Bishop Scott Bullock
Homily from the Televised Mass, NewsCenter1
The 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 3, 2024

One hot Saturday morning, unlike where we are at this time of year, before I moved to South Dakota —  it does get hot in Iowa also. I rose early and decided to get my day’s exercise over early before it got too hot in the summer sun. It was also a good idea because I looked ahead and saw that the schedule was pretty busy and if I were to get a bicycle ride on that day it would need to be at the crack of dawn. And so even before 8 a.m. I was turning over the pedals on my bike on a local bike trail when I noticed, with alarm, what appeared to be a human body lying next to the trail about 50 yards ahead. As I rode past, I shouted down to the man and asked if he was okay, but only got a lethargic, non-verbal response. After a moment of indecision, as I continued to ride on, I recalled the Gospel of the Good Samaritan and of course turned around and rode back near him, where I noticed something like a small, butane torch near his head. Further inquiries as to whether he was okay elicited only a very garbled response. 

As I considered what must be done, two neighbors from near the trail heard me call to the man and walked up to visit with me and after a word, I told them that I was going to call the ambulance. Soon, an ambulance and an emergency response vehicle was on the scene.  

I then witnessed a beautiful display of gentleness and concern on behalf of the EMT’s and police officers that gathered with us. They had seen this situation many times before. It was an experience of methamphetamine over usage which left the man completely without the ability to move. So, they treated him with dignity and firmness, and they worked to get him the medical care he needed. We really have some marvelous people working for us in our communities. 

Eventually, a police officer stepped over to speak with me. When I identified myself as the caller, he asked a few questions and, in the course of our conversation, I revealed that I am a Catholic priest. He then said about the man, “he was lucky that you came by and you called for help.” Finally, he said something like, “God must have been looking over him.” 

Finally, as everyone left, my own faith kicked in and I reflected about what the police officer had said that “God must have been looking over the man” when instead it occurred to me we must have been overlooking God. 

We see in today’s Gospel we can support this conclusion. In this scene as recounted, we’re told that one of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the greatest of the commandments? Which is the first?” 

With sincerity, this expert in the religious law wants to know this truth for among the 613 commandments of the law in the Scriptures he wants to know what is more important. Notice, technically, Jesus doesn’t really give him the answer, does he? He gives him two it seems. He first gives to him that he is to love God and then he says there’s another like it. So, he says to love God and love neighbor. But maybe they are two parts of the same command, aren’t they? For elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus says, “Whatever you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me.” 

It turns out that we fulfill both commands by seeing Christ in our brother or our sister even when, and especially when God is hidden under human weakness and failure. For nevertheless, each person is created in God’s image and has a divine spark within him or her. 

So on that day, did we look over God when we saw that meth addict along the bike trail? We have to believe that we did! And we ought not be surprised that God was hard to see. For, this is who our God is: hidden. 

One of my favorite spiritual writers is St. John of the Cross who insists when speaking about how we recognize God, that God is “a hidden God alien to every mortal eye and hidden from every human instinct. God, too radiant, too big for our feeble human vision, will always be clothed behind humanity, as he was perfectly embodied in the Word made flesh, Jesus.”

So that meth addict on the side of the trail, or the elderly woman in a nursing home, or the unborn child still in the womb — all these are veils of the same God.  That radiant God, who comes clothed in human flesh among all those we see and also at this altar, hidden under the forms of bread and wine. That we might look on Him, receive Him, and serve Him right here.

Each day, we come across so many folks along the path of our lives. Let’s remember that these are the divine occasions to fulfill the two great commandments: to love God and to love neighbor. If we can trust in this truth and act accordingly, we will love God who dwells among us clothed in humanity. We’ll love the God who dwells near us, and we fulfill the commandments of God instantly bringing the kingdom of God into our world. 

So the truth behind this great commandment is also, the truth I would like to just add, in the importance of voting this week, particularly to see what Jesus reveals. That even in the child in the womb, and the mother who bears the child, that God is with us, and in loving and reverencing them with love and reverence the God who created them. So, one more time I ask you to love God and love neighbor by voting “no” on Amendment G. May the great commandment to love God, to love neighbor, move the hearts of all of us in the voting booth, to bear the healing love of Christ each person. For there is Christ, right before our eyes, lying along the trails of our lives. Let’s not miss him.