Homily Reflection: The River That Gladdens the City of God

Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17 John 2:13-22

Who knows who St. John Lateran is? St. John Lateran is not somebody its a place.  

Being the Cathedral of Rome and the seat of the bishop’s residence – it is the Pope's Cathedral. And, It is a survivor, pillaged by barbarians. It survived natural disasters and fires.  

This Church was a gift of the Emperor Constantine, who was the first Christian Emperor of Rome.  An Emperor who had a vision before a great battle to fight under the sign of Christ. He did and he won. To honor Christ, he defended the Church and built this first Church as a gift to the Lord.

This is the most ancient Church, St. John Lateran and is the ecumenical mother Church of the Christian faith. It was name for named for both St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist

In that description of the history of the Church you can see some vivid images. Barbarians, battles, fires, and earthquakes are all part of the history of the Church. Today readings are also full of images. The one that I like is from the Psalms: "The waters of the river gladden the city of God."

The Diocese of Shreveport has many great rivers that flow through it: Mississippi, Ouachita, Red, Sabine, and many others. Here, the Ouachita, which starts in Arkansas, flows to Monroe. The impact of the river is like the words of Ezekiel; “the river gives life and purifies”

Sit back and draw a picture in our mind. In your minds eye compare the river and the church. If you go to the river, you would see people there every Sunday. People in a way doing the same thing they do in Church.

Let’s look at three things that the river and the Church have in common

The first is boaters. Some boats on the river are humble boats. Others are nice boats. Some people not wanting to be outdone have even nicer boats. And then, some people go all out and have yachts. 

When they go to the river, they like to ride up and down the river showing what nice boats they have and how good they look. But the funny thing about a boat, you can be at the river but don’t have to get wet

The second thing we have is fishermen. A lot of fishermen specialize and fish for what they want. They fish for only what they want; catfish, white perch, bass, or brim and throw what they don’t want back. I’ve even heard that some people in Northeast Louisiana go to the river to hunt ducks.

Even though we don’t look for it, the third thing we find is nastiness. The nastiness in the river is everything that it touches.  By bringing life and purifying it also picks up pollution. The river has the nastiness of the pollution from industry, our cities, and pollution what we put in it.

How many of you are asking, "Where's the Church? I don't see it."

We have people in their boats in Church. They come to Church to be seen. They like to show off their boats of faith. Some will have a humble faith. Some will have a little more fancier faith. Some peoples faith will be like yachts, grand and extravagant. Our faith is big like those boats on the river. It keeps us from having to get wet in all that Church stuff.

There are fishermen at Church. Those who come and pull out what they want. I’m a Catholic and I’m a Christian; but only by my rules, I going to take what I like. I don’t want the whole Church, just part of it. Just like the fisherman who wants only the fish he’s angling for (bass, white perch, brim, or catfish) everything else he throws back. The people look at the Church and throw the things they don’t like back. The Church teachings on marriage, birth control, confession, and even the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist are not what they want; throw them back.

Then like everything in the world, there is nastiness in the Church. We’ve polluted the Church. The Church is polluted by the failures and sin of humanity, of people like you and me. We bring our ugliness and faults to the Church and just like the trash we throw into the river, we pollute the Church.

The wonderful thing is that the river and the Church continue. They both give life and purify. No natter how bad we mess it up, the bad is washed away.  Because in the Gospel, Christ promised to rebuild what we destroy. Christ is our Savior.  

Here is another wonderful thing, Christ forgives us, unconditionally. It doesn't matter if we're boaters or fishermen or bring our pollution to the Church. We are forgiven and we're here. We're in the river that gladdens the city of God. We are the Church.

The Ouachita River gladdens our city and the Church is the river that gladdens the city of God. Our parish (OLF, SL, and CCM) is part of river that flows from the ecumenical mother Church - St. John Lateran. This is the river (the Church) that gives life and purifies our faith and our Christianity.

Before I end, I would like to tell this story. 

A new priest comes to the parish. He loves to go fishing; so a couple of men from the Church take him along on a fishing trip. 

The three men are out in the boat and one says,” I forgot my favorite bait. I need to go get it,” he quickly jumps out of the boat and walks across the top of he water. When he comes back the same way, the priest is astonished.

The second man says, “I should have told you to bring the sun screen, I’ll go get it.” He gets out of the boat and walks to the shore and back on top of the water.

The priest has heard these men’s confession and knows they are not saints.  If they can walk on water he can too. The priest says, “I forgot my rosary; I need to go to the car and get it.” 

The men say, “Sure Father we'll bring you to the shore.”

 “No that’s OK.” the priest says and steps out of the boat. Splash, he sinks to the bottom.

One of the fishermen looks at the other and says “Maybe, you think, we should have told him about them stumps we walk on.”

That priest jumped right in!

That's what we have to do. Even though it not the same as the early Church, we are still facing barbarians. The faces different types of fires and earthquakes. But, through all this, it also has us - boaters, fishermen, and pollution. In Christ, we are plenty.

I’m going by challenging each of you. Don’t stay in boat - jump in, be an active person of faith – Christ’s foundation is in each of us.  Be like Constantine, defend and build up the Church. Let the Church give you life and in that life be Christ’s Church in the world.

Amen.