Homily - Sunday
Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA
Some of you may have heard that I
enjoy watching YouTube videos when I am preparing my homilies, or pretty much
any time I am at the computer. Recently there was a couple of videos that
really touched my heart. They were videos of what you might call Life Changing
Events.
The first video
was of a young mom that had never heard her son’s voice, and the video was
rolling as they turned on her Cochlear implants, and her son walks in the room
and she began to cry after she heard her son speak to her for the first time.
The second
video was of a young baby girl whose face lights up as her eyes adjusted after her
parents put on her glasses for the first time.
The third video
was of a father that, like me, is color blind. His wife had bought him some new
glasses that corrected his vision so that whenever he wore these glasses he
would see the rainbow of colors as God created them. He became overwhelmed with
emotion as he put on the glasses and he looked at the colorful clothes his wife
had dressed the kids in, the bouquet of flowers bursting with colors that they set
out in the front yard, but he broke down as he looked at color of his child’s eyes
in their true color for the first time.
Each of
these videos represents someone that has struggled with a personal disability,
and in that one moment, at that brief instant, suddenly that struggle..., that limitation….
That pain… that burden, was a thing of the past. No longer will the father
wonder if his clothes match when getting dressed, no longer will the mother
wonder if her son is calling for her, no longer will that little baby be
hindered by what was hopelessly out of focus. A moment of change, a new beginning.
Well as I
was writing this homily it was Friday night and I was watching the 20/20
special featuring an audience with the Pope, where Pope Francis, in the lead-up
to his visit to the United States later this month, was in a teleconference
with three cities in the U.S., McAllen TX near the Mexican border, Los Angeles,
where the streets hold more homeless than another city, and Chicago in the
center of the US. In each location the Pope spoke with a few chosen members of
the audience.
What stood out
most among those chosen to speak with Pope Francis was that… each had a story
of a life of challenge, the first, a girl with a skin disease that made her
stand out as different among the other kids, another was a girl who lost her
father when she was five, and then there was single mother and her two daughters who only
recently got out of a shelter and into an apartment, and one of the others was a
young man that has been elevated to the head of household being responsible for
providing for his family, at the same time struggling with his illegal status
while trying to get his college education in the same country he has grown up
in since he was four.
Each of them
felt the compassionate love, hope, and encouragement offered by Pope Francis.
But I am sure, if you were to ask Pope Francis, he would assure you that he is
not the source of that hope and love, it is offered by Christ. Just like the moment
of change, and new beginning experienced by those in the YouTube videos, and miraculous
healing of the deaf man in today’s Gospel, Jesus offered them hope, healing,
and strength.
There are
two sides to Christ’s love: Some of you, will go to Jesus seeking healing,
hope, love, and encouragement. While others of you will be the conduit, the pathway
that Jesus uses to deliver his answer to that request.
We don’t have to have a life-long ailment or terminal
illness to go to Jesus, it could be a bad habit that needs changing, or the strength
to overcome an addiction, or simply his encouragement that you are doing the
right thing. You may also seek Jesus’ forgiveness for the mistakes of your past
through the Sacrament of confession. Or seek his counsel through prayer.
And as you
sit, praying to Jesus for His help, you are among many others: some, (many
likely), are on the same journey as you, and still yet, many others surrounding
you are able to offer you help, to offer that love, healing, hope, and
encouragement. We may not be able to miraculously cure the deaf, heal the
blind, or cure the lepers, but God may use us to invent the next cure, or to even
help fund that cure, or pay for the expenses of someone’s hospital visit, or a
wheelchair, or perhaps donate a kidney, or even give blood. If our hearts are
unified to Jesus, we can be both receivers of His love and givers of that love.
We must not be afraid of either.
We often
think that Jesus only does the miracles we can’t attribute to humans, when in
fact, Jesus often will use you and I to perform his miracles. So I encourage
you, just like Pope Francis encouraged his audience on Friday, to be courageous!
If something seems impossible, seek the strength to conquer it, if something
seems hopeless, search for opportunities to complete it, if it seems like no
one cares, look around you at the many others that have shared in your same
struggles. There are an abundance of opportunities to be Love to others, and
many opportunities to be loved by others. There are many miracles being
performed, don’t be afraid to be part of one. To be part of a moment of change,
or a new beginning in a life.
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