HOMILY – NINETEENTH SUNDAY – 8-13-17- Take courage, it is I ..
MT 14:22-33
Today’s gospel gives us a beautiful example of the power of faith! We all
need to recall moments when our faith gave us strength and courage. In his
book entitled, Gethsemani Homilies, Fr Matthew Kelty tells this story
about his mother’s faith.
“My father was a good man, but he slept with a girl in the southwest once
while on some engineering project, and he caught syphilis. My mother was
outraged, indignant, angry and hurt. A child was conceived. It was well on
the way when she went to the parish priest and told him that she was
convinced the child was rotten, sick and bad. She wanted to have an
abortion. She asked his permission. He told her in clear terms she
certainly could not do such a thing. This is South Boston, Irish, 1915,
when the cure for syphilis was probably bicarbonate of soda. Although she
was afraid, she listened to the priest. She had a great faith. The child
was born, healthy and normal. I was the child.”
Have you, or someone you know. ever had an experience of being rescued
from some dangerous situation which deepened your faith in the presence
and compassion of God? Bobbi and Ken McCaughey(pronpounced “McCoy”) did.
Bobbi and Ken, a young couple in DesMoines, Iowa, had one daughter,
Mikayla Marie. Bobbie, anxious to have another child, underwent treatment
for infertility and became pregnant with seven babies. Her doctors urged
her to have what they called, a “selective reduction”… in other words,
to abort four of her babies. But Bobbie and her husband, Ken, who admitted
they were afraid, absolutely refused, saying that they would “put it in
God’s hands.”
The septuplets, four boys and three girls, were born nine weeks
prematurely on Nov 19, 1997. They were born by Caesarean section, all
within six minutes, and became the world’s first set of surviving
septuplets. Two of the septuplets have cerebal palsey, but they manage to
keep up with the others; both use walkers to get around.
There was an immediate outpouring of love and congratulations from around
the world. The McCaughy’s (“McCoys”) were also the recipients of many
donations, including a 5500 sq.ft. house, a van, diapers for two years, as
well as many nanny services, clothes, and even the State of Iowa offering
seven full college scholarships to any state university in Iowa and also,
in Missouri, Hannibal-LaGrange University offered the septuplets full
scholarships.
The parents, Bobbi and Ken, frequently speak at pro life events and
continue to oppose abortion. Bobbi has been quoted as saying, “Well, come
to our home, meet our children, and tell us, which four, of the
septuplets, I shouldn’t have had!” The family continues to attend a
Baptist church in West DesMoines where Ken serves as a deacon.
All the septuplets graduated from high school last year – 2016. Where are
they now? Well, Natalie, Kelsey, Nathan and Joel accepted full
scholarships offered by private Hannibal-LaGrange University in Hannibal,
MO. Kenny and Alexis chose to stay in the DesMoines area and attend
Community College, and Brandon enlisted in the United States Army. Their
older sister, Mikayla Marie, is married.
“Do not be afraid” is one of those expressions which goes straight to the
heart. Everyone is afraid sometimes. The command not to be afraid combines
two truths: firstly, it is a recognition that yes, sometimes we are
afraid; secondly, it proclaims that in the community of faith, with Jesus,
who is God incarnate, our companion on the way, we ought really to be free
from fear, because “all shall be well.” Let us listen again – with the ear
of our hearts: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
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