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Homily, 2024-06-30 (13th Sunday, year B) ●● Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24 ●● Psalm 30 ●● 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15●● + Mark 5:21-43 ●●
[__01__] Losing My Wallet: An
Inconvenient Experience.
I once had the inconvenient and distressing experience of losing my
wallet while on a trip and being several hours away from home by myself. I was
also supposed to fly home that same day. Back then, however, you could fly
within the United States without having to show any i.d. This was a good thing,
because I had none!
But, that “permission” alone did not
grant me any peace. It was an opportunity on the one hand to put my confide in and
trust in a co-worker - whom I hardly knew - who loaned me some money so I could
travel and I paid him back a week later. I also just had to keep moving
forward, though my sense of peace and “faith and hope” were seriously
disrupted.
By a great act of charity, someone did
recover and return my wallet to me – that was a good thing. But, that did not
happen right away.
I was just glad when I was able to get
home that night, even without the wallet in my possession. Is it possible to
have faith and hope while things are simultaneously going wrong around you?
What enables us to have hope and faith?
According to one psychological viewpoint I read, hope or confidence consists of
three dimensions: a goal, a pathway, and freedom. In my case, my goal was to get back
home. The pathway was the co-worker who loaned me money, and my freedom was
admitting I needed help.
[__03__] Gospel: Hope in Action
In the Gospel this Sunday, Jesus encounters two individuals in
trouble. The woman with the hemorrhage and Jairus, whose daughter is dying. PAUSE
Both demonstrate hope. The woman had
a GOAL to touch Jesus’ garments, and found a PATHWAY
through the crowd and had the FREEDOM to make contact. Jairus
had the goal of bringing Jesus to his daughter. Both faced obstacles but showed
real hope by moving toward Jesus, continuously.
Sometimes, our moves toward Jesus and
God are small incremental steps that add up – later.
However, in the short term, they may
not seem to yield results, but they are important.
As Jesus says in the Gospel, “Matthew 11:28:
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.
Sometimes, all we can do is rest and
pray in God’s presence.
Doing so is a worthwhile goal, a
pathway and a sign of own freedom.
[__04__] The Virtue of Hope: Mother Frances Cabrini
This is the final weekend of June, the month of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and I would like to touch on the virtue of hope demonstrated and delivered by a Catholic religious sister and one known as the “first American saint”. This is Mother Frances Cabrini. Or, Saint Frances Cabrini, of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Recently, a movie “Cabrini” was released about her life as the first American saint.
One notable example of Mother Cabrini's perseverance and hope was her work in Chicago. Initially intending to establish an orphanage for the Italian immigrant community, she was directed by the AB [Archbishop James Quigley] to instead establish a hospital. Faced with the challenge of raising $25,000 to purchase the North Shore Hotel in Lincoln Park, she successfully raised the necessary funds through her sharp business acumen and organizational skills. 25,000 in her day in the mid 1800’s is the equivalent of $1 million today.
Mother Cabrini was not respected for 3 reasons in her day: a woman, an Italian, Catholic.
Her determination was further demonstrated when she discovered
discrepancies in the property measurements – using her own ruler and tape
measure --- and negotiated a fair price.
Mother Cabrini's life exemplifies the three components of hope:
goals, pathways, and freedom. Her goal-setting was diligent and prayerful,
always seeking divine guidance and not settling for less. She sought out
pathways illuminated by her faith, often choosing more challenging routes that
required deeper trust in God. Her freedom, or capacity, was not only in her
belief in her own abilities but also in nurturing the gifts of others around
her.
[__05__] Hope Beyond Personal Goals
Living in hope and having hope
is not about the attainment of our own goals and material comfort.
In Mother Cabrini, we see someone with
both resilience and prayerful reflection seeking to God’s will.
If we look only at the her success only
in terms of finance/money, publicity and “real estate”, we would Mother Cabrini
compares to celebrities in our own day such as Jeff Bezos of Amazon or the
author and executive Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook.
It is true that Mother Cabrini also got
her name out there, but the many hospital, orphanages, colleges and buildings with
her name were done so after her death. Nor did she accumulate any
personal wealth during her lifetime. Similar to Mother Teresa of Calcutta who
came later, Mother Frances Cabrini took a
vow of poverty.
[__06__] Serving the Downtrodden: Italian Immigrants
Mother Cabrini sought to give hope to
others by imitating Christ and just as Jesus was sent first to the “lost sheep
of the house of Israel”, to the Jewish people and then to the whole
world…Mother Cabrini was sent first to the lost and downtrodden among her own
people, Italian immigrants in the 1800’s in the big cities of NY, Chicago,
Seattle and Los Angeles.
Italian
immigrant were treated extremely poorly in the United States in the 1800’s
though the United States is the “land of the free”. What we know value as
racial / ethnic equality and dignity did not exist in the 1800’s
For most of the 1800’s slavery was
still legalized and followed by Jim Crow laws in many states.
Living
at that time, if the government said it was OK to own and keep human beings as
property, why not look down on newly arrived Italian and other immigrants as
well? It was a slippery slope and still is!
[__07__] Bringing the Good News
Mother Cabrini ‘s goal was not just to
bring the hope of a warm bed and better food and clothing but also the Good
News that Jesus also gave his life for the neediest among us.
Mother Cabrini sought no “brand identity”,
but only God’s identity in all her efforts.
Jesus himself also does not seek to be
known but to glorify is Heavenly father. And, we are also not called to glorify
ourselves but God as well. Do you resist sharing the credit for jobs well done
in this way? I do too..
Jesus gives us the example.
At the end of the Gospel today, Jesus
himself also shuns the “photographers” and the publicity, not wanting his name
in any papers or on any papers. Jesus simply suggests that the girl he
has healed be given something to eat.
He is instructing us to eat as well, to
prepare our hearts to be healed by repenting of our sins and then to receive
the feast of his wisdom and the feast of his Body and Blood.
In this may we also be able to serve
others who need to know God’s love and that through Christ, we may discover
both goal and a path. And through his grace, a commitment and will to know that
we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13)
[__end__]
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