Identity Crisis. (2022-10-02, Sunday - 27th)

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2022-10-02   (27^th Sunday)   Title:   Identity Crisis 

● ●  Habakkuk 1:23-3, 2:2-4 ● Psalm 95 ●   2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14 ●●   Luke  17:5-10 ● ●

[__01__]     Have you ever had an identity crisis? Have you ever seen anybody have an identity crisis? Perhaps you've had one, or more than one I've had more than one in my life. At the end of this homily, I'd like to talk about one example ….

[__02__]     What is an identity crisis? An identity crisis is a term used by psychologists, counselors to describe a period of uncertainty or confusion in a person about his or her role.  E.g., “1^st day of school” = identity crisis.   “New job” = I.C.;   “Being retired = I.C.  Being a mother or father = “I.C.”

          All of these are identities that we have.

The disciples are having a bit of an identity crisis, they “text” Jesus a short message today, “Increase our faith”, which could be abbreviated on screen: “Increase R Faith.”

They “text” this because they don't know how to pray, they're not sure not sure of their confidence in God.

Jesus’ reply: you only need a little bit of faith. You only need faith the size of a mustard seed and that mustard seed would like a little seed or grass seed that is buried in the dirt or in the soil would grow into a big plant.

Jesus is telling them that their identity is going to affect their mission. In other words, what we believe about ourselves will affect how we behave, what I believe affects how I behave, either for good or for ill.

 [__03__]      One example, in the Lord’s Prayer we express a belief or identity, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

          That’s a belief.   But do I really pray for forgiveness or for mercy? If someone has hurt me, sometimes I do the opposite of that, if I feel hurt, I may wish ill on the other person, I may not pray for forgiveness or mercy for the other person.

          That problem was in me, what I really needed was a little bit of faith, faith the size of a mustard seed. What I believed (my identity) affected how I behaved (my mission).

 [__04__]    [ROSARY] October is the the month of the Rosary. On October 7, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Rosary.

And the Rosary is part of the identity of our parish of Our Lady of Lourdes. It's also part of the identity of the first Lourdes shrine in France, on the mosaic on the vertical borders of the mosaic on the on the right and on the left. There are little ovals/circles are rosary beads, signifying also the rosary beads Bernadette herself is carrying and praying in the in the apparition of Our Blessed Mother at Lourdes.

The Rosary is a reminder of our identity. Part of our identity is to meditate on the mysteries of Jesus's life, the mystery of our blessed mother's life as well starting for example, with the Annunciation, the Annunciation = Good News of Jesus's birth announcement.

And we are called to meditate on that announcement each day and even to announce it to others, if not by our words than by our actions.

And if you don't pray the rosary, maybe you find I can't pray the rosary, the whole thing will I just ask you, perhaps one decade of the Rosary is a way to start takes about 2 ½ minutes to pray one decade. So it's a way to start and to meditate perhaps just on one mystery of Jesus's life.

That's part of our belief, part of our identity and it affects how we then behave, how we carry out our lives.

 [__05__]    [RESPECT LIFE]      October is also respect life month when we pray for the protection of life at all stages. And one way we carry out this identity is our Respect-Life team’s a baby shower, a charitable drive during this month. It's located to your left as you leave church today we're  collecting

new items for mothers and families in need mothers and families in need, who might be in a crisis pregnancy in an identity crisis pregnancy in an hour of severe need.

We are called to help them by what we believe and how we behave as well. Part of our Catholic belief part of our Catholic faith is to believe in the sanctity of life at all stages. Jesus is our Savior from the moment of conception, and life is both present and precious from the moment of conception.

Is it true that children are born into this world in horrific and violent circumstances? Yes, that's true. But they also come into the world because of an act of God's love. We don't create life ourselves. We share in God's creative power.

The church also opens her doors to all women, men, mothers, fathers, families who have been hurt in any way, by abortion or also by, by extension by miscarriage. There's a ministry called Rachel's Vineyard which offers a confidential setting, a retreat setting for women and men to come to, to confess their sins to meditate on the parables of Jesus to know God's mercy in their lives, both through the Rachel's vineyard retreats and through counseling. That meant private counseling that may happen outside of Rachel's vineyard.

