Summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily from September 09, 2007
"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26
We underestimate the significance of vulnerability and the power of the cross.
This coming week as we recall 9/11, we remember the vulnerability America felt following those attacks. The whole world seemed to stand with us in solidarity. Only later when we flexed our muscles in an unplanned and misguided way, did we distance both friend and foe.
Two public figures recently in the news demonstrated a similar reality. Princess Diana's fragility, more than her beauty, made her the Queen of Hearts, identifying with the maimed and broken of the earth. She has become an icon for the British people and for many others.
Mother Teresa was sanctified by her accompaniment of the dying poor in the alleys of Calcutta. Why her private letters were disclosed baffles me. They reveal a sense of spiritual desolation, a dark night of the soul that lasted 50 years. Perhaps her own feeling of abandonment was what allowed her to stay faithful to the marginalized and abandoned of the world.
At each liturgy we are called to identify with the dying and rising of Jesus. We are challenged to re-enact Calvary. We say "Amen! So be it!". When my eldest sister Teresa became frustrated by the wearying complaints of others she had a saying, "We are called to carry our cross, not to drag it after us!"
Let us bear with our own dark nights, our moments of vulnerability, with faith and generosity. They may be our redemption.