[Father Paul]
I was listening to one of our Catholic broadcasts this week. It was a talk show, though I forget the name of it, to be honest. All I kept hearing in this talk show was how bad everything was getting in our world and in our church, with all the wars and rumours of wars, division in the church, and the scandals. I was starting to get really depressed because it was all true. But as I continued to work on my homily for this weekend, I was hearing a completely different message. Look at Zephaniah: “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you... He has turned away your enemies... do not fear, O Zion, The Lord your God is in your midst.” Or look at the second reading: “Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything... and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Or look at the Gospel: “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming, and I am not worthy to untie his sandals. And so, with many other exhortations, John proclaimed the good news to the people.” And think about our familiar scripture passages: “I have come to bring you good news of great joy,” said the angels to the shepherds, “for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah... And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”
But what about all these problems? Well, for sure, didn’t they have problems in the days of the angels and the shepherds and John the Baptist? John the Baptist was beheaded, and Christ the Savior was crucified. But still, when I read the Gospels, I cannot help but think that the entire message is one of incredible joy. How is this possible? The answer is this: maybe we do need to start to see the world through rose-colored glasses. What do rose-colored glasses allow us to see?
Let me remind you of a very powerful movie that came out a few years ago; you may remember it. It was so incredibly beautiful yet tragic at the same time—it was a movie by Roberto Benigni, "Life is Beautiful." “When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor, and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.”
Guido, the main character, did everything he could to protect his son from the violence and tragedy of what was happening to them in the concentration camp. He did not see the world through rose-colored glasses, and yet he did. I walked away from that movie feeling very uplifted. Somehow, in our lives, we have the ability to see the joy in any situation while at the same time not being blind to the tragedy that is around us.
I wonder if that’s what St. Juan Diego felt when he saw the apparition of Our Lady on Tepeyac Hill. We celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Thursday; perhaps it is worth mentioning her now:
Our Lady of Guadalupe first introduced herself as the Mother of God and the mother of all humanity when she appeared on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico in 1531. An indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, saw a glowing figure on the hill. After she had identified herself to him, Our Lady asked that Juan build her a shrine in that same spot, in order for her to show and share her love and compassion with all those who believe.
Afterwards, Juan Diego visited Juan de Zumárraga, who was Archbishop of what is now Mexico City. Zumárraga dismissed him in disbelief and asked that the future saint provide proof of his story and proof of the Lady’s identity. Juan Diego returned to the hill and encountered Our Lady again. The Virgin told him to climb to the top of the hill and pick some flowers to present to the Archbishop.
Although it was winter and nothing should have been in bloom, Juan Diego found an abundance of flowers of a type he had never seen before. The Virgin bundled the flowers into Juan's cloak, known as a tilma. When Juan Diego presented the tilma of exotic flowers to Zumárraga, the flowers fell out, and he recognized them as Castilian roses, which are not found in Mexico. What was even more significant, however, was that the tilma had been miraculously imprinted with a colorful image of the Virgin herself.
I know that there are deep troubles in our world and even, in some cases, in our own lives. I believe that our Christian faith teaches us to see the world through God’s eyes, that it is a world worth saving, a world worth loving, and a world worth rejoicing. As Jesus said the night before he died: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”
Today is Gaudate Sunday, taken from one of the prayers from our Mass today: “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.” our vestments are rose, we lit the rose candle. Maybe it’s time we see the world through rose coloured glasses. I conclude with a message from our Blessed Virgin to St. Juan Diego, and to each of us:
“Hear me and understand well, my little son, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.”
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