I am reproducing here my homily for this very same Sunday 3 years ago. I used the story of football great Michale Oher as my life image. Remember, he was the real hero of the movie Blindside. Michael Oher is a timely life image today, for now, 4 years a veteran of the NFL, he is Super Bowl Champ Michael Oher, of the World Champ Baltimore Ravens.
Also notice in the homily I refer to my work at Rayburn Prison and refer to a weekend Kairos retreat. Amazingly, in less than 2 weeks, that same event will take place again on the Rayburn campus. I have seen and witnessed first hand the powerful possibilities of rebirth and producing good fruit, fruit for God's Kingdom inside the walls of this prison. That's why I think this homily, along with the reference to Michael Oher is still appropriate this Sunday. And yes, just like in that homily from 3 years ago, hundreds of new Catholics are coming home this Easter through RCIA and even more Anglicans come to Rome via the gift of the ordinariate from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
Enjoy this homily and pray with it; can this be our reality?
Homily 3rd Sunday of
Lent/March 7, 2010
Michael Oher was a lost homeless African
American teenager living on the streets. He was abandoned by family and foster
care and had no friends. To the community in general he was considered useless.
He had nothing to offer. No effort should be wasted on Michael
Oher.
Leigh Ann Touhey spots Michael one day on the streets and her
insticts told her something was wrong here. But why would Leigh Ann get
involved? After all she is a white, somewhat affluent married lady with a family
of her own. But she knew she must reach out to Michael and decided he needed a
place to sleep for the night. After convincing her husband that this is the
right thing to do, Michael moves in with the Touhey family. He did not spend the
night; he stayed for a very long time. Leigh Ann and her family made Michael a
part of their family. They provided him a second chance, a new life, they saw
value in this young man deemed useless by so many. You could say that their love
and support nurtured and cultivated Michael. And boy did he respond. Michael
improved his grades in school, joined the football team as an offensive lineman.
He went on to play college football. The ending scene of the inspiring movie,
The Blind Side, ends with the real life Michael Oher being drafted in 2009 by
the Baltimore Ravens, the NFL playoff team for which he currently
plays.
While our second chance stories may not be as dramatic as Michael
Oher, we all can look back and say, yes, we have had many second chances. For
me, it was a career move, for others it may be a second chance at love and even
others, a second chance at life. In all of these examples, someone knew that we
were worth it and we could produce good fruit.
To be one who produces
good fruit, we must be open to receive nurturing, to receive care and to be
loved. Our soil must be cultivated and fertilized to fulfill our potential. We
need to take advantage of those second chances.
As people of faith, are
we aware of the second chances we have in Jesus Christ? Are we aware that it is
His love and mercy that nurtures and cultivates us?
Today we hear the
Gospel of the fig tree. In this parable Jesus gives us the image of a fig tree
producing no fruit. In anger, the owner of the orchard says cut it down, throw
it away. It is exhausting the soil. The fig tree is useless. Wait, we hear from
the gardener, wait. Leave it for another year. Let me cultivate it, let me
fertilize it, let me give it another chance. It may bear fruit.
This is
the same story of Michael Oher and perhaps some of us gathered here today. We
need that care of the gardener, we need a second chance. Don’t cut me down,
don’t throw me away. But notice in the Gospel, the gardener says after a year,
if it does not produce good fruit, you can cut it down.
Does this mean we
only have a year to produce good fruit? No, not in terms of time as we measure
it; rather the words of Jesus tell us that we must cooperate with His love, His
care, His cultivating of our lives.
No one is useless; no one should be
denied a second chance!
My work in the prison has affirmed this message
for me. When given the opportunity to be nurtured and cultivated; when exposed
to the love and mercy of Jesus; when experiencing that love in others who come
and minister to them; they blossom and they produce good fruit. Yes, even in
prison.
In the week ahead I will participate in a 4 day retreat, a Kairos
weekend, where we will bring a message of hope to 30 men who have not yet
experienced the loving message of Jesus Christ. These men in prison,
incarcerated for a crime, and demonstrating little interest in faith based
programs could easily be cut down, as that fig tree. But wait, no. The gardener
says wait. Give them a second chance. Fertilize the soil, cultivate the roots,
nurture and care for them. Bring them new life so they may become new
lives.
During Lent, we know that many are getting their second chances
too. These are the catechumens and candidates that will be received in the
fullness of faith at the Easter vigil. This year there are record numbers of
them; almost 400 in our Archdiocese alone and 4 here in our parish, all here
with us this morning.
Second chances too for the thousands of American
Anglicans who just, this week have agreed to join the Catholic Church. Think
about the power of being nurtured and cultivated. 100 Anglican parishes in our
country and 100 have heeded the call to convert.
Who needs nurturing and
cultivating in your life? Who in your own heart are you about to give up on? Who
is the fig tree in your life you are about to cut down? No, wait. Turn them over
to the gardener, Jesus Christ, who will help you nurture and cultivate them and
give them life. There is one person, at least, in our lives that we need to
reach out to in the week ahead. Do it now, before it is too late. Forgive that
person, love that person and watch them produce good fruit. Give them a second
chance.
For Michael Oher it was the love of a family that helped him
reach the NFL and maybe one day a shot at that Lombardi trophy that currently
resides in New Orleans. But for him and for us, there is a much greater crown
that awaits us; the trophy that never fades or goes away. For when we respond to
that nurturing and cultivating of Jesus in our lives, we can win the crown of
eternal happiness with Him forever.
Don’t be blindsided! Embrace that
second chance!
