NOAH

[This was a "homily story" for the kids' Mass this morning - on this First Sunday of Advent - Year A - December 2, 2007]

Once upon a time, there was this neat kid named Noah.

Now, Noah was one of those kids who was always neat. His shoes were always tied. His shirt was always tucked in. His tie was always right up to his top button – even after running around the school yard on a hot day during recess for a half hour.

Other boys – especially his two brothers were just the opposite. His parents seeing the contrast – seeing the difference between Noah and his two brothers, Nathan and Nicholas, in the ways they took care or didn’t take care of themselves or their stuff – wondered at times and laughed, “Where did we get this kid, Noah?”

When he ate, his string beans, his carrots, his potatoes, his gravy, always looked too neat on his plate. This was Noah. It was not something that he had to work at. Neatness just came to him naturally.

Noah was one of those kids who was a Boy Scout before he became a Boy Scout. He was always prepared. His parents noticed this about him from when he was in kindergarten – maybe even before kindergarten – even pre-K – even in his high chair.

He always had an extra box of crayons – an extra ball point pen – an extra pad of paper in his school backpack. “You never know when you might lose a crayon and the teacher says to draw the roses red, the branches brown and the leaves green – and maybe some kid might need an extra crayon or doesn’t return your brown, green or red crayon that he or she borrowed from you.” And kids always borrowed from Noah. He always had extra stuff. He was always prepared.

He loved those tiny catsup packet’s and mustard packet’s when the family went to Burger King or McDonald's or Wendy's. He always took two of each. He never spilled his soda. His tray was always neat – and he always went and dumped his waste in the big garbage pail – even when he could hardly reach the top.

When the family went on summer vacation to the beach, he always wanted to pack his own pack – always making sure he had 8 sets of underwear, 8 sets of socks, etc. if they were going to be away for 7 days. It was always one extra with him.

He liked umbrellas. He liked flashlights. He liked boots and galoshes. He liked extra batteries. He even looked at the tires before he got in the family SUV – and sometimes he would even lean on the spare tire when the back was open to make sure it had enough air. “Hey you never know.”

This was Noah – and everyone in the family knew this was Noah – and they long since stopped kidding him about his neatness and organization skills. His mom and dad stopped using him as an example to his two brothers a long time ago, when they would be quite sloppy.

Yes, Noah became a Boy Scout – and an Eagle Scout – and when he got older he joined the local rescue squad. He liked helping people who needed help.

When he went to college, he knew what he wanted to be – an engineer – and not any kind of engineer – but an engineer who built strong bridges and dams and strong walls along waterfronts, along rivers, lakes and the ocean, to prevent floods.

He had watched TV very carefully when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico. He saw all those people who lost their homes and their cats and dogs and everything. He wanted to help people in the future from being flooded.

And that’s what Noah did. Even though he was from a Navy town, even though he saw Army lose in football to Navy 18 years in a row, Noah joined the Army after college and was able to get into the Army Corps of Engineers.

And that’s what he did with his life – helping people prepare for storms and floods.

His parents were proud of their boys, Noah, Nathan and Nicholas.

Nathan ended up owning and running a Starbucks – and did well – even though there were 14 other Starbucks within a mile of his store. Nicholas ended up starting a Santa Claus suit factory – and was very busy – especially at this time of the year.

All three boys were back home when their parents were celebrating their 40th Wedding Anniversary. That December Sunday morning, all were at Mass together, Mom and Dad, and Noah, Nicholas and Nathan, and their wives and kids.

That Sunday morning, it just happened that Noah ended up sitting between his mom and dad. Secretly, he was always their favorite – but moms and dads can never say that – but all kids know their parents have favorites.

And that Sunday morning, it just happened that in the gospel Jesus talked about the people in Noah’s time who didn’t prepare for the big flood and all were lost - except for Noah and his family. Noah prepared well – building his ark – his big boat – saving his family and all the animals.

When his mom and dad heard this they both automatically elbowed Noah at the same time.

And Noah’s mom and dad, both came up with the same idea at the same time. They both lied. Okay, it was a white lie, but both lied as they whispered to Noah, “That’s why we named you Noah. You were always so prepared.”

And Noah smiled – but he knew they were lying, because he knew he was named after his dad’s dad, whose name was Noah – and who died of cancer just before Noah was born – and never saw Noah – but his grandmother saw him – and she stopped crying once she heard that her grandson was being named after her husband, Noah – “Noah the Neat,” as she always called her husband.