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I wish
all of the teenagers attending today’s Mass were familiar with the
Aramaic language because when Jesus said in Hebrew “Talitha koum,”
what he said would have very much caught the interest of our teenagers. Rather
than wondering how long it would be before Mass was over or—believe it
or not, I saw it with my own eyes in Church at an earlier Mass—checking
email and text messaging during the homily, our teenagers would be like
deer whose eyes are staring straight into the headlights of an oncoming
car.
As it would be rendered in English, what Jesus said was “Rise up,
teenager.” A less literal but accurate translation would be: “Turn away
from death, teenager.” A very loose but good colloquial
translation would be: “Get your butt out of bed. You’ve
got work to do!”
The issue isn’t
that Jesus is speaking to the young teenager like a parent chides a lazy
teen during the summer months or on weekends. No,
the reason Jesus tells the young teenager girl to rise
up and turn away from death is that she can still has it
within her power to choose life—the life that God has breathed into
her—because “God is love.”
“Deus
caritas est” (“God is love”) is the title Pope Benedict XVI gave to
his first encyclical. For young people, the Pope noted in Deus
caritas est,
[The
concept “God is love”] constitutes a school of life which offers them a
formation in solidarity and in readiness to offer others not simply
material aid but their very selves. The anti-culture of death, which
finds expression for example in drug use, is thus countered by an
unselfish love which shows itself to be a culture of life by the very
willingness to “lose itself” (cf. Luke 17:33 et passim) for others.”
Yes, the
willingness to lose oneself on behalf of others is an admirable if not
virtuous and perhaps even saintly way of life. But, what happens when someone has done
this—take a parent, for example—and now is powerless because the one’s
love and efforts are rebuffed—by a young teenage daughter, for
example?
Today’s gospel
relates the story of a father named Jairus who has just been told that
his young teenage daughter has died. In Jesus’ day, this should have
not proven surprising because, it is believed, 60 percent of all
children died by their mid-teenage years. Yet, even those tragic and
sad statistics cannot take away grief, sadness, and desperation a parent
experiences upon hearing the news of the death of one’s young teenage
daughter or son.
Jairus was a
synagogue official and man of considerable status who knew he was
powerless against the ultimate evil that had beset his daughter, the
evil that comes when a young person chooses to participate in the culture
of death and to reject the culture of life. We don’t know precisely
what caused this young teenager to die but we do know Jairus was desperate
after he was informed of her condition and before he heard that his
daughter had died. With
nowhere to turn, Jairus decided to go to Jesus, a man reputed to be a
holy man of God. Filled with grief and sadness, Jairus hopes that Jesus
might be able to do something to help his seriously ill daughter. And, although Jairus doesn’t know Jesus, Jairus casts aside all of his honor and
dignity by throwing himself at Jesus’ feet and “telling him the whole
truth.” This is not a man’s confession, however. It is a father’s
act of desperation.
We all know the
facts. When a tragedy strikes someone we know and love, we demand of
God: “Why did You do this? Give me some reason!” Yes, death does
present some very stark choices: to choose to live in fear or to live in
hope; to choose to be angry or to be peace; to choose to despair or to
grow in wisdom; to choose to allow death to defeat faith or to choose to
allow faith to defeat death. Death—especially the tragic death of a
teenager—challenged Jairus and it can challenge all of us to recognize
how God is, in fact, the God of love.
Responding to
this father’s plea, Jesus told Jairus not to live in fear but to be a
man of faith, suggesting that those who live in fear of evil’s power to
destroy life do not have faith in God’s power to save.
That’s when the
scene shifts. And, I would like to direct our thoughts today not
upon Jairus and the need all of us have for faith when tragedy strikes.
Instead, I would like to direct out thoughts today upon his young
teenage daughter who has died.
Leaving Jairus
and the mourners behind weeping, shouting, and mourning, Jesus entered
the young teenager’s room. Then Jesus said, “Talitha koum” and,
taking the teenager by her hand, Jesus raised her up to new life.
“Talitha koum,”
“Rise up, teenager.” “Turn away from death, teenager.” “God is love…Deus
caritas est.”
Death—and
especially the tragic death of a teenager—appears to be the final word.
But, when Jesus extends his hand and the young teenage girl makes the
decision to
grasp it, God proves Himself more powerful than death. In the end,
faith has trumped fear. “She was asleep,” Jesus said. And,
we are told, the people were incredulous.
