By Mary Morrell
Freelance columnist
Sometimes it’s best not to answer the call
For true love is inexhaustible; the more you give, the more you have. And if you go to draw at the true fountainhead, the more water you draw, the more abundant is its flow. -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
For those of us in the parish who truly look forward to a good homily, today was a “two fer” day — two homilies for the price of one. Both homilies came from the same deacon. Both were powerful. The only difference is that one obviously took much prayer, thought and preparation, while the other was an “I’ve been struck by the Holy Spirit!” one-liner.
It happened like this.
The deacon had been preaching about the potential of anger to wound — both the person carrying it and those with whom they come in contact — and the need for us as Catholics to respond with welcome and love to those who may be wounded. At a pivotal point in the homily a cell phone rang loud and clear from somewhere in the pews. Without missing a beat, the deacon continued, “If that ain’t Jesus — hang up!”
The congregation rippled with laughter, and the deacon smiled and continued with his insightful words.
For some, this brief comical interlude may have broken the tension of the moment because surely the deacon’s words were, for some, doing the work of Jesus — comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Prophetic words always have a way of making us uneasy!
For others, like myself, his call to “hang up!” was a Spirit-driven summary of his homily, though he may not have realized it at the time.
I could not help but think of all the many “calls” we receive from a culture so blatantly anti-Christ. Calls to be self-centered, materialistic, power-driven or simply cynical. Calls to ignore Christ in the other, or malign him with disrespect or a lack of charity.
It could be easy to become disheartened by it all.
Yet, as I looked around the congregation I saw those who had been busy during the weekend hanging hundreds of gift tags on four Advent trees, and others who had left Mass that day with two or three tags in their hands to purchase gifts for those who had less then they.
I saw people who were involved in the parish bereavement program, helping those who were grieving, and those from Lazarus ministry who help families at the time of a death.
I saw catechists who give up time every week to bring our children to a relationship with Jesus and parents who had braved the first ice and snow of the season to bring their children to Mass.
I saw women from the Rosary Altar Society and from the Council of Catholic women, both groups dedicated to the life of the Church, and volunteers from the food pantry, dedicated to the life of the poor.
And I saw a little child, a rambunctious little child who, when the deacon professed from the altar “God is good!” responded with all sincerity, “All the time!”
Now THAT’S a good homily!
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law