May 27, 2003 Aligning Our Priorities: Step into the "Rhythm of Life"

by Father Rob Willmann
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I was amused when Jen asked me to speak on this subject. I am not sure I know anything more about order than you do. I was lost on the way here tonight. So much for order. I went to Plank's Cafe on Whittier and High and none of you were there. So then I drove around I said "Lord I have to find Planks Cafe at 743 Parsons Avenue" and I said "where's that?" And, of course there was silence.

I waited and drove some more, I was supposed to get here early because I wanted to get something to eat. I thought I wasn't going to get anything to eat so I got frustrated. Then I saw Parsons avenue and Planks and remembered that I had been here before.

This illustrates a point, though, if you want your life in order, the first thing you have to do is place it in God's hands. Trust in the Lord. I got here at about, 10 minutes to 7 and I was thinking "no food". Well, pizza came out at 8. Then someone brought me a Pepsi so my voice won't go hoarse for you tonight. And I even had time to run to the bathroom, so God did provide. He provided order.


But there are a few things you have to do first, you have to trust, you have to pray and part of that prayer is going to mass. The other element is forgiveness. So we're going to talk about these things. Putting your life in the hands of the Lord, prayer, and the third...forgiveness.

I used to be the Vice Chancellor of the Diocese of Columbus, then I thought I had been doing this for 10 years and I'd like to be a pastor for a while and experience that. So I'm having a great time being a pastor of not 1 but 3 and soon to be four parishes. My parishes are St. Rose in New Lexington which is a parish of about 1,000 families, New Lexington has about 5,000 people and it's 85-90% Catholic and if you do the math there's a lot of fallen away Catholics there. Then I have St. Bernard's and about 100 families and about 2-300 fallen away families and St. Patrick's in Junction City which has about 100 families and very few fallen away Catholics If you want to talk about order in a special place, St.Patrick's has order and is very special. The Holy Spirit is so present there you can feel it. And it's very familial place, everyone is related by blood so they all walk over to each other and make sure they're there for Sunday mass.

So it goes back to the heart of the matter, if you want to have order, you have to have prayer, forgiveness and trust in the Lord.


Since I've been pastor we have a school in the consortium, k-8, and I make it a top priority to teach religion. I have to be reasonable and realistic since I have three churches to administrate, I can only teach 7th and 8th grades but that makes an impact.

What I've been telling them is that the human person operates in certain predictable ways. John Paul II has written on the philosophy on the human person and he talks about some of the operative manners of the human person in his writings. Always and everywhere without exception the human Person will move towards what they perceive as good. The keyword is perception, sometimes we perceive something good that is actually bad.

Another thing is the human person moves towards order. To show them this point I brought them this article in their religion class. It's from the Wall Street Journal. The human person asks certain questions in the course of their life. Who am I, Why am I here, what am I supposed to do, and where am I going, can you identify with those questions?

If you don't on a conscience level ask those questions, your psyche will ask them and demand an answer. It would demand answers at age 20, maybe at 30, certainly at 40 and again at 50, 60 and 70, that's why you see 50 year-old men driving a little red sports car because they're asking those questions, who am I, why am I here, where am I going and what am I supposed to do.

So, there's all sorts of ideas, things, philosophies and I'll get more specific and say cosmologies; a view of the world operating in the midst of our daily living. We have a Christian view. We have a specific view of a very specific view/cosmology that is very distinct from other cosmologies that exist in our midst.

I put it to our kids to make it simple that our cosmologies is this: we come from somewhere and we are going somewhere. Very simple. We come from the hand of God and we're going to the hand of God. It's important in between that we place ourselves in the hand of God.

An example of a different one that is operating in this world is this article. I read this to these kids because it illustrates a couple of points. Very intelligent people are asking those great philosophical questions, which are what? Who am I, Why am I here, what am I supposed to do, and where am I going.

Listen to this article, it's the Wall street Journal so the language is complex. "Scientists go on a hunt for the dark energy filling the universe."

The creative book keeping of some accounting firms is nothing compared to what cosmologies must to do balance the universe's ledgers. But thanks to their efforts to make the numbers come out right these scientists have stumbled upon an improbable coincidence. The amount of a mysterious energy that seems to pervade the cosmos is precisely what is needed to allow for the emergence of stars, planets, and life itself.

