homage

Do Homage.

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In 1999 St. Pope John Paul II came to St. Louis, Missouri my hometown. I was in the Kiel Center with 22,000 teens and young adults for the youth prayer experience with St. JPII. It was awesome. One of the most incredible moments for the St. Louis young people was when the Pope suddenly appeared on the big screens. He was in the building! And then coming into the camera view was St. Louis Cardinal baseball player Mark McGwire. This was a bigger deal than you can imagine.

Let me explain. St. Louis is baseball crazy. (Partly because we don’t have anything else going for us.) In 1999 before all the performance enhancing drug controversies, Mark McGwire was a living legend. He was a big deal. Part of the stadium was named after him (Big Mac Land) and only recently has been renamed. When we saw the Pope and the Big Mac together on he big screens, if felt like our little St. Louis heads were going to explode. 

Then Mark McGwire leaned over and kissed the Pope’s ring. With head lowered he waited for a blessing and humbly and simply thanked the Pope. It was amazing to see the biggest name, the most famous sports star, so humbled in the presence of St. John Paul II. Only later did I realize what Mark McGwire was doing was paying St. John Paul II homage. 

In the gospel this Sunday we hear the familiar story of the three Magi traveling to see Jesus in the manger. They follow a star. They bring gifts. You know the drill. 

But what amazed me when I re-read it this week is that they tell Herod that they are coming to give this new king homage. Herod asks them to tell him when they have found the new king so that he too can offer homage. Later when the wise men find Jesus, they do in fact offer him homage (and stuff). 

The appropriate and good response to searching for and finding Jesus is to give him homage. This is what we were made to do – to offer Jesus homage. What does that mean for us. To give Jesus homage is to offer him some special honor in a public fashion. In other words, we humble ourselves before him and offer praise and honor in a place where others witness this action. 

I think a lot of us offer Jesus our problems. We offer Jesus our needs. We offer Jesus our requests. We are private fans of Jesus. All of that is fine, but it isn’t doing Jesus homage. 

This Christmas season our challenge is not just only be fans of Jesus, but to be followers. Our challenge is to offer Jesus special honor in a public manner. Let’s offer our newborn King homage. 

Live It: Go to a local nativity scene (at your parish or otherwise) and offer Jesus some act of homage. Pray out loud to him, say a Glory Be, or some other act of praise and honor. Visit and offer Jesus homage. 

Sunday Readings for January 2, 2022.

Homage

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I have a two and half year old little boy at home. My son is about as 100% summer boy as you can get. Despite plenty of sunscreen he has a great little farmer’s tan going. He’s got bumps and bruises from a summer of jumping off play sets, climbing on rocks, and chasing frogs and rabbits. At the end of the day he is usually pretty tuckered out from playing so much outside. I’m telling you, it’s the good life. 

The other day we were playing catch (more like fetch as his catching ability has room for improvement), and after a particularly good throw on his part, he got all excited and did a sort of running handstand on the downward slope of the driveway. He isn’t strong enough to hold his handstand for very long and consequently banged his face into the asphalt. A minor bloody lip and a bit of a surprise was all he had, but the look he gave me said, “Am I hurt?”

I learned long ago that the appropriate response to when one of your kids falls down is exuberant positivity.  Sometimes we yell, “Safe!” as if they just swiped second base in a baseball game. Sometimes we shout, “You’re okay!” Which is a terrible response for an adult, but perfect for a two year old. Most of the time we just say, “Whoopsie!” and pick them up and smile.

Learning the appropriate response to any situation or event is a key step in growing in maturity. For the same reason we bristle at the teenager who is disgusted when they encounter a homeless person, we snicker at the audience member who dozes off at a concert. Responding in the best way to a situation matters. 

In the gospel this Sunday, we hear about Jesus walking on water, inviting Peter out of the boat, teaching about faith, and calming the storm. What an incredible miracle. Simply because it is so amazing and radical, this walking on water miracle is the subject of many a comic strip, bad golf joke, and comedy sketch. Walking on water is so incredible that one way to respond to it is to make it a joke. 

However, the disciples don’t respond that way. Instead they “did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.” (Mt 14:33). Following this miracle, they worshiped Jesus as God. The appropriate response to Jesus and to his miraculous work is homage. In our modern use homage means to publicly honor someone. In other worships, to worship him. 

However the historical use of the word is a reference to the public declaration that another person is your lord or superior. Homage originally made reference to the ceremony by which a feud would declare his loyalty and submission to his lord or king. 

So when we encounter Jesus, the right response is worship. When we experience a miracle, the fullest response is paying homage to Jesus Christ the miracle worker. 

Live It: When was the last time you declared your faith in Jesus publicly? If it’s been a while, come to Mass where we declare Jesus as Lord every time we say the Creed. 

Sunday Readings for August 9th, 2020.