HOMILY
June 19, 2016
“If you would lose your life for my sake, you will save it.”  This last line from today’s gospel
leads me to a true story from July 1980. 

A Navy destroyer was on in the South China Sea on the
way from Singapore to Subic Bay in the Philippines.  Everyone on board was looking forward to
arriving in the Philippines as soon as possible.  The weather was deteriorating, with a typhoon
heading their way from the east.
Suddenly the lookout spotted an object adrift about 10 miles to the east.  It was a small boat
carrying many people.  The captain announced that they were going to head toward the boat for a
possible rescue.  Almost the whole crew was complaining about assisting the boat people. A big,
burly engineman angrily said, “We ought to leave them out there to die.”
They got as close to the sinking 25-foot junk boat as they could and saw that there were about 50
very, very weak men, women and children.  On hearing that news the destroyer crew gathered
whatever dry clothes anyone could spare and got necessary medical supplies prepared.
On getting alongside the sinking boat they heard the strange cries of infants and saw the women
holding them close and caring for the sick.  The faces of all showed great fatigue.  The boat
people were sunbaked and bony.  When the crew had gotten them all onboard the ship they put
them either in sick bay or in the engineers’ sleeping quarters.
Gradually there was a change in attitude of the crew.  Everyone was happy.  The crew realized
that the Vietnamese boat people were humans just like they were.  The next day everyone sang
and laughed.  That evening there was that big, burly engineer holding in his arms a bright-eyed
baby girl, carefully wrapped in one of his faded work shirts.  She looked very secure as he fed
her a bottle of lifesaving milk.                                                       From: Readers Digest, 06/2016

Did you follow the transformation of those Navy crew men?  Did you notice how they gradually
become like Christ, who carried his cross to the end and beyond? 

How can we, and do we, follow in Christ’s footsteps?   It’s one thing to step up and help in an
emergency, forgetting about our personal desires.  What about developing the attitude and the
courage every day to love ourselves and others enough to become our best selves?

While on vacation I began to be honest enough with myself to realize that sometimes I don’t love
myself enough to make a change.  Sometimes I don’t even love you and others enough to take
that next step. However, when I think of us together as part of all life moving toward what is the
best for all, I don’t want to be holding back on my part of bringing love to all.  In what practical
areas can you apply this to your life? (Silence) 

• I’ll start first.  Exercise is my problem.  I have lots of excuses for not doing it regularly. 

Anybody else ready to share?

​
Maria Thornton McClain, RCWP

Where Do You Find Joy in Your Life?
Can you find all the miracles in today readings?  Spectacular ones - Widow’s dead son raised to life by Prophet Elijah, Paul being converted from killing Christians to becoming one of them, Jesus bringing back to life the son of the widow from Nain.  Non-spectacular miracles – the widow taking in Elijah, the hunted man because of his faithfulness to God, Elijah’s fidelity, the widow’s kindness. What about Paul’s fidelity and devotion until his death as a martyr?  
Then there is Jesus. He, like Elijah, was given power from God to bring someone back to life.  Jesus was moved to extraordinary compassion for a widow in a strange little town.  She was about to lose everything that had value for her: her son and through him, her status in the community.  She had no value on her own and couldn’t inherit anything without her husband and son.  Jesus recognized this and out of love for this woman raised the young man back to life.  All of these miraculous events happened because of love.  That’s a miracle in itself! 
Where is the truth in these stories?  What is the message for us?  Let’s not overlook the message of God’s infinite compassion.  In their commentary the Jesus Seminar writers note that the words of this resurrection story there is no word or phrase that appears to be remembered in the community as having come from Jesus.   The story was not told by any of the other evangelists.  It was Luke’s way of showing that God’s love is active for the benefit of those, especially women, who are powerless.
Where does that leave us?  We can’t perform miracles, or can we?  Certainly we are called to have love for those who have been pushed to the margins of society because they come from different ethnic backgrounds.  What about those who have been sexually abused, especially those abused by priests?  What can we do to help these people begin to come back to life or continue to heal?  There are no limits to God’s love.  As we say often here at SMMCC, “All are welcome!”  “Jesus risked becoming ritually contaminated in order to prevent a widow from being further marginalized.  What are we willing to risk for the sake of bringing God’s love to others?” Is this where we can find joy? 
I’ll bet you have seen or experienced amazing healings of body, mind or spirit!  I imagine you have participated in helping someone’s healing from addiction, getting treatment for mental illness, or helping someone die peacefully and transition to eternal life. 
I challenge you to find the areas where you haven’t quite reached the ability to deal with that type of issue.  Being willing to try doesn’t mean, of course, you can pretty much guarantee success.  It means your love has expanded to include that person or situation.  God who is eternal love will provide the rest.  Could that be a message of today’s scripture readings?  What do you think is a messages for yourself and our faith community?  Let’s think about the Indiana Women’s Prison Project.  Helen and I are looking into possibilities there.
 (Taken from: Preaching the Revised Lectionary, Year C, by Dianne Bergant.)                              
Maria Thornton McClain