Sunday Homily, September 14, 2014, Holy Cross
Readings:
Numbers 21, 4-9, Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert.
Psalm 78, Do not forget the works of the Lord.
Philippians 2, 6-11, God greatly exalted him.
John 3, 13-17, Nicodemus.
The Introduction is a brief summary of today’s readings
Before you hear the first reading from the Book of Numbers, I want you to realize that this is part of a parable. The people were complaining against God and Moses in the desert because of lack of water and food; and because of this complaining we are told that God has punished them with poisonous serpents. ‘Moses, ask God to take away the serpents!’
Moses replies that the Lord wants them to make a bronze replica of the serpent and put it on the top of a pole. If someone has been bitten and looks upon it [has faith in my words and quits complaining] they will live.
When we look upon the cross that has been lifted up [which means exalted] we no longer think of it in terms of punishment; but rather one of triumph. It has become a sign of our Faith.
Homily
To continue the theme of the past few weeks, I suggest to you that the Scripture verse, ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light,’ encompasses, ‘Take up your cross and follow me.’
John spoke to us two weeks ago about a mother who asked for his advice about one of her children, an overly active boy. Learning didn’t come easily for the boy. The boy had his own, unique, cross to carry. John didn’t carry the boy’s cross for him. Instead, he encouraged the boy to welcome his cross, to derive strength from it.
Sometimes we encounter someone with a cross that would seem to be too heavy and too burdensome to be carried…and yet that person’s faith is so strong that they can say ‘thank you’ to it. When that happens it should also bring us to our knees to say, Alleluia.
No matter what our cross, we are to give thanksgiving, and it will be given back pressed down and over flowing.
My dad never talked to my older brother or to me about college. We had always worked in the summer, and each of us had saved some money. We knew that when we left home we could be self sufficient. After getting our class schedules my older brother got a job at a bar in Iowa City working a few hours every night to pay for his food during college.
The yoke was easy, the burden light. I followed the example he had given me a couple of years later, however the food that I ate was better and more plentiful. All through college I worked lunch and dinner at a sorority house a few blocks from the campus with three other guys. One of them was Tony Lazos—I realized after college that he had become my best friend.
I lost touch with Tony after college. He did a couple of tours in Vietnam and afterwards he started a couple of small companies. When he found out that I was working in Dallas he called to visit on his way through. Time passed and we lost touch with him again. About a year ago Judy found a story about him on the internet that was three years old.
He had eaten some tainted chicken and had caught a disease that left him a quadriplegic and on a respirator. I tried to reach from the email location Judy had found; but three year had past and I received no reply from my emails. Four weeks ago I received an email the subject of which was Chi Omega Waiter. It was from Tony. He is still a quadriplegic; but he’s off the respirator.
This is his testimony, ‘Faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ is my foundation, my strength.’ He had built his foundation on rock. Some friends of his in California had gotten him a voice activated computer, and he had found me in Dallas a second time. We have been conversing with one another by email 3 or 4 times a week this past month.
Sometimes I send him a photo; other times we share a remembrance. Tony remembers washing dishes this way, ‘Since we had to run across campus to make it to the Chi O house for the noon mean, we made darn sure that washing dishes was fun.’
I’d like to send him another picture this week, and I need your help. I’ve brought with me some cards to spell out, ‘We love you, Tony Lazos!’ And I was hoping that before we sing our final song this morning that you will join with me to hold up the letters that spell out this message to him. Please, someone remember to take a picture and send it to my email address.