HOW LONG IS THIS PAIN

GOING TO LAST?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 30^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “How Long Is This Pain Going to Last?”

This is one of life’s questions. Each of us asks it in different forms when we have to deal with a pain or a problem. It could be in our body or in our family or what have you.

GOSPELS

It’s the though that hit me when I read today’s gospel. What grabbed me was Luke telling us that the lady in the story was suffering for 18 years. She had a crippling spirit. It  bent her over. I’m sure we have all seen people with bone problems like that - and we wonder, “How long has she or he had this struggle?”

If you know the life of St. Alphonsus, you know he had crippling arthritis and curvature of his spine at the end of his life - and the pain was excruciating especially in being confined to a wheelchair.

Did he ask God the question: “How long is this pain going to last?”

I began thinking about that number: 18 - for the lady in the gospels. That’s an interesting specific.

Next I began to wonder about those other gospel stories about other folks when the text gives the exact number of years the person has had a health problem.

In the 5^th chapter of John  - the man at the pool - he was sick for 38 years.

In Matthew 9:20 the woman with the blood problems had her problems for 12 years.

In Mark 9:22 the boy with the epilepsy or whatever it is that he had, his father tells Jesus this has been happening since he was a child.

If Jesus was basing his story about the Prodigal Son on a real story, how long was the Prodigal Son away from home? How long was it before the older brother came in and welcomed his younger brother home?

What about the blind, the lame and the deaf? What about the man with the withered hand? What about those with leprosy? What about all those other people Jesus healed and Jesus saw. Did they all ask that human question: “How long is this pain going to last?”

Us: how many years have we had the problems we have. Anger, abuse, lust, greed, addictions, alcoholism in the family?  How many years?

Then there is dementia, cancer, Alzheimer’s, etc. etc. etc.

How do we do with our lifetime or temporary sufferings, struggles or what have you.

ANSWER

It all depends. You have to have been there.

In yesterday’s New York Times Book Review  - Sunday October 28, 2012 - John Grisham was interviewed. One of the questions asked was: “What was the last truly great book you read?”  Grisham's answer: “The word ‘great’ gets tossed around too easily. The last book that kept me completely engrossed while delivering a powerful story was ‘Life After Death’ by Damien Echols.  He spent 18 years on death row in Arkansas for crimes he didn’t commit, and was released last year. Though he’s innocent, the state refuses to exonerate him.”

When I read the number 18 in today’s gospel, I remembered reading that same number of 18 years in that comment by John Grisham in yesterday’s New York Times Book Review. How did that fellow deal with life those 18 years? Would I be able to endure that?    

CONCLUSION

I don’t  know how I would do in circumstances I am not in.  All I know is how I have death with pain and how I brought what I going through - what was bending me out of shape - and how I prayed to Jesus in those moments - through those years. Amen.