Homily

If there ever was a man who was in trouble surely it would be this poor demon-possessed man in today's Gospel. Jesus cast the demons out and he was free from this terrible problem that had caused him so much suffering for so many years. We don’t know what happened to him after that, what the rest of his life was like, but certainly he still found himself facing other problems and troubles, even if they were not as terrible as being possessed, because this is the nature of our life in this world. We hope to end up in heaven, but we are not living in heaven here. We are troubled by problems, hardships, and difficult situations in this world. They may be physical, or emotional, or spiritual. They may be directly about us, or they may be about other people who we care about.

It's only natural that we try to fix the troubles and the problems in our lives as best we can, and there's nothing wrong with that as long as we do it in a proper way. There are other troubles that we may face that are very difficult or even impossible to solve. In either case it is always good, right, and proper to pray to the Lord to remove the pain of those troubles. Did you notice that even the demons asked the Lord for His mercy in the Gospel story? If they can do it, we should also do it. It may be that the Lord will also remove our trouble, and we will give thanks. But we know that will not always happen. We can even see it when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, begging His heavenly Father to free him from the coming hours of suffering and death, but His Father did not do so, for the sake of our salvation, and Jesus accepted this will of his Father. The Lord never wills that we should suffer needlessly, but He does allow suffering, and out of that suffering some good may always come.

Are there any good parents who have not suffered in raising their children? Are there any marriages that do not have problems? Is there anyone working whose job is free of difficulties? Is it easy to try and live as a good Christian in this world? We see St. Paul saying in today’s epistle that his body bears the scars and wounds that he received from the hands of evil men when all he was doing was preaching the Good News. And St. Paul went through an amazing amount of suffering in his life, while only trying to do what the Lord had asked him. Even so, he never turned away from his mission. He never turned away from his love for Christ.

We should always pray to the Lord to remove the troubles in our lives. But if he does not do so we should ask Him to help us in dealing with the trouble, in bearing with the trouble, so that we may do the best that we can. And as long as it takes, as long as the trouble lasts, let us always offer our suffering to the Lord, as He offered His suffering to the Father for our salvation. I think it is dangerous for us to try and fix or try and live with suffering when we do not offer it to the Lord, when we do not suffer in communion with Him. St. Paul shows us that even in suffering, the grace of God can come to us and if we bear it well, we will be strengthened in faith, and come closer to Christ.

We were built for heaven. Somehow we just know this. And I think that is why some people believe there should never be any suffering in this life, or at least not any great suffering. But when we look at the lives of the saints, when we look at the lives of good Christian people, we do not see them believing that there is heaven on earth. Certainly the man in today’s Gospel, infected with demons, did not believe he was in heaven. But Jesus was there and He was the answer to that poor man's problem.

We may not be demon possessed, but Jesus is still the answer to our problems. He tells us to pick up the crosses that are in our lives and follow Him, as He carried His own cross. His cross was not just the cross on which He died at Calvary. He carried His cross throughout His earthly life as He suffered constant misunderstanding even on the part of His chosen disciples. No matter what He said or did, they never seemed to understand. He suffered constant rejection by so many people when all He ever did was good, and all He ever desired was the freedom and salvation of all people. Yet many people hated Him. And even though he cured a man possessed by demons, even the people of the Gerasene region told him that they wanted Him to get out of their neighborhood. Jesus suffered many hard things long before Good Friday.

Troubles, problems, and sufferings will always be a part of our lives in this world. That is certain. But we should never divorce them from our lives in Christ. Let us always bear them with Christ, in Christ and for Christ. For He will never let us suffer without some good coming from it, and He will never abandon us in our time of need.

One of my most favorite passages in the New Testament is found in Matthew 11: 28-29:

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Let's do that.