It is sometimes said that the Church more carefully defines her teaching when it
is under threat. In the early years of the Church when some were questioning
the divinity of Christ, the Church came together at Nicaea and produced the
Nicene Creed, which very definitely underlines the fact that Jesus is both God
and man. But in 1950, the Pope made an infallible declaration about the
Assumption of Our Lady. What was the need? Was this belief being
challenged any more than it had in the more recent past? The Church had
always believed in it, so why define it now as definite Church teaching? Well,
some say that the reason was, not so much to do with affirming an important
fact about Our Lady, but rather it was a re-affirmation of human dignity in
general. The human body had been so degraded in the destruction of the
Second World War. Now the Pope was holding up Our Lady as an example of
the most perfect human being who wasn’t divine to walk this earth, and also
saying that our human bodies, too, are not just destined for the grave, or the
crematorium; one day they will rise again, and we too, like Our Lady, will live
in heaven with glorified human bodies.
The second reading today also says something about human dignity. The status
of the human race today is degraded by all sorts of things: poverty, disease,
forms of modern slavery, abortion, euthanasia, human embryos being
experimented on in the laboratory - the list goes on. So the second reading
counterbalances that: “Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in
Christ”. It’s amazing to think that, even before the world came into existence,
we were part of God’s plan, and not just as an anonymous group of individuals,
but each of us personally: Susan, Peter, James, Philippa – each of us is unique,
each of us was planned by God before time began. Pope Benedict once said:
“We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is
the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of
us is necessary.” [End of quote] This means that each of us is important to
Him. God’s plan for us then goes deeper. A bit further down the text of the
second reading it says we were chosen to be “the people who would put their
hopes in Christ before he came”. It was part of God’s plan for us to know and
to love Him, and not to be spiritual orphans. God has a plan for each of us.
In the first reading, the prophet Amos reveals his lowly state, yet it was God
who called him to be a prophet: “I was a shepherd, and looked after
sycamores, but it was ... the Lord who said, ‘Go, prophesy to my people
Israel”.’ Despite his basic background, it did not disqualify him from being
called by God. In fact, elsewhere, the prophet Jeremiah says that God called
him before he was born, from his mother’s womb. God’s original call is what
matters, God’s original plan; our background is somewhat secondary.
Just whilst we’re on that subject, I’ve put in the bulletin this week a link to a
video interviewing our two new bishops-elect for the archdiocese, who are due
to be ordained on Tuesday, and then we will see which one will be sent to cover
us in the south of the archdiocese. One of the two candidates, Mgr Timothy
Menezes, says a member of his family said to him, “I thought being a bishop
was really important. And now you’re going to be one.” It’s good that, whilst
being aware of our dignity as God’s children, and our high calling from God,
and how much God thinks of us, that we are also, at the same time, humble,
and sometimes family and friends can help not to think too highly of ourselves.
Think of the expression: with friends like you, who needs enemies?
That leads us to the Gospel. Christ sent out the Twelve, but they were to go
simply, in humility – it was also a precaution against bandits. But despite their
lowly appearance, the message they were sent to preach was life-changing – as
John 1:12 says: “to all who did accept him he gave power to become children
of God”.
Our dignity is amazing! We will never quite equal that of Our Lady, assumed
into heaven, but it’s still quite amazing to think that we were in the mind of
God, each and every one of us, before time began. We were called to know
Him, and to be happy with Him in this life and the next.
Curious about exploring things further? If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk