Sunday Homily, December 16, Third Sunday, Advent
Readings: Isaiah 35, 1-6, 10 (again beautiful); Psalm 146; James 5, 7-10; Matthew 11, 2-11
Isaiah: Again today’s selection from this marvelous book put together some 8 hundred years before Christ presents a dream and a vision of a day of peace and happiness. To emphasize the beauty we will split the reading again, the first part read by Margarita; the second by her daughter Ashley.
How to Give Sight, Give Life
In Utah there is a ranch which specializes in equine therapy for young people. Equine therapy uses horses to help people & kids find themselves and level out.
A family who are really good friends of mine visited the ranch some years ago to check out if it might be a good place for one of their children to get settled in life. One afternoon some staff people took them down to the barn to look at the horses. Now the wife in her childhood had done some riding and was pretty confident around horses, which the staff apparently picked up.
Consequently, one of the women staff members offered her a bridle and asked her if she thought she could bridle a wild mustang they had just brought in. "Sure," she said, and off she went to bridle the mustang. Three staff members climbed up and sat on the fence to watch her. Inside she was saying to herself that she would be firm and brave, remembering that she had once broken her arm with a horse.
Using all her skill, determination, and bravery she tried and tried to bridle that mustang, for probably over an hour. It was even beginning to get dark. But she was determined she would prove she could do it all by herself. Finally, with darkness setting in she took the bridle, handed it back to the staff, and feeling defeated said she could think of no other way to bridle that mustang.
The staff asked, "Are you sure you have tried every possibility?" "Yes," she replied, "Everything. "I think there may be still another possibility," the staff said. "What?" my friend asked. "You could have asked for help."
Isaiah says this morning that some day the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf be cleared. That evening in that coral in Utah, my friend saw and heard in a new way.
There are two pieces to this dynamic. One, am I aware that I am blind and deaf, and need the help of community? We are all blind and deaf. Secondly, am I aware that I have to help others see and hear better? Or I am less a person?
One of the hardest things for me to do is to ask for help. It is partly pride, but also good Jesuit training. I’ve been trained to think and act independently. I can almost learn Spanish or Italian without asking for help. However, ever try to learn to work a computer without asking for help? I have had to ask Rosemary a million times how to do things. Humbling. And eye opening.
The staff members sitting on that fence were helping my friend to see and hear. It is even their profession, a privilege and a call really. Teachers are helping others to see, parents do it. Like I mentioned the first Sunday of Advent, flight attendants do it with their hospitality, like happened to Rosemary & me coming out of Hilton Head.
A paradox in all this is that when I help another to see or hear better, I receive the same gift.
My friends never did work with the ranch in Utah, and their child grew up and leveled out.
How are you helping the person next to you to see & hear better?
AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-12-16.mp3
