A Homily of Dancing

A Homily from a Priest within a Humble New Jersey Parish

My sisters and my brothers. The Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark.

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house standing outside. They sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you. But he said to them in reply who are my mother and my brothers? And looking around those seated in the circle he said here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. The gospel of the Lord.

When I was a relatively newly ordained priest after attending a wedding reception another person in attendance there sent me a video of the reception and my attempts at dancing on the floor of the reception hall. And in looking at it I immediately promised that I would never dance in public again. It is amazing how self conscious we can be. But I must say that even to this day at wedding receptions if somebody comes and says father come on are you dancing? I simply respond “oh I'm so sorry. It's against my religion”. Once in a while it'll catch the attention of a Catholic realizing we share the same profession of faith.

David dances before the Ark of the Lord with abandonment. And what an image it must have been for this king, this mighty warrior, this anointed leader to abandon himself before the Lord and to be able in front of the house of Israel to dance in God's presence. Now there are some who can do that and do it quite well and there are others of us who are a little more self conscious of how it is that might come across. I mean I have never been caught dancing in the church or in the chapel or even in my own private chapel doesn't mean that I don't. It just means that I haven't been caught. But to give ourselves that freedom that's what the Lord is inviting us into.

And so the Psalm is intended to help us because the refrain of the psalm asks the question who is this king of glory? It is the Lord. And this processional psalm which we have today it is quite possible that as the ark of the covenant was being brought into the city that it is a processional psalm like this that was being sung because it comes with the understanding which seeks he who seeks to enter in is not something of myth is not something of folklore but a living being. Now if David was to dance with such abandonment before the ark of the Lord how much more at least in our hearts because again the heart is that place of encounter.

Must we before the Lord in this divine liturgy and most especially in the moments when we hear the Lord speak-

Our hearts should dance in his presence. In the action of the liturgy when Christ condescends as St. Therese would say to make himself present so that we may receive him body blood soul and divinity that should cause our hearts to soar. And when we come to that most intimate moment of receiving him in our very selves in the Eucharist who is it that seeks to enter in but the King of Glory, the Lord of life, the Majesty of Heaven and earth?

And so yes lift up- o gates your lentils. Reach up you ancient portals that the King of Glory may come in. The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle the one who seeks to enter in and to make of us His Ark, His Tabernacle, so that protected by the manifestation and the Glory of His Love, he may use us as a vessel to go out to others to be able to dance before others in the joy that is given to us from the Lord.

Now again this is not something perhaps that will take place in that physical movement of our being but it certainly should happen in the spiritual movement of our being. We should hurtle out of here with such an intense joy that it is not dependent upon our physical movement but rather lifted in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We should literally float out of here with a joy allowing the King of Glory to enter in and to make his dwelling in us. In the Gospel Jesus tells us that it is in this beautiful action of us allowing him to enter in so that he can live his life in and through us that we have a kinship with him. One that is even deeper than the familial bond because it is not the bond of simple family but it is the bond of Divine family.

Jesus tells us so beautifully as an encouragement and a reminder. Who is mother who is brother who is sister to me. The one who allows the king of glory to enter in through his word and his sacrament the one who then lives in the knowledge that it is he who lives in us he rather than ourselves and the one who dances with divine abandonment before the world not concerned about what the world might think but knowing that the Father the Lord of heaven and earth has revealed to us his little ones the mystery of the kingdom and sends us forth to reveal the mysteries of that same kingdom by the words and deeds of our living.

Lift up O gates your lentils. Reach up you ancient portals that the king of glory may come in. Let us pray for the church. May God bless us. With strength and courage so that we may be faithful in witnessing to Christ before those whom we meet each day.

Let us Pray