“Your Labor Is Not in Vain”
February 26, 2025
Fr. John Riccardo
Brothers and sisters: When this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about:
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain
(1 Corinthians 15:54-58).
Every once in a while I come across a book that changes my life. Fr. Boniface Hicks’ new book, The Hidden Power of Silence in the Mass: A Guide for Encountering Christ in the Liturgy, is one of those books. It is an absolute must read for every Catholic. I would set it beside Abbot Jeremy Driscoll’s, What Happens at Mass, and Joseph Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy, as essential reads to better understand the Mass. As a friend of mine used to say, “Run, don’t walk, to pick this up!” With Lent just a week away now, it might be something to consider for good spiritual reading in that rich season.
A section at the conclusion of Hicks’ book comes to mind as we finally reach the conclusion of 1 Corinthians 15. And what an unexpected conclusion it is! After going on for 57 verses about the resurrection of Jesus, and of each of us, Paul chooses these words to wrap up the treatise. “Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Really? That’s the final word on the longest treatise in Scripture on the resurrection? Know that your labor here is not in vain? Paul is telling us that the message of Easter is not, “Jesus has risen from the dead, you will too one day” — although by all means, that’s true. Instead, the message is more like, “Jesus has risen from the dead, there’s work to do!”
In his book, Hicks includes a quote from St. Leo the Great preaching to the faithful in Rome. Leo said, “Our participation in the Body and Blood of Christ has no other end than to make us become that which we eat.” Who would have known that “You are what you eat” was uttered by a Pope back in the 400s and had to do with the Eucharist?
In these days of Eucharistic revival in the Church, we are continually being invited to consider why the Lord gives Himself to us at Mass hidden under the appearance of bread and wine. There are a number of reasons to be sure. For one, there is an incredible intimacy in the Eucharist, as the God who is love unites us to Himself and “the two become one flesh.” However, though that’s true, we must be careful not to stay there. The Eucharist is not a “me and Jesus two-step.” The gift of Himself that He offers us is both remarkably intimate and personal and deeply mission oriented.
“As the Father sent Me so I send you,” Jesus said to His disciples. We would do well to remember those words as we draw near the conclusion of every Mass. We are being commissioned, launched as it were, out into a world that is anxious, fearful, lonely, angry, despairing and more. God is sending us out so as to announce the good news to them that God is real, that He cares, He loves, He acts, He rescues, and more. This is the mission of evangelization.
We are also, however, called to engage in the work of recreation and transformation that Jesus began on Easter. Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:48 make clear that our task is to do all we can, wherever we are, to work in such a way so as to ”bend” every sphere of human existence back into conformity with how God created things to be.
Every sphere includes medicine, entertainment, art, politics, sports, law — you name it. No matter what the (bad) song from the 70s said, we cannot “Build the City of God.” We can, however, build for it. Of course, as we do, we will almost certainly encounter resistance and opposition, and we’ll never finish the job. That will only come about when the Lord returns and makes all things new. But nothing we do in the Lord now, no matter how it might appear, is in vain.
As we prepare to enter into Lent, then, let us ask the Lord to help us more deeply understand what He has done for us, what He is doing in the Mass, and what our mission is in these days in which He has chosen for us to live. And let’s be eager every day to build for the Kingdom of God in our words and actions.
ACTS XXIX Prayer Intentions
February 2025
For our second Leadership Immersive this month with clergy and lay leaders from multiple dioceses and apostolates, that our time together would breathe both refreshment and transformation to all those who join us.
For our Board of Directors, our Episcopal Advisory Council, and our faithful partners, may they know the Lord’s great delight in them.
For God’s protection upon Fr. John Riccardo, the ACTS XXIX family and all our families.
