16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 19-20, 2008– "Shine, Baby, Shine"

This past week was our Bibletimes Marketplace week. We had kids all over the place doing all kinds of crafts and stuff, walking with Jesus. Well, I got to make a craft, and I want to show it to you. Isn't that nice? (Fr. Jeff holds up a small, wooden and screened box.) I've already used it. I went out last night and I got Larry the Lightning Bug. I named him Larry after my sister's boyfriend. He'll be so proud. Now what I had intended to do for the homily was simply bring Larry the Lightning Bug here and let you all watch him light up! But here's the problem. He won't do it! I've since figured out that the reason Larry the Lightning Bug won't light up is because lightning bugs need two things in order to light up-one, they need darkness; and two, apparently, because I went into a closet and covered him up but he still didn't light up, they need freedom. Darkness and freedom is what Larry needs to light up.

You know, when each of us was baptized, we were given the light of Christ. And we were instructed to keep that light burning brightly. But this morning as we gather to celebrate Baptism, it strikes me that, like the lightning bug, we need two things in order to light up. One is darkness. Two - freedom.

Now, we don't like darkness. We, as a society, run away from darkness. I mean the darkness, for instance, of illness. The darkness of loneliness. The darkness of betrayal. The darkness, you might even say, of getting old. To someone who's turned 45, I kind of know that darkness a little bit. The good news, though, that I heard on NPR is that 50 is now the new 40. And 40 I already knew is now the new 30, and 30 is the new 20. So basically, I’m 25. Although I think dead is still dead.

Darkness. You know, if you're like me, I often think what good can my little light be in the face of darkness. But what we have to remember is that God never promised us that our life would dispel all darkness. We're not the Messiah. But God has promised that all of the darkness would not put out our little light. And so with that promise we are called by our God to not simply stay away from the darkness and avoid the darkness of our lives and our world, but we are actually called to seek it out - to seek out the darkness so that we can bring our light to it. But we must choose to do that. We must, in our freedom, choose to partner with God.

This past week I was reading a letter written by Pope Pius XII. He was the Pope during World War II. In 1943, right in the middle, the height of that horrible war, he wrote a letter called "The Mystical Body of Christ," where he laid out our church's teaching and understanding of who we are. And way back in 1943, Pope Pius XII spoke to the freedom that we have that's necessary for our light to shine. Listen to what he wrote:

"Yet this also must be held, marvelous though it may seem. Christ has need of his members. First because the person of Jesus Christ is represented by the Supreme Pontiff who must in turn call on others to share much of his solicitudes lest he be overwhelmed by the burden of his pastoral office, and must be helped daily by the prayers of the church."

He goes on to say:

Moreover, as our Savior does not rule the church directly in a visible manner, he wills to be helped by the members of his Body in carrying out the work of redemption. That is not because he is indigent and weak, but because he has so willed it for the greater glory of his spouse, the church."

What does that mean? God chooses to need us. God chooses to allow us in our freedom to say yes or no - to partner with God in dispelling the darkness. But we must choose to walk into it. That's what these boots are all about today - the Trackside Ministry, or Hunger Walk in October, or the building of the wall of diapers, or the building of Habitat Houses, or the going to the soup kitchen, or our Youth Group going to Cairo, Illinois this week to serve the poor. This is what all these things are about. They are opportunities for us -- in our freedom -- to bring our life into some darkness, because, my friends, it is only when we bring our lights into the darkness that our souls can be shaped. It is only when we choose in our freedom to bring our light into the darkness that who we celebrate who we are here becomes who we are here (Fr. Jeff touches his heart).

Next weekend we're going to have two candidates before us who are seeking the position of Social Responsibility minister. And whoever it is we hire at the end of this process, I will be directing them as the pastor to create for us as a parish more face-to-face opportunities for us to bring the light of who we are into the darkness of the world. In just a few moments, this little girl shall be grafted to Christ by baptism. And she shall be given the light of Christ and told to keep it burning brightly. As we move to this celebration then, let's all of us remember that that same light is in our hands now. And whether it be like Harry and Rita Kirwan who yesterday celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary; or whether it be like our Youth Group who this week will be going to Cairo, Illinois to serve the poor; or whether it be the youth musicians who voluntarily gather and lead us in prayer this morning, all of us are called to use that light of Christ for God's glory.

So, my friends, as the song says, "Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine."

Just so you know, no lightning bugs were injured in the performance of this homily.