A homily on suffering the Devil doesn't want you to hear

st. Paul says tonight to bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God I want to talk tonight just briefly about why I'm getting ready to be away for 10 weeks because I think it ties into Lent and one of the many teachings that makes Catholicism so unique it's teaching on suffering Oh beep a brief backstory it was in The Criterion last week our diocesan newspapers so most of you probably saw that I'm thankful for Sean Gallagher's right up there about the story if you didn't see it in 2018 I was in that confessional back there after a daily Mass and I had just read throughout the past couple of days lots of fairly lengthy but summarizing the 1,400 page Pennsylvania grand jury report on priestly abuse and I cried for 20 minutes in the confessional thankfully no one came in for confession that would have been a little awkward probably the in that moment well I would say probably a couple days later I was in the rectory and I made a prayer I said Lord and I thought about it I know enough to know that you don't make this prayer lightly and I said Lord if there's some suffering that I can take on for victims of abuse I do that willingly and I would accept that and welcome that and so about a month ago as soon as the words came out of the doctor's mouth I knew that my brain tumor was the answer to that prayer two years ago I want to answer a few questions about that because a lot of people have questions and some of them obviously they're all they're good questions and I think these questions are also the same questions that people ask us as Catholics in general about suffering they ask you about why you're giving up chocolate and Lent and all the other things that you do the no meat on Fridays etc these same questions I think apply to us in this Lenten season in our Catholic Church and it's crazy teachings on suffering question one why don't you suffer silently why are you letting people know what you are doing I think most of the time we should suffer silently we should offer our Lent up we shouldn't be broadcasting at work on the day after Ash Wednesday you won't believe how hard my penances have been in telling all of our co-workers about that kind of thing or telling it you know social media this has been the hardest Lent ever it's heroic you know those kinds of things Jesus says the Pharisees blew trumpets before they gave alms right and he said in that Ash Wednesday homily Jesus said when you give alms do it silently do not let our left hand know what our right is doing and so certainly there are times most of the time where we are to take on our sufferings quietly but the travesty of priests and bishops and Cardinals committing grave sins has been very public and I felt the Holy Spirit telling me that this reparation should also be public I and most of you have done lots of silent suffering for others and for victims of priestly abuse over these past 50 years you know that I think in this case I just want you to know that I I feel totally vindicated by going public the reason for that is that I've now I'm now able to bring up with me this coming week a hundred and fifty seven names of victims slash survivors who have reached out to me and who have asked me to pray for them and who I've been able to communicate with over these past to express sorrow for them to talk with them some of them on the phone they wouldn't have been able that would not have been able to happen if I had done this silently question - are you saying that because you have a brain tumor surgery radiation and chemo that you know what someone else's suffering was like abuse victim etc the instance - that is no I'm not saying that none of us as Catholics say that by taking on some some kind of suffering that we know what everyone else is suffering is like there's this weird thing in our culture of intersectionality where we argue over whether or not you know what my suffering is like and I know what yours is and yours is worse than mine and mine is worse than yours it's very weird but the church doesn't I I'm not saying in the hundred and fifty seven people that I'm talking to and have talked to you there was none of that there was none of that comparison of suffering or anything along those lines we don't know what other people's pain is like it doesn't mean that we can't offer ours for them question number three another good question why would your suffering help me why would God doing this to you giving you this cross why would that help me and the answer to that is is I'm not saying it should help anyone I'm not walking in saying well hey everybody I'm here to fix the problem just like your lint and fast and the things that you do most of it off the radar unseen unknown to others is not you walking in and saying I'm here to fix the world I totally understand if someone hurt by a Catholic clerics sees my story and isn't moved one inch closer to the church I'm totally sympathetic to that and I respect that again I'm not walking into their life and saying I'm here to help save the day and suffer for you but what I can also say is that while my suffering taking it on might not help you and has helped 157 other people who have said I really appreciate this I might not be back to church yet some people have said they still can't step into a Catholic Church without getting post-traumatic stress syndrome but this father this thing this act has helped me I respect those who say it doesn't help them and I move deeply by the relationships though that I've started to establish with these hundred and fifty seven people who have said it helps them there will be people if you have something where you decide to tell someone about you taking on some kind of suffering for them that won't understand it or won't appreciate it and that's totally okay we do it anyway Paul in tonight's second reading says barriers share of hardship for the gospel he doesn't say do it when people understand it the fourth question are you saying that people should move on now from this crisis or stop seeking justice that's an absolute definitive no I'm not suffering so that someone will stop fighting for justice nor is this a please don't sue the church and take my brain tumor as a substitute I want justice for every victim right and I will continue to do everything