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.”
