“A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:14)
Yesterday, we were
honored to host a retreat here in our parish for families of disabled
children. Here is the homily that I
preached at the closing Mass on Saturday evening.
A
week ago at exactly this moment, I was walking with my youth group leaders down
a hill after a visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National
Cemetery. If you’ve ever been there, you
know that most of the cemetery overlooks Washington, D.C. As we walked down the hill, with the setting
sun painting the sky with all sorts of magnificent colors, I looked down on
D.C., and saw how the sun was reflecting off the great monuments and memorials. Our nation’s capital was bathed in a glowing
light. The U.S. Capitol dome reflected
the dimming sunlight and it seemed like the Washington Monument was an entirely
different color. As I saw this wondrous
display unfold, I could not help but recall President Reagan’s farewell address
when he called our country the “shining city on a hill.” This is a phrase he often used that he lifted
from an early pilgrim named John Winthrop who lifted it from today’s gospel
reading. When Winthrop left England in
1630 to settle in this new land, he said:
“We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us."
Jesus
call us the light of the world in today’s gospel, and he reminds that we aren’t
just a city on a hill, but a city set on a mountain that cannot be hidden. And like Winthrop said, the eyes of all
people are upon us, not because we are American, but because we are Christians,
because we carry the light of Christ in our lives. Unfortunately in today’s society, Christians
aren’t encouraged to cast their light on the world just as the fading sunlight
was shining down on our beautiful capital last Saturday evening. Society would prefer that our light remain
hidden, that we practice our Christianity in secret, that we keep it to
ourselves. Yet this in an option that
our Lord does not give us: “your light must shine before others.” It cannot be hidden. Light by it’s very nature cannot be hidden
anymore than we can keep the sun from rising in the morning. The rays of the sun overpower the darkness at
twilight and soon that light floods the entire sky.
Each
of your children is a light that shines brightly in your homes and in our
churches. Their disability is viewed by
the world as an “imperfection” when they are quite clearly made perfect by God
because his standard of perfection is much higher than what the world considers
to be perfect. As Pope Francis said last
summer during the Jubilee for the Sick and the Disabled: “It is thought that
sick or disabled persons cannot be happy, since they cannot live the lifestyle
held up by the culture of pleasure and entertainment. In an age when care
for one’s body has become an obsession and a big business, anything imperfect
has to be hidden away, since it threatens the happiness and serenity of the
privileged few and endangers the dominant model… Yet what an illusion it is
when people today shut their eyes in the face of sickness and disability!
They fail to understand the real meaning of life, which also has to do
with accepting suffering and limitations. The world does not become
better because only apparently “perfect” people live there – I say “perfect”
rather than “false” – but when human solidarity, mutual acceptance and respect
increase. How true are the words of the Apostle: “God chose what is weak
in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27)!” That last verse used by the Holy Father was
from last Sunday’s second reading. The
world wants to hide the light of these children while the Lord and his Church
embraces them and loves them as you have.
Together, they are the true shining city because they reflect the love
of God. As I said earlier during the
opening talk of the retreat: I truly believe that children and children with
disabilities understand God better than I do…and I’m a priest.
The
example of these children who speak of the glory of God with their magnificent
smiles should remind us that our spiritual lives should be childlike: “He is
God. I am not.” It should remind us that we are called to
take that glorious light that was given to us at our baptism and let that light
shine before all. We cannot keep that
light hidden anymore than we can keep these children hidden. I’ll say it again: hiding the light of Christ
is not an option our Lord gives us. We
are a shining city on a mountain set forth for all the world to see. Do not be ashamed of your faith. Do not hide the light in your hearts. Let all the world see that we are all members
of this luminous Body of Christ, and that whether we are young or old, walking
straight or bound to a wheelchair, possess great intellect or grasp only the
simple, we are all part of God’s perfect design.