Now before I read further, the idea operating is "wow, everything is in perfect order to allow for stars, planets and life" we, as Catholics/Christians look at that and don't wonder because we believe we come from the hand of God and we're going to the hand of God. But these people don't have that cosmology so they're questioning it.

The road to this revelation began in the 90's when it became clear that most of the cosmos is AWOL. According to observations of galaxies, the universe is filled with 'missing mass' or matter that betrays it's presence in the motions of galaxies but not even the most powerful telescopes can spot. It seems to exist in some exaustic non-luminous form that exists in normal matter. The matter that makes up our stars planets and our very selves is an anomaly, perhaps a mere afterthought on the part of creation composed of 5% of the universe. 25% of the matter is 'dark matter' until about 3 years ago nobody knew what the other 70% might be.

In 1998 observations of exploding super novas pitted that cosmic expansion has been speeding up lately. Astronomer Robert Kershner of Harvard said in his new book The Extravagant Universe--that dropped the bombshell of the epicenter of cosmology--suddenly they had more hidden stuff to contend with. This was compelling evidence that there was some sort of dark energy a repulsive energy that makes expansion accelerate.

Dark energy was the biggest single query at the their Cosmo 2002 meeting in Chicago It is now the most exciting development in physics now. Observations are driving us to think about things we never have. Where creativity in explaining dark energy reflects that some scientists have it nailed and some of us haven't. How much dark energy might be out there? In 1999 measurements of the afterglow of the "big bang", [and they have in parentheses (in which the universe began.) You see what's happening there, "maybe it did and maybe it didn't", they're presuming it did, that's a cosmology. Reading on...] Supported an old punch that the cosmos has the right density to support us. Too much causes us to explode into fire. Too little and the universe expands forever into an icy death. But in the ideal, call it 100%, the universe will expand and slow and never fall. Since matter makes up 30%, the other 70% is this 'dark energy'. And it goes on and says the cosmological constant must have a new agent because it is now superstar hot. The leading candidate must have a repulsive force that generates the missing energy. There is something curious about the constant though, in eons past it was so weak it had virtually no affect on the universe. Only now, 14 billion years after the "big bang" is it big enough to have an affect. And it seems to be growing in such a way that it will dominate in the future. We are living in the "goldilocks moment" where it is not to hot, and not too cold but just right. That seems to be an incredibly lucky cosmic coincidence.

It goes on, blah blah blah. Ends with these words. "The question is, 'Why now?' Why is it that it is in perfect order now in this time and this place. Until scientists can figure this out we are left with one more hint. That the universe is fine tuned for life and perhaps intelligence."

Interesting that they could almost come to a conclusion. One day I was walking through City Center Mall. I was dressed in my roman collar, and a person came up to me and said "I'm an atheist and I don't believe in God, what would you say to me to make me believe." That's a lot to be hit with when you're on your way to Lazarus for Christmas shopping.

I thought about it, whenever you have someone who challenges you in your belief in God, one of the best places to start is with a cosmology. And who was the great master of cosmology in the Tradition of the Church? One of them was St. Augustine. I asked him "What does your room look like at home?" And he looked at me like I was crazy. But I was going off of that he was a young person so I was thinking his room was a mess. Maybe not but he said it was. He said it was a mess. "What will you do to put it in order?" And he said, "presuming I would want to put it in order I would do this an this...(explaining what to do to put it in order)" and he was still perplexed. "So you would impose the power of your mind and intellect and see order and further advance the order by putting the things in the places they belong." He said, "yes" if you can do that, and establish order, when you look at the creation around you and see meticulous order why is it so hard to think that an intellect and a will did not impose itself to bring that order that you see now? And he said, "Ah, but why is there disease and disorder?" I said, "I don't know but you cannot have disorder if there is not first order."

So it's a little philosophical query but it helps to illustrate a point for us if we're trying to look for order in our lives. But there is order and we can have order and as human beings we gravitate towards it and we like it and it's very important.


