Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C June 9, 2013

Did you know that the first president of the United States to refuse to use the Bible at his inauguration was Franklin Pierce, the 14th President? The reason is rather interesting. When Pierce had been elected, he and Mrs. Pierce and their son, two weeks before the inauguration, were taking a trip to Concord, New Hampshire, and, of course, they were doing it by train. The train had not gone far out of the Concord Station, when there was a lurch, a jolt, and the car the Pierces were in tumbled off the tracks and down an embankment. Neither the president nor his wife was injured in the accident, but their son was killed. Franklin Pierce brooded over this, as would most of us. He asked the question of God that so many of us would have asked. Why would God at this moment of triumph permit this tragedy in their lives? He was so upset by this that he refused to allow the Bible to be used at the inauguration. Todays readings from sacred scripture remind us that, in a world of broken hearts, God sees and cares for us in our grief. He has compassion on our miseries and gives us His healing touch. Because of this, we are challenged to become channels of Gods compassionate and healing love and to place our hope in Jesus who gives us resurrection and eternal life. Todays gospel reveals to us the compassionate heart of God in Jesus. Meeting a funeral procession coming out of the village of Nain, Jesus was visibly moved at the sight of the weeping widow, going out with the townsfolk to bury her only son. Perhaps He could foresee His own mother in the same position at the foot of His cross? So Jesus stopped the funeral procession, touched the bier, consoled the mother and surprised everyone by resuscitating the boy. In this, He extended Gods love and compassion to the grieving mother. We are reminded that our discipleship of Jesus means we, too, are to have the same love and compassion for those who suffer that Jesus had. Our deeds of love will transform the brokenhearted and help them to experience God as the Father who has come among His people. We need to ask God for the grace to become like Christ for others in our daily lives. Our society so desperately needs saints, and we can each be one in our own circumstances. As our Lord comforted the widow, we can comfort one another. Jesus transforms the despair and sorrow of a widow by raising her only son from death. This should help us look at our own situation, not as the secular world does, but as disciples of Jesus, and see how alive we really are. When we live in mortal sins we are physically alive but spiritually dead. Our dead spirits are revived only in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. To not go to confession when we are in a state of mortal sin is like living our lives in a coffin. St. Augustine said, "Our Mother the Church rejoices every day when people are raised again in spirit sacramentally. My brothers and sisters, todays gospel teaches us that we need to bring our deepest hurts and broken relationships to Jesus and experience how He reaches out to us and grants us His loving reconciliation. Today, as we once again stand before the altar where the suffering, death, & resurrection of our Lord is re-presented, let us invite Jesus to transform even the most difficult
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Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C June 9, 2013

situations in our life. The Lord Jesus still raises the dead. We trust that promise each time we bring our shattered lives, our broken hearts, our anger, our depression, our deepest hurts to the table of the Lord and, in the priest, hear Him say once again: "This is my body; this is my blood given and shed for you!" Father Bob Knippenberg, Pastor