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Connections&
August 27, 2000
21st Sunday of the Year
Simon Peter answered Jesus, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:60-69
To be part of the work
At his installation a few weeks ago as Archbishop of New York, Archbishop Edward Egan told this touching story of compassion and healing in the midst of anguish and despair.
When he was an auxiliary bishop in New York, Bishop Egan traveled to one of the poorest areas of Brooklyn to ordain five young men as deacons for the congregation of priests and brothers founded by Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa herself and many of her Sisters of Charity were there. It was a hot afternoon, the heat and humidity were stifling.
After the rite of ordination, Bishop Egan proceeded to the altar of the Eucharistic Prayer. Suddenly, shouts were heard from the rear of the church. Everyone turned and saw a man of about 30 years of age lunging up the aisle. His face was covered with blood; he waved a bloody T-shirt in the air, begging for help amid his shouts and sobs. Mother Teresa led two of her sisters and two ushers in gently carrying the man to the sacristy. Eventually, the Mass was able to continue.
At the end of the Mass, a young man came up to Bishop Egan and asked if they could talk.
"I have got to talk to someone," the young man said. "I was in the sacristy when the blooded man was carried in. He had been beaten badly and his language was terrible. But never in my life had I seen anything like the way he was treated. Mother and her two sisters and the pastor and the tow laymen were wonderful. They calmed the man. They washed the blood off him. They found him a clean shirt and they arranged a place for him for the night. It was everything that Jesus Christ had ever taught. It was everything, Father, that Jesus Christ had ever taught."
The man paused to gain control of his emotions and went on. "I'm making a whole pile of money in the stock market. But I need to be part of what I witnessed in that sacristy. The money isn't doing it. I need something more."
Bishop Egan and the young man stayed in touch. When Bishop Egan became Bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., he accepted the young man as a seminarian and ordained him to the priesthood four years later. Within a year after his ordination, he was stricken with leukemia, and after months of suffering, went to his God.
But he had realized his hope of becoming part of the reality of the compassion and mercy of Christ.
[The New York Times, June 19, 2000.]
CONNECTION: What the young man witnessed in that sacristy and yearned to be a part of, is articulated by Peter's simple confession in today's Gospel. The faithful disciple understands that God is the ultimate source of everything that is good. Despite our own doubts, fears and misgivings, we know in the depth of our hearts that, in the end, the words of Jesus will triumph. We mourn God's absence in times of pain, despair and death, but we know in the depths of our hearts that, in the end, the words of Jesus will triumph. We mourn God's absence in times of pain, despair and death, but we know we will rediscover God in acts of love, generosity, support and healing extended to us by others. Peter's simple, plaintive answer is the confession of faith that God is not to be found in the darkness of evil by in the light of goodness that seeks to shatter that darkness. <
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