Another example, we are living in a day of rampid relativism. Who can give me an example? Sexuality, that's a good point. That's not what I was thinking of but it's true. How do you find it in sexuality. "Well you can have your belief and I can have mine, but don't you tell me what to do with my life and vice versa." I was thinking of the area of religion. I had to go to school for a long time to function as a priest. There is a lot of schooling and it was valuable because I learned a lot about scriptures and how to be a priest and how to celebrate the Eucharist. All these things you have to learn. And it always amuses me after all that hard work I'll be teaching or preaching and someone will say "Well, I don't think that" about a teaching of the Church and I'll respect them and I will ask them "Why don't you think that?" and they'll say, "I don't know" or they'll think they are right about something they haven't studied but just because they have the power to think that it doesn't make it a right answer.

I always talk to these 7th and 8th graders about relativism. I say relativism is everywhere except the bank. Banks are not relativistic. And it makes a mockery of the rest of the world that is. If you go into the bank and approach the teller and say I want to deposit this one-hundred dollar bill into my account and you hand them a twenty the teller will say, "That's a twenty." And you will say, "I feel it's one-hundred" and the teller will say "That's a twenty." and you'll say, "I think it's one-hundred" and the teller will cease to argue with you and ring the alarm bell and you got o Jail. It's not like that in the area of religion and it's running crazy.

But one of the things that will help you put your life in order in the context of prayer, forgiveness, and trust in God is that if you want to do it then you have to understand there are certain ways to do it, it is not relativistic. It's not what I think and what you think; God shows up specific ways. If you can trust God and go about the ways that He says to put your life in His hands then there's certain ways to do it and you're going to have order. If you can pray well according to what God tells us is good prayer and if you're able to forgive then you're going to have order.

What is the principal way that order manifests itself? If you have order what do you have? Peace. Yes, if you have order you have peace. Just like when I was starting to come here tonight, was starting to lose peace and trust. Nothing to eat, crabby, lost, but I tried to let go, it was a struggle and you'll work with this your whole life. God always has the last laugh. Plank's is here, pizza's served, bathroom, and Drink. (Holds up glass, takes a drink.)


Okay, so anyway, you gotta operate under a particular cosmology, our cosmology is we come from the hand of God and we're going to the hand of God and in between is the challenge to put ourselves in the hand of God. And that's a challenge to most of here tonight because as I look out, you're all looking pretty well, physically. Now I cannot see into your hearts or minds so someone may be physically sick but for the most part you're looking pretty well.

When it is the most challenging in a particular way to put themselves into the hand of God is when physical illness strikes them. I'm not talking about a cold or a flu bug but a life threatening illness.

This is a fantastic book if you haven't had the chance to read it, "The gift of Peace" written by Cardinal Bernadine in the last days of his life. When he was really challenged to put into practice his preaching about trusting in the lord. Let me read a little bit of the intro.

Dated "Feast of all saints, 1996" he says,

"My dear friends and it is the feast of All Saints and I am home because the pastoral center for the Archdiocese is closed. The weather is much colder than it was several days ago but it is still suitable for walking and normally I would be doing just that. But today I will not do any walking, the reason is, a pervasive fatigue--one that is characteristic o pancreatic cancer--has overtaken me. Besides this I am still experiencing discomfort in my lower back and legs because of the spinal stenosis that was diagnosed a year ago. So as I sit at my desk I thought I would do something else. I have decided to write this very personal letter explaining why I have written this book the "gift of peace" It is not an autobiography but a reflection on my life and ministry in the past three years that have been as joyful as they have been difficult. My reflections being with the allegations of sexual misconduct brought against me in November 1993 and continue into the present as I prepare for the last stage of my life which began in June 1995 with the diagnosis of an aggressive form of cancer. To paraphrase Charles Dickens, "it has been the best of times and the worse of times". The worse because of the humiliation, physical pain, anxiety and fear. The best because of the reconciliation, love, pastoral sensitivity, and peace that has resulted in God's grace and the support and prayers of so many people, while not denying the former, this reflection focuses on the latter. Showing how if we let Him, God can write straight with crooked lines.

