“Mary Was Duped!”

Homily: By Fr. John A. Koziol, OFM Conv.

August 28, 2011 – [22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)]

(Jeremiah 20:7-9); (Romans 12:1-2); Matthew 16:21-27)

 

As I sat down to write this homily, I couldn’t help but wonder what Mary Mauldin would say about these readings.  Mary led a Scripture Sharing Group for over twenty years here at St. Philip Benizi Parish.  Every Thursday morning, from 9:30 to 10:30AM, she was there, week after week, month after month, year after year.  She absolutely loved the Word of God and cherished the opportunity to break open the Word and, as she would say, to feast on the rich fare that was present there.  Because only priests and deacons can preach at Mass, Mary never had that opportunity.  I told her many times that if the Church ever allowed lay men and women to preach, she would be the first person I would ask.  Although she never preached at Mass, her ministry here at St. Philip’s gave her many, many opportunities to teach and preach God’s Word.

 

I think Mary would have identified with Jeremiah in the first reading.  Jeremiah cried out “You duped me Lord and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.”  For Jeremiah, God’s Word was “like a fire burning in his heart.”  So strong was this fire that he couldn’t keep it in.  He had to share it, he had to preach it.

 

I believe that is what Mary’s experience with God’s Word was like.  It was like a fire burning in her heart.  Those who knew her know that she had been duped by God.  Let me say it in a different way.  She fell in love with God and God’s Word.  She fell so deeply in love with God’s Word that she spent most of her adult life reflecting on it and sharing it with others.

 

Not too many people know this about Mary, but her college degree was not in theology or religion.  It was in journalism and marketing.  After college, she pursued that career until the pastor at her parish in Albany, GA asked her to be the DRE.  He was desperate.  He had already asked fifteen people who all turned him down.  She thought he was crazy!  “What do I know about Religious Education?” she asked.  But guess what?  Like Jeremiah, she let herself be duped and she took the job and fell in love with God and God’s Word.  What a wonderful example of how God works.  He seduces us!  He finagles his way into our lives and before we know it, we’re hooked!

 

Mary was hooked and she was grateful to God for hooking her.  She spent her ministry here at St. Philip’s trying to hook others.  The ministry she loved most was working with those who were interested in becoming Catholic – the OCIA.  She loved watching these men and women fall in love with God and with God’s Word.  Her favorite day of the year was Holy Saturday and her favorite liturgy, of course, was the Easter Vigil.  She would stand there, near the sanctuary, as her Catechumens were baptized, beaming with pride, excitement and love.

 

There is another theme in these readings that she would break open and would want to talk about –the theme of suffering.  The theme is present in all three readings.  Jeremiah suffered ridicule and rejection.  Paul exhorted the Christian community in Rome to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.  Jesus predicted his crucifixion and death and told his disciples that they too would have to take up their crosses if they wanted to follow him.  “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

 

Many of us are suffering today.  Mary’s sudden and unexpected death has shocked us.  Our hearts are broken and we feel lost and empty.  Mary would honor that reality and invite us to cry and to grieve.  She would say, “Grieving is a part of being a human being and it is necessary.  Don’t be afraid to cry.  It means that you loved me.”  But she would also invite us to be strong and to have faith that her suffering and death is not the end of her story but rather, the beginning of a new life for her.  Mary was not afraid to die, but she was afraid of not truly living.  That is what motivated her and her ministry.  Life is precious.  God has called us to share our selves, to be Eucharist for one another, to deny ourselves and live for others.  That is the example, the legacy she has given us.

 

For Mary, and I hope for all of us, the suffering that is redemptive is the suffering that flows from a commitment to love.  When we love one another, we accept the pain and the suffering that results from that love.  We are willing to endure whatever comes as a result of love.  As Jesus said in the Gospel today, “…whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  When we suffer out of love for another, we find life.  Love is the most important thing in life.  We are called to love no matter the cost.  We are called to truly live, and in order to truly live, we must love as big as we can.

 

Like Jeremiah, Peter and Paul – and like Mary Mauldin – we have been duped; we have fallen in love with God and with God’s divine plan for his Kingdom.  Like these saintly people who have gone to heaven before us, we express that love through service – loving, sacrificial and unconditional service.

Eternal rest grant to Mary, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her.  May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.  Amen.

 



VMary McCoy Mauldin

Born: October 4, 1954

Born to Eternal Life: August 24, 2011