An Epiphany Message Of Community. "If We Are Only Concerned About Our Own Salvation, We Are In Great Danger of Losing It."   Article By Dave Hartline, Homily By Father Bill Hahn

Father Bill Hahn’s line thundered across the church grabbing everyone’s attention even though he didn’t raise his voice. Quietly he repeated it again, “if we are concerned only about our own salvation, we are in great danger of losing it.”  Father Bill’s homily had everyone’s attention as it usually does.  The 30 year old priest is quite popular in a church where the pastor Father Jeff Rimmelsbach is also quite popular.  Throw in retired Bishop James Griffin and you have quite a line up.  Parishioners come to expect substantive homilies from these three and this was no exception.  Father Bill’s illustration that often people are too concerned about their own salvation instead of their fellow brothers and sister was quite memorable.  Often in today’s remote control society we are convinced that all decisions and judgments have to be made right here and now.  Father Bill was pointing out our faith has more gravitas than a television remote control.

The message of the Epiphany is unity.  Reaching out to others we achieve that unity.  Using the example of how we all got to Mass, Father Bill showed how we rely on each other to live.  Father Bill used the example of the car people drove to get to Mass, the materials needed to make the car and oil and gas that were refined so we could get to drive the car to Mass. Each person in a different part of the world assisted us in our travels to Mass that day.  As the Body of Christ we also have various tasks to accomplish before we reach our heavenly reward. We can’t simply say, “puff I am done.”  Salvation simply doesn’t work that way.  Otherwise Jesus would have never used the disjointed, cobbled together system of apostles and disciples to spread His word.  He could have used a much simpler and efficient system.  However, that would have not been true to the community concept that became the hallmark of His mission.

The Catholic Church is a universal church and the word Catholic means universal.  Father’s homily pointed out that we are all part of something greater than we can imagine.  The illustration he made about World Youth Day where one can hear various languages and see various skin colors brought home the point to everyone at Mass that we are a very universal church with very old ideas.  Yet somehow amidst all these differences we are able to be brought together by a man from the Middle East who walked the earth two thousand years ago.

Homily of Father Bill Hahn (Epiphany 2006)

With the arrival of the Magi, it is shown that no longer is God going to be associated with one ethnic group but is opening Himself up for the whole world.

Catholic means universal or “according to the totality” “the fullness”

The Church is Catholic because Jesus Christ is present in her: in the Faith and the sacraments.

The Church is also Catholic because her mission is to the whole human race.

The Book of Revelation speaks of a “great multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb this is a description of the universal Church.  This is something I witnessed for myself in 2002.  No, this isn’t one of those I almost died and saw bright light stories.  I’m talking about a trip to Toronto Canada in 2002 for World Youth Day.

            Giant fairgrounds

            Every race, color, nationality and tongue

            The languages:

            The flags from Russia and Nigeria, Japan and Argentina

All united in the essentials.  A unity in what matters most-the worship of the God.  United under Peter, in the person of Pope John Paul II.  Because these were Catholic Christians I knew that in what mattered most our understanding of who God has revealed himself as-our Faith, and how we are to respond to that revelation, with Love: our morals we were united.  Maybe we couldn’t speak to each other but that didn’t keep us from communicating that universal language, the language of our Lord has taught us love and service of our brothers and sisters.  It was a city of peace and joy like nothing I’ve experienced in this world since.

At the center of it all, in a converted greenhouse-upon a large stand stood a monstrance-that sun-burst shaped vessel that the Eucharist goes in for Exposition, so they can pray before the Eucharist

Day and night, I would stop by and there praying were hundreds of young people from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues…before the throne and before the Lamb.  Every once in a while you would hear an African song of praise, or worship in German or French or the whole group would sing in Latin, worshipping the Lord.  It was the fulfillment of this Gospel passage to me.  All prostrate, like the Magi, in adoration of the King of Kings, offering Him their gifts of love.  This was the meaning of Epiphany-God’s revelation to the world.

In our day, a question arises? Why? Why did the Gentiles have to come to Israel for the Messiah, why couldn’t God reveal himself to them individually?  Why a Church? Why can’t I worship God on my own?  Why does the Church go to the extreme of calling it grave matter if we miss a Sunday Mass?  Why do I have to go to a priest to confess my sins instead of God in my heart? Why a community?  Why a universal Church?

Of course, God is closer to us than we are ourselves.  It’s not a matter of God not being able to do it.  “If there were only God and a collection of individuals, Christianity would be unnecessary.”  (Ratzinger)  If it were only about an individual being saved, God could do this time and again on his own without other tools, no Gospel, no Church, no Sacraments, none of us being his hands and feet.

But Christianity recognizes that there is no “mere individual.”  None of us are created without ties to others.  And it was this way from the beginning.  It is Adam and Eve created together that makes up humanity, it is not a solitary Adam and solitary Eve.

There is no such thing as a mere individual; we are only fully human when we are fitted into the whole, of humanity, of history, of the world. All of us have come from two parents; we have no existence without them.  And they each came from two parents, and we have no existence without those four, and so on.

Think of how interdependent we are? How did you get here today?  Take one aspect and think about it for a while-your car-who mined the metals for it, who created the tools that were used, who mined that metal.  Who drilled for oil for the gas, who fed the people when they were working?  Who grew the food to feed those people?  Who created the tools to grow the food?  We could go on and on.  We can’t even think on our own. Try to think without using a language that you learned from someone else, and that language developed through thousands of people over hundreds of years.  There is mere individual, we are fitted within a people.

Jesus came to us, as a people.  The Magi came from the east, because God is beginning to gather his people into One Body and around him.  And this is the Church!

The Church’s mission is universal.  If we are concerned only about our own salvation, we are in great danger of losing it. Let me repeat that.  If we are only concerned about our salvation we are in danger of losing it.  For to be truly saved, means to become like God, and “God gave us everything including his suffering and death, to make that salvation.

The Epiphany reminds us that God created us as a people, sustains us as a people, and by establishing his Church, desires us as a people.  It also reminds us that this people is a visible people that have a service to perform, of love, of seeking the salvation of all souls by following the example of Christ, who loved us to the point of giving his Life.

We pray in this Mass, to more fully take on our roles in the People of God by Adoring the King of Kings, and of humbly offering our gifts to the service of our fellow brothers and sisters.   Comments Click Here