March 21, 2021
We are now on our fifth homily in our series, “Travel the World in 7 mins.” We have virtually travelled to Mexico, Canada, Haiti, and to Poland. Today, we are going to New York, to Manhattan.
I lived in Connecticut for seven years. I went to seminary in a small town called Cheshire. In Connecticut I did my novitiate for two years and then studied Classical Humanities for two years. After studying Philosophy in Rome I went back again to the seminary as assistant to the rector, working for three years with those who were studying Classical Humanities. One of the great things about living in Connecticut was that we were two hours from New York City, when there was no traffic, and two hours from Boston. We would go to New York City a few times a year and visit the MET, MOMA, the Frick Collection (which holds one of my favorite paintings, Hans Holbein’s Sir Thomas More) and other sites.
Living in the seminary immersed in prayer, the Mass, study, great friendships, spiritual direction, and preparing to be a missionary and a priest, experiencing God’s love so tangibly, I remember driving into Manhattan and seeing the massive buildings, the skyscrapers, the millions of apartments and windows, knowing that within those windows there were people that were suffering, there were people longing for light, longing for hope, longing for meaning, longing for truth, longing for love and longing for Jesus. I remember having a huge desire in my heart to share this Jesus, who I had experienced as infinite love, with every person within every window and into every home, to every heart! I longed to be like Philip in today’s Gospel. I wanted to lead others to Jesus. How awesome it is as Christians, as Catholics, who have experienced Jesus and his resurrection to be called to be like Phillip in today’s Gospel. Are you like Philip? Are we really like Philip?
In today’s Gospel we have the Greeks, the Gentiles, the Pagans, who were probably in Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover because they were proselytes to Judaism, in other words they had been pagans and had converted to Judaism, going to the disciple with a Greek name, “Philip” and asking, “We would like to see Jesus.”
We read today, “Now there were some Greeks among those who had come up to worship at the feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “We would like to see Jesus.” The Greeks went through Philip to get to Jesus. Philip radiated Jesus. Philip radiated God’s love. Those longing for light went to Philip to find the light. Are you like Philip? Do people come to you to get to Jesus?
Our faith experience, our Sunday experience, our God experience, our experience of Jesus and of God’s love for us, should be such that by the way we live, the energy with which we walk through life, our proximity to Love, to Jesus, to light, we radiate the love and light of Jesus. So that people, even those far from God, may come to us and ask us to lead them to Jesus, like they did to Philip: “We would like to see Jesus.”
These weeks as we prepare for Easter and live the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus may we open our hearts to God’s love so much that we can no longer contain it for ourselves. These days, Jesus wants to fill our hearts with his life and his light, so that we may naturally radiate his light and share his love with every home in New York City, in Florence and in every heart throughout the whole world!
If you need anything, never hesitate to ask me.
God bless you and your loved ones, Fr. Kramer Cameron, LC