Aug. 21, 2011: 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)

Click to hear audio homily
This week, the priests of our deanery met at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Pierre Part for a meeting. Before we had lunch at the rectory, some of us walked across the new foot bridge to the "Virgin Island." It's a tiny island dedicated by the people of Pierre Part to Blessed Mother in gratitude for saving lives in natural disasters. In recent months when the Mississippi River reached the flooding stage, people of the town came out to this island daily and prayed Rosary for Blessed Mother's intercession. I walked over to the statue of Mary and said to her, "Good afternoon, Mother." Looking over the bayou, I saw many houses with white sandbags piled on their yard to protect their homes. How fortunate for this town that this Mother's prayers were answered, and they did not need to use the sandbags. With prayers answered like that, people of Pierre Part certainly knew by heart who this Heavenly Mother was and what she meant to them.

In a small town like Pierre Part or Donaldsonville, it's helpful to know the right person to get things done. As a newcomer to Donaldsonville, I didn't know anyone who lived here, but in just a matter of weeks, many of the residents already seem to know me. The other day I went to Walgreens to pick up photos and I was not wearing my white collar. As I waited at the photo counter, a gentleman walked behind the counter, thumbed through the bin labeled XYZ and pulled out my photos. I was dumbfounded, and said to the man, "How did you know that those photos are mine?" He replied, "Father, I go to mass at 7 AM on Sunday."  A week later, I was at a hospital in Baton Rouge and the employee from Walgreens was in a hospital bed. I said to him, "I know you! You helped me with the photos. Now how may I help you?" I gave him the anointing of the sick.

To know someone means that we have a bond with them and this bond affects us. This past month and a half after arriving in Donaldsonville, I have presided at about 20 funerals. At each funeral, I have seen friends and neighbors, who knew the deceased personally, mourn and celebrate together with the family members. To know someone then is to share in their joys and sorrows.

So let me ask you, have you come to know Jesus in a way that His bond with you affects the way you live? If someone had asked this question to me when I was a high school senior, I would have answered, "Jesus? Who is that? I don't know him, and what does he have to do with my life? That's for the weak people." Some 19 years later, I have come to know Jesus as my Lord, my Savior, and my constant companion. He knew me first, even before I was born. It took me a good 20 plus years to get to know him to the point where I desire to share his joys and sorrows.

We know it's pleasant to celebrate the good times with people, but we find it difficult to share in the bad times with them. In the Gospel, Peter was excited to be a disciple of Christ who was the Son of God, a God-man who performed miracles and won great praise from people. Peter enjoyed sharing Our Lord's glory, but he was quite unprepared to share also Our Lord's humiliation, suffering and pain. Our Lord asked, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Later, Peter said, “Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be... Even though I should have to die with you, I will not deny you.” All the disciples spoke likewise, yet we know that Jesus was abandoned after the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knew in his heart that this was going to happen, for he said, “This night all of you will have your faith in me shaken." If we reflect upon our lives, we will realize that this "dark night" happens to all of us. At times we doubt Our Lord's love for us. There are times where we feel we won't be able to bear the suffering, and there are times when we ignore our prayers, shun our responsibilities, and run away from our vocation.

What are we to do in times when we have feelings like these? Just as the people of Pierre Part gathered every night at Virgin Island as a potential disaster loomed, we are to cling to Blessed Mother in prayer and receive Jesus in the Eucharist at mass. In the dark night of our souls, it is our prayer and the mass that continues to sustain us and to help us grow closer to our Heavenly Father and His will for us. Our Heavenly Father has created each of us, and He loves each of us; therefore, we have nothing to fear. Our Lord's love will support us, our Heavenly Mother's love will support us, and all of our Heavenly Saints and deceased loved ones will support us. To know Jesus, then, is to have confidence in Him and thus we say, "Jesus I trust in you!"