(Listen to this homily here).
While I was on vacation I had something on my mind a
lot. It may seem a bit strange,
but bear with me. I was thinking
of childbirth. My brother and
sister-in-law are expecting their first, so I am going to be an uncle any
day. A number of my friends have
just had babies, or are also expecting soon. While I was in Duluth I got to check in with the couples of
our Teams of Our Lady small group.
Each of them have small children and I they have shared the challenges
and joys of being parents.
I
had a particularly good conversation with one of these moms. She shared with me her struggles with
the baby blues and even post-partum depression. I told her over the phone—“So let me get this straight…you
were pregnant for nine months with sickness, uncomfortableness and all the
rest, went through a painful labor and then felt like junk for a year?! That stinks!”
It
is for good reason that Proverbs affirms the good wife/mom: “When one finds a worthy wife, her
value is far beyond pearls…Give her a reward for her labors, and
let her works praise her at the city gates.” I want to thank you moms and dads for your openness to life,
especially for all the sacrifices and suffering it took to bring a baby in the
world. And I am grateful for my
own parents who brought me into the world.
I
bring this up because the image of a woman in labor is frequently used to
describe the day of the Lord. We
have an example of this in our second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians:
“When people are saying, ‘Peace and
security,’ then sudden disaster comes upon
them, like
labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”
As
our liturgical year is winding down, our readings at daily and weekend Masses
have been focusing on the end—both our own death and the end of the world at
Christ’s second coming. There have
been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth lately! It is a fact that we will each die. It is also a fact that this world will
not exist forever.
While
these realities may be scary to think about, we may do so with joy and
hope. You moms and dads, recall
the first time you held your newborn.
You did so after overcoming suffering—especially you moms! That suffering served a purpose and
allowed you to bear life. Just so,
any suffering we face on earth is but the labor pains of our birth to new life.
And
consider the baby. For nine months
they are in a dark enclosed womb—that’s the only reality they know. But then they are born into a
completely new world! The world we
know is but a dark womb as we prepare for birth in heaven.
Yes,
our lives contain suffering, especially when facing death itself. But these experiences are preparing us for
a new birthday when we enter eternal life. May we be faithful in experiencing suffering and keep great
hope that God will bring us each to Himself at the end.
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