Homily, 10-28-24; Feast of Simon and Jude, Apostles:
Home sweet home, or as Scott Hahn declares in the title of his book: Rome Sweet Home. The Church is our home here on earth built on the foundation of the apostles, including Jude and Simon the Zealot that we honor today. Jesus is the cornerstone who set the direction for the foundation. He is the keystone that holds the whole building together. He is the capstone, the head, that sits atop the structure.
How blessed we are to have found our home and recognized it and decided to stay. Some have not found it and are still searching. Some who have been home have run away and left searching for a different home where life will be more comfortable. Others are homeless; they choose to stay strangers.
We who have chosen to be faithful to the one true church are not strangers or sojourners travelling in a foreign land. Sure, our true home is in Heaven and so we are still sojourners in a way, but the Church unites us to a bit of Heaven on earth. As we pray in the Our Father: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is Heaven.
But we are not only in the Church, we are integral parts of the Church itself. St. Peter, the rock, one of the foundation stones of our Church refers to us as living stones. He writes: “Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5).
When I lay on the floor with my grandchildren and build structures out of blocks, it becomes evident that the blocks are not perfect and uniform, especially the ones my dad made for them. And so, as the structure grows in height, it begins to sway and ultimately tumbles despite my best efforts to hold it together. The Church is still a work in progress. It is still being built up. New stones are being added, and unfortunately some are falling out. It consists partially of those who are in Heaven; they are perfect stones. But it is also made up of us, living stones who are not yet perfect. And so the Church is not yet perfect. It sways, but it does not tumble because we have Jesus as the keystone. As we heard this morning: “Through him the whole structure is held together.”
We need to do our part in building up the Church, our home. We need to pray for our church leaders and strive for own perfection to stabilize her walls. We are living stones; our faith must be alive so that we can be joyful messengers of the Good News of Jesus Christ, to be beacons to lead others to return home, or find it for the first time.