The Second Sunday After the Epiphany

January 18, 2009

Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass

of the

St. Thomas More Society

celebrated at

St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church , 1013 Wood Street

Scranton, PA

John 1:35-42

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

            Later this month in San Angelo, Texas another former Anglican clergyman will be ordained to the priesthood.  Waldo Knickerbocker, like me, is married, but unlike me, he was not baptized as an Anglican when he was an infant. Rather, Deacon Knickerbocker began his life in the ministry as a Methodist.  Later, he became an Anglican, and in 1994, a Catholic.  He is an example of a common phenomenon—the convert who comes to the Church in steps.  He exemplifies the type of person who is tireless in pursuit of the truth and does not cease in his quest until he has found the fullness of the truth.

            We have an example of this very quest in our Gospel this morning.  We learn that St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter, the first evangelist, and one of the twelve apostles, originally was a disciple of St. John the Baptist.  Today we heard that Andrew was standing with John when he heard the Baptist say, “Behold the Lamb of God!”  He immediately followed Jesus, was invited by Jesus over to His place, spent a good amount of time with the Lord, and then began evangelizing his loved ones.  Andrew switched his allegiance when he found in Jesus what John lacked, the ability to take away the sins of the world.  John did such a good job of pointing to Jesus that John’s disciples became disciples of Jesus.

            We learn from this Gospel first that there is in human beings a longing for the truth.  While it is true that Andrew had found an element of the truth in John the Baptist, John himself insisted that he was not the Christ.  Therefore, Andrew was on the look-out for the Messiah.  When John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God, Andrew took a look for himself.

            This so often is the pattern in our own investigations.  We begin with a kernel of the truth, but find that we are dissatisfied unless we learn more.  This yearning for more leads spiritual seekers to God, as when St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”

            Andrew had it relatively easy.  With John the Baptist, he was restless, yearning for the fullness of the truth, and then he found the Son of God, or rather, Jesus found him.  Today, many people promise they will help us find God, and after they do, as Waldo Knickerbocker and every other convert to Catholicism will tell you, we find that these other churches are missing something.  At first, it is hard to put our finger on it; so we spend our time investigating other entities that promise they will help us find God and the rest we seek.  But these other options fail to satisfy, also.  Until we have the Body of Christ in all its fullness and splendor, we continue to yearn for it.  This yearning is characteristic of the human condition.  It was put there by God, and it is what leads people to the Catholic Church.

            The second thing we learn from the Gospel today is that it is the nature of converts to invite others to receive the fullness of truth once they themselves have found it.  Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist who became a follower of Jesus Christ and an immediate evangelist for the Lamb of God.  So, too, those of us who are converts to the faith are eager to introduce others to Catholicism, sometimes more eager than those who have possessed the fullness of truth all their lives.

            The evangelical aspect of the convert has served the Church very well from the very beginning of the Church.  Who was it that Andrew brought to the Faith?  None other than his brother Simon, St. Peter, the Rock on whom Jesus built the Church, our very first pope.  Neither can we know what impact an invitation may have on the Church.  Last month, for example, the Church lost, at age ninety the greatest American theologian of the twentieth century, Avery Cardinal Dulles, himself a convert to the Faith from Presbyterianism.  Earlier this month, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus died.  A convert from Lutheranism, Fr. Neuhaus served as the editor of the journal First Things and was thus one of the most influential Catholic commentators in America.  Many of you probably remember his coverage on EWTN of the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI after the death of John Paul II.

            My point is that the sharing of the fullness of truth is God’s will.  Andrew’s reaching out to Simon led to Simon reaching out to the whole world as Peter, the first Vicar of Christ and earthly head of the Church.  The more people we are able to introduce to the Faith, the better chance we have of bringing to Holy Mother Church the next Cardinal Dulles, or the next Fr. Neuhaus, perhaps even a future pope.

            Therefore, as we look to invite into the Church those who are restlessly looking for the fullness of truth, we must be patient, remembering that many come to the truth in stages.  The Lord has been calling them home, putting signs before them, preparing in them the courage they need to be reconciled to Mother Church.  When we see the opportunity to make the invitation as Andrew did to Peter, we must finally have something to say of the Truth we have found.  We must be able to address their yearnings.

            Today’s Gospel gives us an idea of what we might emphasize about the Catholic Church as we make our appeal.  First, Andrew as drawn to the Son of God because He was the Lamb of God, prophesied in Isaiah 53, the suffering servant whose affliction atones for the iniquity of us all.  Quite simply, Andrew followed Jesus because He offered the forgiveness of sins, not simple repentance.

            This is what the Catholic Church offers.  Because we have the valid Eucharist, we possess in Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity, the Son of God who takes away the sins of the world.  The priest says so at every Mass.  As he holds aloft the Blessed Sacrament—“This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  Lacking valid sacraments, the other bodies that claim the name of Jesus cannot demonstrate an objective way by which one’s sins are forgiven.  They might have good preaching, even beautiful music and liturgy.  But they do not have the real Jesus in the flesh, the real Jesus who cleanses us when we consume Him.

            The second thing we learn to point to from today’s Gospel is the Rock, St. Peter, whom Andrew brought to Jesus.  Jesus named him the Rock and made him the rock.  He gave him the Keys of the Kingdom, and thus, the authority to bind and loose on earth and in heaven.

            Therefore, along with Jesus Himself, the Lamb of God, who brings us the forgiveness of sins, the Catholic Church has the authority of Jesus, also.  In the Pope, we have the successor to the Rock, commissioned by Jesus at the end of John’s Gospel to feed and tend the sheep until Jesus returns at the end of time.

            These two things, forgiveness and God’s authority, are what people require in order for the restlessness to end.  It is because the Catholic Church possesses both that men like Waldo Knickerbacker and me have been drawn to the Church and why the Church continues to make countless converts of those in search of the fullness of truth.

            Hold these two gifts out to those you know are still searching.  Offer them in the Church Jesus founded God’s forgiveness and God’s authority.  Should they receive these gifts as Andrew did, you can be sure that they will soon be inviting others to come to Jesus and put their restlessness to rest.