Our Lord invites us today to take what we have heard in whispers and proclaim it on the housetops. Our world is very obviously in need of something. It’s in need of some source of healing, peace, justice, mercy, forgiveness, love. And of course, we know what it is, that the world so desperately needs. We know that there is a peace that nothing else can give, a sense of meaning and purpose, a joy and a motivation for life: it can only come through the person of Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord, our God. The one through whom we were made, the one who shows us what life is really about, the one who accompanies us in our journey through life. He is the way, he is the truth, he is the life. He is the answer. That is very good news.
We’ve been fortunate. Through our parents, our godparents, through the good priests and teachers and family members and friends who have been there for us in our lives: we have spent our lifetimes hearing the good news of Christ. And it’s usually been in whispers. God rarely speaks to us through a bullhorn. He usually speaks in quiet, subtle, everyday ways, in whispers. He has spoken his good news to us through the whisper of our faithful participation in Sunday Mass, week in and week out. He has spoken his good news to us in the whisper of the quiet faithfulness we see in those around us who share our experience of faith. He has spoken his good news to us in the whisper of his love that we feel in our hearts when we carve out for ourselves a few minutes of silence and prayer at some point in our day. He has gently whispered the best of all possible news to us, over the course of years, over the course of decades. What he asks us to do, is to proclaim that good news from the housetops, not to be afraid, to share the peace that is in our hearts, that peace that we know because of the love of Christ.
People should look at us and see something different: they should see a heart that is at peace, even amid turmoil. A mind that is clear even amid confusing times. A soul that has joy and purpose, even amid the uncertainties that we all face. And if they should ask: how do you do it? How do get through hard times like this? How do you keep your peace and your joy with so much around us falling apart? We must be ready to say, joyfully, with boldness and courage: It’s the love of Christ. He has made everything different for me. And we should take joy and comfort in the fact that we might be that whisper of good news for someone around us. Nothing we do, we ever do alone. Even something as simple as coming to Mass: that’s a whisper for everyone around you: a whisper that there is good news, and that it’s to be found here. Or an act of kindness, an act of sacrifice for someone you love, or especially an act of sacrifice for someone you have trouble loving, those are profound whispers too. We pray that the Lord would keep whispering his good news to us, and that he would use our voices as whispers of good news for others, our families and friends, and especially those most in need of the peace and joy that come from the Love of God.