{"id":2966,"date":"2014-08-31T15:15:04","date_gmt":"2014-08-31T22:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/?p=2966"},"modified":"2016-10-10T18:15:06","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T01:15:06","slug":"the-last-case-of-henri-latour-homily-for-the-twenty-second-sunday-in-ordinary-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/the-last-case-of-henri-latour-homily-for-the-twenty-second-sunday-in-ordinary-time","title":{"rendered":"The Last Case of Henri Latour – Homily for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Paul

Paul Harvey<\/p><\/div>\n

Some of you might remember radio personality Paul Harvey
\nwho used to come on in the evenings and tell The Rest of the Story.
\nHe once told the story of the last case
\nof the great French detective Henri Latour.<\/p>\n

Latour was the Sherlock Holmes of France,
\nbut unlike the famous English detective,
\nLatour was a real person, an actual police detective.
\nAnd he was a living legend when it came to tracking down criminals.<\/p>\n

In his last case, a terrible crime had been committed:
\nan elderly couple had been robbed and brutally murdered.
\nThe police already had a suspect in custody,
\nbut Latour\u2019s instincts told him that this wasn\u2019t the right man.
\nThere were certain pieces missing in the puzzle,
\nand Latour vowed to find the true criminal.
\nSo he began what some described
\nas the most brilliant track-down in the history of France.<\/p>\n

He put all of his deductive power to work
\nsifting through clues and investigating leads.
\nDays and weeks went by
\nuntil at last there was enough evidence to clear the initial suspect.
\nLatour claimed that the proof was positive,
\nthat the man ought to be let go.
\nThe police wanted to keep the suspect in custody,
\njust in case Latour was wrong.
\nBut Latour insisted,
\narguing that an innocent man
\nshouldn\u2019t have to pay for the crimes of the guilty.<\/p>\n

He continued his investigation
\nuntil finally all the clues fell into place and he found his man.
\nThe trial was quick,
\nbecause Latour\u2019s case was airtight,
\nand he himself presented the facts to the jury,
\nweaving a tapestry of evidence before their eyes.
\nThe verdict came back: \u201cguilty.\u201d
\nLatour had done it again.<\/p>\n

But after that case,
\nwithout any explanation,
\nLatour immediately retired
\nand lived the remaining twenty-five years of his life
\nas a hermit in a lonely little cottage in a remote French village.<\/p>\n

It was only after his death
\nthat the secret of his last case would be revealed.
\nThe innocent stranger that Latour had released
\nwas, in fact, an innocent stranger.
\nBut when Latour had painstakingly collected all of the evidence,
\nhe found that the facts had led him to a truth he could not avoid.
\nThe evidence that he had so meticulously put together
\nhad inevitably and unmistakably led him
\nto the arrest and conviction of his own son.<\/p>\n

In his moment of triumph, the truth had led him to pain and suffering.<\/p>\n

During the investigation,
\nas he had uncovered more and more evidence,
\nhe had been faced with a choice:
\nSave his son and let an innocent man take the consequences,
\nor save the innocent man and let his son take the consequences.
\nLatour chose justice and truth over deception and lies.
\nHe made the right choice,
\nbut at a great cost.
\nHe chose to deny himself.<\/p>\n

Jesus tells Peter that to be a disciple
\nhe must deny himself,
\ntake up his cross,
\nand follow him.<\/p>\n

