When I was little I was enthralled by the story of St. Isaac Jogues and his companions. Isaac as you remember was a Jesuit missionary who established missions in northern New York. His primary work was with the Iroquois and Mohawk peoples of that region. At one point he was captured by the Iroquois, tortured and left to die. He escaped, recovered from his multiple wounds, and returned. He would be captured again and eventually killed. This story helped me to understand the power of the Gospel, and the courage of the men and women who take it to heart. As I had mentioned before our associate pastor gathered a group of us altar servers together on Saturday mornings, for a 5th grade version of a bible study. The notion of prophets and being prophetic became very important. In my small ten year old understanding I had come to realize that when it comes to faith, running away is not an option. Do you suppose the Roman solders who forced Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross of Jesus first said something like, "Remember lift with your legs." I can think of about a dozen parishioners off hand who have been forced into difficult situations. And I know there are more. These folks had no time to prepare for health, personal, or employment issues. They literally were doing what they always do, and life fell on top of them. Suddenly there was this heavy burden in their life. In most cases their faith was their one and only safety net. The challenge to always be prepared to pronounce our faith and to proclaim our belief in Jesus as the Messiah. I know that we always talk about being ready, but we really do have to be connected to our faith at all times. It was sort of unique a many years ago in another parish, as I was greeting people after mass, one woman walked up to complain about the cantor. Behind her was an elderly couple, the woman using a cane, was hunched over and supported by her husband. The older woman looked at me, smiled and said, "Father I think that spring is just around the corner." Some people are better at lifting than others.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Get Ready to Lift
When I was little I was enthralled by the story of St. Isaac Jogues and his companions. Isaac as you remember was a Jesuit missionary who established missions in northern New York. His primary work was with the Iroquois and Mohawk peoples of that region. At one point he was captured by the Iroquois, tortured and left to die. He escaped, recovered from his multiple wounds, and returned. He would be captured again and eventually killed. This story helped me to understand the power of the Gospel, and the courage of the men and women who take it to heart. As I had mentioned before our associate pastor gathered a group of us altar servers together on Saturday mornings, for a 5th grade version of a bible study. The notion of prophets and being prophetic became very important. In my small ten year old understanding I had come to realize that when it comes to faith, running away is not an option. Do you suppose the Roman solders who forced Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross of Jesus first said something like, "Remember lift with your legs." I can think of about a dozen parishioners off hand who have been forced into difficult situations. And I know there are more. These folks had no time to prepare for health, personal, or employment issues. They literally were doing what they always do, and life fell on top of them. Suddenly there was this heavy burden in their life. In most cases their faith was their one and only safety net. The challenge to always be prepared to pronounce our faith and to proclaim our belief in Jesus as the Messiah. I know that we always talk about being ready, but we really do have to be connected to our faith at all times. It was sort of unique a many years ago in another parish, as I was greeting people after mass, one woman walked up to complain about the cantor. Behind her was an elderly couple, the woman using a cane, was hunched over and supported by her husband. The older woman looked at me, smiled and said, "Father I think that spring is just around the corner." Some people are better at lifting than others.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment