Sept. 26, 2010: 26th Sunday Ordinary Time (C)
Click to hear audio homily
The other night I was coming out of Our Lady of the Lake hospital at from anointing someone. In the parking garage, parked next to my car was Fr. Mark Beard's car. I thought to myself, he must be here for one of his parishioners. Then it dawned on me who he came to visit. A parishioner told me that Fr. Mark has been visiting daily a 23 month old child who drowned and was now in the intensive care unit with little or no brain activity. I was also told that parishioners of this child's parent's parish held a rosary late in the evening at the church. The church was standing room only, and everyone poured out their heart, imploring Blessed Mother to intercede on behalf of that child. It was truly a moving experience for all who were there. A little 2-yr old child taught everyone there to look beyond their own wants and to seek the desire of the Heavenly Father.
Another person's suffering has a way of drawing us out of ourselves. Sometimes, another person's suffering reminds us how self-absorbed we are. How many of us frown, get frustrated, or even get angry when we are bothered or when we are asked to do something we don't want? I remember when I was a seminarian serving at a parish during summer. An elderly man from the parish invited me to his house in the evening. I thought we were going to chat or do something interesting, but instead, he only wanted me to watch with him, "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" starring Will Smith. The entire 30 minutes, I was sitting next to him wondering, "What a corny and boring show! I could be doing something more constructive like reading a good spiritual book." I muttered to that elderly man that I had an appointment to attend to and left. And you know, all that elderly man wanted was a company for an hour, because he had no family members visiting him. How self-absorbed I was, only caring about my own wants! A seminarian friend of mine used to joke with me with all the histrionics, "What about me! What about my wants!"
Padre Pio ("St. Pio of Pietricina", 1887-1968) whose feast day we celebrated this week said, “The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain.” Padre Pio knew a lot about pain and suffering. For 50 years, he had the stigmata, the wounds of Christ--the palm of his hands, the feet, and his side bled. In fact, I brought the relic of Padre Pio to our church for veneration this week. This particular relic is a small piece of blood-stained gauze that was once wrapped around his side as he bled. The question is why did God give us a saint who suffered like Jesus? Perhaps Padre Pio's own answers offer a clue. A close friend asked him:
Father, what time during the day do you suffer the most?
– During the celebration of the Holy Mass.
Father, is it true that you suffer the torment of the crowning of thorns during the Holy Mass?
– And you doubt it?
During the whole Mass?
– And also before and after it. The crown is never taken away.
Father, at the Divine Sacrifice of the mass, do you take our sins on yourself?
– It is impossible to do it differently, as it is part of the Divine Sacrifice.
The other night I was coming out of Our Lady of the Lake hospital at from anointing someone. In the parking garage, parked next to my car was Fr. Mark Beard's car. I thought to myself, he must be here for one of his parishioners. Then it dawned on me who he came to visit. A parishioner told me that Fr. Mark has been visiting daily a 23 month old child who drowned and was now in the intensive care unit with little or no brain activity. I was also told that parishioners of this child's parent's parish held a rosary late in the evening at the church. The church was standing room only, and everyone poured out their heart, imploring Blessed Mother to intercede on behalf of that child. It was truly a moving experience for all who were there. A little 2-yr old child taught everyone there to look beyond their own wants and to seek the desire of the Heavenly Father.
Father, what time during the day do you suffer the most?
– During the celebration of the Holy Mass.
Father, is it true that you suffer the torment of the crowning of thorns during the Holy Mass?
– And you doubt it?
During the whole Mass?
– And also before and after it. The crown is never taken away.
Father, at the Divine Sacrifice of the mass, do you take our sins on yourself?
– It is impossible to do it differently, as it is part of the Divine Sacrifice.
Why would a man take on the suffering of another? Would we so readily do it ourselves? We know we would do it for our own children or our spouse if they become ill. At such moments, we win the struggle against self-love and self-absorption, against our own desire for comfort, indulgence, and rest. Yet, Our Heavenly Father has given us the most perfect example in what His Son Jesus did and continues to do for us. At this Sunday mass, Jesus shows us how to win the struggle against self-absorption by self-giving love--to sacrifice for another. And how plainly he speaks to us at this altar--"My children, I am suffering for your sins; I am offering up my life for you. Do you see it?"
Look at what happens to the Rich Man in our gospel. We see a man who was self-absorbed, a man who never looked beyond his own wants. You can be rich or you can be poor and still be self-absorbed. "What about me! What about what I want!" Even in the netherworld, the Rich Man thinks only of himself. He asks Father Abraham to tell Lazarus to bring some cool water to quench his own thirst. Here is a man who never knew how to love--which requires winning a struggle against self-absorption. And like the Rich Man, some of us never taught our own children how to win the struggle against self-absorption; those children, even those in the church, never learned to self-sacrifice, hence did not learn how to love.
Those people gathered at the standing-room-only church to pray the rosary for the 2-year old child learned something important that day. By praying for one another, they learned to love as Our Lord Jesus loved, to sacrifice self for another.
