Play Hard!

A Homily Given at St. Patrick's Church
for the Sixth Sunday of Easter
By: Rev. Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd, STL

The famous theologian Romano Guardini once noted that the Mass, and in fact our entire life as Christians, is a type of serious play. Think about it for a moment: What do children play at? Maybe they play house, or cops and robbers, maybe they play shop, opening up a lemonade stand sure they play sports and video games, but when they are alone, just them and their imagination, what they play at is life—imagining how life will be when they are all grown up. I know this was true for me: at 5 years old between playing cops and robbers and army I would play Mass, an experience that many other priests share I’m told.

Play is a way that we humans imagine who we are and want to be. Even contrived play, like sports or video games, which use much less imagination, helps us to develop the attitudes and pre-dispositions that will guide us in later life

At the Mass, Guardini notes, we are playing at being in Heaven, hopefully preparing ourselves for that day when we actually get there and are welcomed in. In fact the entire Christian life ought to be informed by the play Going on at the Mass, and transformed into one big play.

As Christians we believe that:

1) God created us good

2) Man fell from grace

3) As a result we all sin against each other,

and suffer because of it

4) But that we are still made to be with God

And God still wants us to be with Him

5) So He makes the sufferings of this life

A way to purify ourselves for a new life

6) Jesus, the Son of God, made man, who died on the cross

is the ultimate fulfillment of that promise.

7) Jesus forgives us our sins and shows us how to live

8) And now we wait until Jesus’ Easter becomes our Easter.

In a sermon on Easter St. Augustine talks about this reality saying there are two seasons one before and one after Easter. Lent symbolizes our life now on Earth. A time to struggle and prepare ourselves for the future life we hope for with God in Heaven Like children, we can get impatient, wanting that future now, but good things come to those who wait in patient hope. Easter, the season that we celebrate now, is the symbol of the life to come. A life that will be characterized by praise of God. However although these are two distinct realities, these two seasons and times are bridged and brought together here and now by the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Unlike children, we Christians play at something that we are already part of! It’s as if we get to play doctor in a real hospital with real patients! We are not yet in heaven, but our play, our act of worshiping God at the Mass opens the gates of heaven and lets us worship in the presence of the living God. Sunday Mass is so important for our soul because it is a dress rehersal for the main event the eternal wedding feast of heaven.

Heaven is open to ALL—God wants all to be saved but as we hear over and over again in the scriptures there is a try-out, an audition for Heaven—the Judgement!

If our heart isn’t 100% invested into praising God forever He is not going to force us.

Today like St. John we are invited to see the city of God as we play Heaven here at the Holy Mass. Today we see the city that has no Church because God is their temple, dwelling not in one building, but everywhere in every heart that is open to Him. And we are invited in, to enjoy the presence of the living God. Our task is to make the play of the Mass, the play of our every day life.

Play is simply work that we want to do with our whole heart and soul. Each of us must work to make getting to heaven our primary Goal. When we desire to praise God at the very core of our being following the commandments, grown in virtue, forgiving and loving like Jesus loved us, will no longer be work, it will be play because we will already have the temple of God in our heart.

Inspired by this Homily of St. Augustine

Our thoughts in this present life should turn on the praise of God, because it is in praising God that we shall rejoice for ever in the life to come; and no one can be ready for the next life unless he trains himself for it now. So we praise God during our earthly life, and at the same time we make our petitions to him. Our praise is expressed with joy, our petitions with yearning. We have been promised something we do not yet possess, and because the promise was made by one who keeps his word, we trust him and are glad; but insofar as possession is delayed, we can only long and yearn for it. It is good for us to persevere in longing until we receive what was promised, and yearning is over; then praise alone will remain.

Because there are these two periods of time – the one that now is, beset with the trials and troubles of this life, and the other yet to come, a life of everlasting serenity and joy – we are given two liturgical seasons, one before Easter and the other after. The season before Easter signifies the troubles in which we live here and now, while the time after Easter which we are celebrating at present signifies the happiness that will be ours in the future. What we commemorate before Easter is what we experience in this life; what we celebrate after Easter points to something we do not yet possess. This is why we keep the first season with fasting and prayer; but now the fast is over and we devote the present season to praise. Such is the meaning of theAlleluia we sing.

Both these periods are represented and demonstrated for us in Christ our head. The Lord’s passion depicts for us our present life of trial – shows how we must suffer and be afflicted and finally die. The Lord’s resurrection and glorification show us the life that will be given to us in the future.

Now therefore, brethren, we urge you to praise God. That is what we are all telling each other when we say Alleluia. You say to your neighbour, “Praise the Lord!” and he says the same to you. We are all urging one another to praise the Lord, and all thereby doing what each of us urges the other to do. But see that your praise comes from your whole being; in other words, see that you praise God not with your lips and voices alone, but with your minds, your lives and all your actions.

We are praising God now, assembled as we are here in church; but when we go on our various ways again, it seems as if we cease to praise God. But provided we do not cease to live a good life, we shall always be praising God. You cease to praise God only when you swerve from justice and from what is pleasing to God. If you never turn aside from the good life, your tongue may be silent but your actions will cry aloud, and God will perceive your intentions; for as our ears hear each other’s voices, so do God’s ears hear our thoughts.