Monday, July 2, 2012

Crowded (2012-07-01)

This is my homily for 1 July 2012 (Sunday). I am a Catholic chaplain in Teaneck at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) campus and for the FDU Newman Catholic Association. We celebrate Catholic Mass - during Fall and Spring semester - every Sunday Evening (7:30 p.m.) at the Interfaith Chapel, 842 River Road, Teaneck, NJ.  We resume Sunday August 26, 2012. 



 [Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24]  [Psalm 30:2]  [2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15 [+ Mark 5:21-43]

[_01_]       A woman in the Gospel struggles – yet succeeds – in locating our Lord and Savior in the crowd.

With serious and long standing illness, this woman – unidentified – has been living, enduring, but also persevering.

She persists. She perseveres. In a spiritual sense, she is quite healthy. (synonym for health / healthy?)

But, she also is currently alone and possibly abandoned by family and friends.  In this regard, this woman is different from the young girl – daughter of Jairus who is healed by Jesus.

The girl enjoys the benefits of family friends, a parent, a father who goes out seeking help for her. The girl can rest at home, privately, safely.

Jesus locates the girl.

The woman, on the other hand, must calculate a route on her own to find the Lord.

 [_02_]      Would I not prefer, would you not prefer that the Lord make a house call?

That is, he makes a house call to the home of the child of Jairus.

We are also his children. Will he not make a house call to find us?

Jesus is everywhere. He should be able to find the address.

[_03_]   But, are we also actively seeking him?   Do we know where to find him?

In another earlier Gospel, the young Jesus says to Mary and Joseph his parents who are hunt him down in the Temple, “why were you looking for me, did you not know that I would be in my Father’s house and about about my Father’s business?”

In other words, don’t just look anywhere.. you will always find me in my Temple, in my Church….

This is true. This is a reason we come to Sunday Mass, knowing we will find Jesus here.

On the other hand, Mary and Joseph will also take Jesus home. He does not remain in the Temple only.

[_04_]       This Gospel reminds us to persevere, to present ourselves to the Lord not only in private but also in public.

We do this in our friendships, in our conversation.

We present ourselves to the Lord by our choices between what is good/evil, right and wrong.

Sometimes, in the crowd – or among friends – we may experience to go along or just to get 
along.

We may want to make others happy by saying YES, even if we know this is against our conscience, even if we know something is wrong.

In this regard, it is hard to find Jesus in the crowd.

However, it remains possible and it remains part of our spiritual well being and health.

Jesus wants also to know, he asks … who touched me?

He wants to know if you and I are also touching /in touch with him.
[_fin_]       

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