I read a book not long ago entitled “Who Moved My Cheese?” which contained a rather obvious set of little wisdom comments to help people see where they are in their lives and where they should be moving. I agree with much of it and disagree with some of it, but one part really sang for me. The question was “What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?” It has occurred to me many times that fear keeps us from really living they way we should, the way God made us to live. Faith is what should kill fear. What do we have to fear really? If the Lord is with us and fear is ridicules for there is nothing to fear living in the palm of God’s hand.

But we are all creatures of the fall. We all have our doubts and sins that pull us away from the perfect confidence that we should have in God. In our personal relationships we have to face the double jeopardy of not only dealing with our own fallen nature, but in dealing with the fallen nature of the other person. We are going to be hurt, so we put up our defenses and attempt to protect ourselves in the process we close off parts of ourselves and deny letting love touch certain things within us. We don’t share completely, we can’t give ourselves entirely and we can’t accept love unconditionally.

But how would it all change if we weren’t afraid? What if we were to open our hearts completely?

Real, sacrificial love is capable of loving completely. The marriage relationship is especially created for the idea of loving with a heart completely open. The 31 Proverb says: “When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls. Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.” What a wonderful thing to be able to entrust not just his household and his worldly goods but his heart to his wife. The reward for this trust an unfailing prize. How would we love if we weren’t afraid?

 

I have two links to share with you this morning. 

http://fatherschnippel.blogspot.com/2007/02/words-of-remembrance-for-mollie-summers.html

and

http://fatherschnippel.blogspot.com/2007/02/homily-for-mollie-summers.html

Both are from the Blog of Fr. Kyle Schnippel who is the Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.  They are from the funeral mass of a disable ten year old girl. 

As the parent of a special needs child (my 13 year old daughter is severely autistic) I can only say Amen to Fr. Schnippel’s statements.   Family’s with children with disabilities face a great deal of pressure.  The pressure comes in so many forms.  The needs of your child, the expectations you have of yourself, the expectations you feel that other’s have of you; sometimes rightly and sometimes your own misconceptions.  Families with children with disabilities sometimes drift away from parish life.  Sometimes they limit their mass attendance fearing that their child’s behaviors will be off-putting to others attending mass.  

The Church leadership has made great strides in helping people with disabilities and families with children with disabilities step more fully into parish life.  Fr. Schnippel’s  words are true and gracious.  He sees in the death of this young parishioner the joy of a Saint going home. 

From Fr Schnippel:

It gives me some comfort,
some solace,
to know that Mollie
is now able to run and jump and play
in a way that she was never able to do
while she was here on earth.

Her chair on earth sits empty,
a reminder of the loss that we have suffered.
But she needs no chair in heaven.

Mollie,
take this chance to stretch your legs,
to reach out with your arms,
to laugh and smile.
Jesus is there to welcome you
and to give you what you did not have in this life.
We now send you home to heaven,
and we ask you to continue to help us,
to prepare our place with you,
so that we may join you
when our time here on earth is over as well.