, I remember at first saying to myself, "Is he knocking religion?" The same question could be raised of John. The book of Revelation presents a world without churches. The vision sees the end of religion as the establishment of universal love and peace. The church is not an end in itself. The purpose of the church is to announce the coming kingdom through the promotion of the values of Jesus in all of the world.
Bringing the church's principles to the secular order is not an easy task. We know the dangers of theocracy. We are rightly fearful of extremist Islamic visions of society. Fundamentalism surfaces in all the major religions as zealous people attempt to foist their ideologies on others in the name of God. Within Catholicism we are witnessing various approaches by church leaders to politicians who hold divergent views on public policy. The US Bishops document on 'Faithful Citizenship" called for a careful review by Catholics of a range of social issues where the principles of human life and human dignity are involved. Dialogue rather than coercive measures are a more appropriate style of engagement as we attempt to integrate our faith within the context of a democratic society. Our church does not possess the blueprint for governance and is not imbedded in any political party.
While the task of transformation of the world by the power of the spirit may be difficult, it is unavoidable. This is why Pope John Paul continues to call for believers to counter a culture of death with a civilization of love and life. The last words of Jesus were a commandment to spread the message of universal love. We do not retreat with Peter from the Pauline challenge to open the door of faith to friend and stranger.