Boldness of the Moment - First Friday Homily

 

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070524.cfm

One of the things I have been praying with lately is the mystery of God found in the moment. Everything is right here and right now – the total mystery of Christ. Christ totally hidden and yet totally revealed.

And Jesus passed on and saw a man call Matthew sitting at the tax both and he said to him “follow me”

In the boldness of the moment, with a sudden and dramatic conversion, Matthew, the tax collector, responded promptly. He responded boldly and without delay. Matthew found life in that moment. He did not dilly-dally or put it off until tomorrow. In that instant, Matthew left everything behind to follow Jesus in a moment of absolute faith. Faith in Jesus.

Faith is never going to be anything other than faith. Faith is a hope in love. Absolute hope in love was the way of faithfulness Matthew chose; and, he became consumed with the longing for the Lord.

This overpowering faith in Christ comes when we find God in our ordinary lives. Matthew found it sitting in the tax booth. We have to have a faith found in our everyday lives. Faith is never going to be easy; yet, if we cannot find God in the moment can we truly find him somewhere else.   

We are all sinners. In our sin, we fail to have faith in anything but self. It is hard for us who are sinners to let go of our pride to have a life changing faith that is truly hope in love of God through Christ.  Hope in love is in Jesus who does not call saints but brings salvation to sinners.

Like Matthew, live in the moment. It takes boldness to live in the moment. It takes boldness to admit we are sinners. It takes boldness to let our pride go and surrender to God’s will in every moment.  

It all begins with prayer. Pray for an attitude of boldness, wonder, awe, and grace. Pray for a deepening faith. Be bold and pray for faith the size of a mustard seed. 

Do not pray thinking to prove ourselves to God; but ask God for strength in the moment. Strength to surrender to the grace of hope in love that comes to us in every moment of our lives. It is a faith that brings us to a longing for Christ.

Pray to be open to everything right here and right now, in this moment where we can find Christ totally hidden and yet totally revealed.