Nov. 7, 2010: 32nd Sunday Ordinary (C)
In my hospital visits to parishioners, the most painful procedure that people complain about is knee replacement. Some ladies I have anointed have said, "This pain is worse than the pain during child birth." Those of you who have had this procedure also know how painful the recovery process is, including months of physical therapy. Why do people decide to undergo such painful procedure? Is the procedure worth the pain? They reply, 'yes'. It is better to suffer a few months from the procedure rather than suffer years of grinding pain.
When we read the First Reading today, we are puzzled as to why seven brothers and their mother were arrested, tortured, and beaten. If we read the whole passage, we learn that they refused to give in to violating God's law--eating pork. Was it worth it to go through torture and death for that? Could they not just fudge a little, in the presence of their executioners, so that they would be let go? They could practice their faith in their private home after that, couldn't they? Why give up a precious life? Why die a martyr? One of the seven brothers said to the executioners, "It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him." These seven brothers and their mother must have been convinced of something; they were convinced of their life after death with God, and thus accepted temporary suffering of earth.
I often tell people, "If we know what happens at the end of our life, we would live today very differently." I often give people a tour of the end of their life which involves telling people what happens after death. Based on reported near death experiences and my own experience dealing with dying parishioners, at death we are given a tour of our life where we view the good and bad behaviors of our lifetime. Although we know that all our sins are forgiven, we will then know the cost of our own sin. We will ask the Lord for an opportunity to make reparations or to help heal any hurts we have caused. And we will make these reparations in Purgatory. But why go through Purgatory at the end when we can go through the purgatory now? Why not offer to God now the daily sufferings we experience, knowing that we will be with Him forever in Heaven.
- Sr. Vazous: What do you know about suffering?
- Bernadette: Nothing
- Sr. Vazous: In all of our sacred history, the chosen ones
are always those who suffered. Why then did God choose you? Why not me?
-Bernadette: I cannot
answer that.
- Sr. Vazous: I know
what it is to suffer. Look at my eyes. They burn, and they need rest and sleep,
but I do not give them the rest. My throat is
parched from constant prayer. My body wrecked in pain from stone floors. Yes,
I have suffered because it is the true road to heaven. And if I who have
tortured myself cannot glimpse the Blessed Virgin, how can you who have never
felt pain, dare to say that you have seen her?
- Bernadette: I don’t
know why I was chosen. You are a hundred times more worthy.
- Sr. Vazous: If I could only find evidence, if only you
could give some proof, maybe then I could believe.
- Bernadette: I wish
I could help you…may be I could help you. (Bernadette lifts her habit to show
her knee)
- ….(Sr. Vauzous’ eyes become horrified at the sight of her
knee)
After doctors examine Bernadette, he comes out and questions
the mother superior and Sr. Vazous.
- Doctor: In addition to the large tumor on the knee,
she has tuberculosis of the bone. She has never complained of pain?
- Mother Superior: No, never.
- Sr. Vazous: No. She never mentioned it.
- Doctor: I can’t understand
it. She had this affliction for a long time. The constant pain and suffering that is
characteristic of this disease is too horrible to describe.
- Sr. Vazous: …(Her eyes speak of conviction of her heart
of guilt and shame. She heads toward the chapel to beg for God’s forgiveness
for judging Bernadette and for jealousy against her)
When the sisters offered to take Bernadette to Lourdes to obtain miraculous cure from the spring which Bernadette discovered, Bernadette refused. She said, "Our Lady said the spring is not for me. She said, 'I cannot promise you happiness in this world, but in the next.'"
If we know what happens at the end of our life, we will live our life today very differently, even bearing the suffering in this world for the sake of happiness in the next. If Our Lord showed the Way of the Cross as the narrow way to Heaven, we should not be surprised that we are invited to follow that same way; sacrifice is the life of the saints, and Our Lord wants us to be one.
To watch the beginning of the movie "Song of Bernadette", click HERE
