Note: This blog post was inspired by a homily delivered Sunday , May 15, 2022 by Deacon Johnny Burnett at St. James Catholic Church in Arlington Heights, Illinois . In a pew was Exodus Trekkers author Robert R. Schwarz. "This story about Peter and Linda....took place nearly 50 years ago ," Burnett said, and used it as a "testimonial on sacrificial love. " Burnett's information came from the April 29, 2016 Catholic Journal article "We're All Meant to Be Evangelizers" written by Fr. Joseph Esper . The article appears below.
Forty years ago, in 1976, a 21-year-old man named Peter was involved in a serious car accident. He suffered brain damage, and went into a deep coma. The doctors told his family he probably wouldn’t survive, and that even if he did, he’d always remain in a comatose state. . Peter’s fiancé, a young woman named Linda, refused to accept this prognosis. Every evening she sat by his bed, holding his hand and talking to him, even though he was completely unresponsive. Finally, after three-and-a-half months, Linda saw Peter’s eyelash flutter. Encouraged by this, she quit her job and became his constant companion, daily massaging his arms and legs and talking to him.
Linda took him home and cared for him personally; she even spent all her savings on a swimming pool, hoping the sun and water would restore life to Peter’s unused limbs. Then, one day, Peter seemed to regain consciousness, and he grunted—his first sound since the accident. With Linda’s encouragement, Peter gradually managed to turn the grunts into words—and eventually recovered enough to ask Linda’s father for permission to marry her. He answered, “Peter, when you’re able to walk down the aisle, she’ll be yours.”
Two years later Peter was able to walk down the aisle of Our Lady of Pompeii Church in Chicago—using a walker, but moving under his own power. The wedding was covered by every TV station in the city, newspapers from across the country carried photos of the event, and in the next few weeks the couple received phone calls from celebrities and gifts and letters from people around the world.
It's about courage, self-giving, and determination
It was a very special celebration for two very special people, purchased through their courage, self-giving, and determination ( Link, Illustrated Sunday Homilies, Year C, Series I, p. 39). God asks each of us, in our own way, to do something similar. Life is not easy, particularly if we live it the way God wants us to, but it is worthwhile—for our sufferings and sacrifices allow us to share in God’s glory.
Sometimes we might face major struggles, and may even be called to a certain form of heroism, like Linda and Peter. More often we have to cope with the routine worries and fears and inconveniences of life. In each case, however, faith can sustain us, hope can encourage us, and love can renew us. Life can be hard, and over the years we can often see the physical results: our backs become bent, our foreheads become wrinkled, our eyes become tired. We cannot always see what’s happening inside us: if we bear our sufferings in faith, our spirits are being strengthened, our virtues are being developed, and our souls are being prepared for glory. This process will be completed and perfected in heaven, but God asks us to let it begin now. As Christians, we believe that suffering can lead to glory; this was true for Jesus, and He desires it to be true for us.
Worries, fears, problems, sufferings, and death were never part of God’s plan for us; these all came about through original sin. Because of Jesus, however, everything we undergo in this life can serve a higher purpose; today’s readings tell us that our struggles to remain faithful to God will be rewarded. A Christian author once wrote, “The child of God is often called to suffer because there is nothing else that will convince onlookers of the reality and power of true religion as suffering will do, when it is borne with Christian fortitude” (F. B. Meyer, quoted in Zuck, The Speaker’s Quote Book, p. 368). All of us have various burdens, sometimes quite apparent to others, but more often hidden, known perhaps only to those closest to us. These might involve our health, or our emotional well-being; they might consist of financial worries, problems at work, or family difficulties. We might be experiencing great loneliness, or depression, or self-doubt; we might be hurting from a major disappointment or an experience of rejection, or perhaps grieving over the death of a loved one. Others might look at us and say, “You’re coping so well,” or “You’re amazing—nothing seems to bother you,” but we think to ourselves, “If only they knew.” The truth is that Someone does know. God sees and understands everything we’re experiencing, and He promises to help us through it and make it all worthwhile.
The End
comments welcome at
rrschwarz7@wowway.com
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