Peter doesn\u2019t want to hear it.
\nLast week we heard Peter declare confidently that Jesus is
\n\u201cthe Christ, the Son of the Living God.\u201d
\nHe got it right.
\nLike Latour, the great detective,
\nPeter had found his man, the heir to the throne of David,
\nthe Messiah that his people had been waiting for all these years.
\nIt\u2019s Peter\u2019s big moment.
\nHe\u2019s been given a new name, and he\u2019s to be the rock,
\nthe leader of the Church.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s immediately after this
\nthat Peter finds out what that really means.
\nIn fact, today\u2019s reading leaves out a little transition phrase
\nthat comes at the beginning of the verse.
\nThis gospel passage actually begins,
\n\u201cFrom that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples
\nthat he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly\u2026.\u201d
\nFrom that time on.
\nFrom the moment he acknowledges that he is the Messiah,
\nhe begins teaching the disciples who the Messiah really is.
\nJust as the disciples are beginning to congratulate themselves
\nand feel important for being in the inner circle of the Messiah,
\nJesus breaks out the news
\nthat being his disciple isn\u2019t what they thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Jesus is speaking to us, too.
\nToday we\u2019re reminded
\nthat being a follower of Christ means there will be pain and suffering.
\nJesus doesn\u2019t say,
\n\u201cWhoever comes with me will be successful, popular, and powerful.\u201d
\nHe says to us:
\n\u201cWhoever wishes to come after me
\nmust deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be a disciple means
\nwe have to be ready for discomfort, inconvenience, humiliation.
\nJeremiah experiences that in the first reading.
\nHe\u2019s a prophet, but not someone who tells the future.
\nIn the scriptures the word prophet means \u201cwitness,\u201d
\nand Jeremiah is God\u2019s witness,
\nthe one who speaks God\u2019s words.
\nAs a spokesperson for God he expected to be treated better.
\nBut the people don\u2019t like his message,
\nso he\u2019s been beaten down and abused.
\n\u201cYou duped me, O Lord!\u201d he yells.
\n\u201cYou tricked me!
\nWhen I became your prophet
\nI thought I would be respected, appreciated, powerful.
\nInstead I\u2019m laughed at and mocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremiah decides he\u2019s had it.
\nHe\u2019s not going to speak of God any more,
\nhe will no longer be God\u2019s messenger.
\nBut he can\u2019t help it.
\nGod\u2019s word is a fire burning in his heart;
\nhe can\u2019t hold it in.
\nTo be true to his calling,
\nto be true to himself,
\nhe must speak God\u2019s message to the world.<\/p>\n

Peter faces the same thing.<\/p>\n

When Peter learns more and more
\nabout the difficulties and sufferings of being a disciple of Christ,
\nhe has a choice to make.
\nHe can leave Jesus,
\nhe can go back to his quiet life of being a fisherman.
\nBut he stays
\nbecause he knows that Jesus is the Messiah,
\nthe Son of the Living God.<\/p>\n

Like Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies,
\ndiscipleship is a fire burning in Peter\u2019s heart.
\nHe can\u2019t help but follow Jesus,
\nbecause he knows deep down
\nthat Jesus is the Christ.
\nHe knows the truth.
\nTo be true to his calling,
\nto be true to himself,
\nhe must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus.<\/p>\n

We, too, have choices to make each day of our lives.
\nLike Jeremiah,
\nGod is calling us to be prophets,
\nto be witnesses to the world of his love and forgiveness and presence.
\nLike Peter,
\nGod is calling us to be disciples,
\nto deny ourselves,
\nto take up our crosses and to follow him.
\nThis is what we are to do
\nif we are to be true to our baptismal promises,
\nif we are to be true to ourselves.<\/p>\n

What does that look like?<\/p>\n

Sometimes it looks like Latour\u2019s last case.
\nLatour must have felt the temptation to walk away
\nwhen he got closer and closer
\nto realizing that the criminal he was hunting was his son.
\nHe could have stopped being a detective,
\nhe could have let the innocent suspect take the blame.
\nBut he kept up the investigation
\nbecause he knew the truth.
\nIt was like a fire burning in his heart
\nand he couldn\u2019t hold it in.
\nTo be true to his calling,
\nto be true to himself,
\nhe had to follow the facts of the case where they led,
\neven if it meant turning his son in.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the right decision is the painful decision.
\nLike Latour, we are sometimes called to choose things
\nthat hurt us or our loved ones.<\/p>\n

Each of us lives out our call to discipleship in a unique way.
\nWhether we are spouses, parents, children, employees, students,
\nin our various roles and vocations,
\nGod is asking us to be His voice,
\nand to follow him by denying ourselves and taking up our crosses.<\/p>\n

Each of us has our own messages to speak, our own crosses to bear.
\nFor example,
\nwe are God\u2019s voice
\nwhen we speak up when we see someone being teased.
\nWe are God\u2019s voice
\nwhen we speak up when someone\u2019s not being treated fairly at work.
\nWe deny ourselves when we volunteer to help someone in need.
\nWe take up our cross when we publicly protest against injustice.<\/p>\n

When we do these kinds of things,
\nwhen we try to be the prophets and disciples God calls us to be,
\nthen it is almost certain that we will be mocked or laughed at.
\nWe may feel like we\u2019re being crucified,
\nand we may even get angry or frustrated with God, like Jeremiah did.<\/p>\n

But to do otherwise would be to turn away from who we really are.
\nWhen we don\u2019t speak God\u2019s word,
\nwhen we don\u2019t deny ourselves or take up our cross
\nthen we get weary of trying to hold the fire in, just like Jeremiah.<\/p>\n

But if we let that fire out,
\nif we stay true to our calling
\nas baptized members of the Body of Christ
\nthen we become who we really are:
\nprophets and disciples for the good of the world.<\/p>\n