My Parent's Love Story!

For those who know me, you probably have heard me tell my parent's Hollywood love story.  So you can imagine, as I'm introducing myself to my new parish that I couldn't wait to share their story with my parishioners in a homily!

My last name is Kearney, which reveals my Irish heritage. My dad grew up in small farm towns in the Midwest.  But many people are surprised to find out not only my mother's side of the story, but also how my parents met.  My mother was born in Jerusalem and came to the states when she was 10.  When she was in her early 20's she was introduced to another Arab man (not my father of course) and before you knew it she was engaged and creating her wedding invitations.  It was at that point my dad entered into the picture and came across my mom, only to be disappointed when he found out that this beautiful woman was engaged.  Long story short, due to family connections, my dad received an invitation to my mother's wedding.  You can imagine that my father was not looking forward to see this beautiful woman get married.  So he declined the invitation, only to end up driving to Tombstone, AZ from Chicago, where we have some family.

Well the night before the wedding, when my mother was going into the city to get her wedding license for the next day ceremony, my mother found out that the man she was going to marry didn't want to have any kids and wasn't planning on visiting much of her family even for the holidays.  For those who don't know my mom, this was heart breaking, for family and children mean the world to my mom.  Returning home in tears, my Grandmother, helping make the decision final, took the wedding license from my mom and tore it up!

My dad arrived in Arizona on Friday by car, only to find out my mother's wedding was cancelled on Saturday.  He jumped back in the car and was at my mother's doorstep in Chicago Monday evening. He asked her out and they dated for three weeks, he proposed, and they were married in 3 months! 

It's pretty much a Hollywood movie in the making.  My sisters and I were one day of never existing.  But as much as I like to praise my parents for their Hollywood story of falling in love, what really is amazing is their fidelity to that love over 41 years.  For if you were to ask them about their 41 years of marriage, they would be first to admit the difficulties they have faced as a couple.

I share this love story because are faith carries a very similar road.  Many of us can maybe remember falling in love with the Lord.  Maybe it was through a retreat, adoration, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation or even in the Mass.  Yet the falling in love with the Lord is easy, it's the staying in love with the Lord in the light of the Cross that is quite difficult!

That is why it's so beautiful to look toward our Blessed Mother, Mary.  For she gives us a great example of the Christian journey.  Her surrender to the Lord, which is known as her Fiat, in other words her "yes" to the Arch-angel Gabriel to give birth to our Lord, involves the same "yes" that leads her to the foot of the Cross as her son is crucified!  One of great joy and one of great difficulty.

This past Sunday we heard from the Gospel of Luke (13:22-30) the following:

“Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough"

It sounds scary for us to hear that some will not be strong enough to enter the Narrow Gate.  I truly belief the narrow gate is in reference to the fidelity to surrendering everything to the Lord, even in the light of our own death and crosses.  Will we remain faithful in the most difficult times?  How can we prepare ourselves so that we can be strong enough?  This brings me to two examples and the gifts that can be found in the Catholic Church!

When my Grandmother on my dad's side was nearing the end of her life with amnesia and dementia, there was one thing that continued to ground her in her faith.  It was her commitment to the daily Rosary.  And even if she couldn't remember the names of her grandchildren and at the end of her life her children, she could still recite the Hail Mary like the best of them.  As much as some might say the Rosary is just a rote prayer and just repetitive in nature, we don't know how much grace there is to say even the most simple words, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners now and the hour of our death!" 

The second thing would be the strength found in the Mass and in the Eucharist.  Recently I ended up at the Hospital to give last rights to man who had a brain bleed.  He seemed unresponsive when a I arrived, but while performing the prayers, the wife told her husband that a priest was in the room and a tear came to his eye.  The next day I had the chance to visit him, and after the request from the wife and approval from the nurse, I was able to give the man our Lord in holy communion.  Even though he was unresponsive to my entering the room and conversation with his wife.  When I said, "The Body of Christ," the man opened his mouth on queue and began to consume the host.  To make things even more beautiful, the wife said that her husband still remembers the "Our Father" prayer.  So after telling her husband to join her, He recited line by line with his wife the Our Father!

What beautiful gifts Christ and the Church gives us to prepare ourselves for the Lord!  May we work now, more then ever, to recommit ourselves to the Lord through the Rosary and the Mass so that we too will have strength to enter the narrow gate!