A Homily for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany

​+ Quodqumque dixerit vobis, facite. Do whatever He tells you.
 
Through the proclamation of the Holy Gospel of this Holy Mass, the Church addresses these almost brusque words of Our Blessed Lady to the servants at the wedding feast to each one of us. No matter what our age or state in life, no matter where we are in vocational discernment or perseverance, our task is to do whatever He—Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose Incarnation and Epiphany we have celebrated in recent weeks—tells us. The question, of course, is: What is He telling us?
 
At important junctures in life, it is often wise to take time apart, on retreat in one way or another, to consider this question. Our lives can be so busy that we do not have time, as it were, to listen to His voice. The interior silence necessary to hear and understand Him is something we must cultivate daily, but most especially at times when crises arrive or important decisions need to be made. For His is the “still, small voice” that follows the wind, earthquakes and fires that rage within us and about us. (cf. 1 Kings 19:12) Our Lord will not normally shout over others: He speaks clearly and consistently to us, calling us to that further conversion of life in which we will find our salvation. If we wish to be saved, we must listen to His call—and we must do as He says.
 
Ordinarily we hear the “still, small voice” of Our Lord speaking to us in the Church’s Sacred Liturgy. By attending to and participating in the daily round of prayers, readings, hymns, etc. developed over the centuries and handed on in Tradition we open the ears of our hearts and minds, as it were, to His voice. From the Sunday Gospels and Epistles to the lessons at Matins—and everywhere in-between—the voice of the Lord speaks to us, if only we will be silent and attentive enough to listen. This is the work of the monk in his daily lectio divina, and whilst not all are called to be monks, we would all be wise to make an effort further to attend to the Lord speaking to us through the Sacred Rites of His Church by finding some time, before or after Mass, at home early in the morning or at another quiet time of the day, to revisit them and ponder their import so that we may hear His “still, small voice”.
 
In addition, we have the wisdom and teaching of the Church’s Magisterium which speaks clearly and authoritatively on matters of faith and morals, drawing upon centuries of experience and of even of clarifying controversy in making available to us the true Gospel of Jesus Christ handed on from the apostles. Through the solemn teaching of the Magisterium of the Church rendered accessible through good Catechisms the “still, small voice” of our Lord can be heard clearly and consistently.
 
Or at least that should be the case. Unfortunately, it seems that we are living in one of those periods in the history of the Church where doctrinal controversy is rearing its ugly head. Successors of the Apostles are heard questioning or denying aspects of Catholic teaching; others implement pastoral practices clearly contrary to it—scandalising the faithful and leading them into grave error. The process of what is called “synodality” seems to be becoming an end in itself which relativises truth. Instead of listening to the “still, small voice of the Lord,” this process seems to invite everyone to shout their demands at Him and to proceed with their own agenda without taking the time and effort to create the silence necessary to listen to Him and His call to the conversion of our lives, let alone to do what He says.
 
A great man—a compatriot and a friend—who died this week, decried this process as “a toxic nightmare” from which the Church must free herself. George Cardinal Pell lamented that the official literature about the Synodal Process “does not urge even the Catholic participants to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:16-20), much less to preach the Saviour in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2).” Bishops, he insisted, are “not wall flowers or rubber stamps” in this process, but guarantors “of continuing fidelity to Christ’s teaching, [to] the apostolic tradition”. (cf. The Spectator, 11 Jan 2023) His prophetic voice resounds even more urgently from his grave.
 
In seeking the “still, small voice” of the Lord today, then, we must be careful. For there are those even in authority in the Church who seem to be obscuring it. St Paul’s warning to the Galatians must be borne in mind: “Even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Gal. 1: 8) We must be prudent and ensure that the voice to which we listen is indeed that of the Lord, who always speaks in harmony with the teaching of His Church as handed on in Tradition from the Apostles.
 
If we are prepared to do what is necessary to be attentive to His voice, and if we are then willing to do as He tells us—even when He calls us to a love of Him that involves sacrifice and that costs us a great deal—we shall come to enjoy that new wine of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt 26:29) of which we have enjoy foretaste each time we offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. For the graces necessary so to do, let us beg Almighty God at His altar this morning.+

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