Oct. 7, 2012: Annual Blessed Seelos Mass
The following homily was given at the annual Blessed Seelos mass held at St. Mary's Assumption Church, New Orleans on Oct. 7, 2012 by Fr. Paul
As a priest, there are many occasions when people pull me aside to tell me about their encounters with something inexplicable. Perhaps their hope is that a priest who has one foot on this earthly world and the other foot on the heavenly realm may be able to understand a surprising and welcome event that may be divine in origin and is not explicable by natural or scientific laws. One lady told me what happened to her dad as he was dying. While lying in the hospital bed, he pointed to a corner in the room and said to his wife and daughter, “A priest, a priest!” Both the wife and daughter were puzzled because there was no one in the corner, let alone, a priest. “There is no priest there daddy,” the daughter said. But her dad replied, “That priest told me that I will not last through the night.” Initially, the wife and daughter thought that he was having a hallucination induced by medication, but eventually they were comforted by the possibility that a priest who had come from heaven’s side was in the room. Her father did pass the next morning. When the wife and daughter returned home from the hospital, the daughter was looking through her dad’s wallet. There she found a relic of Fr. Seelos that had been given to him a couple of years earlier when he was going through a difficult medical complication. The family was convinced that the priest in the hospital room was Fr. Seelos.
Another lady told me about something that occurred when she was away on vacation with her family. She had asked her neighbor to pick up the mail for her everyday. On one occasion, while the neighbor was getting the mail, she saw out of the corner of her eye a man sitting on the bench on their porch. She picked up the mail, turned around to go question the man, but he was gone. The neighbor told the story to the lady when she returned, and she described the man as being dressed in black and wearing glasses. The lady went to her car and got out a prayer card and showed it to her neighbor, “Is this who you saw?” The neighbor said, “Oh my goodness, that’s him!” On the prayer card was an image of Fr. Seelos. For the lady, Fr. Seelos’ presence around her house could not have come at a better time. She was facing a recurrence of her cancer, and she was anxiously waiting for her biopsy results.
In both cases, the families were experiencing sorrow--a death and a serious illness. But for some reason, it gave them great comfort that Fr. Seelos visited them in their time of sorrow. It is interesting that whenever we experience a sorrow or suffering, we somehow convince ourselves that nobody knows or understands the sorrow we go through. A sorrow has a way of isolating us, but is it true that no one knows or understands our sorrows?
We must remember that Jesus willingly embraced the greatest of all sufferings. When Jesus embraced the Cross, he embraced each and every one of our sufferings. He knew our sorrow and sufferings then. Blessed Mother stood faithfully beside him as he embraced the Cross. She could not hold her Son at his time of suffering, but she was there with Him and wept for Him. We, too, have Blessed Mother with us when there are disappointments, deaths, abuses, and when unspeakable ravages are inflicted. She weeps for us as she did for her Son. Blessed Mother sends her devoted son, Blessed Seelos, into our lives. Just as the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows watches over the remains of Fr. Seelos in this shrine, she and Fr. Seelos are both present at all of our sufferings.
We must also remember that Jesus turned a great sorrow into joy--Resurrection! Just as Blessed Mother and the disciples understood the great joy three days after the great sorrow, we too will grow to know joy with each sorrow that comes our way. The great mystery is that Jesus is here for every joy and sorrow in our life, to help us to know the joy behind the sorrow. This was Heavenly Father’s plan from the beginning. The beautiful image in the Book of Genesis of Eve being drawn out from Adam’s rib speaks of how each of us is entrusted to one another; we are never alone. Fr. Seelos understood that he was never alone. He was formed and strengthened by his prayers to Heavenly Father and Jesus. Fr. Seelos’ devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows helped him understand suffering and taught him to be compassionate.
In Today’s Gospel, many were bringing children to Jesus and he embraced them and blessed them. To be a child before God is to recognize our nothingness, to expect everything from his father. This is how Fr. Seelos lived his life, with complete trust in the Father. Fr. Seelos was grateful for all the gifts the Father had given him and in thanksgiving he sacrificed for all entrusted to him by his priestly ordination. He was anointed by the Holy Spirit to be Jesus’ heart to all, to welcome all, to love all. He was kind and gentle and he opened his arms to all who came to him for healing. He worked tirelessly to save souls from the evils of sin. Our faith teaches us that his death does not stop him from continuing this beautiful work. Even now, Fr. Seelos lets us know that he is with us in our sorrows and joys.
We are drawn to Fr. Seelos because he awakens in us our own desire and call to be a saint like him. It is a desire and a call that Jesus has placed in each of us. We have already been given what we need to be the messenger of Jesus; we need not be eloquent, attractive, or persuasive; we are all chosen to carry His message. There will be suffering for us. But we are not alone. Holy Spirit, Blessed Mother, and Fr. Seelos will be there to comfort and to guide us, to help us all be saints that we were called to be.
