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<\/a> But something that came through again and again was his deep joy.<\/strong> He had a real enthusiasm for the vocation that impressed me and inspired me.\u00a0 Somehow, Joe was able to juggle parenting, his job as a controller at a small college, parish work, and his studies. \u00a0In the middle of it all, he got another surprise: another baby.\u00a0 Last September, his wife gave birth to their fifth child, William.\u00a0 In October, when Joe was ordained, William was with him\u2014literally. I\u2019ll never forget the picture of Joe in his alb, processing down the aisle for his ordination, with his wife Katie by his side and his three -week-old infant in his arms. I\u2019m not sure, but it may be the first time a baby has ever been part of an ordination procession.<\/p>\nAfter his ordination, Joe shared with me the milestones of his life as a deacon \u2013 his first homilies, his first baptism, wedding intakes and on and on.\u00a0 The grace of the sacrament never ceased to amaze him. He was excited at being able to chant the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil, but embarrassed that he forgot to learn the \u201cAlleluia\u201d for the dismissal.<\/p>\n
Well, he wrote to me, there\u2019s always next year.<\/p>\n
Last week, as he liked to do, Joe went with his family to the Outer Banks, to Duck, North Carolina, for vacation. Wednesday afternoon, while swimming, he was overcome by the waves. Rescue workers pulled him from the water, performed CPR. It was too late.\u00a0 Deacon Joe Marotta had drowned. He was 39. He leaves behind his wife Katie and their five children: Caroline, Christopher, Jack, Michael, and little William.<\/p>\n
Theologians and philosophers have been struggling for centuries to explain the mystery of grief, the reason for suffering and loss. I\u2019ll be honest with you: I\u2019m not up to the task. I can\u2019t explain it. Stories like Joe\u2019s fill me with sorrow. There are so many questions that can\u2019t be answered, reasons we can\u2019t understand.\u00a0 The best answer, the only answer, to my mind is prayer.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 But our gospel today reminds us: we do not pray alone.<\/strong> God is with us. He\u2019s not detached or indifferent.\u00a0 As the great Presbyterian preacher Timothy Keller has noted: God knows what it is to lose a child.\u00a0 And Jesus himself knew grief, weeping at the loss of Lazarus.\u00a0 So it is understandable that Jesus, moved with compassion by the sight of the widow at Nain, tells her, \u201cDo not weep.\u201d \u00a0He then gives her something beyond imagining, and beyond measure: he brings her son back to life.<\/p>\nPerhaps when Jesus saw this widow grieving for her son, he saw something else: his own mother. Perhaps he knew very well the sorrow that would pierce Mary\u2019s heart, and was compelled to ease the loss for this particular mother.<\/p>\n
But I think there was something more at work here, too.\u00a0 Jesus saw a chance to offer this blessed reassurance: our last earthly breath isn\u2019t the end of the story. There is more.<\/p>\n
We may think it is over. But it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
That is our abiding hope\u2014and this gospel, a beautiful illustration of Christ\u2019s overflowing compassion, offers us the greatest consolation, the promise of a life yet to come. \u201cDo not weep,\u201d he told the widow. This loss isn\u2019t permanent. There is resurrection.<\/p>\n
Christ\u2019s story didn\u2019t end in the tomb<\/strong>. Neither does ours.<\/p>\nAs we prepare to receive Christ in the Eucharist today, let us pray for all who are feeling overwhelmed by some sadness in their life, that they may feel in a special way God\u2019s nearness and know his consoling love.<\/p>\n
And let this be our assurance: what happened near the gate in the city of Nain wasn\u2019t an isolated incident.\u00a0 It happens here and now, with each of us.\u00a0 With every one of us, in one way or another, God meets us on our journey, in the middle of our pain, and leaves us changed.<\/p>\n
His love transcends sorrow.<\/p>\n
His compassion eases suffering.<\/p>\n
His nearness to us helps lift every burden from our shoulders.<\/p>\n
As he did with the widow in Nain, he gives back to us what we thought we had lost\u2014restoring hope and offering us life.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[Click here for readings] A few years ago I got an unexpected e-mail from a guy in Virginia who was studying to become a deacon in the Diocese of Richmond. His name was Joe Marotta. \u00a0Joe had discovered my blog and wanted to ask me some advice about his formation. \u00a0One e-mail led to another, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[11175],"class_list":["post-23770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","tag-homilies"],"yoast_head":"\n
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