Dear Reader,

  Today was an unforgettable day for me.  With the sun up in the sky we had here the usual 7 AM morning mass with about 12-14 attending, all staff members.  Around the room were a few Kenyans, a Brazilian, some Indians, an Irish nun, myself, the lone American, and a 90 year old Indian leading the mass.  It was a day for very, very special memories for me.  20 years ago this morning, I led a wedding for a Japanese man and American (Slovakian descent) woman.  (Today they have four lovely children, one of whom is my godson, one other I baptized.)  The wedding was on the first Saturday of August, 1995,on the weekend of the US wide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.  The groom's parents and some other relatives had come from Tokyo for the wedding.  The women were dressed in elegant wraps (kimonas?) and their hair was done so attractively.  The father of the groom, a Tokyo university professor of American literature, then teaching at New York University, stood proud. The bride's parents, close friends of mine, were beaming.  The second of the three scripture readings was read in Japanese.  All during the night there had been heavy thunderstorms and in the morning the sky was so black, as if it might pour rain again, maybe even yield a tornado.  At the moment I began to read the gospel selection, the black clouds separated and shone through the chapel windows, right on the couple.  I could hardly contain myself with such a happening. At no other place did the light of the sun shine.  It was just amazing.

   When it came to the homily I said that many magazines and newspapers, TV editorialists, etc. were giving their version of the significance of this major anniversary, but I had thought God was making His own very strong statement in regard to this anniversary.  I said, "how typical of God to express Himself by what was taking place in this chapel this morning, by taking a man from one country and a woman from another country, where both countries had tried to destroy each other more than 50 years ago, and through committed human love would create love, peace, communion, healing and reconciliation--something that would transcend  the hatred and horrible memories and pain of that war."  And here we are, twenty years later and a happy, healthy daughter and three happy and healthy sons later, looking back at God's commitment to love, healing and reconciliation expressed this way. Truly remarkable.  This is real spirituality!

  And so today, the gospel reading (Matthew 15:21-28) was of a non-Jewish woman, a Canaanite, pestering, shouting at Jesus to help her with her very sick daughter.  Jesus rebuffs here twice but finally relents when she will not go away.  In fact, Jesus is truly surprised by her dogged faith implied in her persistence.  He finally receives her and even complements her for her faith in God, the faith of a Gentile, and of course, He heals the daughter by driving out of the daughter the powers of evil that had gripped her.  What was so strong for me in hearing this story once again was recognizing in her shouting the "echoes" of the many desperate voices of the poor in this part of the world as they yell for help and beg for some relenting of their misery.

  So when the chalice of Christ's blood was lifted up during mass today, I was so struck by the joy of God on one hand in the wedding and 20 years of life of the couple, and so too the pain, the suffering of God on the other hand in the cries of today's poor.   I was overwhelmed at mass today by the power of Christ's love shown in that moment with these two events on either side of the chalice as it was being lifted up for all to gaze at.  What God is doing in the world is so, so beyond our expectations!!  What God embraces as He walks with each and all of us is far more than any of us can grasp.   Faith in such a Love, divine Love, opens the eyes of our heart to see what is not available to our physical eyes and gives us an indomitable hope.

  Take care, and goodnite.

Bernie Owens