IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Today’s feast celebrates Mary as one who, from the moment of her conception, let all God’s glory through. A teacher in a primary school once asked the children, ‘What is a saint?’ One of the children, thinking of the stained glass windows in her church, said, ‘A saint is someone who lets the light through’. If saints are people who shine the light of God’s glorious presence, this is especially true of Mary. There was no sin in her to block the light of God’s glorious, loving presence. She was the greatest of all the saints, always totally open to God’s love.

In today’s first reading, God asks Adam a question, ‘Where are you?’ God is seeking Adam who is hiding from Him. There is a sense in which the story of Adam and Eve, is the story of every human being. The author was portraying humankind in its relationship with God. We may, at heart, be people who seek God continually. Yet there are times when we hide from God and God becomes the seeker, crying out to us, ‘Where are you?’ In the case of Adam, it was shame and guilt that caused him to hide from God. God had given Adam and Eve all the beauty and goodness of the Garden of Eden. There was only one tree in the garden that God had placed out of bounds, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet, the couple could not resist the temptation to eat of this tree, sensing that by eating of its fruit they would become like God. In the immediate aftermath of this act, they hid from God, who had given so generously to them. The sense that all is not well in our relationship with God can cause us to hide from God, too. We are reluctant to face God. Yet, the first reading suggests that whenever we hide from God out of shame or guilt, God continues to seek us out. God continues to pursue us in his love. God’s question, ‘Where are you?’ springs from a heart of love. Jesus, Mary’s Son, revealed this seeking heart of God to the full. He said of himself that he came to seek out and to save the lost. He wanted to find those who were hiding from God out of fear of God’s displeasure. He wanted to reveal to them God’s faithful and enduring love, and to call them back into a loving relationship with God. There are times in our lives when we simply need to allow ourselves to be found by God. God is always calling on us to step out into the light of God’s love and to open our hearts to God’s light, which continues to shine upon us through Jesus, his Son, a light no darkness in our lives can overcome.

Today’s feast celebrates the good news that Mary was always open to the light of God’s love, from the first moment of her conception in the womb of her mother. At no point did Mary ever hide from God, because she had no reason to do so. God never had to address the question to her, ‘Where are you?’ In today’s gospel reading, God seeks out Mary through his messenger, the angel Gabriel. Mary does not hide from God’s messenger. Yes, we are told that she was ‘deeply disturbed’ by Gabriel’s greeting. Yes, her response to Gabriel’s subsequent message was initially a questioning one, ‘How can this come about?’ God’s presence will always be, to some extent, a disturbing experience; it will always leave us with questions. Yet, despite these uncomfortable feelings, Mary stood her ground. She remained open to God’s presence. She surrendered to God’s desire for her life, ‘let what you have said be done to me’, thereby allowing God’s desire for all humanity to come to pass. On this feast of the Immaculate Conception, we ask Mary to pray for us sinners now, so that we may be as open and responsive to God’s presence to us and to God’s desire for our lives as she was.

 

 

 

 

 FUNERAL HOMILY

BOB HAUBNER (Rom 6:3-9; Mk 15:33-39)

There is a story about an elderly gentleman in his 80s who arrived at the hospital to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. The nurse took his vital signs and had him take a seat. While the nurse was taking care of his wound, he was looking at his watch, so she asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment that morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman said no, but he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. She inquired about her health. He told her that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer’s Disease. As they talked, the nurse asked if she would be upset if he were a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. Surprised, she asked him, ‘And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?’ He smiled as he patted her hand and said, ‘She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.’

This story helps us understand how God recognizes us. Even though sometimes we do not recognize God, He recognizes us. The Old Testament people had dementia problem. So, God used to remind them that He was the same God, the God who liberated them from Egypt. He was the same God, of their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God wanted them to remember him and his benefits.

