February 14, 2021

Homily for the SIXTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

AMDG

(Please read: Mark 1:40-45)

“Through the words of the Gospel, may our sins be wiped away.”

On the eleventh of February, in the year 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a 14 year old girl in the little town of Lourdes in southern France. She appeared 18 times from February until July 16 of that year.

The girl that the Virgin Mary appeared to was Bernadette Soubirous.

Bernadette was one of the children of a family that was so poor that, at that time, they were living in an old, abandoned prison cell in the town of Lourdes.

Bernadette was deeply involved in her Catholic Faith. But, her lack of education made it impossible for her to study her catechism and to receive her first Holy Communion.

I want to point this out to you: when the first apparition happened at Lourdes, February 11 fell on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday – just as it did this year!

On that Thursday, Bernadette had gone with her sister and a friend to collect firewood for their prison-cell house. They went to the river that runs past the town. The two other girls crossed the river to look for firewood.

Bernadette sat down to remove her stockings so that she could also cross the river. It was at that moment when she saw the lady that she did not recognize, standing in an opening along the natural stone wall that faced the river.

The woman standing in the opening of the stone wall was very beautiful. She held a rosary in her hands, and was praying silently as she stood there that day.

The apparitions at Lourdes touched the whole world. They still do.

But what is most amazing about Lourdes is the fact that where Mary appeared was actually a place where the local hospital dumped all of the filthy and contagious rags used at the hospital.

Mary came to a place where the Mother of God would never have been expected to be.

She made that place holy. She made it a place where the sick could be healed. It was no longer a dump for contagious rags. Now it was a haven for the sick.

That is exactly what happened at this shrine.

The sick started travelling to Lourdes. They came there to bathe in the water that mysteriously appeared when the Blessed Mother asked Bernadette to dig in the dry ground.

That mysterious water continues to flow in that place to this very day. The sick are placed in stone tubs filled with this mysterious water. They pray in the water. And many are healed as they pray.

Mary touches the sick. Some she heals. Others she strengthens.

But the sick continue to come to that shrine from all over the world.

In fact, each evening during the warmer months of the year, a procession is held at the outdoor grotto. The sick are brought to participate in the procession in their hospital beds. Their doctors and nurses walk with them, or push their hospital beds in the long procession, as the crowd prays the Rosary together.

The sick are brought to the place where the trash of the hospital had been thrown.

Now, the people who are sick are brought to that same place in a solemn and beautiful procession.

The procession of the sick to Mary’s shrine has been happening every night for over 100 years.

During the month of February, the Church challenges us to pray for the sick. The Church reminds us to never be afraid of sickness. God does not abandon the sick. He cares for the ill. God can heal the sick. And God sends his Blessed Mother to care for her children who are ill.

In February, we have the Blessing of Throats on the Feast of St. Blaise – a prayer of blessing for anyone who is sick, especially with illnesses of the throat.

We have the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes as a reminder that Mary cares for her sick children, and never turns them away.

We have Ash Wednesday coming this week. On this coming Wednesday, all of us will have the opportunity to attend Mass and to receive the blessed ashes sprinkled on the top of our head this year, due to Covid-19. We will be reminded to “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Yes, we are all dust. And, life is short. Sickness happens. And we will all one day die.

But, the Church walks with us on this journey of life. She calls us to repent and to turn to the Lord – not only during the 40 days of Lent, but at all times.

Finally, in our scripture readings throughout the month of February, we hear one story after another about Jesus healing the sick. As Jesus moved among the people of the villages that he would visit, the sick were brought to him. Sometimes, so many people were brought to Jesus that he had no place to even see them all.

That certainly happened in today’s Gospel passage.

After Jesus healed the man with leprosy, the word spread quickly about Jesus. It came to the point “that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.”

Jesus tried to hide in “deserted places,” but even when he was alone, “people kept coming to him from everywhere.”

Why did so many people – why did so many of the sick and infirm – continue to look for Jesus, even when it meant that they had to go out to deserted places to find him?

It wasn’t convenient, was it? Jesus was not easy to find, was he?

Why did they go to Jesus?

For that matter, why do people who are confined to hospital beds, who are dying, who are suffering so intensely – why do they travel all the way to Lourdes, which is located in the countryside of southern France? Why do they continually go to the shrine of Mary?

Interestingly, our bishop has recently expressed his genuine concern that by the time he retires, there will be no one asking for the sacraments of Baptism, or Confirmation, or Marriage in our diocese.

And, it’s not just in our diocese. Everywhere around the world, the number of practicing Catholics is slowly, but surely deteriorating.

The number of Catholics at Mass is dropping. And, of course, due to Covid-19, those numbers have actually collapsed already. There are so many examples of the decline of the Catholic Faith all around us. Even our civil leadership is a sure reminder of the end of true and devout Faith.

Basically, it’s gone. But, the Bishop wants Catholics to come back to the sacraments. If only we try to re-organize our Parish Councils or somehow reach out to the lost, then the numbers will return.

Our bishop is truly a wise man, and I hope that he is right.

But, with all humility, I think that it will take more than that to bring the lost sheep home again.

And I think that the answer is found at places like Lourdes. I think that the answer is found with the man healed of leprosy in today’s Gospel.

You see, in our society, life had become very convenient. Everyone, even the poorest of the poor, are really rich in comparison to the poor of other times and other places.

And, as a result, God became optional. The sacraments became optional. Faith became optional.

We could get everything that we needed, without God. Or, without Faith. And miracles were not needed.

Look at our country right now. How many stimulus checks are we going to receive? They are nice to get…but – how many more? It has gotten to the point where we don’t need God. We don’t need Faith. And the days may be coming when we won’t even really need a job.

But, at some point, all of this will crash to its end. And what will happen is this: either you and I will collapse because everything that we thought we had to have is now gone. Or…we will surrender our broken lives to Christ. We will turn to Christ to save us, because our money or our health or our society or even our religion is now gone.

If you have ever been sick, you will understand what I mean by this.

And, if you still do not understand, then go to Lourdes, France and watch that procession of the sickest, most humble, and the dying who turn to Mary and Mary alone to heal them.

When you and I get to that point from our political, economic, or health perspectives, then we will indeed return to the sacraments with great longing. But, only then.

February is a month for healing. God created each of us for a purpose. He placed us on this earth to serve Him. He allows us to experience sickness, loss, and suffering to draw us closer to Himself. And, sometimes we do, and sometimes we don’t.

But God has each of here for one ultimate purpose. And that purpose is to surrender our lives to God. And, that will indeed happen. If it takes Covid-19, or economic disasters, or evil in our society to drive us running into the arms of Christ, then that is what will happen.

God alone can save us. Christ alone can heal us. And Mary, our Mother, lovingly reminds us of these simple, basic and deeply Christian truths.

PRAY EVERY DAY!