Are you small enough?

I know, I know... I spent nearly a month in Italy and not a word about it, but I have no problem dropping another homily on you all... Let's just say that it's been a whirlwind getting back in to the swing of things.  Soon... I hope.  For now, this is what I have.

Peace!

Homily for Thursday of the 5th week of Ordinary Time.  Given in the Saint Thomas Aquinas Chapel at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, February 9th, 2012.
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(See Mark 7:24-30)

          One of the seemingly sinister things about cancer is that oftentimes the person who has it doesn’t know that he or she is sick until it is almost too late.  The one who doesn’t realize that he or she has cancer finds no reason to seek healing.  Once a person discovers the affliction, however, and acknowledges just how sick he or she is, he or she often wastes no time seeking out the most highly-reputed physician around, hoping to find a cure.

          In our Gospel readings this week, we see both sides of this story being played out in relation to Jesus, the divine physician.  In Genesaret, the sick begged to be carried out into the market places and laid in the streets just so that they might have a chance to touch the tassel of Jesus’ cloak and perhaps be healed.  These, of course, were those who sicknesses had manifested themselves outwardly, thus driving them to recognize their need for Christ and his healing.  On the other hand, we saw how the Pharisees had failed to recognize any need for Christ and his healing, relying instead on blind adherence to the letter of the Law even though a spiritual cancer was silently destroying them on the inside.

          While the Syrophoenician woman in today’s Gospel approaches Jesus seeking healing for her daughter, who was afflicted by an evil spirit, we see that it isn’t until she acknowledges her own spiritual depravity, that is, her own exclusion from the chosen people and her lack of any claim to Jesus’ help, that Jesus is moved to respond.  It’s as if her humility was so unexpected that it moved Jesus to pity and made him bend to her request.

          St. Terese of Liseux has said that if it seems as if God is ignoring us it’s not because we’re too small for him to take notice, but rather that we haven’t become small enough to move him to respond.  So often we come before Him seeking help for others who seemingly are more afflicted than we are.  Yet, we fail to acknowledge our own depravity—that is, our own need for Christ’s healing—when we approach him.  We need only to approach him from a place of truth, however, a place in which we acknowledge our brokenness and constant need for his mercy, in order to find him “defeated” also by our humility and moved to act on our behalf.

          And so as we approach this altar of grace today, may the acknowledgement of our “smallness” before God lead us to find his healing mercy, both in our lives and in the lives of those for whom we pray.

Take a look at this...

...and try to tell me that there is no God!

(Taken from the window of my room in the seminary, October 27th, 2011, about 4:20 p.m.)

A step back...

Having returned to the seminary to start my next semester, I'd like to take a step back and reflect for a moment on a couple of the often unspoken aspects of the seminary experience.

First, after spending ten weeks in Antigua, Guatemala, a city that by no stretch of the imagination could be called "quiet," I have been struck by just how easy it is to find a moment of silence to listen to the "small, whispering voice" of God speaking to me. One has to want to find this experience in the seminary, for sure, as there are many things within the community that can distract you from that silence (good things, of course, but the point is that the silence is there when you choose to enter into it). I've found refreshment by simply placing myself within this experience of silence during these first couple of weeks.

Another part that we seminarians often forget is the cost of our seminary education. None of us forgets the fact that many faithful, committed people back in our dioceses and who support our religious communities make many sacrifices to provide for our years of formation as we prepare to be the ministers of the mysteries of our faith for this generation and generations to come. But we do sometimes forget that we seminarians, aside from giving ourselves wholly to the process of formation, can share that burden somewhat by seeking out scholarships like those offered by the Knights of Columbus and Logos Bible Software. Each year, the Knights provide scholarships to Catholic seminarians currently enrolled in a four-year theology program. The awarded funds apply directly to the tuition/room & board costs for the seminarian and thus lessen the burden that the people from their home diocese or who support their religious community must bear. Another innovative program has been initiated by the Logos Bible Software company. They are providing a seminary scholarship to a seminarian of any Christian denomination as a way of promoting the ministry of spreading the Gospel and the care of souls. And these are just two ways that we seminarians can do our part to ensure that we are being good stewards of the generosity of all who support us from our homes.

Conscious again of just how truly blessed I am to be able to pray and study at such a place as Saint Meinrad, I am energized to give myself fully to my studies and formation so that I may one day, God willing, be a humble and fruitful steward of the ministry that God has called me to. As always, thank you for your prayers!