
Bishop Anthony B. Taylor delivered this homily in New Dixie (Bigelow) on Father’s Day and Father Richard Davis’ 50th anniversary of ordination June 16.
Awhile back a man told me about conflicts he was having with his daughter and son-in-law, who weren’t going to Mass. At one point the son-in-law said, “Look at you with all your faults” — which he then listed — “a lot of good going to Mass is doing you!” To which the man replied, “Just think how much worse I’d be if I weren’t going to Mass!”
I think he hit the nail on the head. The Church is not a hall of fame for those who have already reached perfection. It’s a hospital for those who want to get well and stay well. It’s rehab for those who are broken and want to put their life back together. It’s a place of mercy where sinners find encouragement and guidance.
We have lots of faults, but think how much worse we’d be if we didn’t have Jesus in our lives.
In today’s Gospel we have a “sinful” woman — she may have been a prostitute because she had a lot of money — she brought a flask of perfume which Mark tells us was worth the equivalent of about $300. Some think this woman, Mary Magdalene and the woman Jesus freed from seven demons were all the same person, and Luke explicitly links the last two near the end of today’s Gospel. But most scholars think they were three separate women whose stories were already conflated in the sources from which Luke drew his material.
In any event, look at how much better off this sinful woman is now with Jesus in her life: her faith in Jesus has saved her, as it did the other two women. Indeed, Mary Magdalene will be one of the greatest saints of the Church, all because of Jesus’ loving mercy. She will be the first one to whom Jesus appears after he rises from the dead.
A week ago Friday was the feast of the Sacred Heart, which celebrates Jesus’ self-sacrificing love: both the love we see him extend to the woman in our Gospel and his help with the problems we face today.
Jesus continues to save us, heal us, forgive us, encourage us and guide us today, and he calls on us to reciprocate his love by us loving others like he loves us.
This means that we forgive others their faults — including that disappointing son-in-law — and asking them to forgive us. You know, unless you can forgive and seek forgiveness, you haven’t yet accepted the redemption that Jesus offers you.
As he says in today’s Gospel regarding the sinful woman: “Her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love. But the one who has been forgiven little loves little.”
Meaning that if you don’t forgive — if you don’t extend love to those who have offended you — all those sins you think were forgiven still cling to you. Meaning that to be his followers, our own hearts must become Sacred Hearts as well.
Indeed, as Jesus says elsewhere: “by your love they shall know you are my disciples.”
Today is also Fathers’ Day, a day to thank God for our fathers — and here at St. Boniface to thank God this year for one special Father in particular, Father Richard Davis as he celebrates his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood.
You parishioners have received the forgiveness of your heavenly Father imparted to you sacramentally through the ministrations of your parish’s spiritual father — Father Richard. He has been a doctor of souls for you, bringing spiritual healing to those who want to put their lives back together, bringing you not only forgiveness, but also encouragement and guidance — love!
We may still have lots of faults, but think how much worse we’d be if we didn’t have priests like Father Richard in our lives.
At ordination he became an “alter Christus,” another Christ, and he really is literally one of the ways in which you have Jesus in your life.
Father Richard has tended Jesus’ flock with self-sacrificing love for 50 years now, to the point that his heart has become a Sacred Heart as well. So we can say to him without hesitation, “by your love we know you are Jesus’ disciple!”