September 19, 2006
Last week we were at our usual Tuesday evening prayer meeting at St. Lucy’s Shelter in Jersey City. A young homeless man was telling us that he believed that God was calling him to greatness, to do something great with his life, and how he noticed all of the great characters in the Bible had to go through pain and suffering. I affirmed his observation, adding that they went through these trials with great love and great faith. An old Cuban gentleman was speaking from his heart, and with the help of a translator, told us how good God was to him, how his faith gave him strength, and how grateful he was to be homeless in America rather than in some other country where he wouldn’t receive any help with food and shelter.
This past Sunday night a few of us went to pray the rosary and sing some songs with a friend of the friars in New Jersey named Eileen Helmer. Eileen is the mother of six young children and she has terminal brain cancer. The cancer has progressed very far already, but we are still praying through the intercession of Fr. Solanus Casey for a miraculous healing. What I want to share with you about Eileen is from a previous visit to her home about 2 months ago. As that time her memory and recognition were already severely affected by the disease. I asked her anyway when we first saw her how she was doing. She responded in a simple and cheerful tone of voice, “I can’t complain.” That simple response spoke to me of a whole lifetime of developing a grateful trust in the Lord. This was an example to me of real virtue, when a good habit is so deeply ingrained that a heroic response comes out simply and cheerfully.
Each of us in a unique way is called to greatness. We may not know what the greatest moment of our lives will be or when the most heroic offering will be asked of us, but we can grow through each little trial given to us to develop that virtue of grateful trust. We can travel that road because Jesus has gone before us and He remains with us, and His victory is revealed by that greatness.
Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR
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