{"id":1849,"date":"2007-09-16T06:36:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-16T06:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/09\/homily-for-september-15-16-2007-our-lady-queen-of-martyrs.html"},"modified":"2007-09-16T06:36:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-16T06:36:00","slug":"homily-for-september-15-16-2007-our-lady-queen-of-martyrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/09\/homily-for-september-15-16-2007-our-lady-queen-of-martyrs.html","title":{"rendered":"Homily for September 15-16, 2007: Our Lady Queen of Martyrs"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend, my parish, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, is celebrating its feast day, as it does every year, on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the parish, and the 80th year of the school. Saturday night, we had a large concelebrated mass with retired Brooklyn Bishop Thomas Daily presiding. Below is the homily I preached at that mass, as well as at all the masses on Sunday.<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/a>About 20 years ago, a songwriter who grew up in Forest Hills \u2013 Paul Simon — wrote that \u201cthese are the days of miracles and wonders.\u201d <\/p>\n

I thought about that when I started to put together my thoughts for this weekend. The story of this parish in Forest Hills is one of \u201cmiracles and wonders,\u201d too. <\/p>\n

In the gospel we just heard, two words recur \u2013 joy and rejoicing. The message is all about God\u2019s mercy and love for us \u2013 and about celebrating something that is treasure. <\/p>\n

This weekend, as we celebrate our parish feast, we celebrate a treasure, too. We mark the 80th year of our school. And this date has special significance: It was 90 years ago yesterday, September 15th, 1917, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, that Father Joseph McLaughlin was assigned as the parish\u2019s first pastor. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to talk a little about our history this morning, and also about the woman at the heart of it all, our patroness, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs. <\/p>\n

The Jesuit writer James Martin was a member of this parish before he became a priest. He told me one time he used to call this \u201cOur Lady of Queens Boulevard.\u201d I\u2019m sure a lot of people have done that. It\u2019s such a landmark. <\/p>\n

But ironically, 80 years ago, when our school began, there wasn\u2019t a Queens Boulevard. There wasn\u2019t much of anything. It was country. There was a ragged two-lane road called Hoffman Boulevard \u2013 later known as Queens Boulevard — that stretched out to Long Island. And not much else. <\/p>\n

A lot of this area was, literally, a dump. In \u201cThe Great Gatsby,\u201d F. Scott Fitzgerald described driving to Long Island through \u201ca valley of ashes\u2026a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens.\u201d <\/p>\n

That was Queens, in the 1920s. <\/p>\n

But in 1927, there were<\/i> miracles and wonders. Charles Lindburgh flew across the Atlantic. Henry Ford began producing the Model A. In October, The Jazz Singer<\/i> opened and motion pictures talked. The New York Yankees, with its fabled Murderers Row, swept the World Series. William Paley created something called the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System. A year later, he dropped Phonographic and \u201cCBS\u201d was born. <\/p>\n

And that fall, in the countryside of Queens, Father McLaughlin was finalizing the plans for a school at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs. <\/p>\n

The parish was 10 years old. A census at the time counted just 78 Catholics. Not 78 families. 78 men, women and children. They worshipped first in private homes, then in a small wooden chapel built on this property. <\/p>\n

By the 1920s, they were desperate to build a bigger church. But before building the church that we are in right now, the families wanted a school. That was what was most important to them. They broke ground in January of 1928. And eight months later, it opened, with 211 students. At its peak, in 1955, the school had 859 students\u2026and 21 sisters, from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, IHM, teaching. <\/p>\n

Those were<\/i> indeed the days of miracles and wonders! <\/p>\n

But this feast we celebrate this weekend is more than an exercise in nostalgia. As I mentioned earlier, we are here, as well, to honor the woman to whom this parish is dedicated: Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs. I\u2019d like us to consider just what that means. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a title that joins Mary in a profound way to her son\u2019s passion and death. <\/p>\n

But it also joins her uniquely to us. To all her children. All those who suffer. Because Mary knows. <\/p>\n

We are used to thinking of Mary as a quiet, almost passive figure. But we should dispel that notion. Just think for a moment about her life.<\/p>\n

This is a young girl who spoke with angels \u2013 who not only listened to what an angel said, but challenged him and questioned him until he had to remind her: \u201cNothing is impossible with God.\u201d <\/p>\n

This is a teenager who, pregnant and unmarried, dropped everything and went to take care of her cousin before she took care of herself. <\/p>\n

Just a few months later, she fled the country and a murderous dictator with her newborn baby. She became a refugee in an alien land. <\/p>\n

This is a mother, and a widow, who years later watched as her child was imprisoned, and then executed. <\/p>\n

In short, it\u2019s hard to escape the fact that Mary was a woman of extraordinary resilience and — faith. She did what she had to do, trusting completely in God. At every challenge, she rose to the occasion. <\/p>\n

I like to think that the title \u201cQueen of Martyrs\u201d implies not only the tragedy she witnessed, and the pain she felt \u2013 but also acknowledges her strength and courage in the face of brutality and suffering. <\/p>\n

I also think that Mary speaks in a profound way to our own time — to all who have to face persecution, or terror, or loss. She bears with us all the martyrdoms of life. She offers us understanding. And she points the way. <\/p>\n

Remember the wedding feast at Cana. After having the audacity to tell the Son of God that he should do something, she tries another tack. She pulls aside a servant and points to Jesus and says: \u201cDo whatever he tells you.\u201d Those are the last words she speaks in any of the gospels. It is her great message to the world. Do whatever he tells you. <\/p>\n

It is a message the founders of this parish sought to live \u2013 and we can nothing greater than to follow that example and uphold the beautiful legacy that they have left us. <\/p>\n

This morning, as we prepare to receive Mary\u2019s son in the Eucharist, we rededicate ourselves to Him\u2026 through her\u2026just as the founders of this parish did all those years ago. <\/p>\n

Look around you at what started with just 78 men, women and children. Look at the beautiful shrine that grew from Fitzgerald\u2019s \u201cvalley of ashes.\u201d <\/p>\n

I think the first miracle was that this parish was built at all. <\/p>\n

But\u2026that miracle wasn\u2019t the last. Thousands of lives have been shaped by what has been done here, in our school and in this parish. <\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s letter to Timothy today tells us: \u201cIndeed, the grace of the Lord has been abundant.\u201d <\/p>\n

We have been richly blessed. And we thank God and Our Lady for making the impossible possible. <\/p>\n

The motto of our parish assembly next week says it so well: \u201cIn thanksgiving to God for all that we have been, for all that we are, and for all that we will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

My friends, that is our prayer. And that is our hope. <\/p>\n

Paul Simon was right. But God\u2019s continuing grace, and Mary\u2019s continued presence in the life of this parish reminds us: the \u201cdays of miracles and wonders\u201d\u2026aren\u2019t over. <\/p>\n

In so many ways, they’re just beginning. <\/p>\n

Photo: Interior, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church, Forest Hills, New York <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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