Homily on PS 22′s I’m Going To Love You Through It video
Here is the preview of Fr. Rossi’s homily on PS 22’s YouTube video “I’m Going to Love You Through It.”
LOVING HER THROUGH HER CANCER
Adriana Lopez was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2015.
It was just months after the veteran teacher transferred to Staten Island's Public School 22.
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Despite surgery and then grueling chemotherapy treatments, she continued to pour her heart into her work and her fifth-grade classes.
“She’s one of the first teachers who arrives at school and she’s always the last one to leave,” said Gregg Breinberg, the school's chorus director.
"She's one of those teachers," he said.
"She's one of the unsung heroes, and it was time for her to be sung to."
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So on the second-to-last day of school in June, Breinberg's PS 22 Chorus did just that.
They brought their teacher into the school auditorium for their final practice.
But the kids had a secret agenda!
It would also be a private performance of Martina McBride's "I'm Gonna Love You Through It" for Ms. Lopez.
You can find it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITd5pesVjpY
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The song, about fiercely loving someone battling cancer, brought the bilingual teacher to tears.
She wept openly, repeatedly wiping away her tears with tissues.
"I just felt so supported and from all these little kids, who don't know what cancer really is.”
"Just for them to be there singing this powerful song, it was an overwhelming feeling.”
“I couldn't contain myself. I just couldn't stop crying."
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Although the presentation took place in late June 2015, Breinberg only posted a video of it a month later in July on the PS 22 Chorus YouTube page.
Within its first day, the video racked up more than 200,000 views and dozens of comments reflecting emotions identical to the ones expressed by Lopez.
To date, the video has more than 4,000,000 hits!
And 1,000s of comments of support for Ms. Lopez!
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After her initial diagnosis and surgery to remove her tumor, Lopez learned her cancer had spread and so she started chemotherapy.
She finished her eighth and final treatment this past summer.
She will now have at least 35 days of radiation treatment, which she plans to do every day after school.
"Going to work does help, because it keeps you busy, and no one keeps you busier than 25 kids in a class," she said.
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For the PS 22 Chorus, which Breinberg started in 2000, fame is nothing new.
The group has performed at the Academy Awards and sung with celebrities including Carrie Underwood and Katy Perry.
They performed at President Obama's second inauguration and their YouTube page has received nearly 70 million views.
Yet, Breinberg said he didn't anticipate anything like the kind of response his newest video has received.
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"It was kind of a personal thing that we did, for us and for her.”
“It was like a give-back moment," he said.
"This was something we wanted to do for her and it blew up beyond expectations.”
“When you least expect great things to happen, that's when they do.”
“I'm just so happy that she's at the center of this, and she's getting love and messages of support from all these people."
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Lopez, who taught in Brooklyn for 28 years before transferring to PS 22, so she could shorten her commute to New Jersey, expressed gratitude for all the support her new co-workers have shown her.
She said they have done everything from show up to school in pink — including the custodial staff and kitchen workers — to giving her a hug or thumbs up in passing.
"Everyone was so supportive, even through the summer.“
“I got text messages from people checking up on me all during the summer vacation," she said.
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She says the viral reaction to the video has been just as overwhelming as when she first heard the children sing to her.
She says she still finds herself crying everyday as she reads her emails and texts.
"I hope that others can see how little kids really support you in any way they can.”
She adds that she also hopes her experience will inspire others going through a similar ordeal.
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"It does get hard with every treatment,” she says.
“There's always something new or a new reaction, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel.”
“So, just keep crossing those days off on the calendar until you reach the end of your treatments."
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“I'm Gonna Love You Through It!"
This shows the profound impact that our love can have on one other.
Love that is nothing less than the “great power and glory” of God of which Jesus speaks.
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The readings in these final days of the month of November speak of the “End Time,” a time of “unsurpassed distress.”
I suppose we could say that the scourge of cancer is a latter-day “distress,” with thousands of people dying of the disease every year.
It might not be as earth-shattering as the ISIS attacks in Paris on Friday night, but it affects even more people.
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These readings want us to prepare our souls and lives for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, at Christmas.
And there is no better way to make ready our souls than to treat others with loving kindness and compassion, whether they have cancer or not.
Just as we are reaching out in sympathy to the people of Paris in their hour of tragedy, so too must we extend our love to those who suffer in less dramatic ways.
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Sometimes that is hard to do.
Sometimes it’s just easier to ignore the sufferings or problems of others altogether.
But when we feel this “hardness of heart” as the Bible calls it, we need to remember that Christ loved us so much He died for us, so that we would love our fellow human beings in the same way.
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If we do this, we can, in the words of the Prophet Daniel, “Shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament.”
In other words, we can be a light to the world in darkness.
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We will have the same kind of love those little kids from PS 22 in Staten Island showed to their teacher in the midst of her very personal cancer “distress”.
