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Why was this Necessary?
Dec
30
Written by:
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Solemnity of the Holy Family
December 30, 2007
We can learn quite a bit from this Sunday's gospel of the flight into Egypt. Suddenly the Holy Family has to leave everything and move to a foreign country to avoid the king, who wants to kill Jesus. So Jesus is just a week old and already, there is trouble. Surely there was another way! Couldn't God have somehow just "taken care" of Herod? Why did the Holy Family have to suffer like that? Why was this necessary?
This is not an academic question for many of us. I am writing this column on Friday, December 28. I had every intention of being with you this weekend, but, incredibly, I am still just a bit too hoarse to get through four masses plus confessions. I had all of my sermons worked out for last weekend and the Christmas masses (the Christmas family mass is my favorite of the year!). As I wrote you last week, this has been one of the most purifying and difficult experiences of my life, and I am sure it will work to good in time. God always works things for the best for us in the end. I'm sure I will be fine by Monday; I know it will pass, but the question remains: why was this necessary?
Haven't you asked yourself the same questions in your own life? I have prayed and prayed about this illness, and I keep coming up with the same answer from the Lord: it is necessary for you and the parish to go through this at this time. The real test of our faith comes when we come face to face with some sort of injustice or undeserved illness, some crisis in our family, an unexpected death, an accident, someone slanders us, our health or our employment fails, and God seems to turn a deaf ear to us. We find ourselves asking the question again: why was this necessary?
The good news is that I believe my physician and I have uncovered a couple of food allergies that have greatly contributed to these miserable incidents, which would not have happened if I had not been so ill. I am encouraged by this grace and by the love and patience the parishioners have shown me. Aside from this year, it had been 5 years since the last series of attacks like this. Now, suddenly, I have found myself almost helpless against a rather simple problem that changes everything. How very many of us have been in this type of frustrating situation?! I know I will be fine in about 4 more days, and yet the question haunts me: why was this necessary?
We return to this Sunday's gospel, because the answer to our haunting question, why is this necessary, is hidden within this passage (Matthew 2:13-23). Yes, God could have bumped off Herod and solved Mary and Joseph's problem, but he didn't. Instead, it was absolutely necessary for their training in holiness that they experience a time of total dependence on God, total trust – without knowing at that time why it was necessary. Even Mary and Joseph had to learn these things!
Why was this necessary? Why are our sufferings necessary, especially the ones we don't deserve? The answer to this question lies at the cross. Place yourself for a moment at the foot of the cross. Beneath it are the Lord's mother, a few friends, and one disciple. That's it! Why was this necessary? If we understand the answer to our question here, we shall understand it in our own lives as well.
All wisdom for us Christians lies, ultimately, at the foot of the cross. For Jesus will not fully answer in this life our deepest questions about why. Instead, he offers us his very own sacrifice, which he makes present to us in the mass. Yes, somehow, it was necessary for the Lord to go through his own sufferings, innocent that he was. Because he has also suffered so much for us, we in turn can suffer for him. Our sufferings have meaning, even before we understand why they were necessary, because our Lord's suffering had meaning. It is at the foot of the cross that we will find the answers we need in this life.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. I have missed being with the parish very much. I will be extraordinarily glad to be with you next week. This column is my best effort to be with you and to offer you the homily that I could not yet speak.
Father Gary
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