Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Where Love Is, There God Is Also.  This is the title of a short story written in 1885 by the great Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy.  It is a story about an old shoemaker named Martin, a widower who – like the widows in today’s readings – also suffered the loss of his only son at a young age.  Due to his loss, Martin fell into despair about his life, questioned his relationship to God, and even stopped going to church.  One day, a holy man convinced him that the answers he was looking for in life were waiting for him in the Holy Scriptures.  So he began to read the Gospels each evening.  He read more and more every day until, one evening, while reading late into the night about the ministry of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke, he rested his head on his arms and fell asleep.  Suddenly, he was awakened by a voice:

“Martin!”

“Who is here?” he replied.  He looked around, saw no one, and fell back asleep.

Soon the voice awakened him again:

“Martin!  Ah, Martin! look tomorrow on the street.  I am coming.”

Martin was not sure whether it was a dream, but as he worked the next day, he kept watch out the window, looking on the street for Christ to come visit him.  Soon he saw an old man out in the street who had become worn out from shoveling snow.  Martin tapped on the window and said to him:

“Come in, warm yourself a little.”

Martin shared tea and conversation with the man; helped him get warm and regain his strength; and even told him that he was waiting for Christ to visit him on this very day.

Martin returned to his work, keeping an eye on the street.  Soon he saw a young mother with not enough clothes to keep herself and her baby warm.  He opened the door and cried out:

“My good woman…why are you standing in the cold?  Come into my room, where it is warm.”

He fed the woman and her baby; gave her a warm coat and some money; and even told her that he was waiting for Christ to visit him on this very day.

Martin got back to work, but soon noticed an older woman out in the street grab hold of a young boy for stealing one of her apples.  Martin rushed out the door and convinced the woman to show mercy on the boy.  After helping the two reconcile, he watched them walk away together as friends, with the boy carrying her heavy bag for her.

By then the day was turning into evening.  Martin finished up his work and began to settle in for the night, thinking that he had been mistaken; disappointed that Christ, it seemed, was not going to visit him on this day, after all…

Have you ever felt like Martin?  Looked for God in a situation and just could not see Him there?  Perhaps you have experienced the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the end of a relationship; suffered with depression and loneliness; or struggled with addiction.  Maybe you, like Martin, were on the lookout for God in those difficult times, but it seemed He was nowhere to be found.  Maybe at the end of the day you, like Martin, felt deceived by God’s promises and had your hopes disappointed.  God, it seemed, had not really visited you, after all…

The widow of Nain in today’s Gospel shows us, however, that “God [does visit] his people” (Luke 7:16); and, furthermore, exactly where God is to be found:  that is, right in the midst of the circumstances of our lives – not just in our joys and successes – but also in our sadness, failures, pain, and even death.  Jesus met the widow in the midst of the funeral procession for her only son.  Her tears called out to God and Jesus responded with love and compassion.  Jesus’ response brought the young man back to life in this world, but this resuscitation points to the greater plan that God has for each and every one of us.  Jesus desires to give each and every one of us, not just life in this world, but eternal life in heaven through the saving power of His own Passion, Death, and Resurrection (Catechism of the Catholic Church 619-623).

But when considering Jesus’ Resurrection, we must be clear about what it means and what it does not mean.  Jesus’ Resurrection does not mean that from now on all of our problems disappear.  Jesus’ Resurrection does not mean that we will not struggle, have hardships, and even suffer.  Jesus’ Resurrection does mean that the promises He made during His earthly life have been fulfilled (CCC 651-652)!  That is:  we can believe that His death frees every single one of us from sin; and we can believe that His Resurrection opens the way for every single one of us to everlasting life (CCC 605, 654).  And although we “look forward in confident hope” to the fulfillment of that promise of everlasting life, the Risen Jesus can begin living in our hearts today (CCC 655)!

Another crucial lesson about Resurrection that we must learn is this:  Resurrection does not come from, nor is it dependent on your faith.  On the contrary, your “faith in the Resurrection…[comes from your] direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus” (CCC 644).  My brothers and sisters, let us learn from the examples of these first disciples:  you do not need perfect faith to encounter the Risen Jesus!  It was not an act of perfect faith that brought Jesus to the widow of Nain.  It was not an act of perfect faith that brought Jesus to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).  It was not an act of perfect faith that brought Jesus into the midst of the disciples, to show them His hands and feet, and eat a piece of baked fish (Luke 24:36-49).  No, it was these personal encounters with Jesus that strengthened the disciples’ faith and helped them understand the meaning of the Resurrection.

Our job now, as disciples of Jesus, is to be on the lookout for Him coming into our lives.  Our job now is to reflect on our life every day and be open to the ways that Jesus reveals Himself to us.  Let us start right now.  This morning.  Here.  At Christ Our Hope.  Recognize the presence of Jesus in one another.  Recognize the presence of Jesus in the Scriptures proclaimed.  Recognize the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist that we are about to receive.  The Eucharist that strengthens us to, not only recognize Jesus in the world, but be Jesus in the world.  No matter where you are in your faith journey – whether you are singing praises of “Alleluia!” or marching in a funeral procession – Jesus meets you right where you are in your circumstances today.  And He desires to give you eternal life starting today!

Now let us return to the story of Martin the shoemaker.  What do you all think?  Did Jesus visit Martin that day or not?  …  Yes, Martin soon came to realize that Jesus had, indeed, visited him that day.  For, as he turned to prayer and reflected on his day that night, he heard the same voice from the night before whisper to him:

Martin – ah, Martin! did you not recognize me?”

“Who?” Martin exclaimed.

“Me, it was I.”  Then in the corner of the room he saw a vision of the old man smiling...

“And it was I.”  …and he saw a vision of the young woman holding her laughing baby…

“And it was I.”  …and he saw a vision of the old woman and the young boy walking together.

Martin’s “soul rejoiced; he crossed himself…[and he] understood that his dream had not deceived him; that the Saviour really called on him that day.”  And Martin learned that – whether in joy or in sadness – Where Love Is, There God Is Also.  Amen.

Deacon Chad S. Green