Listen to the homily
here.
Notes:
Last weekend I shared about faith after my stroke last year
·
I offered a few ways to grow in faith:
o Praying
o Bible
o Sacraments
Here is another way to share some random thoughts of my
experience last year…the race from this morning makes this my “year”
·
Last year I left the race, felt worse and worse,
went to the hospital, went to the helicopter, went to surgery and had a
vacation
·
Today I feel great, no hospital, no helicopter,
no surgery, but I continue to work
·
Last year I could not go to Mass with you…you
prayed the rosary and Fr. Nick Nelson offered you for Mass
·
Today I come to our family and our house to walk
with the Word, Body and Blood
·
Last year I missed Sunday as well
·
Today I am blessed to walk again
Brothers and sisters…God is the BEST
God is the BEST…even if life is challenging places
·
I continue to walk in my life
o Surgery,
PT, OT, Speech Therapy
o It
felt like I was born again in the level of speaking…days, weeks, months and I
still use speech therapy to continue to learn writing, speaking, reading etc.
·
Each of us know tough stuff, either for someone,
yourself, your family
o Injuries,
surgeries, mental illness, drugs, alcoholism, pornography, abuse, poverty,
homeless
o Life
is tough
·
But God is the BEST
Two readings today for tough stuff:
·
Jeremiah was put in a well: “There
was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.”
·
Jesus said, “From now on a
household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three…”
·
But God is the BEST
Listen to our other readings…these our powerful words for us
when we have tough times:
·
Jeremiah 38: some that we heard and some which
were glossed over:
o “Ebed-melech went there from the palace and said to him, ‘My
lord king, these men have been at fault in all they have done to the prophet
Jeremiah, casting him into the cistern. He will die of famine on the spot, for
there is no more food in the city.”
o Here is how Ebed-melech added: “[he] took the men along
with him, and went first to the linen closet in the palace, from which he took
some old, tattered rags…Then he said to Jeremiah, “Put the old, tattered rags
between your armpits and the ropes.”
§
That is service…a
friend! Not just doing something,
but do it well
o Responsorial—Psalm
40: “Lord, come to my aid!”
§
Pray this one during bad times
o Hebrew
12:1: “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in
running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the
leader and perfecter of faith.”
Brothers and sisters…God is the BEST
My prayer is that you grow in love with God, with prayer,
with your family, with your friends, with our saints
·
And do this for other people!
·
Our prayer, our Bible, our sacraments, our
family, our friends, our saints will walk with you in all of the junk!
·
I know all of these have been done to me.
It will do the same to you