As a priest, there are many occasions when people pull me aside to tell me about their encounters with something inexplicable. Perhaps their hope is that a priest who has one foot on this earthly world and the other foot on the heavenly realm may be able to understand a surprising and welcome event that may be divine in origin and is not explicable by natural or scientific laws. One lady told me what happened to her dad as he was dying. While lying in the hospital bed, he pointed to a corner in the room and said to his wife and daughter, “A priest, a priest!” Both the wife and daughter were puzzled because there was no one in the corner, let alone, a priest. “There is no priest there daddy,” the daughter said. But her dad replied, “That priest told me that I will not last through the night.” Initially, the wife and daughter thought that he was having a hallucination induced by medication, but eventually they were comforted by the possibility that a priest who had come from heaven’s side was in the room. Her father did pass the next morning. When the wife and daughter returned home from the hospital, the daughter was looking through her dad’s wallet. There she found a relic of Fr. Seelos that had been given to him a couple of years earlier when he was going through a difficult medical complication. The family was convinced that the priest in the hospital room was Fr. Seelos.
Another lady told me about something that occurred when she was away on vacation with her family. She had asked her neighbor to pick up the mail for her everyday. On one occasion, while the neighbor was getting the mail, she saw out of the corner of her eye a man sitting on the bench on their porch. She picked up the mail, turned around to go question the man, but he was gone. The neighbor told the story to the lady when she returned, and she described the man as being dressed in black and wearing glasses. The lady went to her car and got out a prayer card and showed it to her neighbor, “Is this who you saw?” The neighbor said, “Oh my goodness, that’s him!” On the prayer card was an image of Fr. Seelos. For the lady, Fr. Seelos’ presence around her house could not have come at a better time. She was facing a recurrence of her cancer, and she was anxiously waiting for her biopsy results.
In both cases, the families were experiencing sorrow--a death and a serious illness. But for some reason, it gave them great comfort that Fr. Seelos visited them in their time of sorrow. It is interesting that whenever we experience a sorrow or suffering, we somehow convince ourselves that nobody knows or understands the sorrow we go through. A sorrow has a way of isolating us, but is it true that no one knows or understands our sorrows?
We must remember that Jesus willingly embraced the greatest of all sufferings. When Jesus embraced the Cross, he embraced each and every one of our sufferings. He knew our sorrow and sufferings then. Blessed Mother stood faithfully beside him as he embraced the Cross. She could not hold her Son at his time of suffering, but she was there with Him and wept for Him. We, too, have Blessed Mother with us when there are disappointments, deaths, abuses, and when unspeakable ravages are inflicted. She weeps for us as she did for her Son. Blessed Mother sends her devoted son, Blessed Seelos, into our lives. Just as the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows watches over the remains of Fr. Seelos in this shrine, she and Fr. Seelos are both present at all of our sufferings.
We must also remember that Jesus turned a great sorrow into joy--Resurrection! Just as Blessed Mother and the disciples understood the great joy three days after the great sorrow, we too will grow to know joy with each sorrow that comes our way. The great mystery is that Jesus is here for every joy and sorrow in our life, to help us to know the joy behind the sorrow. This was Heavenly Father’s plan from the beginning. The beautiful image in the Book of Genesis of Eve being drawn out from Adam’s rib speaks of how each of us is entrusted to one another; we are never alone. Fr. Seelos understood that he was never alone. He was formed and strengthened by his prayers to Heavenly Father and Jesus. Fr. Seelos’ devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows helped him understand suffering and taught him to be compassionate.
In Today’s Gospel, many were bringing children to Jesus and he embraced them and blessed them. To be a child before God is to recognize our nothingness, to expect everything from his father. This is how Fr. Seelos lived his life, with complete trust in the Father. Fr. Seelos was grateful for all the gifts the Father had given him and in thanksgiving he sacrificed for all entrusted to him by his priestly ordination. He was anointed by the Holy Spirit to be Jesus’ heart to all, to welcome all, to love all. He was kind and gentle and he opened his arms to all who came to him for healing. He worked tirelessly to save souls from the evils of sin. Our faith teaches us that his death does not stop him from continuing this beautiful work. Even now, Fr. Seelos lets us know that he is with us in our sorrows and joys.
We are drawn to Fr. Seelos because he awakens in us our own desire and call to be a saint like him. It is a desire and a call that Jesus has placed in each of us. We have already been given what we need to be the messenger of Jesus; we need not be eloquent, attractive, or persuasive; we are all chosen to carry His message. There will be suffering for us. But we are not alone. Holy Spirit, Blessed Mother, and Fr. Seelos will be there to comfort and to guide us, to help us all be saints that we were called to be.
