Homily from the Mass of Healing for Survivors of Childhood Trauma

MASS OF HEALING FOR SURVIVORS OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMA                       17 April 2018

Listen to this homily
 
In the two Scripture passages today, we hear an incident of injustice, and two responses.
 
In the passage from Acts, Stephen has been set up.  A false accusation has been made against him, and he has tried to defend himself.  He points out that our religious ancestors even treated God's prophets unjustly, and essentially says, "here we go again."  Even as he spoke the truth empowered by the Holy Spirit, people didn't want to hear what he had to say, and they covered their ears, threw him out of the city, and stoned him.  He was an innocent victim of injustice.
 
Those of you hear who have been physically or emotionally injured, you know that you are also innocent victims of injustice.  Even when you tried to tell the truth, it's likely there were people who didn't want to hear it, and they literally or figuratively covered their ears.  Others may have had the audacity to be angry at you, and so you experienced more injustice and perhaps more violence, even though you were the innocent one.
 
But Stephen also manifests a holy response – he forgives.  He forgives those who refused to listen;  he forgives those who attacked an innocent man.  That idea of forgiveness is so hard to think about when we're the one who has been harmed.  But we have to remember that the forgiveness is not for the other person;  forgiveness is that path to our own healing.  Forgiveness is the way to heal the pain, the bitterness, the anger, and all the other garbage that we carry around inside because we've been treated unjustly.  Forgiveness is not for the sake of others, but for ourselves.  One of the paths for our healing and our holiness is forgiveness.
 
The second response we heard today is God's response.  In the midst of our pain, despair, hopelessness, we may ask ourselves, "Where was God?"  We may cry out just as the crowd did:  "Give me a sign!"
 
And God's response is this:  the Eucharist.  God is right here.  The gift of the Eucharist is God's response that says, "I have not abandoned you;  I am right here."  The Eucharist is the sign we have asked for, showing us that God's love has not ended, because the Eucharist is always available to us.  The Eucharist is the sign that we're not abandoned;  it is the sign of God's tender mercy and desire always to be close to us. 
 
Sometimes when people have been harmed, they are victimized by their own fear – they're afraid when someone gets close;  they're afraid when someone who reminds them of their perpetrator gets close.  They're afraid that closeness means getting hurt again.  God's response is to come close, to be as intimate as possible with us, and to help us heal that fear.  That's what can happen in our holy communion with the risen Christ.
 
Injustice will always be a part of our lives.  The Scriptures show us two responses to injustice.  One response is to help ourselves heal by forgiving those who have harmed us.  God's response to is to draw close in love and heal us through the Eucharist.