Story Homily for Easter
Tom Cooper's Good Friday did not begin well for him in 1877 Colorado
Tom Cooper looked forward to Easter Weekend. Well, everyone did in the parish not only because it was the celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection and our salvation but everyone celebrated it in a special way because it was the first Triduum after Colorado became a state. Everything that happened that year from August 1886-July 1887 in Colorado happened for the first time the Coloradans were members of the United States. They were no longer a territory but a state.
Tom looked forward to waking up on Good Friday morning and experiencing the liturgy that year but you could say God had other plans.
Around four o’clock that morning, he woke up to a strange sound, a horrible wind and finally terrible heat. He ran out of his bed to the window and saw his silo with all the grain from his winter harvest on fire. Flames rose above the roof of the silo itself.
Quickly Tom ran downstairs and drew water on the well and threw the water over the barn next to the silo to protect it and the horses inside which were all neighing in panic. He pulled them out of the barn for protection and tied them up on the other side of the house.
Then he just watched the silo fire run its course. Finally, the whole structure fell to the ground and the fire spread into his field destroying his future harvest. It was a total loss. Granted the barn and house were saved but his income was gone.
During the day, many people came to the farm and offered to assist him in cleaning up. The insurance adjuster came automatically once he heard from the town folks of the fire. Many people offered him support and comfort. Well at least except for Jake Askov. All he said was “heard about your farm!” as he hopped on his horse when Tom saw him as he went to the market.
Of course, no one would expect anything else. Tom and Jake hated each other. Folks said they hated each other since the day they were born but that of course was not possible. They did hate each other since the day they met in the first grade.
Jake was a bit of a bully even then and he bullied Tom. Tom finally had enough of it in the third grade and beat the living hell out of Jake and from then on everyone knew that those two hated each other and hated each other more and more every day.
Eventually they got older. Tom left town for awhile but came back to care for the farm and his parents in their later years. His brother and sister long left farming. His sister moved to Wyoming territory to work for the city of Cheyenne and his brother moved to New England.
After his parents died, he ran the farm himself.
Jake got married, he and his wife had three boys. They were now five, three and one years old. Tom noticed one day his wife was there and the next she was not and he heard rumors that she just left him. It would make sense, after all who could stand Jake for a long time?
Well, the next day Tom visited the insurance adjuster and he told him that the farm was a total loss and that he would receive a decent check around $500,000 dollars. That was a lot of money back then.
The adjuster asked him about the townsfolk and how they were helpful.
“Sure, of course except Jake, but we hate each other anyway. Don’t surprise me that his wife ran away.”
“Who told you that?” the adjuster said.
“I don’t know, I guess I just heard it.”
“His wife did not run away. You see that young’un the one year old?”
“Yeah,”
“Well, she died giving birth to him.”
Tom was shocked and suddenly, he felt awful for Jake, maybe the first time in his life.
“He’s been caring for those boys, taking care of that farm while grieving every day for his wife. I see him weepin in the graveyard behind the Church every day with all three boys.”
“I didn’t know”
“Of course, you didn’t with all that hate between the two of you.”
Well, they finished up the conversation and the adjuster told Tom, he would give him a check on Monday at the bank nine o’clock sharp.
The following day was Easter and Tom went to Mass along with the rest of the parish and the other Christians went in their churches too. Tom sat and watched as Jake walked in holding the one-year old in one hand and holding the hand of the five year old who held the hand of the three-year-old as they walked to a pew.
Jake looked over and saw Tom and gave him that nasty look he always did.
Tom turned away.
Fr. Cochran gave a good homily about how if we don’t allow Jesus’ resurrection to change our lives and affect us, we only believe in the resurrection. We don’t really believe he opened the gates of Heaven for us, changed us completely and made us agents of His kingdom. We just believe like we believe that water is wet. We know it but it does not change our lives much.
After Mass everyone greeted Fr. Cochran and then went to their respective Easter dinner. Tom cooked himself chicken dinner and then looked over his smoldering farm.
The next day was Monday and about four o’clock in the morning Jake woke up at the sound of someone in his house. He got out of bed, cathograbbed his winchester rifle, cocked it and walked barefoot down the corridor into the kitchen. He could make out someone standing there next to a kerosene lamp on the table but could not see who it is.
“Whoever you are, you better leave now or I will blow your head clean off.”
“Jake,” the man said. “It is Tom.” He lifted up the lamp to show his face. “I tried not to wake you.”
“Well, I should just blow your head right off now.”
“Jake, its time we bury the hatchet. I had no idea that your wife died.”
“Why would I tell you?”
“Jake, look, I came over here to make you all breakfast. You have been running this farm all by yourself while caring for your boys and grieving your wife. I can’t allow that. You heard the preacher, if we don’t allow Jesus’ resurrection to change our lives, we only believe in it like we believe water is wet.”
“I am going to help you around the farm. I will take care of the cookin’, some of the cleaning and the farm chores until you get better settled. I just want to tell you I don’t change babies. “
Jake was almost crying as he lowered the rifle and uncocked it, “I can’t pay you none.”
“Jake, you don’t have to pay me nothing, I got my insurance money. Once you get settled I will move on.”
“Well, Tom helped Jake for about a year. With Tom’s help, Jake had some time for himself and ended up meeting Millie. They got hitched after some courtin’ and Millie helped Jake with all the chores and even changed the babies.
Tom moved on. Jake and Millie gave him a great going away party.
He headed out to Boston near where his brother lived. He heard there was a lot of learnin’ going on there. A new Catholc college opened up a few years earlier, called Boston College. There was a Bible college up in Vermont that was moving to Boston. They were going to call it Boston University and of course Harvard was there.
Tom decided to leave farming and open a book store because with all that learnin’ people needed books.
So it was the Easter weekend Tom and Jake learned how to put Jesus’ resurrection into their lives.
Fr. Robert J Carr is pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Allston, MA
The parish podcast is at CatholicAudioMedia.com
The newest edition of Fr Robert J Carr's latest book is now available. Christ in Our Humanity. You can find it here.