To put it another way, his reflection is intended to help others understand how the good and the bad are always present in our human condition and if we let go and place ourselves totally in the hands of the Lord, the good will prevail.

On a very personal note, I invite those who read this book to walk with me the final miles of my life's journey. When we reach the gate I will have to go in first, that seems to be the rule. One at a time, by designation but know that I will carry each of you in my heart. Ultimately we will all be together intimately united in the Lord Jesus whom we love so much.

This paragraph's from a later chapter...

On august 31st, 1996, the day after I announced the cancer had spread to my liver and was inoperable, I presided at a communal anointing of the sick at St. Barbara Church in Brookfield, IL. I told my fellow sick that when we're faced with serious illness or any serious difficulty we should do several things, things that have given me peace personally. The first, is to place ourselves completely into the hands of the Lord. We must believe that the Lord loves us, embraces us and never abandons us especially in our most difficult moments. This is what gives us hope in the midst of life's suffering and chaos. It is the same Lord that who invites us "come to me all who are weary and find life burdensome and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me for I am kind and gentle of heart."

Our challenge tonight if you are not facing a serious physical illness. Is to make an act of the will and the intellect and place ourselves in the hands of God. Just as I explained to that young man about the cosmology of order and how ultimate order in creation comes from the intellect and the will of God, so we have to make a conscience effort to being to place ourselves in the hand of God. Have you been trying to do that? Anybody? Who can give me a coupe of example of how to place themselves in the hand of the Lord.

I gave you an example like on the way here. What other examples. Laurie what's one. "I have a very stressful job and every morning before I get out of bed I look at the crucifix and pray to God asking for a good day. Then I do that every evening before I go to bed." So there are two elements, prayer and trust in the Lord.

"I have a friend who is going through a very difficult time and making the wrong choices and who's living [inaudible] and I want to help her but she won't let me, not just me but also her family. I'm praying everyday that God will open her eyes." So you have to Trust in the Lord that she's going to let you.

"I'm having a fourth child in June, and my oldest is starting school in the fall and so we're having to trust that God will help with the financial." That's incredible, so that involves considerable trust in the Lord, and prayer. We'll get to forgiveness in a minute. That comes later.


When I arrived as the pastor of St. Rose. St. Rose is an interesting parish. I met the retired priest and he said, "Here are the keys, Goodbye" and that was it. I, of course, was used to running the diocese because the way it was setup we have three in charge and the Bishop, of course, is ultimately in charge but we're capable of administering the diocese on our own. But running the diocese is different from running a parish. You sign lots of checks and you sign a lot of contracts. But there's always money there for the checks and there's always someone else doing the contracts you just sign them, it's just a formality.

When you become a pastor of a parish you are ultimately the one that's accountable for everything. One of the scariest things of all is how you are going to meet the payroll. This is true in those parishes that have schools. You have teachers, staff, etc. And when you're sitting in seminary and learning to say Mass, you would never think that you would be managing these huge works, some of which cost more than a million/year to administrate. And you personally have to get the money.

So I arrived and was there about a week and the secretary and the bookkeepers was there and they looked at me with concerned eyes and they said "We need 7000 dollars to meet payroll." And I said "Okay, that's fine". (Aloof) and they said, "You have to get the money." And I said "How do I get the money" and they said, "We don't know". And I said, "What did father Dreese do?" They said, "Well, when we needed money and told Father Dreese he would go up to his room for about 10 minutes and then come down and go to the bank and come back with the money."

I thought "Okay, I'll stand in my room for 10 minutes and then I will go to the bank and see if I can come back with 7,000 dollars." I had to learn how to use and draw money out of accounts and juggle stuff around. And then as I got more of the picture, it got a little more scary because my parish sits right in the middle of Appalachia. It's hard going, people have a real need down there some of which don't even have running water. So I turned to Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She's one of my great intercessors.

I have one of her little books here. "Reaching out in Love" It's one of the new books about her since her cause for beatification continues to advance.