So, death cannot
destroy life, that is, unless we make the choice that leads to that outcome. And, what
is that choice? For our young people, it is the choice to remain
asleep, perhaps to turn your back on the hand being extended to you and
choosing to live in a world of delusions and irresponsibility, all of
which leads to death. In short, it is the choice not to grasp Jesus’
hand and not to allow Jesus to lead you into the light of day.
As we heard in
today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom, what distinguishes the
wise of the world is their attachment to the values of heaven. These
give life. In contrast, the foolish are attached to the values of the
earth. These breed death. To be wise in God’s ways is nothing more
than to live according to the values of heaven. “God did not create
death” the author announced brimming with confidence. We fear death
because we know it is the end of physical life; but, the choices this
young teenage girl made—and which all too many young people make— caused her
spiritual death not Satan. “She was asleep,” Jesus said, living in a dark world
of dreams and make believe, because Jairus’ daughter choose to worship idols of her own
making. She chose to separate herself from the love of God. As the wise know,
self-made idols are what separate human being from the love of God by sapping
human beings of the
divine life God has breathed into them. In the end, human beings love these idols more
than they love God. These idols weaken the resolve to love the values of
heaven, to the point that human beings live in a world of delusion, fall asleep, and
experience spiritual death.
The wise grasp
the idea that there is much more to this world than meets the eye.
Everything God has created is but a mere reflection of God’s love.
Family, friends, nature, fireworks, and picnics, all of these remind us
of God’s great love. The foolish, in contrast, see in this world many
transitory things that provide fleeting happiness, yet because they are
foolish, these people fail to recognize that all of these things wither
and fade as does the happiness they once provided. While God created
everything in this world to be good and life-nourishing, all of these
things can become obstacles which the foolish craft into idols that not
only accord those things a value disproportionate to their purpose but
which also breed spiritual death.
As the writer of
today’s first reading noted, there is no destructive drug found in
nature, but human beings can turn drugs into idols that breed not only
physical but also spiritual death. Illegal narcotics and alcohol,
for example, are not evil in and of themselves. What is evil is
how human beings craft these into idols, worship them, and ultimately
are their victims. Furthermore, as Pope John Paul II noted in
his extensive series of speeches concerning the “Theology of the Body,”
God created human beings and human sexuality has its place in the divine
plan . But, human beings can turn their sexuality into an idol that
breeds not only physical death—think of how sexually transmitted
diseases have grown increasingly resistant to treatment—but also
spiritual death—think of where illicit sexual unions always end, their effects not only upon the partners but also upon others,
and the national scourge of abortion.
In sum, the power
of evil deludes human beings into loving these idols more than God and,
once seduced by this delusion, human beings freely choose to allow the
power of death to conquer them. These are the truly poor and needy
because these people have never enjoyed the life God has breathed into
them!
“Talitha koum,”
“Rise up, teenager.” “Turn away from death, teenager.” “God is love…Deus
caritas est.”
These words of
Jesus, addressed to a teenage girl two millennia ago—the daughter of
Jairus—are addressed to every teenager in our congregation today as
well. Jesus wants her—and Jesus wants each of you—to renew yourselves
and your commitment to respond to the gift of life that God has breathed
into you. The teenage years are not just a time to seek answers to the
“big” questions—like those which focus upon the meaning, purpose, and
values of your lives—but also time to discover God’s specific plan for
your life. Your future depends upon the choices you will make during
your teenage years. These are the years to lay foundations for the
whole of your life; they provide an opportunity not to be missed. The
teenage years come only once in a lifetime and, once they pass, will
never come again. These are the years to choose life and to live
it fully, not death.
All of us know
how sad it is to see a young person who is asleep, like Jairus’ teenage
daughter. We see very many around us today. These young teenagers are
filled with sadness, pessimism, the desire not to live. Perhaps a son
or daughter is just like Jairus’ teenage daughter, living in a world of
delusion and darkness. Perhaps a teenager seated here today has
made some very bad choices and now lives in fear, has no hope, is
captivated by idols of one’s own making, and can’t seem to escape their
charms. Jesus extends his arm to all of these teenagers today and
says, “Talitha koum,” “Rise up, teenager.” “Turn away from death,
teenager.”
See the new life
Jesus offers to you today! The past isn’t what counts! No, Jesus wants
to lead you from darkness into light, that is, if you choose to arise
from your sleep. Jesus offers you a meal, the bread of life and cup of
salvation, that will satisfy your hunger and nourish you so that you
will be able to discover and fulfill the vocation God has breathed into
you when God created you in His divine image and likeness.
