Homily by Janice Sevre-Duszynska/ Donna Rougeux Co-Celebrates First Mass on June 13th at Resurrection Community in Cincinnati, Ohio

First Reading: Joel 2:23, 24, 26 -- 3:2
Second Reading: Ephesians 3:14 – 21
Gospel: Luke 13: 10 -- 17

Over the past two years of this grassroots community we have heard homilies about the naming of injustice and the spiritual empowerment of bent-over women and men in our church and world. Today we have used the same Gospel and readings as we did for Donna’s ordination Mass. In Saturday’s ordination homily, Bridget Mary Meehan spoke of the “spiritual uprising” happening within our Church. 

In the Gospel when the synagogue leader expressed outrage that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, Jesus called the religious leaders, hypocrites, and pointed out that this healing was for a daughter of Abraham and Sarah, who had suffered for 18 years. The messages for us today are that: 1) Jesus treated women as equals. 2) People have priority over rules and regulations. 3) Sexism is sinful and should always be challenged. 4) Our Compassionate God lifts up all who are bent over by the burden of patriarchy.



We are learning to stand up straight.
As I read this Gospel and focused on the bent – over woman, three contemplative stories surfaced: One of an experience from Monday night, one that Donna had shared with me, and one that took place many years ago.
On Monday night, we took a drive to my son and daughter-in-law’s house near the Kentucky River. We were taking in the beauty of the countryside, the rolling hills, horse farms, vineyards,  and the ducks, rabbits, and variety of birds on my son’s farm. We headed down to the ferry by the river and sat on the bench and watched the ducks and talked more. We looked at metal markers showing how far the river had risen. As we headed back to the car, we noticed a van parked next to it – which we hadn’t heard drive up.

In the front seat I could see a young woman bent-over the steering wheel and as I approached the car, I could see that she was sobbing.  I touched her wrist, and as I could feel her receptivity, I spoke to her softly, asking if there was anything I could do. It ended up that she followed us home. She shared her pain and little by little some funny stories, including what kind of a crazy woman was she that she was following these three women home that she had just met. But actually, she had been praying, asking God to please help her and when we identified ourselves as priests – she knew that God had answered her prayers.
She was barefooted and I brought her some flip-flops. She gave the indication she was really hungry when I asked her if she’d like something to eat. She talked and the more she talked the more she began to laugh and sit up straight and asked to come back.

The second story relating to today’s Gospel comes from a neighbor friend of Donna’s who had a daughter who was two years old when she was diagnosed with leukemia.  She was in and out of treatment until the age of 10. That’s when it returned full force.  She and her parents knew it was terminal. Like any mother it was devastating to think her child was going to die. Over time her mother noticed that her daughter would occasionally stare off into the distance. It was like she was transfixed with a smile on her face, wonderfully content.  After each of these episodes, she told her mom that she saw “the kids” and they made her very happy.

And, the kids were telling her, “They want me to go with them.” One day she told her mom the names of the kids that she saw and heard.  They were all children who had passed away. The mother and daughter knew one of them: Jarred. He and the little girl had both been in treatment together. Before he died, Jarred created the Joy Cart at the Markey Cancer Center in Lexington so that kids undergoing treatment would have toys to play with during their hospital stay.  When the little girl’s mother saw that her daughter was happy, she was able to sit up straight. The same with the little girl who had been bent over with concerns about the future. When she saw the children, she sat up straight, no longer fearing what was next.

The final story is about my Grandpa and the vision he saw when he was a young man bent over with loneliness. He told me the story two weeks before he died.

My grandpa’s parents came from Poznan, Poland. They worked in the coalmines in Pennsylvania and bought a farm in Pulaski, Wisconsin.  They died before my grandpa was 10 from what today we call black lung disease. He was put in an orphanage. When he was 17, he fell in love with my grandma, but her Dad said he would have to save $5,000 before he would allow him to marry her.

Grandpa rode the rails to the Dakotas to get work in the wheat fields. There he was alone for days at a time, cutting wheat.  He felt so isolated and alone and he missed and longed for Anna, my grandma. One day while he was threshing the wheat, he said he heard this strange swishing sound. He turned around and there she was:

An angel! An angel with wings! And she looked at him with eyes that filled him with comfort and protection and hope for a life with my grandma.  Bent over no more with loneliness, he stood up straight with a heart full of dreams for the future.

We’ll close remembering the words of the prophet Joel:

"After that, I will pour out my Spirit on all humankind:

Your daughters and sons will prophesy,

Your elders will have prophetic dreams,

And your young people will see visions.

In those days, I will pour out my Spirit

even on those in servitude,

women and men alike."