Amazing!: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Draft
Dear Friends,
This homily focuses more on the meaning of the Mass than it does the Scripture passages this weekend. In this sense, it's more of a "mystagogical" homily than a biblical one. For this reason, you might want to keep this homily in mind for use at a future RCIA session.
I'm open to your suggestions. Let me know what you think. Once again, I need to apologize for the late posting.
JMS
“They were exceedingly astonished.
‘He does all things well!
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!’”
When was the last time you were “exceedingly astonished?”
Occasionally we hear about seemingly ordinary individuals
doing extraordinary things.
Now and then,
we have the privilege of meeting such an individual.
Sometimes we know them personally.
Let me give an example of someone from my hometown.
His name is Tony
and when Tony was 18 years old,
he had a diving accident at a public pool,
an accident
which paralyzed him from the chest down.
I have no idea how devastating that experience must have been
for a healthy, strapping young man
who loved to hunt, fish and play every kind of sport.
The prospect of facing the rest of your life
in that kind of condition is,
for most of us, too terrible to contemplate.
Yet, back in my hometown,
shortly after the accident occurred,
we heard that Tony had learned to use a computer
even though he couldn’t move a single finger.
Later still, he was driving around town in a van
and eventually got himself a fulltime a job.
Those achievements alone be amazing enough but,
if you ever go up to Fort Loramie, Ohio
on almost any weekend in the summertime,
if the wind is calm, you’ll see ultra-light aircraft
flying over the village and fields of corn and soybeans.
And that’s Tony up there.
500 feet above ground.
Flying free.
Going wherever he wants.
Looking down on the town he loves
from an angle few get to enjoy.
Looking down on the runway
where his wheelchair sits empty,
without him in it.
What makes us admire such individuals so much?
What is it that draws us into their experience
and ends up giving us a better understanding
and a deeper appreciation
of what it means to be human?
If you ask me,
it has something to do
with getting close enough
to touch
someone’s deepest fear,
their deepest pain,
and know something of their darkest hour.
And, somehow, in the telling of their story,
we stand next to them the moment the light breaks in.
It’s not happening to us
but, for a fleeting moment,
we’re given the hope and inspiration that,
would such a thing happen to us,
we too would somehow break through and break free!
And that, my friends,
is exactly what is meant to happen
each time we experience the greatest prayer on earth
known as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Think of this way.
Just a minute ago were right next to a paralyzed man
flying in an ultra light air craft
over that small Ohio town.
We were there, right there with him.
And something of his spirit
touched our hearts and rejuvenated our spirits.
For just a moment, we entered into a young person’s greatest fear
and, for a fleeting second, felt a little something of his darkest night.
And, I don’t know about you,
but for a moment I thought myself,
“If I could just hang around someone like Tony long enough,
I’d learn to be a hero too.”
This is the spiritual dynamic that takes place at every Mass.
We take our place at the foot of Jesus’ cross
and we enter into the deepest, darkest moment of a human being’s life.
Except this particular human being also happens to be
the Hero and Savior of the Human Race.
We stand at the side of a man paralyzed from the chest down,
nailed to wood,
unable to move,
in excruciating pain.
But he won’t give up.
His spirit won’t fail.
He conquers!
He overcomes it all!
The power of his faith in God,
the power of his love for his Father
breaking through the barrier wall of death.
Soon, very soon,
he rises from the dead
and ascends into the heavens.
And he says,
“Come along, come join me.
See how beautiful it looks from up here!”
And someday, we’ll look down on our paralyzed lives
and know that because we admired a man named Jesus
and got to be friends with the Son of God,
we were able to conquer our fears, walk in the light,
and learn how to fly.
Dear Friends,
This homily focuses more on the meaning of the Mass than it does the Scripture passages this weekend. In this sense, it's more of a "mystagogical" homily than a biblical one. For this reason, you might want to keep this homily in mind for use at a future RCIA session.
I'm open to your suggestions. Let me know what you think. Once again, I need to apologize for the late posting.
JMS
“They were exceedingly astonished.
‘He does all things well!
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!’”
When was the last time you were “exceedingly astonished?”
Occasionally we hear about seemingly ordinary individuals
doing extraordinary things.
Now and then,
we have the privilege of meeting such an individual.
Sometimes we know them personally.
Let me give an example of someone from my hometown.
His name is Tony
and when Tony was 18 years old,
he had a diving accident at a public pool,
an accident
which paralyzed him from the chest down.
I have no idea how devastating that experience must have been
for a healthy, strapping young man
who loved to hunt, fish and play every kind of sport.
The prospect of facing the rest of your life
in that kind of condition is,
for most of us, too terrible to contemplate.
Yet, back in my hometown,
shortly after the accident occurred,
we heard that Tony had learned to use a computer
even though he couldn’t move a single finger.
Later still, he was driving around town in a van
and eventually got himself a fulltime a job.
Those achievements alone be amazing enough but,
if you ever go up to Fort Loramie, Ohio
on almost any weekend in the summertime,
if the wind is calm, you’ll see ultra-light aircraft
flying over the village and fields of corn and soybeans.
And that’s Tony up there.
500 feet above ground.
Flying free.
Going wherever he wants.
Looking down on the town he loves
from an angle few get to enjoy.
Looking down on the runway
where his wheelchair sits empty,
without him in it.
What makes us admire such individuals so much?
What is it that draws us into their experience
and ends up giving us a better understanding
and a deeper appreciation
of what it means to be human?
If you ask me,
it has something to do
with getting close enough
to touch
someone’s deepest fear,
their deepest pain,
and know something of their darkest hour.
And, somehow, in the telling of their story,
we stand next to them the moment the light breaks in.
It’s not happening to us
but, for a fleeting moment,
we’re given the hope and inspiration that,
would such a thing happen to us,
we too would somehow break through and break free!
And that, my friends,
is exactly what is meant to happen
each time we experience the greatest prayer on earth
known as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Think of this way.
Just a minute ago were right next to a paralyzed man
flying in an ultra light air craft
over that small Ohio town.
We were there, right there with him.
And something of his spirit
touched our hearts and rejuvenated our spirits.
For just a moment, we entered into a young person’s greatest fear
and, for a fleeting second, felt a little something of his darkest night.
And, I don’t know about you,
but for a moment I thought myself,
“If I could just hang around someone like Tony long enough,
I’d learn to be a hero too.”
This is the spiritual dynamic that takes place at every Mass.
We take our place at the foot of Jesus’ cross
and we enter into the deepest, darkest moment of a human being’s life.
Except this particular human being also happens to be
the Hero and Savior of the Human Race.
We stand at the side of a man paralyzed from the chest down,
nailed to wood,
unable to move,
in excruciating pain.
But he won’t give up.
His spirit won’t fail.
He conquers!
He overcomes it all!
The power of his faith in God,
the power of his love for his Father
breaking through the barrier wall of death.
Soon, very soon,
he rises from the dead
and ascends into the heavens.
And he says,
“Come along, come join me.
See how beautiful it looks from up here!”
And someday, we’ll look down on our paralyzed lives
and know that because we admired a man named Jesus
and got to be friends with the Son of God,
we were able to conquer our fears, walk in the light,
and learn how to fly.
posted by BlueCollarPreacher at 7:17 PM
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