2nd March 2008 - FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT 2008
I shared the first 21 or so years of my life living with an uncle of mine who from the age of about two was unable to hear or speak due to the effects of Meningitis. In those years we got to know a very dynamic human being who far from being held back actually lived his life to the best of his ability. He was and is somebody who is a great inspiration to all who come into contact with him. He despite his disability continues to ride a motorbike and remains one of the most independent people I have ever met.
His deafness is not and could never be something that God was pleased to send to him. He like the man born blind in today's gospel was not so because of any sin he may have committed. God did not choose him and make him as he is today. If I believed that then I should become an avowed atheist. I should also be so if I believed that God sends natural disasters to planet earth such as earthquakes or tsunamis or if God is the cause of those little ones who lie today in Crumlin hospital fighting for life. So many people today wrongly blame God for everything bad that happens. They also invite him to interfere with our freedom which he will never do. My uncle is as he is because of a virus that still puts fright into many a parent, the earthquakes and the tsunamis happen solely because of the movement of this mysterious planet we inhabit. The babies and children who today lie in hospital are there because sometimes our genes become somehow damaged and make us more susceptible to disease.
The God we come to worship each week here is a God who is not remote or unmoved by the cries of his beloved people. He is a God who is with us from the cradle to the grave and beyond, a God who became weak and fragile as we are. He is a God who walks with us teaching us all the time to value what is truly essential and to ignore the trivial and the superficial. We ask the Lord today to open our eyes to the beauty of every human life no matter how it appears and to give us the faith and the courage to witness daily to the gospel in everything we say and do. Amen.
|
 |
Homilies Archive
2009 HOMILIES
25th December 2008
Christmas
21st December 2008
14th December 2008
8th December 2008
Immaculate Conception
7th December 2008
2nd Sunday of Advent
30th November 2008
1st Sunday of Advent
23rd November 2008
Christ the King
16th November 2008
2nd November 2008
All Souls
1st November 2008
All Saints
26th October 2008
12th October 2008
5th October 2008
28th September 2008
21st September 2008
14th September 2008
7th September 2008
31st August 2008
24th August 2008
17th August 2008
15th August 2008
Assumption
10th August 2008
3rd August 2008
20th July 2008
13th July 2008
29th June 2008
22nd June 2008
1st June 2008
23rd March 2008
Easter Sunday
22nd March 2008
Easter Vigil
2nd March 2008
24th February 2008
17th February 2008
10th February 2008
|
