March 27, 2011: Third Sunday of Lent (A)

Click to hear audio homily

I consider myself somewhat behind the times as far as keeping up with the latest movies. I have not been in theaters in a while, so I do not know how much the popcorn costs these days. Instead, I catch the movies through DVDs. The other day, I picked up a movie produced in 2004 called, "Five People You Meet in Heaven," that is based on the novel by Mitch Albom by the same title. The introduction was intriguing. It said, "This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time."

It is after Eddie dies and goes to 'Heaven' that he begins to understand what truly happened to him in his life on earth. One of the five persons Eddie meets says to him, "Each of us was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time...there are no random acts...that we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind."

Can you think of one person in your life that you have forgotten about, whom only later in your life you began to appreciate? I can think of my history teacher in high school. 21 years ago as a high school sophomore, I had crazy hair and crazy ideas. My history teacher was one person who remained after class to listen to my wild ideas, and she did so with patience and compassion. She listened as if I was important to her, as if what I had to say was important. Her kindness and gentleness opened my heart to her. I learned a great lesson from her: If you discover that somebody really loves you, really appreciates you, understands you, listens to you, then you begin to change. You come out from behind the barriers of fear you have constructed around your heart. (Jean Vanier)

The person who has touched us does not have to be that far from us in distance or in time. That person could be living right in our home, and somehow we could now have a wall between us that prevents us from being present or speaking to each other. We probably all agree that conflict can easily arise in our families. When we have conflict, we begin to shut off and find ourselves unable to encounter each other. Harboring anger inside is like a tall, impenetrable wall between two persons. On this wall is graffiti that reads, "You have nothing to bring me. I don't need you." In the movie, Eddie harbors a lot of anger, especially for his dad who was verbally and physically abusive. Eddie blamed most of the unhappy moments in his life on his dad. How many of us can think of a person in our life whom we blame for many of our miseries and sufferings? We all have a person or two. In the movie, Eddie encounters a person in Heaven who helps to open his eyes to the strong anger and hatred he nurtured inside for many years. She said, "Eddie, holding anger is a poison...It eats you from inside...We think that by hating someone we hurt them...But hatred is a curved blade...and the harm we do to others...we also do to ourselves."

The wall we construct can be also between God and our self. I have encountered many people who are angry with God and blame God for the sufferings in their life. We may find ourselves like the Samaritan woman who Jesus encounters at the well. She has been through many broken relationships and she knows that the town folk do not look upon her favorably. She may even believe that God is the same way with her. Yet, she finds it puzzling that this man named Jesus sits and listens to her and says something about giving her the kind of water that she will no longer thirst anymore. His kindness opens her heart to the possibility that God could care about even a woman like her, that God could love her.  This same God chooses to sit here in this church among us to listen with compassion.

Once we begin to see that Jesus is the patient, kind, gentle, and compassionate One who is always listening, then our hearts open up to God, and we begin to understand what St. Paul said to the Romans today.  "And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Romans 5:5-8) How can we be angry with God who proves his love by the most loving act of sacrifice of Jesus? The wall that we build between God and ourselves, Jesus takes away by his love. When you discover that God really loves you, really appreciates you, understands you, listens to you, then you begin to change, and you come out from behind the barriers of fear that you have constructed around your heart.