“As Jesus drew near to the gate of the city, a man
who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a
widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity
for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at
this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” (Luke 7:12-14)
June is traditionally the month dedicated to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus. This past Friday, I
concelebrated at a beautiful Mass for the Sacred Heart at the seminary. When Mass was over, the Blessed Sacrament was
exposed and adored all through the night until 6am the next morning. I spent some time in prayer that night, and for
some reason I kept thinking about today’s gospel and the widow of Nain. Another image that came out of nowhere was
the image of St. Peter in Chains. You
may be wondering what St. Peter in Chains has to do with this gospel or with
the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Let me
explain. Three years ago, I celebrated
Mass with the Archbishop in St. Peter in Chains Church in Rome which is right
across the street from the Coliseum. The
church is the jail that housed St. Peter in Rome and below the altar are the
chains that bound St. Peter in Jerusalem and were broken by an angel. The reason I was thinking of this image on
Friday night was because I was praying for all those that I know that are
chained to the vices of this world. To
connect this to today’s gospel, we look to St. Ambrose who gave this beautiful
explanation of the Scripture: “the widow signifies Mother Church, weeping for
those who are dead in sin and carried beyond the safety of her gates. The multitudes looking on will praise the
Lord when sinners rise again from death and are restored to their mother.”
So as I knelt there in prayer, I was thinking of all
those young souls who are “dead in sin” and are somehow chained to this world
and cannot escape. I was thinking of all
those mothers who have come to me crying because their children have stopped
going to church. I was thinking of all
of my former students or youth group kids who, though they keep in touch, have
wandered far from home and from the arms of a God who loves them to no end. I must confess that I spent the better part
of last week thinking about “my kids” because I saw a good number of them 10
days ago at a college graduation party.
Many of them I had not seen in 8 years since they were in middle school
and now they stood in front of me as college graduates. On three separate occasions that night, three
different young people came up to me saying that they either missed going to
Mass or missed youth group or lamented that they weren’t as close to God as
they were when they were younger. I
asked what was stopping them from returning, from starting a young adult group
at their parish, or even reconnecting with God on a personal level through
prayer. It was if each one of them were
like the rich young man in the gospel as he bowed his head and turned away in
defeat because he couldn’t sell all his riches.
Each of these kids gave an excuse that college got in the way or that
they partied too much almost as if returning to church would just get in the
way of the lives they currently lead.
Now those of you that know me well know that I love each and every one
of my kids as if they were my own children and would with no hesitation give my
life for them, but as much as I love them and as much as I loved being with
them that night…I wanted to slap each and every one of them across the head. Since when does Jesus get in the way of our
happiness? Since when does Jesus prevent
us from leading joy-filled lives? A part
of me wished that the hands of time would turn back to when I had a captive audience in the classroom or
in youth group, but another part of me knew that these young people who are
living the best years of their lives had to rediscover Jesus Christ in a whole
new and exciting way. This hope is what
fueled my prayer throughout last week and on Friday night.
But I prayed for our young generation in general that is
deceived into thinking that life is a grand party where you do what you like,
what pleases you, what makes you feel good (if only for a second), and you simply
move on to the next party after that.
This is a generation that has been deceived into thinking that you go
into and out of relationships on a whim, that you enter into and out of marriage
at your convenience, and that you just do what makes you feel good no matter
what the consequences. It is a generation
that lives, as the Archbishop likes to say, “as if God doesn’t matter.” But God does matter because he constantly goes
out of his way to lift us up and to break the chains that bind us to the sins
of this world. But do we really want to
cast off our chains? Do we want to break
free of the vices of the world and enter into the freedom of God’s
children? I see so many young people who
are held back, who want to do what is good, but are held back by the lures of
the world. It’s as if they dip their
toes into the waters of God’s grace and find that it’s too cold or too warm. There’s something that is always holding them
back from being immersed in God’s mercy.
They shouldn’t just dip their toes.
They should abandon themselves to the grace of God and cannonball
themselves into the deep end of the pool.
There is nothing in this world that will bring us life
and joy if it is not connected to God.
Today Jesus touches you as he touched the son of the widow and tells
you: “arise!” Christ wants to break the
chains that have you shackled to this world and give you true life and
freedom. This morning Pope Francis told
us: “The mercy of God gives life to man, it raises him from the dead. The Lord
is always watching us with mercy, [always] awaits us with mercy. Let us be not
afraid to approach him! He has a merciful heart! If we show our inner wounds,
our sins, He always forgives us. He is pure mercy! Let us never forget this: He
is pure mercy! Let us go to Jesus!”