When we cannot remember God or lose our memory due to dementia or Alzheimer’s, I think God talks to us directly to our hearts. I remember a couple from my former parish. Both were up in their age. The man was a daily mass attendee, but his wife had advanced Alzheimer’s. He had to literally lift her up and place her in the wheelchair and roll her down to the church and do the same after the Mass, and he kept doing it every day for all the seven years I was there, I noticed it. I had to tickle her between the jaws to get her to open her mouth so that I could give her Holy communion. She never spoke anything that I heard, except once, during the Mass while at the consecration when the words were pronounced, this is my body which will be given up for you. At that silent moment she said loudly, “For me”? Everyone in the church was so surprised to hear her say that. His name was Jerry and whenever he saw me, he used to ask me, ‘Do you remember what she said at that Mass?’ He couldn’t get over that. Many people wonder about such people’s spiritual condition. Does it make any difference to them if they did not receive the Sacraments? I think they are like babies. Even if a baby does not speak back to its mom, the mother talks to the baby. A baby may only stare at the mother, that’s all. Unlike others who need to consciously respond and receive the sacraments, those with these kinds of sicknesses do not need to accept them as consciously as others do.

One time, somebody asked me whether the people who die of dementia will recognize their family members when they get to heaven. Will they recover their memory? St. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest Middle Ages theologian, gave the right answer. Quoting Augustine, Aquinas said that Jesus rose again of youthful age, which begins about the age of thirty years (Augustine DE Civ. Dei XXII). Therefore, others will also rise again of a youthful age (Q 81). Therefore, have no concern that Bob will recognize all of us.

Rob and Shannon, your thoughtfulness in having the priest come over and give the last sacrament and apostolic pardon manifests your faith and concern for your dad. You shared with me that you did not want Bob to miss out on the important sacrament.

God the Trinity remains hidden in the life of Christians. And Jesus remained hidden in Bob's life for the past few years. There may not have been any visible significant spiritual movement in Bob’s life because of dementia. But Jesus was in him. After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared to his disciples about 16 times in 40 days. And of those, 4 were on the Easter Sunday itself. Then, he appeared in 5 weeks only 7 or 8 times. Why didn’t he appear more often before he went up to heaven? He could have strengthened their faith with more of his visits. He could have appeared at least once a day. But he did not. He wanted his disciples to know that his hidden presence was to be trusted as his visible presence. Jesus remains hidden in the lives of believers and he walks along side of them as he did with the disciples going to Emmaus but we do not recognize him. This gospel account shows how Jesus’ divinity remained hidden from the people, especially on his journey to Calvary. But at his crucifixion, the very Centurian who headed the crucifixion exclaimed: Truly, this man was the Son of God. He could see the hidden truth only when he died. God is powerful, but he also suffers with every suffering person. When we question where is God in this struggle he would be right there suffering with person. We should have the eyes of that centurion to find God in the suffering person.

The second reading clearly tells us the need to suffer if we want to enjoy heaven with Christ. “We know that our old self was crucified with him so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.

We are in debt to God for all our sins. But Jesus took that upon himself, our identity, by his incarnation and his baptism in Jordan, where he lined up along with the sinners for baptism. And when he died, he died taking all our debt with him. No one is going to be charged for the debt they owed, after their death. No court in the world is going to file a case against any dead person. So, when Jesus died all our sins that he took with him were also gone. We are free from sins, and when he rose, he shared that eternal life with us. The veil of the heavenly sanctuary is torn in two at Christ’s death so we can go through that open door into the Father’s presence. Our earthly life is united to eternal life, and the link to that is Jesus Christ. just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

There is a saying, Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; love leaves a memory no one can steal. But that is not true in the case of a Christian. We have the most reassuring words from Jesus saying, whoever believes in him will not die forever. Bob’s final pilgrimage has come to an end. We know that this life is not the final story. The dessert part of the meal is waiting for us, and Bob is going ahead of us. Let’s assure him the remembrance of him in our daily masses.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.