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Connections. . .
"The greatest among you must be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted." Matthew 22:34-40
She Said Yes
Everyone who knew Cassie Bernall was touched by her friendliness, her kindness, her sincerity, her sensitivity to others. Not that the teenager's life was not without difficulty--she struggled with depression, she rebelled against her parents, she was almost lost to drugs and witchcraft. But time, love and attention eventually bridged the gulf between her and her family, between her and God.
Like every teenager, she questioned: Who Am I? Does God love me and care what happens to me? Does anything I do make a difference? Quiet and thoughtfully, she came to understand that God indeed loved her even in her darkest moments, even when God seemed so far away, even when she didn't deserve God's love. Cassie decided that instead of trying to look out for herself -- instead of trying to get things to work her way, and wondering what life had to offer her -- she was going to see what she could make out of it in her own quiet, unassuming way.
So, that April afternoon, when two rampaging classmates put a gun to her head in the Columbine High School library and asked her if she believed in God, she said Yes . Her Yes came from a place deep within her heart and mind and soul, the place within her where God dwelt, a place so deep that she could say Yes even though it endangered her life. And in the end it did.
[ From the book She Said Yes by Misty Bernall, published by the Plough Publishing House.]
CONNECTION: It is often said that these times are desperately looking for heroes; today's Gospel questions where we look for them. Real heroes are people like Cassie Bernall who, when placed in extraordinary situations, respond with extraordinary courage, conviction and perseverance. There are many heroes among us now -- men and women, teenagers and children, who, in their often unnoticed service to all of us, stand up to the evils of ignorance, racism, intolerance, and hatred. In the power and authority of their actions, they share with us their vision of faith, a faith centered in the example of Christ, the humble Servant of God. In her book about her daughter's life and death, Misty Bernall quotes the Indian mystic Sadhu Sundar Singh: "It is easy to die for Christ. It is hard to live for him. Dying takes and hour or two, but to live for Christ means to die daily. Only during the few years of this life are we given the privilege of serving each other and Christ...We shall have heaven forever, but only a short time for service here, and therefore we must not waste the opportunity."
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