Homily, December 10, 2023
From The Pastor
Forty has long been an active biblical number that conveys both linear time and spiritual seasons. After liberation from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites traveled forty years in the desert seeking the Promised Land. John the Baptist spent forty days, a long time, in the wilderness of the desert seeking God’s purpose for his life. Jesus spent forty days in the desert doing the same thing as he wrestled with accepting his identity as the Beloved Son of the Father. None of these journeys were easy, but each in their own way revealed and accomplished a Divine purpose in the wisdom of God’s will for humanity and creation.
When I was forty years old, I did a thirty-day retreat on the Atlantic Coast at Eastern Point Jesuit Retreat Center. It was a challenging and blest experience; even more so now to think that was over thirty years ago. During that time, I came across the Book of Deuteronomy 2:7. ‘The Lord your God has blest you in all your undertakings; he has been concerned about your journey through this vast desert. It is now forty years that he has been with you, and you have never been in want.’ This verse has come to mind frequently over the years. Through thick and thin, God has clearly set my path, defended, protected, and remained ever-present to me over these forty years. I have no doubt God will remain.
Ordained in 1983 at the age of 31, I began my internship year at St. Slyvester Parish in Warren, followed by three years at St. Francis Cabrini in Allen Park, then two years at Our Lady of Sorrows in Farmington. At this point, I was asked to be the College Spiritual Director at Sacred Heart Seminary. I remained for ten years, followed by eight years as pastor of St. Lucy Parish in St. Clair Shores. In those years I began, through the invitation of the Archdiocese, an active healing, inner healing, and deliverance ministry. For more than ten years, I have with Deborah Tourville, led Inner Healing retreats at Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in Bloomfield Hills. It has been a transforming experience of full retreats and a waiting list most years. Eighteen years ago, I was blest to be assigned here at St. Vincent Ferrer.
The years can only be characterized by the light of grace. Never, ever would I have imagined the course of these years as I left the Seminary forty years ago. I know for a fact that in these years of ministry, a lot more has happened than I have done. Only by the grace of God have people found healing, freedom, insight, conversion, or any other blessing than by the grace God alone can give. It is humbling, even mind boggling.
It has long been my conviction to preach the love and mercy of God. Some have asked through the years, ‘where do you get all that?’ I get it from Jesus, who else? I didn’t do it or think of it. It is the gift of God’s grace. Love is truth, God is love, Jesus Christ is God. God is the essence of love in undivided unity. God is total and perfect self-surrender fully given and realized in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus, in the fullness of his true self as a fully realized human being reveals in himself the Divine nature. Through the work of redemption in the death of Jesus, without bitterness or resentment, we are called to share in the same Divine nature. As we say at Mass as the priest puts water into the wine at the offertory, ‘that we may come to share in your Divinity as you humbled yourself to share in our humanity’. Jesus is the mercy of God. Mercy is the Divine justice. Mercy is God’s unlimited, unconditional, freely given forgiveness to the undeserving.
What other God is worthy of our faith, trust, and full-hearted commitment? There is no punishment, division, or rejection in God. To ponder this mystery is to come to know ourselves as loved by God. As we come to know and accept ourselves as loved by God, we come to know God through a new and living relationship with Jesus. In the grace of conversion, healing and freedom happens. Old wounds, fears, and guilt fall away in the encounter and experience of a God of love.
These are the central themes of the Advent season. People are looking for hope, meaning, and a purposeful way of life. This is reflected in the first reading in God’s comfort and promise to the exiled Israelites. It is the plea and the longing of those who sought forgiveness in the words of John the Baptist. These themes are painfully evident in our culture today. In the chaos and social disorder of politics, peoples and nations, people are doubting God, Christianity, and even human civility. Why? We want what works, and with all the lies, deception, and active hate in the world people are inclined to give up on God. In recent years, 15 million Americans have left Christianity. Not just religious practice, but faith in a God of love under the premise that it just doesn’t work. That is the lie of evil.
We need Advent as a time of hope, restoration, anticipation, and renewal in the coming of our Incarnate Savior. In this season of light, hope, and promise of Christ’s coming, we must be reminded that you and I are the delivery system for Christ in the world. Believe in Jesus and the redemption he has assured us. Believe in the truth of Divine love. Make it personal to yourself. God’s love for you is as personal and deep as the Father’s love for Jesus. I am grateful beyond words for my life and vocation as a priest. Thank you for joining us today. You are the source and the reason for the Word and Sacrament of God’s love I am privileged to serve. Please pray for God’s will for this troubled world. Let us pray for each other.
Father John Esper
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