(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)
God had some very harsh words for Assyria in today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah. God had sent the Assyrians to be an axe or a saw, but Assyria had gone as a tank with machine guns. God had sent Assyria to spank, but Assyria had gone to kill. Assyria is a good example of our human tendency to overkill.
Someone once told me that God had revealed to him that he was important for the Pope. He has waited through three Pope to get his election as Pope. God, however, did not tell him that he would be Pope, but that he was important for the Pope.
We are all important for the Pope. We support him by the way we live our lives. We have the Holy Spirit, just as the Pope does. We have our gifts and talents from the Holy Spirit, just as the Pope has his gifts from the Holy Spirit. We each receive differing gifts so that together we can build up the Kingdom of God. When we live according to the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we have received, we help the Pope do his work and when he does his work, he helps us grow in faith likewise. When we do not, we are like Assyria, people who go for the overkill.
Assyria did not know the lesson. In its haste or in its pride, Assyria went to kill, not to punish. Assyria was not paying attention to God’s plan, but was intent on extending its borders and enriching itself at the death of others. Assyria, then, had to accept the consequences of its behavior.
The Holy Spirit calls each of us. If we follow the Spirit’s guidance, we make positive contributions for the good of the Church, the Pope and the world. In the Holy Spirit we find our purpose, our goal and our blessing. In this we accomplish the mission God has sent us for, and we do it exactly, without overkill or exaggeration.