A Worthwhile Homily
My brother John. This picture was taken at my 50th Anniversary celebration at Our Lady of Snows Parish.
Some 34 years ago, my brother and I attended a Sunday morning Mass in St. Mary of the Angels Church in the Notting Hill district of London England. On this morning, my friend, Father Michael Hollings, the Pastor, celebrated the Mass and gave a never-to-be-forgotten homily.
Through the years, this homily has stuck in my mind and touched my life deeply. In his talk, Father Hollings mentioned the different individuals one might meet in this tough district which made up his parish. As he mentioned various examples, he exclaimed with much feeling, “Christ loves him!” or “Christ loves her!”, as the case would be.
“That drunk lying in the gutter, Christ loves him!” “The street walker making money to feed her children, Christ loves her!” “The beggar, in rags, looking for a few pence from passersby, Christ loves him!” Father Hollings went on to mention six or seven other types of people, low in the social scale, and generally the object of much derision from others. Knowing his devotion to the down and outer, I could believe him when he cried out each time, “Christ loves him!”
I remember one time, about 10 years later, while in a McDonald’s in a small town in Michigan, I was thinking of Father Hollings homily. A man, about 45 years old, came in with a knapsack on his back, talking out loud to everybody and nobody. No one paid attention to him as, with a big smile on his face, he told of his adventures with his bicycle. The thought came to me of that long ago homily. “Christ loves him!” Because of that memory, I honestly wanted to show him courtesy and friendship by listening to his story.
Later that same night, in the motel, I told my brother of my experience at McDonalds’s. His face lit up with the recalling of the words we both heard together a decade earlier, “Christ loves him!”
As people of all dispositions and states in life cross our paths, we could do nothing better than to think, “Christ loves him!”, “Christ loves her!” How uplifting a thought to think that Jesus of Nazareth cares for each one of us as His dear possession, regardless of our good fortune or poor fortune in life.
Fr. George Mc Kenna
About
Fr. George P. McKenna
Born July 12, 1919
Entered Eternal Life January 25, 2019
The son of Patrick and Mary (O’Malley) McKenna, Fr. George was a graduate of St. Theodore Grammar School, Quigley Seminary North, and St. Mary of the Lake Seminary. On May 6, 1944, he was ordained by Samuel Cardinal Stritch and faithfully served the Archdiocese of Chicago for 75 years.
His assignments included: Maryville Academy (1944-1949), Teacher at Quigley Seminary North and South (1949-1968), Christ the King (1963-1968), Pastor of St. Barnabas Parish (1970-1976), Missionary at Fairbanks Diocese in Northern Alaska (1976-1977), Pastor of St. Catherine of Alexandria (1978-1982), Associate Pastor of Our Lady of the Snows (1982-1989).
While assigned to Our Lady of the Snows, he would walk around Midway Airport for exercise and would stop in there to warm up. When he realized there was no Chapel at Midway, he knew his next calling and he founded Chicago Midway Airport Chapel on July 24, 1988 and served as the Chaplain until 2011.
His life long quest was to know and love Jesus of Nazareth, and Fr. George traveled to The Holy Land 27 times during his life, to walk in His footsteps and grow in his love an understanding of Our Lord.
Fr. McKenna wrote four books: A trilogy titled “I’ll Only Speak for 3 Minutes” and his last work, “Wisdom From the Pulpit“. After his retirement as Chaplain in 2011 he started this Blog and began sharing old and new messages of faith, hope and love that he had written as homilies over the years. This Blog will remain active until his treasure trove of messages is exhausted.
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