Aug 05 2008
Confession and a very good homily
Sometimes Charity needs a baseball bat. – Father Jim Lopez
I think it’s the first time in my adult life I’ve laughed in the confessional. I worry about being uncharitable when standing up for my faith, but Father attempted to set me aright. He also directed me to the Sunday evening Mass, which he says at 7 pm in order to catch the dayworkers and boat crews that are out until evening.
The Gospel was about the multiplication of loaves and fish.
Father changed his homily for the evening Mass, as he had talked to a parishioner and gotten permission to use her family’s story. He spoke about a large family whose young son was suffering from a long illness which was difficult to diagnose.
When news went around that he was sick and going to specialists, people began to show up with food: cooked meals for the whole family, groceries, etc. It lifted a burden off the family and it also taught them something: humility.
Father said that the family took pride in being self-sufficient. (I had to nod, because that seems to be the way with big Catholic families.) It was overwhelming, but they learned to humbly accept what God was doing for them through other people.
It was one of the best homilies ever.
