Stir into Flame the Gift of God: Homily for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

It’s a beautiful October day today,
and I have to admit that October is my favorite month.
I love the colors of the leaves as they change,
the foggy mornings that we often get,
and the pumpkin spice food and beverages
that show up in the stores and coffee shops.
But I also love the feast days that come one after another in October:
St. Teresa the Little Flower, the Guardian Angels,
St. Francis of Assisi, and Our Lady of the Rosary.

The month of October is also set aside as Respect Life Month,
And the first Sunday in October, today, is Respect Life Sunday.
And if there’s anything that needs respecting in today’s world,
it is life.
We hear the words of the prophet Habbakuk in the first reading,
“Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and clamorous discord.”
Those words apply just as much to us today
as they did in the days of the prophet when they were written.

Our world is full of violence and strife
towards people of all ages, of all abilities, of all backgrounds,
and of all nationalities.
We might even say of today’s world that there is a great disrespect
for the value of human life.
We seem to have lost our way
when it comes to recognizing the dignity of every human person,
before they’re born, after they’re born,
or when they’re at the end of their journey in this life.

And trying to defend the value of those lives,
the lives of infants,
the lives of those who are disabled or dying,
the lives of those on death row,
the lives of immigrants, the poor,
trying to defend the lives of any vulnerable human population
is often met with enormous resistance.

And what about our own efforts to respect human life?
October is a good month for us to ask ourselves
if we need to improve in the respect we give to every person in our lives,
from family members to coworkers,
from acquaintances to strangers.
Do I gossip? Do I bully? Do I ignore those in need around me
simply because they are different or believe differently than I do?

We have to challenge ourselves,
we, who profess to know and respect the value of human life,
to live out what we believe,
to put it in practice in our own lives.

So it is vitally important that we take time this month
to refocus on the inherent value human life,
and help others understand.

But when we look at the work required
to try to change the culture so that all human life is valued,
and to make sure we are living out what we believe,
we might feel intimidated or overwhelmed
by the sheer enormity of the task.
How do we transform our culture
so that each individual human life is understood as sacred,
as important,
regardless of what a person can or cannot contribute to society?
How do we help people see
that our worth does not derive from our ability to do
but our worth derives from the fact that we are,
that we exist,
that we were created by a loving God
who chose us into being?

It seems like too big a task for people as small as we are,
and there seems to be too much inertia in the opposite direction.

But today’s scripture readings
challenge us to live out our call to discipleship.
First we hear from Paul in his second letter to Timothy.
As Paul writes this letter,
he is close to the end of his life, and he probably realizes it.
He’s in prison in Rome,
and he’s writing a letter to his closest companion
and probably his best friend, Timothy:
Timothy who traveled with him on two of his journeys,
Timothy whom he sent on several special missions.
Paul knows Timothy’s family well.
He knows Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice,
and he admires both of them for their faith,
the same faith that he sees in Timothy.

As Paul writes what is probably his final letter,
he wants Timothy to fully understand and be confident in
the gift that he’s been given by God
through Paul’s imposition of hands on him.
You see, Timothy is in Ephesus while Paul is in Rome,
and he’s sending Timothy this letter
because he knows that Timothy has a big job ahead of him.

Timothy is the leader of the Christian community in Ephesus,
and there are a lot of false teachings that are beginning to spread
by well meaning people who think they are being helpful.
It’s a big task for someone to take on,
very similar to the task of trying to help people understand the value of life. So Paul’s words to Timothy are also good for us to hear.

And what Paul says to Timothy is this:
“I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God
that you have through the imposition of my hands.”

He wants Timothy to stir that gift into flame,
the gift of the spirit Timothy has been given,
the gift of the spirit by Paul’s imposition of hands.
We have been given that same gift of the Spirit
through the sacraments of baptism and confirmation
and which are renewed every time we come to this altar
in the sacrament of the Eucharist

Paul wants Timothy to remember,
to remember that he has that gift,
the gift of the spirit,
and to stir that spirit,
to stir it into flame.
The picture here is a fire pit full of coals
that have begun to grow colder;
the coals have died down,
they’re just glowing now,
not providing much heat,
not providing much light,
and Paul is saying to Timothy
“Poke a stick in there and stir those up,
stir them up into a flame,
get that flame going again, you have this gift from God,
you have the spirit.

And Paul says it’s a spirit of power,
it’s a spirit of self-control
and it’s the spirit most of all of love.
Timothy has what needs.
We have what we need.
But it must be stirred up!
It must be made active.

We see the same thing in the gospel.
Jesus and the disciples are on their way to Jerusalem,
and it’s a long journey,
and as they’re on the way,
Jesus has just finished telling them
about the temptations they’re going to face,
and how difficult discipleship is.

So the disciples say to Jesus, “Increase our faith.”
They feel the need to have Jesus’ help in strengthening their faith,
in increasing their faith,
and what does Jesus tell them?

He says, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’
and it would obey you.”

What Jesus is telling them is, you have the amount of faith you need.
The faith that you need is in you, no matter how small it is.
Now stir it up, bring it to light, rely on it and trust in it!

That’s the message for us today
as we we recommit ourselves to respecting life:
each one of us already has access to the power of the Holy Spirit
to do what needs to be done.
The presence of Christ dwells in our hearts.
That should excite and delight us,
and give us joyful hearts,
even in the face of a world that doesn’t fully understand the value of life.
Paul says, “Remember that!”
Stir up those embers!
The presence of the Holy Spirit needs to be activated in our lives.

It’s like getting a brand new credit card in the mail.
You open up the envelope and what’s the first thing you see?
Call this toll free number to activate your card.
If you don’t activate it, then it’s useless.

We have received a gift from God that needs to be activated.
Today.

This very day there are well-meaning politicians and cultural leaders
proposing laws and initiatives
that they mistakenly believe are helpful to society,
but which will harm the dignity of human life.
This very day there are young women in Spokane
who have just found out they are unexpectedly pregnant,
and who are scared to death and don’t know what to do.
This very day there are people all around us
suffering from terminal diseases,
and in their pain and confusion,
they wonder if their families would be better off without them.
This very day there are children in our schools and neighborhoods
who are growing up under the weight of poverty,
and who are on the verge of committing their first or twenty-first crime.

We have the faith we need to help them,
even if it is as small as a mustard seed.
We have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit
through the sacraments of the church
renewed every time we come here to Mass.

Our challenge is to take time in this month of October
to stir into flame the gift of the Holy Spirit
for the sake of all those lives that are so precious to God.