Today’s readings, in particular our first reading and our Gospel should give us incredible hope. The contents of these readings are why I personally have hope, because I see how they directly relate to my own life. And, all our lives for that matter, if we reflect, and ask the Lord to guide our minds and hearts to understand these realities.

Because of how these readings relate to me, it can be difficult for me to hear that hint of despair in people’s voices when they speak about that person in their life who seems to be one of those who is “lost” like we hear about in the Gospel.

I know what it is to think you are lost, to feel lost. I know how far I was from the Lord. Even though I would pray to God from time to time, it was usually to get me out of some sort of trouble I had gotten myself in with very poor choices. I was a Christmas and Easter Catholic for nine years - Only going to Mass on those days to probably please my Mom. 

Any fun that I had during those years, earning more money than I ever thought I would as a college drop out, there was still that something missing. There was a sadness I carried, that I numbed and ignored in various ways on a weekly basis. 

It literally took a series of events over the course of a weekend which ended with a steel beam falling on my left hand, which was my fault by the way, to make me have the clear thought in an urgent care waiting room, looking at my fingers that looked very different than they do now, to have the clear thought - something needs to change.

If being raised Catholic taught me anything, I knew I had to start going back to Mass. And, I knew if I wanted to do that right, to be able to receive the Lord in the Eucharist, I had to go to Confession. I had to say it. I had to confess the things I was most ashamed of. Things I did not want to say to a priest. I made that confession here at St. Ann, in one of those confessionals.

During that time, there were a bunch of things that conspired that brought me to my knees in that confessional. One of those things was a book that gave me the courage to come back. It may not do that for everyone, but it worked for me at that time. The name of the book is Glorious Holy Spirit: Knowing Who You Are By Knowing Whose You Are by Fr. Cedric Pisegna. 

I love the title of that book.

Jesus, came to save what was lost. I had lost my innocence in a lot of ways. But, I came to know Jesus for Who He is - Who His name proclaims Him to be - His name means God Saves. He is our Savior. 

Over the course of those nine years in my life, and still to this day, I have seen the Lord prove to me over and over again the truths being proclaimed by our Scriptures today. 

He overlooks our sins, that we may repent. That we may have our minds changed about sin. We don’t want sin - We want Him. We choose sin often because it’s easy - and, choosing Him can be hard. But, take it from a fellow sinner, resist those things that lead you away from Him. Ask Him for help. Ask others for help. Ask Him to prove that He doesn’t loathe you - to Prove that He loves You. That He wants what’s best for you, at each and every moment.

Let that internal rebuke, that guilt associated with committing a sin, be a sign of that love, an invitation to be reconciled to Him - To confess the sin or sins that keeps us from being the man or woman He created us to be. If you can hear my voice, it’s not too late to turn back to Him. Only He knows the final time He will offer us that chance to be reconciled, but if we make it a habit now, we grow in our trust that we will go to meet Him, face to face, having asked for His mercy. And, we will come to believe that we will receive it, and be welcomed into heaven.

And, through receiving His mercy over and over again in our lives, we grow in love for Him - We see Him not as a tyrant who wants to control our lives, but as Savior, as a Loving Father who wants His children to share His merciful love, generously, just like He does. Not being surprised when it isn’t received, but continuing to love anyway, and rejoicing when that love is received and given back, or given away out of gratitude. 

My challenge and encouragement for today is - Choose to hope in Jesus. Though it may be difficult, challenging beyond what we think we are capable of, with Him, there is victory in the end. We may have to wait to see that victory longer than we like, but it will come. And, when it does, we pray that we will be among the ones who can say with our psalmist today “I will praise your name for ever, my king [I’ll add my Savior] and my God.”

This past Friday marked my one year anniversary of being a priest at St. Ann. As that day was approaching, there was a clear sense that I should be trying to reflect on this past year. Being the acting pastor for the past three weeks made that challenging, but nevertheless something I’ve been reflecting on throughout this past year, and that I’ve talked about with various people is - homilies. 

As much as six years of seminary prepares you for, preaching six days a week for 365 days can’t really be replicated. I remember thinking after my first 2 weeks here, I said everything I’ve ever wanted to say. What now?

When I’m open to it, the Lord draws it out. And, it’s been an exercise of growing in trust in what He is able to do through my weaknesses, even through my sinfulness. Homilies are mysterious. And, I mean that in the sense that we talk about the mysteries of our faith. There’s always something to be gained by taking the message seriously, however poorly it’s delivered. At the very least, it could be a reminder that the person preaching is in need of your prayers.

That said, I was drawn in a particular way to reflect on the beauty of today’s first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. It’s said that the Jerusalem mentioned can serve as a symbol for multiple realities: the Church on Earth, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Church in heaven. 

That last one is what drew me in, even though my reflection can be applied to the other two in different ways. But, the image of heaven as analogous to when a mother nurses a child is fascinating. 

For women who are able to do so, and choose to do so, the reality of nursing a child gives us a glimpse of what heaven will be like - Amazing. Let's lean into that a bit. What is being revealed? There are so many levels here. One of the things I couldn't help think of is how Jesus invites us to take seriously what's being revealed through the prophet Isaiah with His teaching from the Gospel that "unless you become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." 

