SOMETIMES I WONDER

INTRODUCTION

"Sometimes I Wonder!"

That's the title of my homily for today, All Souls Day.

THE LITTLE GIRL

Once in a while I remember and then think about people I have met - people in church, people in nursing homes, homebound as well as classrooms - as well as folks I've talked to on planes, trains and buses.

So I've met lots of people and heard lots of stories that I think about and pray over.

Isn’t it surprising what we remember? I like to take time to be alone and think about all that I remember. I think one of the best places for remembering is the car - alone - without the radio on.

This morning - on this feast of All Souls - I remembered a little girl from a classroom I visited while giving a Parish Mission in some parish in Pennsylvania - somewhere - way back when.

She was sitting in the first seat in the second row. I asked the kids, “Any questions?”

This little girl raised her hand and asked, “Is there life after death?” I wasn’t expecting such a question. I wasn’t expecting such a question from a kid in the second or third grade.

Luckily I asked back, “Why? Why do you ask the question?”

She answered, “Because sometimes I wonder.”

I don’t know what I said next. I probably said, “Well, sometimes I wonder too.”

Isn’t that interesting?  I remembered a little tiny kid I met in classroom filled with kids - and I remember her simple question.

“Sometimes I wonder.”

So I wonder why I remember what I remember and what I wonder about.

SOMETIMES I WONDER

I think that little girl stands for all of us. Don’t we all wonder at times if there is life after death? Don’t we all wonder if this is all that there is?

Sometimes I wonder.

Today we are celebrating “All Soul’s Day”. Isn’t that interesting? 

Yesterday we celebrated “All Saint’s Day” - “All Soul’s Day” - back to back feast days to get us thinking about all kinds of saints and all kinds of people whom we have met - who have gone before us?

We remember our dead especially at this celebration of the Eucharist. But don’t we all remember our dead, especially on cold November days when it’s raining? Don’t we remember our dead when we see their photo’s on our bureaus? We remember our dead when we are stopped in traffic for a funeral procession. We remember our dead when we go by a cemetery.

But don’t we all wonder at times, if this is all there is?

Sometimes I wonder.

DUTCH CATECHISM

I remember way back in the 1967 when various changes in the church were beginning to happen. I remember a new catechism appeared on the scene.  It was called, “The Dutch Catechism”. Conservatives panned it and wanted it banned. Liberals welcomed it - saying things like, "Finally a catechism that had a breath of fresh air in it."

I don’t remember anything in that book now - other than it not having a question and answer format as well as  a little story that it opened with.

“In A. D. 627 the monk Paulinus visited King Edwin in northern England to persuade him to accept Christianity. He hesitated and decided to summon his advisers. At the meeting one of them stood up and said: ‘Your majesty, when you sit at table with your lords and vassals, in the winter when the fire burns warm and bright on the hearth and the storm is howling outside, bringing the snow and the rain, it happens of a sudden that a little bird flies into the hall. It comes in one at one door and flies out through the other. For the few moments that it is inside the hall, it does not feel the cold, but as soon as it leaves your sight, it returns to the dark of winter. It seems to me that the life of man is much the same. We do not know what went before and we do not know what follows. If the new doctrine can speak to us surely of these things, it is well for us to follow it.” (p. 3)

JESUS CHRIST

Jesus is the one who helps us get beyond the wondering to faith.

Jesus rose from the dead. That’s our creed and that’s our faith.

STORIES

Yet, don’t we still wonder about whether there is life after death?

I think about the 7 or 8 million Jews as well as Christians, homosexuals, gypsies and handicapped people who were killed by the Nazis. They have no graves. Doesn’t justice scream for resurrection?

I think about the million and more Africans who died after being kidnapped for slavery and brought to the Caribbean and then to South and North America? They have no graves. Doesn’t justice scream for resurrection?

I remember reading  a book on the Irish potato famine and how over a million people were Holocausted by the British. Most have no graves. Then well over a million more fled to Canada, America and Australia, many of whom died and were cast into the sea. They have no graves. Doesn’t justice scream for resurrection?

I think of the millions of babies aborted, most of whom have no graves. Doesn’t their reality  scream for resurrection?

I think of a woman I saw the other day. Her husband had a great job, was on TV, was making good money, and stopped all when his wife got cancer and she was down to 80 pounds and he is caring for her 24 hours a day, while on the next street a woman is also in bed, has two teen age kids, has MS, and her husband took off.  He couldn't handle the situation. Doesn’t justice scream for resurrection and new life for all - especially those who don’t have a full life or were gypped or walked out on?

I think of another book that I just finished. It was written by Immaculee Ilibagiza - with Steve Irwin. The title is, Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidsdt the Rwandan Holocaust.  Close to a million Tutsis were killed in 91 days.

SAINT PAUL

Resurrection seems to have to be.

Yet, like that little girl, sometimes we wonder.

If that wonder doesn’t lead to faith, but heads in the direction of doubt, we need to listen to Saint Paul, who said that if Jesus didn’t’ rise from the dead, then we are stupid. We’re fools, we’re jerks. We are kidding ourselves. We’re here in this church, because of Jesus. We go through life the way we do life, with love, serving, committed, helping one another, all because Jesus told us this is the way to do life.

CONCLUSION

Yet that little girl, with her chin in her hands, speaks for all of us, “Sometimes we wonder.”