You remember Chip and Dale, the brothers who have a thriving business flipping houses. Their sister, Sarah, has two adult children who have not been attending Mass on a regular basis. They have fallen into a secular lifestyle which worries Sarah to no end. She told Dale that she nags, encourages, and begs her children to come back to Church. Nothing is working. Sarah is just sick with worry and anxiety. Maybe their favorite uncles can do something!
One night Chip was in his home prayer room while Dale was getting ready to go to bed. While Chip was praying, he thought that he heard someone talking. Looking around the room, he saw no one. The voice got stronger.
Chip, listen to me. Breathlessly, Chip said, “Who is this?” The voice whispered “Don’t be afraid. I want you to do something for me. Your nephew and niece are straying too far away. It’s time you and your brother step in.” Chip realized that Jesus was talking to him, so he said: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” Chip immediately thought of the transfiguration in which the Lord revealed himself as both God and Man to Peter James and John. Is it possible that Jesus reveals himself to us today if we are open and ready to listen to him? If your life is focused on the Lord, anything is possible. The Lord will come into your presence and speak with you.
Is there anyone here today who cannot relate to Sarah? No doubt you have a loved one who has given up our Christian faith and is to be considered as an apostate, one who gives up faith, gives up the Church. St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians (3:17-4:1) wrote for many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself. …Brothers and sister, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord. Paul gives us hope. We are to be pilgrims of hope. That sounds nice, but what are we to do? How can we convince our loved ones to come home to the Church, to Christ?
Saint James in his letter to the community writes: confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful. Elijah was a human being like us; yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain upon the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you should stray from the truth and someone bring him back., he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Paul gives us hope and James tells us what to do. The question remains: what are we to do? Now I will explain further. God lives within you. Through prayer, your conversion with God, you will become one with Christ and you will be Christ in the world today. We know that Jesus took on sin, my sin, your sin. Through his suffering and death, He destroyed sin and by his resurrection is victorious over our death and our sin. The more you are united to Christ, the more you become Christ, you also take on sin. You can take on the sin of your loved ones who have become enemies of the cross. In your prayer, you repent your own sin and the sins of those who have turned away from Christ. Through your daily mortifications, your suffering, your daily acts of penance, know that you can bring back the sinner from the error of his/her way and save their soul from death. Your faith strengthened by hope will manifest true love, the God who is love.
Remember God’s ways are not our ways. I cannot tell you when the conversion will take place. Only God knows that! It will happen if you have faith nourished in hope and lived in patience. It will happen.