21stSunday of Ordinary Time year C:
My normal routine for writing homilies always starts the previous Sunday. After I’m done with the weekend masses, I try to read next Sunday’s readings at the end of the day. Then, during the course of the week, I keep thinking about the readings and go over them in my mind. That way, by the time Friday or Saturday comes around, I’ve got a few ideas about the readings that I want to share with all of you. This week, one particular idea just kept coming up over and over. It might seem like a strange idea. But, it’s the one I got for this week. Ready? Life is hard.
Now, what do I mean? The letter to the Hebrews keeps telling us that there will be affliction and difficulty. But, this is discipline from the Lord. It will make us better and stronger. Jesus says, strive to enter the narrow gate, but many will not be strong enough. Life is hard. There will be difficulties, pains, sorrows, trials, and tribulations.
But, I’m not telling you anything that is new right? I mean, every one of us knows this to be true. We know that life is tough. We experience it all the time. And yet, it’s so easy to gripe and moan about our troubles. I know I do it. I often remark that I have my Ph.D. in gripology. I’m particularly fond of griping about the winter. It’s as nice as can be these last couple weeks, and I’m already starting to dread the sleet and the snow. What are your favorite gripes? Friends, family, co-workers, people we meet, sickness, sadness, crisis? A lot of this griping comes from an attitude that life shouldn’t be tough. It shouldn’t have difficulties. We shouldn’t have any problems. So when we do have difficulties, we find it offensive and problematic. Sound familiar?
But, that’s not the message from the Scriptures this week. Letter to the Hebrews: do not disdain the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when reproved; discipline seems like a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later is brings peaceful fruit; (and my favorite) strengthen your drooping hands and your week knees. All these trials and difficulties can just serve to make us stronger. They can serve to help us grow in our faith. We can grow in holiness, goodness, and charity. And make no mistake, we need to get strong. Jesus says, many will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. Now, one important caveat here: we do not get strong on our own. It’s all by God’s grace. We need to embrace the pains and sufferings of this life. We can use them as chances to beg the Lord for grace, mercy, and strength. Doing that, the pains of life make us strong. And we all know we are going to get these pains whether we want to or not. Life is hard.
The saints really do a great job of teaching us these lessons. The saints embrace the sufferings of life, use them as opportunities to grow closer to God, and they become marvelous examples of holiness. St. Rose of Lima’s feast day was this past Friday. She’s a great example of this. She had many sufferings in her life. She grew up poor. She had times of loneliness and sadness. Times were God felt far and distant. But, she made these into opportunities to grow in her faith. I want to read a quote from her: “If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace… without a doubt they would devote all their care and concern to winning for themselves pains and afflictions. All people throughout the world would seek trouble, infirmities, and torments, instead of good fortune, in order to attain the unfathomable treasure of grace.” Wow. I thought about that for a time and thought, our culture does the exact opposite. We do everything we can to seek good fortune, while we do everything we can to avoid pain and trouble. St. Rose says we need to do it the other way because it will help us grow in God’s grace.
What a marvelous example for us. Life is hard. Ok, no getting around it. But, do you ever pray for more difficulties? Probably not. But, listen again to the scriptures: strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Strive to enter that narrow gate. Call on the Lord in your times of weakness. Embrace sufferings and difficulties for they will make us stronger.
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