“I will make you a light to the nations,
so that my salvation will be known throughout the world.” Is. 9:3
The first words and the name of the first document
written at the Vatican II Council is “Lumen Gentium”,
which literally means “light of the nations.”
That is not an accidental name.
It was deliberate that the Church Fathers, some 60 years ago,
choose “A light to all nations” as the guiding light
to the entire of the Second Vatican Council.
In the document, it goes on to talk about how
Christ is the light of the world
and we, as the body of Christ, are called to shine that light to all nations.
It also reminds us that we all have a universal call to holiness;
that the call to holiness is not just for the priests and the nuns
but it is for every, single Catholic in the whole world
to shine the light to all nations;
to be a leaven in the world so that all will come to know Christ.
It is a prophetic document on so many levels.
Later on, in the next document, “Sacrosanctum Concilium”,
they went to great length to talk about how
the Eucharist is the source and summit of all we are;
that everything we do as Catholics comes to and from the Eucharist;
that it is the source of our strength.
Here at this Eucharistic celebration is the place
where we are called and learn how to be holy;
to be that leaven in the world;
to be that light in the world;
and that we return here in this constant cycle,
which I call the circle of life, coming back and forth.
A very rich theology in which we are called to do that;
and the document Lumen Gentium makes it very clear
that we are called to do it both individually and collectively;
that we are saved as a body of Christ.
We are saved together and, in a sense, we are condemned together.
While we act individually, we also act together.
That sounds all great.
It is all great theology.
But how does it impact us in our daily lives?
Let me explain using a metaphor:
As you know, I love to go hiking.
I most often hike in Colorado and Utah
during the summers in those high mountains.
One of the aspects of hiking which I love is being out in the open forests.
One of the trees I love, which is the most common
in Utah and Colorado is the Aspen.
They are the most gorgeous trees.
I find them to be absolutely majestic;
their silver spines stand glistening in the sun and their leaves rattle.
There is a peculiar sound from them.
They call it “the quaking of the Aspen.”
It is a beautiful sound when the wind rustles the trees.[i]
I did not know this until recently when I read about it.
The Aspen doesn’t stand as a single tree.
The Aspen (they call it a “stand”, a stand of Aspens)
are one organism.
In fact, the Aspen is the largest single organism in the world.
There is one stand of Aspens in Utah in a place called Pando
that covers over 163 acres.
They are connected underground in their roots.
Their root system is one, single root system.
They are not individually rooted
but they are connected into one single system;
one source with lots of trees.
That is how one single organism can be 163 acres!
Why do I bring this up?
Because I think that we, as a Church, are like that.
We are connected underground;
we are connected through the Eucharist.
We are one Church; and the source of our connection is Jesus Christ;
the one Lord, the one Table,
and we believe in that one Body of Christ.
What difference does that make?
It makes a great deal of difference
because what connects us is our one faith in Jesus Christ, the one Lord.
And we realize that this is our one source;
we come back here to the Eucharist,
but our role is to witness to that one connection.
Our Church I know is flawed; the institutional Church is flawed
but the Body of Christ, who we are, is not;
we are an organism that remains connected.
And how we bring that alive in the world is through service.
The acts of service, what we do, is how we witness to the world.
And that is how we testify that we believe Jesus is the Son of God;
it is through our actions and our words
that we testify to that root system;
that we are one Body of Christ.
Now, last night we had a volunteer recognition dinner here at St. Simon’s,
and we had about 250-260 people who come to dinner.
That is only a fraction of the people who are volunteering.
I had Joan, our business manager run the numbers
of how many hours are represented by the volunteers.
Between the school and the parish,
they represent over 60,000 volunteer hours.
That is 30 full time staff.
And we did not even get to measure everybody.
That is 14 at the parish and 16 at the school.
That tells us the underground root connection.
Do you see what I am saying?
That is the root-system of the Aspen of who we are as a Church.
And without it, we would not be able to do the work that we do.
Now if truth be told, we probably need twice as many more
to be who we really need to be in the Church in this world
because there is so much service to be done.
We are called to be a light to the nation;
it is not a light to be in St. Simon’s community alone;
we are called to be a light to
the entirety of Los Altos, Santa Clara County
and indeed for us who have such a large footprint,
we should probably be known throughout the whole world:
“Oh, that parish is St. Simon’s; oh you’re from St. Simon’s!”
That is the potential we have
if we bind together underground in the roots in Christ.
My friends what does that all come down for us today?
If we are involved, then not only do we stay involved
but we go deeper knowing that
we are connected within and through Christ.
And if we are not doing ministry
then go online and find out which ministry you are called to do
because we all need to be doing something.
And it does not make any difference what age we are;
no matter how old or how young, there is a ministry for you.
Whether it is washing linens, playing music, serving at the Mass;
or serving at the school; whether it is serving the homeless;
or whether it is in the community.
There is work for every single one of us.
We are called to witness to our faith;
that we believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
That is what John the Baptist said
and that is what we believe.
We testify that by what and how we do the work that we do.
We are called to serve.
Serve one another and love one another.
That will be the testimony of this community.
Today, we are a stand of Aspen
that remain connected in the
one Lord, in the one Church, at the one Table, in the one Faith.
“I will make you a light to the nations,
so that my salvation will be known throughout the world.” Is. 9:3
[i] Inspired by use of his metaphor in Arthur Brooks, “From Strength to Strength” Portfolio (February 15, 2022), p123.