This is really good, it's just little tidbits about her life. There's a couple of interesting stories that I don't think are contained in the book. But highlight a point about trusting in the lord. A priest came up to her and he was crying. He said, "Mother, my school is poor and I don't have money to pay for the school." She was very wise. She said, (imitating) "Father Don't worry," have you ever heard her speak? I sound justl like her. (continuing) "God has lots of money." What did she mean? She relieved that priest tremendously that school succeeded and not because a big benefactor came down and gave them money but because she taught him to let go of his worry and trust in the Lord. And this incredible order came over the whole parish and, as always, with order, peace.

In the book she has a very simple saying that might help you a lot. Because probably some of you tonight as you're here to hear about order have chaos in your life because of money worries. Her advice is. "If God wants it, God will provide it." That helped me tremendously. That helped me to know is that I have to trust in the Lord.

That trust is not frivolity or laxidaisical. I can't lay in bed all day and trust in the Lord. It means you have to get out of bed and you have to do your part and pray and put your life in order through prayer and ask God for what you see around you that you perceive that you need because you perceive it to be good and then you have to trust. That's part of the deal, you have to do your part.


Going back to my point, that you have to Trust in the Lord. You have to do it little by little with little victories day after day after day. You need to recognize when you have a victory and when you're having a struggle, you have to do what? What do you have to do? You have to pray. Why do you have to pray? What does prayer do?

Why do you have to pray everyday? (from audience) "It's a way to communicate with God" Do you have a lot to say to God? "Some days more than others." What does God have to say to you? "I guess that's part of it too then" That's the major part of it, God has something to say to you. And what God has to say to you is particular to you and is essential--considering our topic--to putting your life in order. If you do not pray and listen to what God has to say to you you will never have order in your life.

One of the things prayer does is enables us to be silent. And to listen. And out of that eternal silence will come perception and direction. And you will begin to see because God, as you're sitting there quiet for a change, will begin to show you.

Mother talks about that and Mother Angelica has a book, it's called, "Answers not promises". In the book she illustrates the three points, prayer, trust and forgiveness. But I haven't gotten to forgiveness yet so I'll just tell you about prayer and Trust in the Lord.

I took a pilgrimage to some monasteries about a year ago. To the monastery of St. Meinrad, Gethsemane, and we went down to the National Dominican sisters, but the whole point was to see Mother Angelica and go to mother Live and go to Hanceville to see the temple of the el Nino Jesus. Something very striking happened to me there. We were at mass in the temple. It was built for a lot of reasons, some of the practical reasons were that the five donors were tired of seeing the type of churches were being built today. They donated the money for that, what originally happened is that she was on a trip to Mexico City and she had a vision of the baby Jesus and he said, "Build me a temple."

I was sitting there with the presider of the Mass. I was a concelebrant. And I know her story pretty well. When I was in seminary she talked to us at the Josephinum she told us the kind of childhood she had where her father left them, they were destitute in a home with rats, and they trusted in the Lord and all through her life she's been struggling to trust in the Lord as He has called her into a deeper and deeper in communion with Him. She founded the TV station, trying to run the monastery and it costs a lot so she trusted. So the money for the station kept coming in and she was with a broadcaster and he was doing commercials that she didn't like so she said, "I'm not going to be on your station anymore." And he said, "Fine you're out of luck lady." And she said, "Oh am I?"

If God wants it, God will provide it, and he did. So now she has her own TV station now called EWTN. If you don't watch it you should. Fantastic TV station.

So she's building up and doing all this stuff and then the Baby Jesus says to her "Build a temple" she said, "Okay, build a temple" and she did and there we were sitting in there. And I'm looking at this place and the night before we were in the studio on the show and that was amazing. And I'm looking at this and it's modeled after the Great Temple of Solomon. And so the domes are of gold and cedar. And the moment you walk in you think of God and his majesty, and his glory and his power and his mercy.

So I was sitting there looking at this place and being so edified and straight across from me were these bars separating the choir area where the sisters are. Looking at them and in the wheelchair was mother (she recently had a stroke) and I looked into her eyes and I thought, "All of this is here, because one person trusted." And in that trust, placed their life into the hands of God.

And this we're seeing all around us is a manifestation of God's work. So, God can do that with you, you know, and intends to. Perhaps you won't build a temple or found a TV station but something glorious is planned for you, and you and you. And every single person in this room.