Children, infants, the baby in the womb of his or her mother, reveal fundamental aspects of our relationship with God: We do not choose to come into being, God gives us the gift of existence from the moment of our conception. From that moment forward, He works in constant, yet often hidden ways, to draw us into relationship with Him. And, if we reflect on that time, from the moment of our conception through our childhood, one of the things to be gained is to recognize how God calls us to Himself through the imperfect love of imperfect people. 

In no way am I trying to dismiss the fact that some people have very difficult childhoods, but if you're here now, at least two things are imperfectly true. You were fed with enough regularity to be here today and someone in your life imperfectly loved you enough for you to be here to hear this message.

Despite what has happened in the past, God is asking you to trust Him with your life like an infant being fed in the arms of his or her mother. Like the infant, you don't necessarily have to understand what's happening, simply receive the gift of being fed with God's love for you. In heaven this will be easy, we will be completely open to living like this.

But, here, now, we are in preparation mode. We are training for the heavenly realities that await us. What does this training look like?

We have to allow the Lord to draw us to these heavenly realities through the crosses in our lives, so that we might come to see the reality of what happened through the cross of Jesus. The crucifix shows us that No suffering, no pain, not even death - None of these things have the power to negate God's love for us, and the fact that we are invited to experience that love forever. 

The work of our lives, the real work, over and above whatever career we have, is to surrender to His love for us, and to work with Him in sharing the love we've received. That is freedom. The freedom through your baptism for which you were set free. Your pursuit for happiness will be fulfilled - As long as that pursuit is fundamentally focused on growing in love for our God, allowing Him to love you as the utterly free One Who He is, Who has used His complete freedom to order things in such a way that today, this moment, is yet another way He is revealing His constant invitation to relationship with Him. Receive. Stay open to the gift He desires to give you for all eternity. 

Don’t let the wolves of the world devour you, place your life in His hands. Pay attention to the ways that reflecting on the gift of life speaks to this reality implanted in your heart, especially those early years. 

From the hidden days and months of our lives in our mother’s womb, to being imperfectly fed, sheltered, and cared for as infants before our first memories, before we were able to recognize the gift we were receiving and say “Thank you,”  to the imperfect love we received from those who raised us as little children.

Sometimes, especially if we reflect back on our own lives, and recognize a lot of brokenness and negativity associated with childhood memories, it can be helpful to share that with someone we trust, who we know will show compassion toward us. It can also be very helpful to share those experiences in counseling. I have personally benefited a great deal from my experiences in counseling with someone who is trained to help acknowledge what happened, and who was able to help me move forward without letting those memories and past mistakes define me.

I’ll end with this encouragement - it’s a definition that I may have shared before from St. John Paul II about how we are to define ourselves that I think relates to a bit of what I've been trying to say - “we are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures [I might add, nor are we the sum of the pain we have experienced at the hands of others], we are the sum of the Father’s love for us. And, our real capacity to become the image of His Son, Jesus.”

That’s love. Jesus Christ crucified - Laying down one’s life for one’s friends. So that they can come to know the gentle embrace of the Father’s love for them for all eternity, beautifully and powerfully communicated through the image of a Mother nursing a child in Her arms.

How long is the journey, O Lord? 

I think these readings are prfect for what’s going on all around us right now. Each of them offers reminders of some important things to keep in mind if we want to continue to be faithful to our relationship with God and if we want to work with Him to build up His kingdom.

If you are sitting here today tired like Elijah. My hope and prayer is that together we can find comfort and hope through the word of God in today’s Readings from Scripture. 

Resources:

Fr. Mike Schmitz Bible In A Year Podcast

Directory On Popular Piety And The Liturgy (Devotional Resource)

Essence of Prayer by Sister Ruth Burrows

Praying for (and with) Your Spouse by Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak

Pocket Guide To Adoration by Fr. Josh Johnson

Dear, St. Ann Parishioners:
Please, know of my prayers for you as I serve you as St. Ann’s parochial vicar. I am grateful to Fr. Billy for his gracious support, to Archbishop Aymond for making this my first assignment as a priest, and to all of you who have offered me words of encouragement and those who have offered prayers on my behalf. For those of you I haven’t met or who haven’t heard my vocation story, here is a short sketch - I've lived in Metairie most of my life, went to St. Francis Xavier for grammar school, Archbishop Rummel for high school, a few places for college, and finally earned a bachelor's degree since being in seminary from the University of Holy Cross as well as a master’s degree from the seminary.

After 9 years of pursuing my own will, not practicing my faith, and basically flat out ignoring the Lord, I had a powerful encounter with Him, His mercy, and His personal love for me about two years before I entered the seminary. Since then, I've strived to be a faithful disciple and have had to constantly relearn the truth that without Him I can do nothing. Nevertheless, I sincerely hope that my time as a priest at St. Ann will help each of you grow in relationship with the Lord and our Blessed Mother on your way to becoming the men and women God made you to be with the hope of being with all of you in heaven one day.

May the Lord in His abundant goodness bless each of you and your families with the confidence that He loves each of you more than you can imagine, and that He will always give you the grace necessary to fulfill His will for your lives.

-Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Michael Lamy (b. 04-24-86)