Be Faithful, Be Prayerful and Be Confident

If I could be granted only one wish in life, it would have, I would want to

have the faith of St. Paul.

Thomas is the apostle with whom I identify with the most. You know,

the one asking all those annoying questions.

I've done that my whole life.

But Paul wasn't like that. He wasn't one of the original 12 apostles.

He wasn't with Jesus hearing the Sermon on the Mount. He wasn't with Jesus when

he raised Lazarus from the dead.

He wasn't at the Last Supper, and he wasn't at the empty tomb.

But Paul did meet Jesus on that road to Damascus.

He heard his voice. He was blinded by a light from heaven.

We really don't know what happened to Paul. But what we do know is that vision,

that experience on the road to Damascus changed Paul's life and the life of the church forever.

That experience motivated Paul to become the church's chief evangelist,

traveling throughout Asia Minor, planting churches all along the way,

and he did this by instilling people's faith in Jesus,

a man whom Paul never even met.

You might say he had blind faith. And that's a remarkable thing indeed.

We wouldn't have a church today if it weren't for St. Paul.

In today's first reading, we meet Paul and his loyal companions, Silas and Philippi.

The reading is jam-packed, full of intrigue. We have an exorcism,

a courtroom drama, Paul's imprisonment, and a conversion, all in one short reading.

But Paul endured great hardship in his efforts to build and expand the church.

He was beaten, imprisoned, as we heard about today, and even shipwrecked.

But despite these hardships, he persevered. He continued to follow his faith,

and he worked tirelessly to inspire others to be faithful.

Paul's most difficult task was keeping the people, the faithful communities, together.

The early church communities were diverse and comprised of people from very different traditions.

As you can imagine, this diversity was a source of turmoil for the early church.

The Roman and Greek converts wanted to bring their traditions with them and

tried to force everyone else to go along and agree with them.

The Jewish converts did likewise.

Everyone had an opinion on what was right and what was wrong,

and of course, their opinion was right.

And everyone else's was wrong.

Sound familiar?

Paul's letters to these churches exhibit a calming, pastoral voice of love, inclusion, and unity.

We need that voice today.

When I was living in New York, I served on the Diocesan Deacons Committee at

which the bishop presided.

Deacons are charged at ordination to interpret to the church the needs,

concerns, and hopes of the world.

For this reason, the deacon bids the prayers of the people as chief intercessor.

Deacons are considered to have a uniquely prophetic voice within the church.

At the opening of the deacons' committee meetings, the bishop would ask the

deacons, What do you see out there?

What's going on in the world, he would ask.

Well, if I were asked that question today, I would have to say that there is

an overwhelming amount of hate in the world.

People are dying in a senseless, bloody war in Eastern Europe over geography.

Israel is at war with Hamas. Hamas terrorists from Gaza brutally murdered 1,200

Israelis and other foreign nationals.

The people in Gaza are suffering from a vacuum of responsible leadership and

from a lack of resources and humanitarian aid.

India and Pakistan are having at it again.

Anti-Semitism is perhaps the worst it has been since the Holocaust.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to read a newspaper these days.

All this hatred stems from uncompromising rhetoric that one point of view is

right and the other is wrong.

It's all black and white.

There is no gray. There is no respect for the opinion of others.

There is no room for compromise or discussion.

Remarkably, even violence is being considered justified if committed in the

name of a cause that is considered just or moral by the person committing the violence.

A Jewish couple in love were gunned down in Washington last week simply because

they were Jewish by an activist for a free Palestine.

He was very proud of his murder.

The cold-blooded assassin of an insurance executive is being praised by some

as some kind of a folk hero.

Millions of Americans despise the current president of the United States,

who is the object of two assassination attempts.

Some say the would-be assassins were justified.

I say this is all madness.

One issue that is front-page news and the subject of sermons these days is illegal immigration.

It was considered the most important issue during the last election cycle.

While it is a crime to enter the United States without permission,

different administrations have enforced immigration laws differently,

creating great uncertainty within the migrant community today.

Many have lived here a very long time and demonstrated themselves to be responsible

citizens and worthy of living here without the threat of deportation,

despite their illegal entry into the United States.

They contribute to our economy and workforce.

On the other hand, there are some who are violent criminals,

who prey upon communities, especially the migrant community,

engaging in narcotics and human trafficking, and organized crime.

Trying to figure out who is who is a daunting task when you consider that somewhere

between 10 and 30 million individuals are involved.

The government doesn't even know the exact numbers, nor do they know all the

identities of the individuals involved.

Our immigration system is overwhelmed and confused.

And this has been the sad story for nearly 50 years.

But hatred prevents our elected representatives from finding a permanent and just solution.

The issues have become conflated, twisted, and even lied about by all sides in the name of politics.

This power struggle has reduced people of God to political pawns in a king's

game of power and control.

And there's plenty of blame and hate on both sides of the political aisle to go around.

As Christians, we need not view secular solutions as either conservative or

progressive and reject them out of hatred for the messenger's political view

with which we are not affiliated.

For Christianity transcends these definitions.

Christianity transcends these definitions.

As Christians, we are called to live the compassionate teachings of Jesus and

his Holy Church, regardless of worldly political ideology.

As Christians, we cry out for a compassionate solution for all people who live

in fear and all who are suffering.

Protesting for a change in the law is all very well and good But that is a worldly

practice As Christians, we are better than that As Christians,

we can do better than that,

As a godly people, we are called to find godly solutions To cure underlying illnesses of the soul.

Our enemies are not the people who disagree with us.

Our enemy is hatred. Hate will eat us up alive if we let it.

The forces of evil thrive on hatred.

Hatred divides. Hatred is born out of ego and the unquenchable need to control

the world and our lives when God is really in control.

And we should be wary that hate sometimes comes wrapped in righteousness and virtual signaling.

I once heard a religious leader urging people to hate the haters and exclude the excluders.

But that's not our way. That was not the way of Jesus.

Hate is never righteous. Hate is never virtuous.

Let us start a new beginning by engaging the better angels of our brothers and

sisters in the world, even the better angels within ourselves.

We can be agents of change by the way we live our lives, in the way we worship,

and in the way we put into practice Jesus' mandate to love one another.

We can change people's hearts through the message that God so loves the world

that he gave his only Son.

We can trumpet the eternal song that love and love alone conquers hate,

evil succumbs to virtue, faith overpowers despair, and our neighbor is more

important than we ourselves,

even the neighbors with whom we most vigorously disagree.

This is the song St. Paul used to keep the early church communities together,

and this is the same song that will sustain our hope for unity in the future and for all time.

Let us be faithful. Faithful in the way St.

Paul was faithful. Let us faithfully persevere in our pursuit of oneness,

despite our current hardships and despair, in the same way St.

Paul faithfully persevered in keeping the early church communities together,

despite being beaten, imprisoned, and shipwrecked.

Let us faithfully join together, despite the overwhelming presence of hatred

that threatens to keep us apart.

Let us be prayerful. Prayerful in the way Jesus was prayerful in today's gospel reading.

Praying for unity, love, understanding.

Above all, let us be confident.

Let us leave this holy place today with confidence being our strength.

In confidence that despite how much misery is in the world, And no matter how

much hate seeks to divide us,

God finds a way to unify all people and for all times through the power of his

never-ending love. Amen.

The homily was offered by the

Rev. Robert Zito. Musical contributions were performed by Dr. Kevin Seal.

Introduction and closing reflections were shared by the Rev. Amy Peterson.

Sermon audio was prepared by Nanette Popa. Production was guided by Karen Marie Frederiksen.