14th Sunday Ordinary Time –
Cycle B
Ezekiel 2: 2-5; 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10;
Mark 6: 1-6
As
I read today's gospel passage, there was one thought that popped into
my head almost immediately: “Mama said there would be days like
this.”
When
I was sixteen and began my first job, my parents sat me down and gave
me this bit of advise: There will be times when your job won't be
fun. There will be times when you won't feel like working. There
will be times when everything seems to go wrong. When that happens,
you can't just quit, you can't run away and hide. You have to reach
inside and find the strength to carry on.
That
was good advise. I imagine most of us have gotten that same speech
at one time or another in our lives. As I read today's gospel, I had
an image in my head of the Blessed Mother sitting with her young son
and imparting those same words of wisdom to him.
The
return of Jesus to his home town was not going well. The stories
that proceeded him about a new prophet who teaches with authority,
heals the sick and changes water into wine must have seemed fantastic
to the locals. Then they saw Jesus. Wait a minute – this is the
boy that used to knock over my trash cans. He can't be the one.
Those stories of mighty deeds must be untrue.
Jesus,
fully human, must have felt discouraged. He must have felt
unappreciated, unwanted, unloved. He probably didn't want to go to
work that following day either. But he did. The results weren't
what he had come to expect, but he did manage to touch a couple of
people's lives. What scripture doesn't tell us what happened there
after Jesus had departed.
There
are times when we hear something that may seem unimportant. But for
some reason, the words stick with us, and eventually they mean a
great deal. Perhaps that is the Holy Spirit at work. I wonder if
maybe Christ's words stayed with some of those people and took root
later.
About
twenty years ago, I had a conversation with my cousin Bobby that
changed my life. I was a young father. I just started attending
mass again on a regular basis, after several years of absence. But
in truth, I was only filling a seat. I was not engaged in what was
happening. The priest would begin his homily and I would zone out.
The consecration would begin and before you know it, I was in line
for communion with no memory of the past ten minutes. I was present
physically but not mentally or spiritually.
One
day I was in the car with my cousin and we were talking. Bobby had
just retired from CSX Railroad. He was a family man. He and his
wife had raised nine children. He enjoyed life with family and
friends. He was into camping and he loved to play cards. But Bobby
was not what I would consider a religious man. Yes he went to mass
on Sunday, but beyond that, I had never heard him speak of God or
religion in all of the years I had known him. On this day in the
car, Bobby was talking about his days working for the railroad. He
told of being alone on the train for hours with no one to talk to. I
asked him what he thought about during that time. Bobby said that he
often wondered if he had been a good enough Catholic. He wondered if
his words or his actions had influenced someone to join the church.
I
don't fully understand why, but his words made a tremendous impact on
me. That day, my cousin planted a seed within my heart. As that
seed started to grow and mature, I began to want more from the mass.
I wanted to know God more intimately. I craved a deeper
relationship with the Lord. There were others that contributed as
well, but it was Bobby's words, more than any other, that eventually
led me to this ambo and this ministry.
I
found out later that Bobby was involved with his parish of St.
Barnabas. He worked with the RCIA program for many years and he made
rosaries. I wish I had the opportunity to thank my cousin, but it
didn't work out that way. He passed away suddenly a few years ago
without ever knowing the impact of his words on me.
I
believe that people here today are good. I believe that we want to
follow the Lord's example and live as he commanded by loving God and
loving neighbor. I also believe that the Holy Spirit is continually
calling us, continually nudging us to speak our truth and bring about
the Kingdom of God. Today I challenge each of us to listen to that
call. I implore us not to dismiss those nudges but instead act upon
them. It will not always be easy. Sometimes we won't see the
results that we want. Sometimes we will feel unappreciated.
Sometimes it will not seem to be worth the effort. On days like
this, we have to search out that inner strength and find a way to
keep going. You never know when your words will take root in
someone's heart.
Deacon Darryl J. Diemer
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 8, 2012
