Homily: Tuesday, 17th Week in Ordinary Time (Sts. Joachim and Anne)

Sometimes, although I intend to preach, things change and a homily gets set aside. That's what happened on Tuesday.  I thought I'd go ahead and post my Tuesday homily, anyway. It follows...

Readings: Jer 14:17-22 • Ps 79 • Mt 13:36-43

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Today we celebrate the memorial of our Blessed Mother’s parents, Joachim and Anne. Their names appear nowhere in Scripture. Indeed, everything we know about them, including their names, comes from tradition. But based on what we know of Mary – her courage, her decisiveness, her deep faith, her goodness – comes not only from the grace of her immaculate conception, but also from the example and love of her parents.

When I think of Joachim and Anne, I can’t help but think also of my ancestors over many generations – men and women, parents, who in far more difficult times than we face today, managed to raise faithful children, who went on to do the same. And so, we honor this couple today who raised the Mother of our Lord.

Speaking of difficult, challenging times, the prophet Jeremiah describes a time of famine and death before the Babylonian captivity in 587 B.C. As a prophet chosen by God, Jeremiah was heartbroken. He had warned the people about what was coming, warning them also not to listen to the false prophets and priests. We can sense Jeremiah’s distress, and hear his call and the cry of the people:  

“We were hoping for peace – no good came of it! We wait for a time of healing – but terror comes instead!” [Jer 14:19]

And yet, at the same time, Jeremiah doesn’t hide the cause of it all, and admits the sinfulness of generations:

“We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness, the guilt of our fathers; that we have sinned against you.” [Jer 14:20]

Yes, “Why have you struck us a blow that cannot be healed?” [Jer 14:19]

Have you ever felt like that? Wondering, during difficult times, if God really hears your prayer. But it’s precisely in such times that we need to sense God’s closeness and His love. It’s in such times, when life seems to hang by a thread, that we turn to our God, lacking words, but trusting in the Spirit’s inexpressible groanings…it’s in such times that God’s Presence is almost overwhelming. It's then, too, we gaze up at the Cross and begin, once again, to realize the depth of God’s love for us.

Yes, our lives are complicated, aren’t they? Wheat and weeds growing together, each seeking to overwhelm the other. I have a neighbor, a master gardener, whose yard and gardens are absolutely, beautifully perfect. Everything’s in its proper place. It’s a showcase, the envy of the neighborhood…unless, like me, you have better things to do. His garden might be beautiful, but it’s so very different from God’s garden.

In God’s yard and garden, in His fields, He lets everything, weeds and wheat, entangle. The rows are uneven, a seemingly careless and unplanned mixture of diverse plants and weeds, all swaying in the breeze. God’s garden is basically a mess. It’s a chaotic, apparently disorganized collection of plants, some nice, some not so nice.

It’s really very much like our lives, a confusing mixture of the good and the not-so-good. Oh, we’d like it to be perfect, and as time passes, we struggle to make things better, trying to pull the weeds, but some always remain, don’t they?

Grain ripens and bends toward the sun. And then our merciful Sower stretches out the growing season. He gives us, well, some of us, anyway, a little more time. Allowing us to prepare for the harvest, when judgment unfolds.

Now, as I contemplate today’s Word of God, I simply ask Him not to weigh our failings. For Your sake, Lord, send help quickly. We need it.

Saints Joachim and Anne…Pray for us.

 

Cardinal Raymond Burke on Satan’s Influence

Here’s a link to a homily delivered by one of my heroes, Cardinal Raymond Burke, on January 24. In his remarks His Eminence doesn’t hesitate to take on the Biden administration for joining with Satan in his killing work to destroy the lives of millions of unborn children. He encourages us to come together in prayer and fidelity, asking our Blessed Mother to intercede for our troubled nation and world, and consecrating our lives to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He centers his homily on the first words of Jesus, at the start of his public ministry: 

“This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel” [Mk 1:15].

God bless this wonderful Prince of the Church. 

This link connects to a YouTube video of his homily:

https://youtu.be/OLAz0cPbZPk

 

 

The 1918 "Spanish Flu" and Padre Pio

If you're my age and spent some time talking with your parents and grandparents about life in the early 20th century, you likely heard about the influenza pandemic that spread throughout the world in 1918. A devastating plague, it infected upwards of 500 million people worldwide and resulted in perhaps 50 million deaths. 

To deflect attention from the reality of its spread among the troops fighting in World War One, the censors incorrectly named neutral Spain as the flu's source, so it became the "Spanish Flu." Of course, infected troops brought the disease home with them. And unlike most flu pandemics, young adults were particularly vulnerable. In fact Diane's grandfather and the grandfather of my stepmother, Barbara, were among those young men who died after being infected.

Diane's mother, Blanche, a six-year-old in 1918, explained that her entire family was infected: her father, mother, older brothers, and she herself were quarantined in their house near Bonafay, a rural community in the Florida panhandle. Although their neighbors would not enter the house, every day they left food at the front door. The sense of Christian charity of these good, faithful Baptists outweighed their fear of the disease. Blanche made a point of telling us that one neighbor even bought her a new pair of red shoes and left them at the door with the food. And, believe me, these were not wealthy people.

As we spoke about this today, Diane mentioned that, although young women also died during the 1918 pandemic, young men were far more susceptible and had a much higher death rate. She then told me, "God certainly blessed my mother's family because my grandmother survived and was able to care for the family and keep it together." Yes, indeed, everything is a gift, even when we are suffering and coping with the fears it brings.

People were indeed afraid back then, just as people are afraid today as we deal with another, but far less severe pandemic. And like today, businesses and schools closed in an attempt to mitigate the spread of that killing influenza. The people of Italy, like the rest of the world, suffered in fear as they witnessed the effects of the disease that infected and took the lives of family members and neighbors.

 

Photo Taken in Rome (2008)

Fear, however, is incompatible with faith. One person who realized this back in 1918 was Padre Pio, now St. Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968). Many of Padre Pio's followers had succumbed to their fears and turned to the saint for help. The following is from a biography -- Padre Pio: The True Story -- published by Our Sunday Visitor. The story was posted a few days ago on the Aleteia website. I repeat part of it here:

By September, everyone in San Giovanni Rotondo seemed to be ill, the schools were closed, and what little commerce there was in town was brought to a halt. In the next couple of months, two hundred people from a population of ten thousand would perish. Padre Pio's spiritual daughters came to him terrified, begging him to save them. "Never fear," he assured Nina Campanile. "Put yourself under the protection of the Virgin, do not sin, and the sickness will not overcome you." Although some of the "daughters" fell ill, none of them died.

The saint's advice in 1918 is just as valuable for us today. Fear accomplishes nothing...

Do not fear brothers and sisters. Trust and pray.