HOMILY FOR MASS FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 16TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR 1) – YOUTH PILGRIMAGE FOR THE JUBILEE OF HOPE 2025
BASILICA OF SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE, 23 JULY 2025
This Tempio dell’Itale Glorie (Temple of Italian Glories) boasts tombs and monuments of including the humanist-architect of Sta Maria Novella Alberti, the philosopher-poet Dante, the artist-engineer Leonardo Da Vinci, the astronomer Galileo, the political theorist Machiavelli, Ghiberti of the bronze doors, Marconi inventor of radio, and Rossini the composer, to name a few. But arguably the most illustrious was the artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. Even those who don’t know much about art recognise the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508-12) and his Last Judgment (1534-41) above the altar, which we will see in the Vatican. Then there’s the dome of St Peter’s (1546-64), the Pietà (1498-99) inside (carved when he was only 23!), the Moses (1516) in Rome’s Peter-in-Chains church, and the David (1504) here in Florence (also completed when Michelangelo was around your age!).
Though you may will see a copy in the town square, the original of the David is in the Accademia not far from here, as are Michelangelo’s less well known but intriguing series known as The Dying Slaves (1525-30). Designed with the Moses for the tomb of Pope Julius II (pope 1503-13), they depict bodies struggling and straining to be free of the marble around them.
Why they were left unfinished is much debated.[1] Michelangelo got a lot of commissions and, like a typical uni student, ended up juggling too many balls, getting distracted, or leaving tasks to the last moment. Some commissions changed, some were unfunded, some abandoned. But in the case of the Dying Slaves, it might have been intentional. The non-finito or unfinished look could be a philosophical statement: that every human being (this side of the grave) is in tension with their surroundings, yearning for liberation, emerging from their previous stage, and still evolving.[2]
Considered in this way, the sculptures are a spiritual meditation. The prophets compared human beings to pottery made by the divine artist and St Paul described us as “God’s artwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works”.[3] But you might say we are unfinished, fragile, even cracked artworks.[4] We need to be returned to the image of God for which we were made, to be healed and completed—which is precisely what Christ the human art restorer offers us.[5] In the meantime, God does not discard the imperfect and unfinished: He keeps working on us, chiselling and polishing, so the dross of sin and vice is removed, and the inner beauty revealed. A devout Catholic and lay Franciscan, Michelangelo craved just such a transformation, not just in his marble slabs but in himself.
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The Bible sometimes talks in binaries: people are either saved and damned, wise virgins or foolish, wheat or tares, sheep or goats, God’s friends or enemies: pick your side.[6] But it’s not always so simple… Today’s Parable of the Sower (Mt 13:1-9) invites some nuance. First, it gives lie to the idea that God created two classes of human beings: those predestined to be saved and those intended for damnation. No, Jesus’ story suggests, God is very generous indeed with sharing His divine life, scattering seeds of faith everywhere and respecting people’s freedom to receive the gift wholeheartedly, half-heartedly, or not at all. It means a lot of seed gets wasted.
Indeed, it might seem that God the Farmer runs an unsustainable farm, just as God the Artist makes half-finished sculptures! Likewise, Jesus the Cook, who fed the crowds so much bread there were twelve basketsful left over, who provided wedding guests with enough good wine for a week-long binge, and who engineered a haul of fish sufficient to feed a few hungry breakfasters for weeks.[7] Clearly, this Artist-Farmer-Cook does not intend His graces just for a small spiritual elite. No, His heavenly banquet is for all sorts, and we might be surprised at just who gets in![8]
So, too, in today’s parable it’s not an either-or when it comes to receiving the Word of God. Some resist altogether. Some resist at first but are receptive later. Some are interested at first but later distracted. Some fall away when challenged. And some are hot for the message, embrace it, stick to it, and yield lots of fruit. Even then, it’s not just the fruity and the fruitless: some yield a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty, some zero…
So, the generous, even reckless, love of God counts no-one beyond the pale but holds out hope for everyone this side of death. If some choose against Him, God does not write them off but persists in calling them back. If some are unreceptive at first, He keeps inviting. If some are distracted, He bides His time and tries again. If some die in grace but still unfinished, He sends them to the art restoration workshop called Purgatory. And if some hearts are ready to receive the gift of faith in this world, to repent of failures, nourish ideals, embrace mission, share faith, they can expect an abundant harvest!
Of course, some spiritual things are truly binary. Either there is a God or there isn’t. Either divine revelation is real or it’s not. Either God so loved the world He sent His only Son or He didn’t. Either God has a plan for you or not. In some matters ours is indeed a God of either-ors. But He is also a God of both-ands, a God who makes space for our conversions, diversions and reversions, for our hot and cold and lukewarm—always calling us to more and better, in our study and work, relationships and projects, moral and spiritual lives.
The key, my young friends, is this: to receive gratefully the seed of faith God plants in you and to collaborate with Him in nurturing the crop. To let Him fashion you into the beautiful sculptures He intended you to be. Like the Dying Slaves sculptures, we push morally against the hard stuff, we stretch spiritually against our own inclinations, we let God do the polishing. For this we return, again and again, to His workshop in prayer, in the sacrament of Confession, in our deepening our faith online or otherwise, in that Eucharist that is pure gift, like the manna the Israelites received from heaven (Ex 16:1-15). To do this is to be liberated from the rock of selfishness and the dross of sin, till slowly but surely something infinitely greater than any marble sculpture appears: a living, breathing child of God, a saint carved from the love of God!
[1] E.g. Creighton Gilbert, ‘What is expressed in Michelangelo’s “Non-Finito”’, in Artibus et Historiae 24(48) (2003): 57-64.
[2] See Paula Carabell, ‘“Figura Serpentinata”: Becoming over being in Michelangelo’s Unfinished Works’, Artibus et Historiae 35(69) (2014): 79-96.
[3] Human beings are like pottery made by the divine potter: Gen 2:7; Isa 29:15-16; 45:9; Jer 18:3-6. Human beings are “God’s artwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works”: Eph 2:10; cf. Rom 9:20-21.
[4] Rom 5:12; Eph 2:8-9 etc.
[5] Human beings were originally “made in the image of God”: Gen 1:26; Rom 8:29; Jas 3:9. In Christ they are restored to the image of God: 2Cor 5:17; Eph 4:24 etc.
[6] Mt 8:11-12; 12:30; 13:24-30; 22:1-14; 24:46-51; 25:1-13,31-46; Mk 9:38-41; Lk 11:23; 13:22-30,36-43,49-50; 14:26 etc.
[7] Mt 14:13-21 et par; Lk 5:1-11; Jn 2:1-12; 21:1-14.
[8] Mt 22:1-14; cf. Mt 21:31; Mk 2:13-17; Lk 5:27-32; 19:1-8; Jn 8:1-11.
INTRODUCTION TO MASS FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 16TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (1)
YOUTH PILGRIMAGE FOR THE JUBILEE OF HOPE 2025
BASILICA OF SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE, 23 JULY 2025
Welcome, my young friends, to the Basilica of the Holy Cross, one of the great churches and architectural and artistic centres in this city of churches, art and architecture. This is the biggest of all Franciscan churches—and the Franciscans have some very big ones—and it is known as The Temple of Italian Glories. It boasts tombs and monuments of some of the greatest Italian influencers, not just of the cultural and spiritual identity of Florence or Italy, but of the West and the World. And so as we prepare to celebrate our pilgrim Mass consider what great thing you might do for God, and repent of the times you’ve failed to apply your gifts appropriately.