Imagine what it would be like and what we could do for the glory of God, me included, if we could have that level of trust and prayer.

The prayer helps us to discern and hear the voice of God and to hear his direction and to follow leadership and it's also an opportunity for us to do what we're supposed to be doing; offer adoration and praise. Getting back to the cosmology and the relativism. There are ways to do these things. I cannot get into it all in this talk. But it's in here (holding up the Bible) there's ways to do the prayer, ways to put yourself into the hands of God.


What's the principal way that I can tell you tonight? So you can at least leave here knowing there's one thing in my life that I need to do. What's one thing I have to do? Forgive. You have to forgive.

This is a great book too (holding up "Five loaves and two Fish"), this is a little blurb about just a part of the life of Archbishop Francis Xavier Nguyen van Thuan. He's deceased now. He was in the Holy Father's house in the last part of his life. Very interesting person. He was a priest in Vietnam, Pope Paul VI make him an auxiliary Bishop. He was known for making very young bishops. Archbishop van Thuan was made the Archbishop of Saigon very young only 3 months before the fall to the communists. And when it fell he was arrested and put in jail in solitary confinement. A single cinder block room with no window, chair, bed, etc. only darkness.

How long do you think he lived there? 9 years. Can you imagine your existence for 9 years in something like that. There was a little barred window in the door where he could converse with he guards.

He tells the story during his imprisonment because people asked him all the time "How were you able to do it, you certainly had a lot of time to pray." He said, "Actually no", he said it was so difficult on the mind that he could not pray very much. "The only prayer I could muster is a prayer I learned years ago from a man named Jim when I was a bishop. " The book goes on to say Jim would come to the Cathedral and would kneel down in front and stay only a minute and get up and leave. There was a sacristan that was neurotic and he was upset by this man. The more the man came in the more this priest got mad and finally he freaked out and he went after him and said, "Why do you only come in here for a minute and then leave." And Jim said, "Because I come in and my prayer is, hello Jesus I'm Jim, I'm here." And then he leaves.

It drove that priest crazy. Before Archbishop van Thuan was transferred to Saigon Jim got sick so he went to the hospital and there was a chair before Jim's bed. And the bishop said, "Who's the chair for?" And Jim said, "The chair is for Jesus." And he said, "Really? Does Jesus come here often?" And he said, "Yes, He comes here everyday at noon just like I did at the Cathedral." And he said, "What does Jesus say when he comes?" And Jim said, "Not much He just comes and says 'Hi, I'm Jesus, I'm here.'" And that little scenario, that story is what kept that man sane 9 years of confinement. In addition to that he would sing the beautiful hymns of the Church. The Tantum Ergo, the Veni Creatus spiritus. The Oramus Pontificia; a great song sung for our Pope. We should be singing those in our churches.

Those songs had incredible impact. Outside this cell door were placed two guards. Originally there were 6 but they cut that down to two because they were worried that the guards were contaminated. They were; with the Holy Spirit. Because the human person always moves towards what they perceive as good and in order, these guards started talking to him and asked him about life outside of Saigon. And he would tell them all these incredible stories and notice he was telling them not sitting in his cell annoyed and hateful. He's telling them all these incredible stories about what life is like in places that have liberty where people can move about and speak and travel and they were interested. And in the course of those years he brought those to conversion.

One of the rewards that God gave him towards the end of his confinement he was sitting in his cell in the darkness and he heard one of his guards coming to take his shift. And as he was coming up the stairs he was singing the words to the Veni Creatus Spiritus. The words "Come Holy Spirit fill the minds and hearts of your people."

When he was preparing to be released the guards were very worried and they said, "We're concerned because won't you go to your people and bring them back to kill us?" And he said, "No" and they were confused and they said, "But we have detained you here for 9 years in total darkness. In this horrible place and have treated you terribly, won't you want to kill us and our families?" And he said, "No" and he explained that the Love of the Lord Jesus who loved us to death and whom we crucified has received in His own body the worse treatment anyone could ever receive and He forgave us from the cross so we have to forgive and we must forgive. They were completely converted.

