BRIDGEPORT— “There is very little that is ordinary about the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, because we are invited into the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Frank J. Caggiano said in his homily for Sunday January 17.
The bishop, who resumed saying his weekly online Mass from the Catholic Center chapel after nearly two weeks in quarantine following a positive Covid-19 test, said the Gospel of John (1: 35-42) leaves us all with a burning question in life, “What do you really want? What does your heart desire more than anything else?”
It’s the same question Jesus asks the apostles as he begins his public ministry, and invites Simon Peter to join him, (1:38) “Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?”
“What are you looking for?” the bishop repeated, noting that it’s an innocent question we ask each other at least a thousand times in our lives.
Yet these same words from Jesus invite us to a “deep and profound reflection, a question for the heart, and the answer to that question makes all the difference between heaven and earth,” he said.
The bishop said that we all wish to be happy in life, but if we seek pleasure, power or possessions in an inordinate way, we are looking for the wrong thing.
Likewise, if we do good for others and that gives us a great sense of satisfaction, “even that is not enough to answer the question Jesus asks,” he said.
The bishop said that St. Augustine in the odyssey of his conversion to faith taught us that “the answer is much deeper, and that there is a ‘restlessness of heart’ that only finds peace in God.”
“What we’re truly looking for is God’s life in its fullness in your life and mine, leading us to the fullness of eternal life,” he said. “That alone satisfies your heart and mine… The question is, how do we go about finding it?”
The bishop said that in the time of Jesus, there was a saying that devout young Jewish men “desired to be covered with the dust of the Rabbi.”
A young man was chosen and formed by the Rabbi who allowed him to enter into the community of life with other young men, “so that he could learn what the Rabbi knew, follow his example, share food at his table, and walk close enough behind him to be covered in the dust of his sandals, so that he might fall in love with God.”
The bishop said that Jesus offered that to the apostles and is inviting us to do the same thing, to see and stay with him, to enter into his life, to walk with him in our solitude and learn his Holy Word.
“Every moment we are invited to be intentionally with Jesus, to desire to spend time with him, to learn and imitate him, and allow him to lead us. What will happen is that we will begin to get a glimpse of the love God already has for you and me–the love that invites us to greatness in him and to be different from those around us, and authentic in faith.”
The bishop said it’s not the clothes we walk in that matter in life, but what makes us different is the dust we accumulate—the testament and witness we give to the sacred.
The bishop concluded his homily by recalling that when he was a little boy, he was fascinated by the story of the genie and the three wishes, and he often wondered what his should be.
“This is a spiritual challenge for you and me alike. If the Lord appeared before us right now and would give us three wishes, what would you ask for? What would you really desire? What would you really want?” he asked.
“Allow me to suggest that if one of those three wishes is not to be covered in the dust of the example of Jesus Christ, then you and I in the weeks ahead have a lot of work to do.”
Before giving the final blessing the bishop offered his “personal and sincere thanks” for all of the prayers, emails and notes he received during his quarantine period.
“Thank you for your support, but let’s not forget all those who are suffering and remain in quarantine, and those in hospitals. Now more than ever we need to pray for each other and support each other. And all who are eligible for the vaccine, please consider receiving it, so that we can turn the tide on this menace and with God’s mercy come back to the normality that you and I desperately want.”
The Bishop’s Sunday Mass is released online every Sunday morning at 8 a.m. and available for replay throughout the day. To view the Bishop’s Sunday Mass, recorded and published weekly, click this link or visit the YouTube Mass Playlist.
You are also invited to join Bishop Caggiano for the Sunday Family Rosary every Sunday at 7:30 p.m. visit: https://formationreimagined.org/sundayfamilyrosary/