in my power to help anyone find justice that I can there are two points of suffering there are others but the two major points that we hear from the church on suffering through its Saints through the Scriptures and everywhere else we look there are two major things about suffering one it draws the sufferer closer to God it draws that person that is enduring the suffering if they do not think that it is the torture of a madman lunatic deity who's just wants to do it right if we didn't recognize that it's not happening for that reason typically suffering is an opportunity if we understand it to draw closer to God because the stuff that doesn't matter starts to fade away in the face of suffering and I realize what's true and what is good and the second thing that our tradition says about suffering is that it helps us love others and sympathize with them our prayer on Ash Wednesday as we are fasting is for the people starving all over the world that may not eating me might help me draw some inch closer in love to the person who's eating mud today suffering helps us love others and sympathize with them even again if it's not the exact same thing that they're doing here's what I'll say in conclusion getting back to Lent and to st. Paul telling us that you we should bear our share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God I want to brag for a second and you might say father you've been bragging for 10 minutes but I want to brag not about this story like not the side that people have been seeing and has been getting attention right I'm gonna brag about this I am as happy as full of joy and peace and calm as I've ever been tonight and I want to shout that from the rooftops and here's why Saint Pope Paul the sixth said that people do not listen to teachers anymore and any of you that are teaching anywhere know that people do not listen to teachers anymore he said back in the 60s he said they listen to witnesses they listen to witnesses and so if that's true and I think it is then we better get down to witnessing if we want to speak to people we live in a world that is wracked by fear of death fear of viruses terrorism anxieties loneliness depression torture slavery cruelties of every kind we know that and I have a message right now that flies in the face of all who are wracked by pain and exactly why st. Paul says when he says to the Corinthians through a little short teaching in his first Corinthians he starts out by saying this I'm just gonna read you the highlights really quickly he says the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are dying but to us who are being saved it is the power of God st. Paul tells the Corinthians look this whole idea of suffering looks like foolishness to the people that are racked by fear of pain death viruses terrorism war anxiety loneliness depression the idea that we should see all this suffering and go into it and suffer more seems he says like foolishness and that's true 2,000 years later but then Pope st. Paul goes on and says but we proclaim Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles we proclaim a Christ who runs into the suffering and says give me some of that not as a masochist not for the sake of it but because that's the path you show people right you take it on and you say I'm not afraid of that all of you are I don't mean you the world in general is afraid of the suffering and we do a lot and quickly in the world to medicate and insulate ourselves from suffering Jesus Christ originally picked up his cross and said come follow me when I go in there and then he says the st. Paul ends this whole sort of walking through the Corinthians he says this whoever boasts boast in the Lord that's the end of the chapter if you're gonna brag brag that you're suffering that that following Christ works tell people that and so I'm here to brag I'm here to brag in the sense of saying that in doing this in taking this on I want to tell the people that are racked by fear of everything but tonight with a brain tumor and on this verge of surgery and chemo and radiation I'm as happy and it's full of joy and gratitude as I've ever been in my entire life and I'm not acting because I can't act Lent provides these small little ways to bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God little small things that no one else will ever see because at some point if you haven't already and most of you probably already have at some point in our lives we will hit suffering that people will see we will hit suffering that people will see and if we've trained through lens after Lent after Lent and hopefully outside of Lent in unseen battles that no one else sees and no one else knows then we will be ready when the big battles come and hopefully we will be able to stand up in the face of the storm and of the battle like Christ did and shout to a world full of people who are besieged by fear on every side and are paralyzed and you and I will be able to boast in the Lord his cross brings pain but it brings joy and peace lots of you have been hurt by false teachers lots of people in the world have been hurt by false teachers you and I stand up and we say behold the lamb of God who goes in to the suffering let's go follow him we boast in the cross and that basically means that you and I are supposed to stand up and shout to the world and to anyone who will listen even the ones that will call you mad it means we stand up and shout out the cross works taking on suffering when you don't have to it works and it brings joy and it brings fear and it brings a freedom from all those crippling anxieties and things that besiege the world that doesn't know that if this story gives you a moment of pause - now listen to me for a second let me tell you please stop trying to do it your way be sad no more do not be afraid the Bible tells us that 365 times do not be alone do not be numb anymore come out of the shadows stop doing and saying what you think other people want you to do or say bury your share of hardship with the gospel with the strength that comes from God if you do that and only if you do that you will find life and you will find it abundantly

Channel: Father John Hollowell

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Id: shJW2e7RI7A

Length: 17min 11sec (1031 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 07 2020