There's information about this. On the archdiocese and website there's information about this if you want to see me. Also, there's a person in the Archdiocese that I want you to know about Cheryl Riley, who runs the Respect Life ministry for the Archdiocese is available to speak to anybody confidentially at any time. You can ask me for Cheryl's number, you can Google Cheryl Riley at Archdiocese of Newark to contact her as well.  Cheryl Riley at 973.497.4350 or email, Cheryl.Riley@RCAN.ORG.

Click here for Archdiocese of Newark Respect Life.

 [__06__]    Identity affects our mission; what we believe affects how we behave. True for Jesus’ disciples; true for you and me.  Here's an example of one- day identity crisis. You might an identity crisis takes longer than 1 day. But this is just one example that boils down some of my own personality, some of my own flaws, waywardness.

 This was many years ago, I was in on a trip to Washington, DC, and I was getting out of a taxi cab accidentally. As I got out of taxi cab, I dropped my wallet, my identity, my credentials, my credit cards, my money, everything.

I didn't realize this until until about 30 minutes later, there was no Uber back then I couldn't call the driver to retrieve my wallet. In fact, I didn't even know that my wallet was in the cab. The driver came back to the building and tried to find me he couldn't find me. Meanwhile, I had to fly back, come back here to New Jersey to Newark airport the same day.

If this this had happened, in our modern era of airport security and ID checks, I would still be in Washington, DC  !

Now fortunately, I retained one thing important. I had not lost was the paper printed ticket to get on the airplane. You could get on an airplane with no ID at that time. Hard to believe! But that was the deal. You were just you were just a number. I was just a number I got on the plane, I In other words, I had a mission.

However, I had no way to prove my identity. Along the way, I was in great distress. I was pretty worried. I went to somebody I worked with at that location / office. I didn't know too many people very well. And I borrowed some money, some cash, so that I could buy lunch so I could buy a ties pay for a taxi to get home.

I paid that person back. But, during my little identity crisis, I acted very locally, very privately, I didn't think globally. And I didn't think about God, I don't think I made a single prayer that day, or a real prayer anyway.

In other words, I reached out only to that one person I didn't call I had one of my own friends, a college roommate who worked across town in DC, you think I called him? No, I was embarrassed about what had happened. I didn't want to admit it.

I didn't call my mother or father, I didn't call a single friend or family member back here in NJ to tell them. I wanted to go through this and alone. That was my identity, my belief. It was not a spiritually healthy or mentally healthy choice. But that was my choice at that moment. God does not want you to go through life alone. God wants you and me to go through life in communion with Him.

I paid back the people that I borrowed money from along the way, that $$ got me to my destination. But life is not just about paying back what you owe, or getting what you  deserve. We don't come to church simply to pay back to God what we owe, we come to church, yes, are meditating on the commandments.

There are things we are called to repent of to reform our lives about but that we're not here to pay back to God what we owe Jesus, Jesus through his life gave us more than we could ever give back.

He gave us his whole life. And this was exemplified to me in the story in a sense of my wallet and identity. The next passenger in the cab who got in after me retrieved my wallet from the floor, he gave it to the driver of the taxi cab. The driver their taxi cab went to the trouble of calling “411” to looked up my address call me here in New Jersey.

And there was a message on my answering machine -- the blinking red light -- when I got home from the driver telling me that he would return my wallet to me in whatever way I wanted.

If I came back to Washington, he would give it to me then he would send it to me whatever I wanted. The only thing he would not do, he would accept absolutely no money, no monetary reward of any kind.

He only wanted to restore to me what was mine. He didn't want me to pay him back. Life is more about more than pay back. It is about communion with God, communion with others and to remember that you are worth more than any possession. Even if you feel lost even if you feel alone. The church is here the sacraments are here to help you to guide you to help you get back on track for me as well to get back on track to remember that God loves us and that he always has our back  [__end_]