It is
heartbreaking to see a teenager who chooses death rather than life.
This young person slowly falls asleep, living in a world of delusion and
darkness. This is nothing but a life without ideals and lived in a
society where selfishness, oppression, and inequality reign. The
deceits of this society provide the narcotics which breed an even
greater tragedy, namely, sleep that ends in death. As Jairus learned,
it is at very difficult moments in life—like the tragic death of his
teenage daughter—that our choices matter most. There are no shortcuts
around tragedy and death. It requires of teenagers—just as it required
of Jairus’ daughter—taking the path of conversion, of turning away from
what others think, and choosing to allow Jesus to lead you.
When teenagers
take Jesus’ hand, arise from their sleep, and eat of the meal he offers,
teenagers choose life. They are nourished and strengthened to build a
society reflecting heavenly values here on earth, a society in which
people are animated by selflessness and seek what is true, good, and
just for themselves and for all. These teenagers understand the meaning
of the words duty and sacrifice because they know this is the sure path
toward life as God intended it. Knowing that their only strength is
found in God, these teenagers never surrender in the face of difficulty
and failure.
Last year’s
annual survey of college freshmen conducted by the Chronicle of
Higher Education indicates a long-term trend. Since the 1990s, 41
percent of freshmen females and 34 percent of freshmen males, when asked
what they want from their degrees, selected the response “to influence
social values.” As David Bornstein noted in his bestselling book, “How
to Change the World” published in 2004, “more people today have the
freedom, time, wealth, health, and confidence to address social problems
in bold new ways…..People recognize that change is urgently needed.”
Add to the survey conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education,
a 2000 Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate study of four
generations which found exceptional consensus about caring for the
poor. On the average, 80 percent of those four generations said it is
“very important to what it means to be Catholic to help those in need.”
Further, 54 percent of young adult Catholics said they would “be more
likely to participate in parish life if there were opportunities to help
the poor and needy.”
All of this is
good news. But, we must remember, social service is not a personal
vocation nor does throwing money at a problem extend the hand of care to
those who are poor and in need. Remember: Jesus shows us the way
because Jesus went to Jairus’ house, walked into his teenage daughter’s
room, and extended his hand to her. Absent the sense that care for the
poor and needy should be “done well”—for Catholics it means done well
for God and done well to bring the world closer to God—social service is
nothing more than a job or occupation. But, when a human being is
personally motivated to bring the world closer to God, social service
gives expression to a personal vocation that is done well for God and
done well to bring the world closer to God. As Pope Benedict XVI noted
in Deus Caritas Est:
[The] social service
which [the first Christians] were meant to provide was absolutely
concrete, yet at the same time it was also a spiritual service; theirs
was a truly spiritual office which carried out an essential
responsibility of the Church, namely a well-ordered love of
neighbor….the ministry of charity exercised in a communitarian, orderly
way.
By stretching out
his arm to our teenagers—just as he stretched out his arm to the teenage
daughter of Jairus two millennia ago—Jesus is inviting teenagers to
share in his mission by experiencing the true and abiding happiness that comes through
the new life Jesus today is offering them. Yes, it takes courage to
accept Jesus’ hand and to follow where he will lead you. But, to choose
otherwise is to choose death! Yes, this is death in the sense of an
ultimate physical death but, of greater significance, this is death in
the sense of a spiritual death where you never really live fully the
life God has breathed into you and enjoy all that God has promised you.
To withdraw, to pull back, to roll over, to turn your back, and to return to the delusion and darkness of
sleep is foolishness not wisdom. It is recklessness of the first
order. It is to condemn yourself to death.
Jesus says: “Talitha
koum,” “Rise up, teenager.” “Turn away from death, teenager.” “God
is love…Deus caritas est.”
Jesus is calling
teenagers to new life. Ultimately, only you will be responsible for the
choice you make. You will not be able to blame anyone else other than
yourself! Your teenage years can become the foundation upon which you
can build a very happy life, one that makes it possible to reach your
fullest potential and to fulfill all of the dreams God has breathed into
your heart. And, then, when you leave this life because we all will die
a physical death, you will take all you have given and nothing you have
received because you will be alive spiritually.
By grasping
Jesus’ hand, by arising from sleep, and by partaking of the meal Jesus
offers, discover the beauty of a human life lived as a free gift and
inspired by God’s pure love! This is how you can taste today the joys
that one day will be yours in eternity. |
HOMILY
