St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City State
(Fifth Sunday of Easter-Year A; This homily was given on May 10, 2020 at a private Mass in Rome, Italy, in accord with the regulations of the Republic of Italy and the Vicariate of Rome; See Acts 6:1-7, 1 Peter 2:4-9 and John 14:1-12)
Several months ago, before the lockdown began, I was in Orvieto with one of my seminary classmates. We were standing in the square and commenting on the majestic beauty of the Duomo. It really is a remarkable church. The facade alone, before one even enters the interior to see the storied frescoes of Luca Signorelli, is absolutely breathtaking. We talked about how many people must have participated in the building of that great gothic and romanesque cathedral. Begun in 1290, its construction continued for over 300 years, with the finishing touches being set in place by the early 17th century.
All of the major churches and basilicas have similar stories. Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris France, as well as St. Peter’s Basilica here in the City of Rome, were all massive projects that extended over centuries and involved thousands of different persons. These great monuments express the solidity and the beauty of our Catholic faith. There are strong, masculine elements in these churches, as well as fine, elegant and feminine dimensions. They communicate the Catholic imagination and creativity in a singular way.
If you have ever seen the movie, Inception, it tries to capture that same sense of construction by means of the imagination and inspired creativity. The main protagonists in that story enter into the area of the subconscious, and are able to construct entire worlds similar to our own but without limitations. They can construct cities that defy the laws of physics, opening up entirely new dimensions.
In the readings this weekend we are presented with a building that is even greater than all of the churches and cathedrals here on earth. It is more magnificent and even more imaginative than anything you would find in the movie, Inception. It is a building constructed by God Himself, set firmly in the heavens. Jesus refers to it as “My Father’s house” (John 14:2). It is an impressive and amazing edifice, because it is made not with wood, stone and glass, but with you and I! God is building His dwelling place in the heavens, and we ourselves are the material He is using to do it.
St. Peter, in the Second Reading this weekend, writes with great affection: “Beloved, Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, 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 Peter 2:4-5).
The Church that Christ founded is the temple of the Lord, the very “dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22). But in the First Reading this morning we can see that there are already potential fissures in the foundation, divisions that are threatening to weaken that spiritual house. There were two communities gathering together to listen to the message of salvation, the Hebrews and the Hellenists (Greek speaking believers in Christ). While the Church was growing considerably in that time, “the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution” (Acts 6:1). There are few things that can irritate and anger a group of men more than neglecting the women that they love; there are few things in the Sacred Scriptures that irritate God more than the mistreatment of widows. The Apostles, therefore, moved quickly to firm up the foundation.
Their solution was to select out holy men to serve the needs that were going unmet; they prayed over these men and laid hands on them. This is the foundation for the diaconal ministry, and the first one on the list was St. Stephen. We are told that Stephen was, “a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5). I would suggest that St. Stephen is a Master Builder in that regard. He possessed two qualities that have enabled countless saints and holy men and women to build up the house of God: faith and the Holy Spirit.
Beginning with faith, we can see already in the writing of St. Peter this morning how essential that virtue is for the house of God. St. Peter says that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of God’s great edifice. Without Him there would be no building at all. About this cornerstone, St. Peter writes that “its value is for you that have faith, but for those without faith,” Christ is “a stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall” (1 Peter 2:7-8). We need faith to cooperate with God in the construction of His holy temple.
The Gospel for this weekend is entirely occupied with the virtue of faith in the lives of the Apostles. Christ is speaking to them at the Last Supper, and immediately before He reveals to them that there are many dwelling places in His Father’s house, He says, “You have faith in God; have faith also in me” (John 14:1). He goes on to encourage them to believe that He is in the Father, and to believe in the works that the Father has given Him. Then He says something quite astounding: “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12).
Greater works than Christ? Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. He opened the eyes of the blind, and healed the sick with the touch of His hand. How are you and I possibly going to do greater works than these?
But for those who believe in Christ and cooperate with His grace, we have the power to encounter and engage people in a way that can transform their lives for all eternity. There are so many souls separated from God and the Church. How many people do we encounter every week that have left the practice of their faith or are not living in the saving grace of baptism? Through faith and the power of God, we become instruments helping them to believe in God’s mercy. We can bring souls to the Church in baptism, help them to meet the forgiveness of Christ in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, walk with them as they grow in intimacy with God in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. There is no miracle greater or more powerful than a soul transformed by God’s grace. They become living stones, along with us, in the Father’s house.
How many times have we seen this happen firsthand? We can all look to those grace-filled moments when we were present to listen to a broken person, to encourage and strengthen someone who was looking for direction or a little spiritual consolation. We can do little to help and heal such persons of ourselves, but for those who believe, for those who have faith in Jesus, miracles happen.
Which brings me back to the Master Builder, St. Stephen. He was a man “filled with faith and the Holy Spirit.” The Church teaches us that faith is both a gift and a response. It is something that comes to us from God, but we must also respond to faith with love, willing to bear witness to our faith by lives of charity. We live by faith, but we also profess it, share it, and have the courage even to suffer for it when necessary (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1815-1816).
The Second Vatican Council’s Dei Verbum indicates that the Holy Spirit is fully active in both the gift of faith and our response. It is the grace of God that inspires the human person so that he or she can receive the gift of faith, along with the “interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind” and “the same Holy Spirit constantly perfects faith by his gifts.” (Dei Verbum, #5). We receive the gift of faith freely from God, and then through the gifts of wisdom and understanding, counsel and fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord, we grow in our Christian life in a way that engages and encounters those around us.
How is God challenging us this week to receive the theological virtue of faith and to allow the gifts of the Holy Spirit to manifest themselves in works of charity and evangelization? As St. Peter exhorts us this weekend, “let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” May we also be Master Builders, like St. Stephen, filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, ready to cooperate in the greatest construction project that the world has ever seen.