After he was released and he was exiled so he went to Rome and John Paul II received him into his house. The Italian press asked him why do you want this man in your house? You have all these people to advise you, why this man? And the Holy Father said, "He is going to be my personal advisor on human suffering." Because the chaos that is in our lives that causes our suffering in the heart. Is the great difficulty that prayer and trust and forgiveness can overcome.

I had a lady come and talk to our eighth graders. How many people have heard of Rachel Muha? For those of you who don't know her son was murdered while attending Franciscan University of Steubenville and if you have not heard her talk you should seek it out because it is extraordinary. This is what I would call real news. When you turn on your TV you will see the news filled with auto accidents and murders, and as is so typical when there is murder there are people who are screaming for justice and we're not surprised to see them say, "Get him, Get her" That's not really news, we've seen that.

This story is news because it illustrates what happens in your life when you trust in the Lord, when you pray and when you forgive. And what happens is incredible profound peace. And if you do not Trust in the Lord and if you do not pray and if you do not forgive, incredible profound chaos suffering, and death.

So, I wanted the Lady to come and talk to the eighth graders and then I had her come back to talk to St. Rose, St. Bernards and St. Patrick's and the results were the same, the people were astounded. It was news. In our fallen state our reaction is to attack those who attack us, but that does not give order. With all these affronts in your life you want revenge. And that upsets our life. And causes us disorder, we lash out, we feel bad, we lash out again and think "What am I doing." Her son was murdered and standing there in front of all these people and she tells you how difficult it was to forgive.

The man was sitting there at the trial very nonchalant. I looked at his hands and I figured those must have been the hands who pulled the trigger on the gun that killed my son. And I wanted to rip the fingers off those hands, and I wanted to do it myself. And I looked at his mouth and in that mouth is the tongue that uttered the horrible last words that my son heard before his death and I wanted to rip his tongue out. And I was looking at his eyes and they were so cruel and I wanted to pluck them out, I wanted to do it myself.

You see that's real anger she said, "I was so tempted to leap into the realm of hatred and let hatred rule but with my intellect and my will I made a conscience decision not to do that but to forgive. And I did it for myself because the Lord commands us to forgive. And I had to use my intellect and my will because my heart said to hate him., hate him hate him hate him"

And incredible peace came, she tells us. When she made that leap. Incredible peace. So if you want order in your life, I've given you a few examples, Trust, Prayer and Forgiveness.


As a conclusion of this talk I want to read you something from the Gospel. The Gospel of Mark. The healing of the paralytic. (Mark 2:2-12)

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say,' Rise, take up your pallet and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--he said to the paralytic--"I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home." And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

The interesting point in that Gospel a lot of times when we approach God, we want to do it on our terms, we fail to trust, we fail to prayer and we fail to forgive. And we look for Jesus to do something for "me" just like they were in that situation. When our Lord came in our world the principal reason He came into the world was to forgive sins. Because the forgiveness of Sins is at the heart of our malady, of our sickness, chaos, disorder. In genesis everything was turned upside down and Jesus came to set it right and forgive sins.

But look at what the people were doing, look at what we do now, they were saying, "We want a sign," "We want a miracle" and the miracle was first, "child your sins are forgiven" but they're thinking, "what about the paralysis? What about the blindness? What about the hemorrhaging?" (The woman who touched His gown.) So people were looking for a magic doctor, why? Because they were operating under a cosmology that this is all there is. We start here and end here and what's in the middle is "it". And Jesus says "no, what's in the middle is not all there is." There is a beginning--we come from the Hand of God--and there is an end--we're going to the hand of God--and what's in the middle is working your work now through trust, prayer, and forgiveness to put yourselves in the hand of God now. And the amazing thing that happens on the cross is that Jesus takes all the bodily wounds that He healed into His own passion suffering and death. Did you ever notice that? Paralysis: crucifixion, blindness: the crown or thorns, hemorrhaging: the scourging.

Satan is always coming at you and what is he saying, "He saved others, why doesn't He save Himself." That's not why the Lord came, He came to put creation back in right order and to give us the gift of His life that helps us to pray, trust, and forgive. And when Jesus was on the cross having to endure the ultimate sacrifice for us, we have no right, forever, to bind someone and not forgive them.