Saturday, March 6, 2010 Fr. Pat Grile

Third Sunday of Lent

Patience. Kind of the theme of the gospel reading tonight really is this understanding of patience as well

But first something to maybe put it into understanding a little bit better. His name was Romo Joseph. He was born into a poor Haitian family. He was completely blind in one eye and he could only see shadows out of the other eye. But since a little child had a great love of music. Ever since he had heard a Tchaikovsky concerto played at school that he was at in Haiti he just had a great love affair with music. He became very proficient in playing the violin and actually won a Fulbright Scholarship to attend Juilliard School of Music and also play with the Boston Symphony. But instead of embarking on that kind of a career he went back to Haiti, where he was born and raised. And he founded a little school in 1991 called the New Victorian School. And he taught music to the poorest of the poor because he wanted to give them hope, to give them encouragement, to teach them something fine about life through music.

Unfortunately though in the year 2000 a fire destroyed the school that he had been so instrumental in building. But twelve days later, after the fire, Romo was back in the school teaching music. Now wouldn’t you know it, on January 12 of this year, when the earthquake hit Haiti, 10 years to the day of the fire, his school was again destroyed by the earthquake. Fortunately none of the students were there in the school. He, himself was. He was buried for 18 hours in the rubble. And the story goes he said he survived by praying and playing in his head every violin concerto he knew. Part of the tragedy of that earthquake is that his own wife, who was pregnant, perished in the earthquake in the building. He was flown himself to Miami. People got him out and they flew him to Miami. He had two crushed legs, two very severe fractures in his hand he would use to hold the violin. Doctors to this day still don’t know if he will be able to play the violin again.

And yet he went back to Haiti. What did he say? He is determined. “I am determined to rebuild the New Victorian School again. As long as Haiti has children you have a purpose being there. As long as there are kids there they have to have a reasonable level of health and they have to have an education. I need more than an earthquake to make me stop my work in Haiti.”

A true story. I think it fits very well with what our readings are talking about today. Many times we call this gospel the gospel of the second chance because Jesus uses the imagery of the fig tree that had not been bearing fruit. Of course he was going to cut it down, the owner was, and the gardener said, “No, no, let try it another year. Maybe it will begin to bear fruit.”

And of course part of that beautiful story is the reality is that God is always giving you and me a second chance. That God’s love is always there for you and for me. God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness are always there giving you and me the chance to repent, to move forward.

That’s why Paul says in that second reading, “Don’t let anybody think that you can be secure because life is very fragile.”

And Jesus told us the story about those Galileans and the others. He said, “Do you think they were being punished, they were more guilty, they were greater sinners? No.” And don’t we at times like to think, as they did in ancient times that tragedy and earthquake, a tsunami, a tornado, some tragedy hits somebody—oh they’re being punished. Jesus says, “By no means. But if you do not repent you will perish.”

So it’s a wakeup call. Think of any survived tragedy that you and I have had perhaps in our own lives. Perhaps a near fatal car accident, maybe you survived a fire in your home, maybe you had a heart attack or someone close to you has had one of these experiences or events in their lives. And even the earthquake. We all sit up here in Minnesota and the earthquake even that they had down in Chile just a week ago. We say, “Whoa, life is fragile. Life is precious. Maybe I need to take a look at my life and see what’s really important. Where am I going with it? What am I doing at this Lent, the year 2010 to turn my life around?”

God is giving you and me a second chance, an opportunity to grow more into that spirit of Jesus.

Now I think of it this way. At the age of 59 my own dad stopped drinking. Up to that time he was a pretty staunch drinker, a drunk. But at the age of 59 he stopped. He turned his life around and became a very compassionate, loving man. He always was but of course the booze covered it up. For the next then from age 59 to 96 he never took another drop of alcohol.

It’s never to late to change the direction of our lives. No one sitting here in this church tonight, myself included, can say, “Oh I can’t change. I’m stuck.” “By no means,” as Jesus says in the gospel. We can always change. We can always grow. And if God thinks so much of you and me to give you and me a second chance, another opportunity, the grace to move and to repent, to grow, be more understanding, patient, loving, considerate, thoughtful, whatever it might be what about you and me? Do we give other people a second chance, or do we keep people stuck? That’s a great power control isn’t it? To hold somebody there in their past and not allow them to change. Or to hold a hand open and say, “Can I walk with you? Or can I encourage you? Would you like to change? I’ll be there with you.”

So if God is willing to do that for you and for me, let’s take the cue from the gospel and the readings and do the same.

I suppose another way to say it is that everyday, with every loss, with every pain, with every hardship there is the promise of resurrection, there is the promise of hope. Good Friday always leads to Easter Sunday. Lent is a 40-day Good Friday, a time of repentance, a turning around and rising again with the new life, the hope, the joy that Jesus gives us.

Spend some time tonight, tomorrow, actually every day looking at the Good Friday’s in your lives, the wakeup calls and see if you and I are willing to see the resurrection and the hope that’s buried in every tragedy and everything that comes our way. God’s love and mercy are always bigger than our sins or our failures. Everyday holds the promise of resurrection.