Friday, August 29, 2014

8/31/2014 – 22nd Sunday of ordinary time – Psalm 63:2-9; Jer 20:7-9

       My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord.  You are whom I seek.  My soul clings to you, your right hand upholds me.   What the psalmist expresses today is probably what most of us want to proclaim in our lives as followers of X.  We want to find joy in our relationship with our Lord, a joy that surpasses all else in our lives.   We want to feel God’s love and mercy in deepest recesses of our hearts.  Yet, there are times in life when these sentiments feel distant, when we wonder where God is.   When we struggle, when we don’t have the answers to our questions, when we are searching and searching and seem to find nothing, then we have to trust in our faith, to trust the call we’ve received from God.
         One of my favorite saints is Jean de Brebeuf, a Jesuit priest from France who was one of the first Catholic missionaries to the native people of Canada in the 17th century.  I don’t think we can understand the hardship and isolation and struggle that some of the missionaries experienced on their journeys.  He was content and even grateful to put up with any hardship or sacrifice if only God would allow him to bring the Gospel to others, to bring them the salvation that comes from our salvation in Christ.   For 25 years, Brebeuf lived with the people of the Huron tribe.  He embraced their customs and mastered their language, and even wrote a catechism for them.  But for most of his ministry, he met with little success.  Yet, Brebeuf persevered and even kept a sense of humor.  He wrote this in a letter inviting other Jesuits to his mission:  “When you reach the Hurons, you will find us with hearts full of love. We shall receive you in a hut, (a hut) so mean that I have scarcely found in France one wretched enough to compare it with. Fatigued as you will be, we shall be able to give you nothing but a poor mat for a bed. Besides, …the fleas will keep you awake most of the night.”  Jean de Brebeuf found joy in his missionary work and in his calling, even in the midst of very difficult circumstances.  He eventually he found success in converting the Hurons to Christianity.  His life ended when he was tortured to death after being captured by an enemy tribe of the Hurons.  When I was a missionary, and now as a priest, Jean de Brebeuf’s faith and courage inspire me in my ministry and on my journey. 
      The calling of faith cried out to Jean de Brebeuf – it cried out to the prophet Jeremiah as well.  Jeremiah was called to be God’s prophet at a time when Israel was straying from its covenant with God and getting into ill-advised alliances with other nations.   This all ended with the destruction of Temple in Jerusalem and with exile of many of its citizens to Babylon.  From the beginning, Jeremiah did not want to be a prophet.  He agreed to go where God called him, but then saw the people and their leaders turn against him when he delivered God’s harsh prophecies in this turbulent era.  Jeremiah’s messages were hard for the people to hear because they were truthful.  Jeremiah cries out to God in the midst of the pain and anger he feels in his heart: You tricked me, Lord, you seduced me!  You lured me into a situation where I’m now despised by everyone, even my family and friends!   Jeremiah blamed God for his misery, even wishing  that he had not been born.  Yet, no matter who we are, we’re going to have our ups and downs, our joys and our struggles in our journey thru life.  Even though Jeremiah lashed out at God, later on, just few verses after today’s reading ends, he’s able to say to God: You know, God, you are at my side like a mighty hero.   With you beside me, my opponents will stumble and be vanquished and be confounded with their failure.  Jeremiah is able to say: Lord, I sing praises to you, for you have delivered the soul of one in need from the clutches of the evil doers. 
      Our human spirit is resilient if we put our trust in the Lord, if we let the Lord lead us in our words and our actions.  Recently, I saw on the internet a photo that was taken by a Sister of St Joseph when she was visiting South Africa in 1987.  It was in the middle of the Apartheid era; Nelson Mandela was still in prison; the South African government had declared a state of emergency and military troops patrolled the street.  The photo showed large black printing scrawled on a cement wall.  It said: HANG MANDELA.   But in another hand, you could see another word inserted between the two.  It now read – HANG ON, MANDELA.  The original message of hatred and intolerance was turned into a message of love and encourage – the original message was completely subverted.  In the context of our faith, we can turn a curse into a blessing, but can turn an insult into an act of encouragement.   Let Jeremiah, let us hear God calling out to us: Encouraging us, Comforting us, calling us to be his servant. 

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