Sr. Briege McKenna, who gave a mission here a few years ago, is a religious sister from the north of Ireland. She is based in Clearwater, Florida. As a young sister she had crippling arthritis and ended up being confined to a wheelchair. One day during mass she was miraculously healed. After this the Lord revealed to her that He was calling her to a ministry of healing. The Lord also gave her a profound insight into the ministry of the priesthood and a lot of her work is giving missions to priests. I have been at several of her retreats and she really is a wonderful instrument of the Lord. She continually travels all over the world and she often draws huge crowds. She is known to have the gift of healing and miracles frequently occur when she prays with people. She has written a book called Miracles Do Happen, which is well worth reading. It is a description of her calling and work and gives many examples of the miracles that God has worked through her.
Some years back she was invited to speak on the Oprah Winfrey show, which is one of the most popular chat shows in America. It has a weekly viewership of 48 million people. Sr. Briege was invited on the show to talk about her work and her ministry. Oprah was asking her about the healings and miracles which often take place and Sr. Briege was saying that it is through name of Jesus that these healings take place, just like it mentions in today’s first reading. And then Oprah said to her, ‘But Sr. Briege isn’t the name of Jesus just another name? There isn’t really anything special about it?’ Sister Briege said that in her head alarm bells started going off and she realized that what she would say next was really crucial. And she said, ‘No, it isn’t just another name. It is the only name under heaven by which we can be saved.’
In the first reading today, it says, ‘Of all the names in the world given to us, this is the only one by which we can be saved,’ because the name of Jesus isn’t just another name, just as Jesus isn’t just another person, and Christianity isn’t just another religion. Jesus is the Way to God. It is only in Jesus, that our lives make any sense. Without him we are just creatures with no purpose.
God calls us to share in his own divine life. We are getting ready to be with God forever. God has created us in his image, meaning He has given us the gift of free will and the ability to love and create. That is why we have such dignity, such worth, as human beings. God has also called us to share in his life and that’s what makes us very different from any other creature that God has made.
Many people around us, many of the people we love, are living as if this life was the only one and so many have become selfish and greedy, because they are trying to find fulfillment in this world. It always makes me sad when after the death of a loved one, I hear people say, ‘We will never see them again. We will never be with them again.’ That is not what we believe at all. Even though death is so painful, it is only temporary. The point of our faith is that we will be with our loved ones again. That’s why it is such an extraordinary and hopeful message.
Nothing this world can offer us will ever make us completely happy, because God has made us in such a way that we will only be fulfilled in him. Jesus is the doorway, to God. Jesus says, ‘I am the Gate (Jn 10:7), I am the Way (Jn 14:6), I am the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11), who leads [us there].’ It is only because of what Jesus has done that we can go to heaven when we die and be with the ones we love again. You can picture the crucifix as a bridge between heaven and earth. That is what this Gospel reading is about. It is about Jesus bringing all people to himself, which He will do. ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself’ (Jn 12:32).
What about people of different religions who do not know Jesus? Can they also go to heaven. God leads different people by what they understand, but when they die everyone, regardless of their faith here on earth, will understand instantly who Jesus is and that it is only through him that we can go to heaven. Because it is not as if there are lots of doorways to heaven. It is only because of what Jesus has done that anyone can enter heaven. His death and resurrection are the doorway to heaven.
It says in the letter to the Philippians, ‘All creatures, in the heavens, on earth and under the earth will bend the knee at the name of Jesus, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord…’ One day, all people will recognize that Jesus Christ is the Lord.
What do we mean when we say that we are ‘saved’ by Jesus? ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.’ Saved from what? We are saved from separation with God, our only fulfillment; saved from the emptiness of what the world offers; saved from the destructive power of sin and of evil; saved from loneliness and saved from meaninglessness. Only in God does our life make any sense. The very name of Jesus means, ‘who saves.’
What does it mean when we say someone is lost? Being with God forever is a choice that God has given us. God respects our freewill and doesn’t force us to do anything, including going to heaven. People who reject God are lost. They have lost what God was offering them, by their own choice, just like you can’t force your children to love you, no matter how much you love them. A lot of people become afraid because they feel they may not be good enough for heaven. None of us are good enough to go to heaven. It is Jesus who has made it possible. As long as we are trying to live as God asks us to live, that is what matters. We can also say that people are ‘lost’ in this world, because they have already rejected God by the way they live and that’s why it is so important that we pray for others, especially those who have lost their way.
I love what has become known as the Fatima prayer, which Our Lady revealed to the three children in Fatima in 1917 and asked that it be included at the end of each decade of the rosary.
‘O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are in most need of your mercy.’
Every day I pray for those who are in most need of God’s mercy, so that they may not be lost. If you think about it, it is really the most important thing that we can pray for. So long as we are saved when we die, that is all that matters. Nothing else matters as much as this.
We are all destined to go to heaven. That is what we have been created for. That is what God has planned for us. If we reject God, then we get hell, which is the complete loss of God and all that that would mean. But it is one or the other, there is no where else. There is no neutral ground. And so we must choose for Jesus. He is the only way to God.
‘Of all the names in the world given to people, this is the only one by which we can be saved.’
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