Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation in Minneapolis, delivered the homily at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul for a Sept. 27 Memorial Mass for the victims, their families and others impacted by the shooting exactly one month earlier at Annunciation’s church during an all-school Mass. Father Zehren expressed gratitude for the community’s support, and he noted that praying for others can bring greater faith and hope to everyone — including those doing the praying. He prayed for the two students who lost their lives, Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moyski, and for the injured, including Lydia Kaiser and Sophia Forchas. A story about the Memorial Mass is on Page 7. The homily follows, lightly edited for length and clarity:
May the comfort of Jesus be with all who have gathered here today, all the good and faithful people, followers of Jesus all across the archdiocese. May the comfort of Jesus be with Archbishop (Bernard) Hebda and Bishop (Michael) Izen and all my brother priests and deacons, all of the good and faithful followers of Jesus around the world.
You have been such a strength, such a source of comfort to us all, that we pray that that same comfort of Jesus would now return back to you. As St. Paul writes, you who have sown generously, may you also reap generously the great comfort of Jesus that you have shown us. May you come to know that, too, in your heart. My name is Father Dennis Zehren. I am the pastor at Annunciation parish and school. This past month at Annunciation has been a stark reminder of that old maxim that when one suffers, we all suffer. We have been so blessed, so grateful for all of the ways you have helped us to carry the sorrows, that you have been drawing near to those families who have been grieving and injured and wounded. We’re so grateful for the ways that you have helped us carry this cross and draw near to the presence of Jesus in the midst of our suffering.
But we also know that the converse of that maxim is true, that when one is raised up, then we all are raised up. And so that’s where we fix our sights now. We have been praying that Fletcher and Harper be raised up, be raised up above all of the sorrows and darkness and sin of this world, that they would be raised above and transcend it all. And as they are raised up, that we too could be raised up to a little greater faith, a little greater hope. And it’s true, it’s the case that when we commend somebody to heaven, then heaven more becomes our home. We understand better where we’re supposed to be heading. And when we commend our loved ones to God, then God becomes more real to us. We hear God’s voice more clearly in our own lives. We understand God’s mission in each one of our lives. So, as we pray that Harper and Fletcher are lifted up, we pray that we also would be lifted up in that mission. And we pray the same thing for Sophia, that she would be raised up from that hospital bed and from those physical therapy tables.
Talitha koum, that’s what I’ve been praying for Sophia, talitha koum. It comes from the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus raises that little girl from the dead. Talitha koum, which means “little girl, arise.” And it’s been wondrous, miraculous to see how Sophia has been raised up. And every time we hear good news, how she takes another step and is raised up a little higher, we too are raised up a little higher to know the wonders of God working in our midst. Times like this will always be difficult. Times like this, we begin to think about things we’ve never thought about before. Maybe we ask questions that we’ve never asked before. We feel emotions we’ve never felt before. We remember things we haven’t thought about for a long time. Times like this are difficult, but it’s also times like this that we experience the presence of God in ways that maybe we’ve never experienced before. God is truly in our midst and working wonders among us. We’re so grateful for your cooperation (in) answering the call of Jesus in your own lives.
Our second reading came from the First Letter of John that reminds us that we are all God’s children now, and Jesus is always inviting us to become like children. We certainly have had no shortage of insight this past month to consider what that means as we watch the children at Annunciation, as we reflect on the lives of Fletcher and Harper and Sophia. We’ve been gaining some insight of what Jesus means, that we are all to become like children. Maybe one aspect that we could reflect on is how the gift of a child is always fresh. It’s always new. It’s something that we should not neglect to reflect on, that Harper and Fletcher will always be young. They will never grow old. That’s not an insignificant thing, that we have this gift in our life that just will never grow old, we’ll never grow tired of it, in this world where we face everyday things that just weary us. We read in the news about other acts of violence. We hear all of the divisive rhetoric and the nastiness, and we just say, “I’m so tired of it. I’m so weary of it all.” There’s so much that just wearies us.
But to have that gift in our life that will never grow old, what a precious gift that is. I was ordained a priest in 2004 right here by Archbishop Harry Flynn, and he was known for repeating, “I will never get tired of saying, the body of Christ, the body of Christ, the body of Christ. If I say that a thousand times a week, I will never grow tired of saying that.” I think you all know what that’s like. To have that gift of God in our lives. It just never grows old. We never get weary of it. We come to Mass; we don’t get tired of it. It keeps refreshing us and lifting us up. The word of God never grows old for us. There’s always something new. So that gift of Harper and Fletcher points us to that in this world that tries to weary us. It’s that gift that will never grow old, and we cling to that.
Maybe another aspect of being childlike in the eyes of Jesus is just being lovable. Children are just so cute and lovable. It’s been fun listening to the stories of Fletcher and Harper and how lovable they were.
Fletcher’s mother says that Fletcher was the fletchiest Fletcher that ever fletched. It sounds like he was such an outpouring of life and love as little boys can be. And Harper, I hear, was a perfect mix of sweet and spicy, and she was full of life, too. They were just so lovable. And so, to become childlike means that we should try to be more lovable. There was a theologian from the 12th century, William of Saint-Thierry, who once said we all have an obligation to love one another. But we also have an obligation to make ourselves as lovable as possible so that it’s easy for others to love us.
How often can we say that we’re trying to make ourselves more lovable? Sometimes I see somebody, and I think, “I don’t think that guy even wants to be loved, the way he’s being.” Can we just try to be a little more lovable so that it’s easier for people to love us? What a gift of a childlike spirit that would be. Maybe another final aspect to reflect on as we reflect on the lives of the children is to consider one of the greatest experiences of childhood, and that’s the experience of falling asleep in the car and waking up in your bed.
Maybe you remember that from your childhood. You’ve been on a long road trip. You fall asleep in the car before you know it, and your eyes open. There you are in your comfortable bed. And that question starts to rise up in your heart: How did I get here? But then you don’t even finish the question because you know how you got there. It was the strong arms of your father. The strong arms of your parent lifted you out of that car and brought you to a place of rest.
And that’s how I’ve been imagining Harper and Fletcher, that they fell asleep in the church that day. And when their vision was restored, maybe they asked themselves, “It’s so beautiful. How did we get here?” But they didn’t even have to answer that question because they knew that it was the strong arms of God that lifted them above all of this and is bringing them to a place of rest. So, can we experience that a little more in our lives? That’s what we’ve been experiencing at Annunciation this past month. We started out as such a place of sorrow and tragedy. Now we look at it, we’re in a different place.
And all of the blessings that have come to us, school is open and humming again. We’re gathering together for Mass. Sometimes we wonder, how did we get here? But we know it’s been the loving arms of our God lifting us and carrying us all the way. Thanks to your support and prayers working through the body of Christ in our midst. So, we continue on our journey. We continue focusing on the mission. And I often remind people that we all have to die before we die. There’s just no other way to do it. Dying should not be something we reserve for the final moments of our life. Every day, we should be laying down (our) lives for Jesus and for one another. Every day, we should be saying, “Here I am, Lord, take me as you will.” Every day, we should be saying, “Jesus, I trust in you.” Every day, we should be listening for that voice of Jesus so that one day when he calls each one of us finally home, we can say, “I know that voice. That’s the voice of my savior. Here. I’m not afraid. I will follow him,” and he will bring us safely home.
It’s so blessed to be with all of you here in this archdiocese on that mission. And together, we will continue to pray and we will continue to trust. We will continue to come back to this gift that never wearies us, never grows old. We continue to trust. Until one day soon, we can all be reunited again in one place where all our tears will be wiped away and the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to us will be revealed.
