Reading 1 Ezr 1:1-6
In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,
in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah,
the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia
to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom,
both by word of mouth and in writing:
“Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia:
‘All the kingdoms of the earth
the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me,
and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem,
which is in Judah.
Therefore, whoever among you belongs to any part of his people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!
Let everyone who has survived, in whatever place he may have dwelt,
be assisted by the people of that place
with silver, gold, goods, and cattle,
together with free-will offerings
for the house of God in Jerusalem.'”
Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin
and the priests and Levites–
everyone, that is, whom God had inspired to do so–
prepared to go up to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.
All their neighbors gave them help in every way,
with silver, gold, goods, and cattle,
and with many precious gifts
besides all their free-will offerings.
Gospel Lk 8:16-18
Jesus said to the crowd:
“No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel
or sets it under a bed;
rather, he places it on a lampstand
so that those who enter may see the light.
For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible,
and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.
Take care, then, how you hear.
To anyone who has, more will be given,
and from the one who has not,
even what he seems to have will be taken away.”
Sometimes we pray to God for something and after waiting for a while and we are not getting the requested result, we conclude that God didn’t hear our prayers.
The first reading of today reminds us that God hears and answers prayers in His own ways but nobody can rush Him.
The event in the first reading took place around 538BC, the people of God refused to heed His message through the Prophet Jeremiah because of this they were sent to exile. Due to the humiliation, they suffered in the hands of the Babylonians, they promptly repented and prayed with fasting and penance for God’s prompt deliverance.
God told the Prophet Jeremiah that until after seventy years will He deliver them (Jer 29:10). After some years of repentance and penance, the people of Israel began to give up hope. Worse still, when the pagan king Cyrus conquered Babylon, every relic of hope left in them was crushed.
However, it was the unexpected king of Persia Cyrus whom God used not just to liberate them but also to rebuild their temple, just one year after he conquered Babylon.
The Holy Spirit is telling someone some things:
- God sees everything and He listens to all prayers. The gospel says, “For nothing is hidden…” Not even the tears I shed in the ‘wee’ hours of the night and in the dark corner of my private chamber.
- I cannot rush God or force Him to act in my way and in my time.
- God knows what He is doing, I may not know but He knows. His ways cannot be contained in my limited reasoning and logical categories.
St Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Today is the memorial of St Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (Southern Italy). I hardly need to say anything about this man; he is a saint of our age (some of you were probably his friends back then, maybe some even had his phone number).
Pio was born on May 25, 1887. As a child, he was able to converse with Jesus, Mary and his guardian angel. He entered the Capuchin order while he was 15years old. As a young boy and throughout his seminary training and as a priest, Pio was always falling sick; he suffered from all sorts of known and unknown sicknesses/diseases.
Padre Pio was a stigmatist, that is, he had the bodily marks, pains and bleeding in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. He bore this for 40 years (from 1918 till his death in 1968).
He had the gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, miracles, discernment of spirits. For many days he could live on only Holy Communion, he could read people’s heart, gift of tongues, conversion and his wounds exuded a sweet fragrance.
Apart from his sicknesses which are innumerable, he was also being falsely accused of being possessed, of immoral relationship with some women, he was accused of fake miracles, he was suspended from active priestly ministry because his piety and fame were treated with suspicion.
But in all this, God vindicated him and it was said of him that all who came to him encountered Christ. He died at the age of 81 on the 23rd day of September 1968. His final words are “Gesu, Maria” (Jesus, Mary).
Before his death, he said, “his real mission will begin after his death” and true to his words, so many miracles had been worked through his intercession.
Thirty years after his death, he was exhumed to be preserved and his body was met uncorrupt exuding sweet fragrance. He was canonized as a saint on the 16th of June 2002.
In his life, we can also see that – God sees everything even what is hidden, He is aware of what we go through in life. He hears every silent prayer though He can’t be rushed or pressurized because He knows what He is doing.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okami on September 23, 2019, the Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina.