Here in
Mississippi, we’ve had hurricanes, and tornadoes, and the flooding of the
Mississippi River. We’ve had many people
here in Yazoo City and in our own parishes whose lives were forever changed by
the floods and tornados that struck us with power and violence. For me, my will was tested in the midst of
the El Niño storm system that hit while I was working as a missionary in
Ecuador. I was traveling to our mission
site in the jungle after having been in the hospital in the capital city of
Quito for the treatment of malaria, pneumonia, and Dengue fever. I was still very sick and very weak, but I
had a day-long bus journey to return to the mission site. Our bus had only been a half an hour out of
the station, we had just left the city and had entered the jungle, when we came
to a complete stop. I looked outside to
see nothing but mud; the road had been completely wiped out from the El Niño
storm. Everyone from the bus started
getting out, deciding to walk down the mud-filled road in the middle of the jungle as far
as possible with the hope that we could continue until we reached our mission
site, a 4-hour journey by bus. We walked
for more than an hour, with the mud higher than my knees. I had my hiking boots tied around my neck by
the laces. Finally, when we came to a
clearing in the road, we caught a ride with a road crew on a rickety old truck
after begging them for a ride, as I pleaded with them that I was a missionary. After a while, the road gave out again, and
we continued walking through the mud. I
tried to keep up with a group of villagers I knew for the mission site. At this point the sun had set, and it got
dark very quickly. After walking for
more than an hour, fatigue really set in.
Walking in the mud barefoot was starting to get to me. I slowed down considerably and got separated
from the rest of the group. I fell in
the mud and didn’t know if I had the strength to get up. It was so dark I could barely see
anything. I started to cry, and wondered
how I would get out of this predicament.
Finally, I heard the others in the group crying out to me; they realized
I had gotten separated. I found the
strength to continue. Finally, when we
got to a stretch of clear road, we found someone in a truck who brought us back
home; we arrived the next morning. I
couldn’t believe all that we had been through.
Our faith calls
out to us at all times, not just when everything is going great. Let’s look at Jeremiah, how he was called to
be God’s prophet at a time when Israel was straying from its covenant with God
and getting into ill-advised alliances with the nations around them. This all ended with the destruction of the
Temple in Jerusalem and with the exile of many of its citizens to Babylon. From
the beginning, Jeremiah did not want to be a prophet. Yet, he agreed to go where God called him, but
then saw the people and the leaders turn against him when he had to deliver
God’s very harsh prophecies to them in this turbulent era, messages that were
very hard to hear because they were so truthful. Jeremiah cries out to God in the midst of
his pain and anger: You tricked me! You seduced me! You lured me into a situation where I am now
despised by everyone, even my family and friends.
Who did Jeremiah blame for his misery? He put the blame on God. Jeremiah even wished he was never born. Yet, we all need to understand, no matter who
we are, we are going to have our ups and downs, our joys and struggles, in our journey
through life. Even though Jeremiah
lashed out at God, later on, just a few verses after today’s reading ends, he
is able to say to God: You know, God, you are at my side like a mighty hero. With you beside me, my opponents
will stumble, they will be vanquished, they will be confounded with their
failure. Jeremiah is able to say: Lord,
I sing praises to you, for you have delivered the soul of one in need from the
clutches of the evil doers.
There will be times in our lives when we lose sight of our
calling, when all seems to be a struggle or a failure, when we question our
faith. And we will need to be honest
with ourselves and with God, taking our anger, our struggles, and our despair
to him, working through those emotions and the situations that confront us in
life.
When we begin
using the new translation of the mass on November 27th, the priest
will greet the people as always: “The Lord be with you.” And you, the people will respond: “And with
your spirit.” The Lord is always with
us, he is touching our spirit, even in those times when we feel abandoned or
angry or when we’ve had enough and can’t take it any more.
Jeremiah’s journey today reminded me about Sister Paulinus’
closing words when she was with us earlier in the week for our grief
workshop. Sister told us that if our
prayers just included three things, then we are covering all of our bases with
God. As we go through our day, we cry
out to God, “Help me, help me, help me,” for we need the Lord's help in all things. For the blessings we receive throughout our day, and for those things
that may not seem to be blessings, we say to God, “Thank you, thank you, thank
you.” And at the end of the day, for
those times we’ve strayed or have given into temptation, we say, “Sorry, sorry,
sorry.” In all things, the Lord is with
us.
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