June 13, 2010: 11th Sunday Ordinary (C)

 Click to hear the audio of the homily

Many of you probably have been to Grand Canyon. I was with my parents there a few years ago when I was still in the seminary, and while we were there someone mentioned to us that there is a day excursion to descend down the Grand Canyon on donkeys. We looked at how narrow the trail was and we politely declined. Back at the seminary, I told one of the religious sisters how we turned down a donkey ride, she said she did it when she went. She said on the way down, her donkey kept inching toward the edge of the trail where she could see how far she would drop if this donkey mis-stepped. She got frightened and got off the donkey several times. The guide said, "Sister, that donkey likes to do that so people won't ride him. He'd rather be back at the stable and eat grass than be on the trail working. You got to be firm with him to get him to do something."

A stubborn mule is a great metaphor for what you and I do when Jesus wants us to do something. Sometimes when I get requests from various persons to visit them or see them, the first reaction is, "Ahhh, Lord, I so much like sitting here in the quiet, air-conditioned office. I wish I didn't have to go." You can picture me a stubborn donkey wanting to stay back at the stable and chill out with my other friends. But the last time I did that, I learned a plenty of lessons not to be so uncooperative. It was one of the first weeks when I began at Our Lady of Mercy when I got a call on Friday evening around 4PM. A person was near death at a nursing home near Most Blessed Sacrament area when their pastor was on vacation. I dilly-dallied for about 15 minutes, moping about how I'm having to drive all the way out there fighting traffic on Siegen Lane on a Friday evening. When I got there, the person passed away exactly 15 minutes before I arrived. So that person died without the Last Rites. Oh if you knew how guilty I felt for dilly-dallying! Jesus wanted to be with that soul to shower him with his mercy at his last moment of earthly life, and this donkey Jesus was riding was refusing to budge! How many of us have God found to be stubborn and uncooperative when He wanted us to be His love in action? But the mystery is that God still forgives, and he allows us to learn from our stubbornness and our sins.

In the Gospel today we find a woman who led a life contrary to God's will. And her neighbors knew it. And here she came, before Jesus' feet, bathing them with her tears. Her righteous neighbors were upset; what right does she have to come before Jesus? How dare she after leading such sinful life? But Jesus silenced them by asking them, “Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty. Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?” They replied, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.” Jesus said, “You have judged rightly....she has shown great love... But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven....Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Isn't this how many of us find ourselves, like this woman? We did foolish things in our younger days, and finally conscience in us woke up to declare like St. Augustine, "Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!" That's what happened to me, this stubborn donkey which still to this day, resists God's gentle invitation to carry him on my back to visit souls to bring healing and forgiveness.

Some times this donkey does what Jesus asks him to do, and I would like to share a story a parishioner shared with me this week. She began her story with her marriage to a non-Catholic man. The marriage was good, but their was no spiritual unity because on Sundays, she was with her kids in church, but without her husband. By grace of God, her husband eventually became Catholic. He was a great family man and liked to spend time at home. His wife, however, was always out and about doing her own thing. Then she did the unthinkable; she asked for a divorce. The children were still young, but she insisted on divorce. It devastated her husband; he completely lost trust in her. She went to confession several times for forgiveness for what she has done. Although she knew intellectually that she was forgiven, she didn't feel forgiven. The feeling of guilt and shame were still there. By chance, she came one night during the Divine Mercy novena during this past Lent. She heard the Divine Mercy Chaplet sung, and she was moved. A cantor and I were singing the Chaplet that night. She was driving back, and tears began to fall from her eyes uncontrollably. It was so bad that she could not see so she stopped by the side of the road. The tears continued to fall, but she saw something that she could not believe. Two rays were shining upon her, red and blue, just like the rays that emanated from heart of Jesus in the image of the Divine Mercy. At that moment, she felt she was forgiven. And she felt total freedom from her guilt and shame. She was enveloped in Jesus' Divine Mercy. That night, this reluctant donkey did take Jesus to where he needed to go, to this soul who needed desperately the forgiveness that only Jesus can give. Isn't that what we desire everyday? Lord, I'm thankful for what you have done for me on the Cross; is there a small thing that this donkey can do for you out of gratitude?