NOVEMBER 1st:

ALL SAINTS DAY.
WHAT A GREAT WAY
TO START A GREAT MONTH?

Today we celebrate All Saints. It’s a good feast. It’s like saying at a banquet, “We want to thank Joe and Charlie, Mary and Patricia, Jane and Tom. Better, we want to thank all of you here today and for all that you do for all of us around here - how you have been like so many wonderful people who have gone before us!”

All Saints Day is not a complicated concept.

Sometimes non-Catholics don’t get it with Catholics and Saints – especially with the Blessed Mother Mary. No, we don’t say Mary or the Saints are Gods. No, we don’t worship them. Yes, we pray to them for help when we want to sell our house, or to find lost ear rings, or when we feel like hopeless cases. Yes, there is probably some superstition and tongue in cheek aspects with regards the Catholic practice of honoring and recognizing saints. And we can laugh at ourselves about all this.

And for those who don’t accept that, on November 1st, we let it all hang out and celebrate all saints and all kinds of saints.

We celebrate the Saints we know: Claire and Francis, Augustine and Teresa, St. Vincent de Paul and St. Paul. But we also celebrate our patron saint: if we have been named after one. And we also celebrate the many saints who surround us – living saints – as well as those people who have gone before us who were good people – models, examples, people who cared, people who made sacrifices for us, people who tried to live the Beatitudes.

We pray: "Thank You God for all the wonderful people who have graced our lives – known and unknown – parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, neighbors."

So we don’t think it’s complicated.

All Saints Day is a day of gratitude to start off the month of November, a month of Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow, All Souls' Day, we’ll pray for our dead.

November is a good month for enriching our spiritual life – especially by reflecting on all kinds of people who are saints – saints with a small “s” - as well as Saints with a capital “S”.

Last night I looked up the Saints of November. It's the month of St. Martin de Porres and St. Martin of Tours, St. Charles Borremeo and St. Columban, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini and St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Andrew the Apostle and St. Andrew Avellino, St. Leo the Great and St. Albert the Great, St. Cecilia and St. Gertrude. It also has a Marian feast: The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on November 21st.

I like Halloween – because kids can dress up in all kinds of outfits and get sugar overloads. I also love it when Catholic churches and schools have kids dress up in Saints’ outfits - and parade through classrooms or down the main aisle of church.

Saints make sanctity real. Saints make the gospel visible. Saints help kids see holiness in a personal visual aide.

I got a call the other day from a lady about St. John Neumann. Her kid was writing a story about him as well as dress up as St. John Neumann for All Saints Day. Great. The tradition continues.

Here at St. John Neumann Church we celebrate a Saint who visited Annapolis at least two times. And he was supposed to be there for the dedication of St. Mary’s Church on January 15, 1860 – but died on January 5th. He had blessed the cornerstone in 1858.

So we’re blessed here at Annapolis that a Saint was in our presence – remembered by this church and symbolized by his statue in the courtyard outside the front doors here – as well as Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos' statue at St. Mary’s in the Marian Gardens.

So All Saints Day has lots of messages.

Conclusion: whatever message hits us – hits us – and I’m sure we all want to be part of that huge crowd we heard about in today's first reading from Revelation (7: 2-4, 9-14). As the old spiritual song goes – made famous by Louis Armstrong, “When the Saints come marching in, I want to be in their number.”

CONTRAST IS
A GREAT TEACHER

OPENING IMAGE

Everything always went right for Bob; everything always came easy. That is, till he had a stroke. And the stroke hit him and hit him hard. It was the first time he was ever in a hospital, that is, since his birth. His health was another one of those things he always bragged about, something he always prided himself in.

Well now, here he was in a hospital. Here he was in a room with someone else—someone “lower” than himself. Obviously, Joan, Bob’s wife, wanted him in a private room. They had the money. They had the insurance for the best health care in the world. However, the doctors stressed the value of sharing a room with someone else, “He’ll learn so much more by recovering with someone else.”

For the first few days Bob was hardly able to speak and hardly able to cope. His brain, his whole body, all was numb—dumb. All was moving in slow motion. He had lost control: he leaked; he drooled; he cried. His systems had let go. And as he lay there, he slowly began to realize that he too was going to have to learn to let go. That’s difficult when everything always worked the way they’re supposed to work.

Growing up, school came easy to him. Without cracking the books, without his parents or teachers having to crack the whip, he was always at the top of his class in grammar school, high school, and college.

Life came easy to him: a good job, a good family, a good neighborhood. Bob had the American Dream. Everything he did was a piece of cake and he got to eat it as well.

Contrast is a great teacher.

In the bed next to him was Jose. What a contrast! Jose: short, squat, bus driver, as well as a taxi cab driver on the side. Bob: tall, thin, business executive and Mercedes driver, golf and bridge player on the side.

Contrast is a great teacher.

Then there were their wives: Lourdes and Joan. Every afternoon around 2:00 o’clock in came Jose’s wife, Lourdes. She always wore her blue bloated down jacket and a beautiful smile. She waddled in with her shopping bags of stuff: everything from soup to rice and beans. Next came Joan, usually around 3:00. It’s a longer trip from suburbia. Sometimes, depending on where she was coming from, she would be wearing her soft white coat or her green suede jacket or her long tan overcoat.

Contrast is a great teacher.

Classes began. School started.

Two weeks later things had changed. Bob and Jose got to know each other—first by looks, then by waves, then by words. Both had major strokes, but luckily for both, the stroke was on their left side, so both were able to speak. In time all four—husbands and wives—talked—moving from small talk to healing talk. A stoke is a handicap and as in golf a handicap can be a great equalizer.

Physical therapy was aggressive. This was the doctors' and therapists' big stress: “We’re going to push and push hard. We have discovered that aggressive physical therapy as soon as possible after a stroke is the most important thing we can do for a stroke patient. The sooner the better. And we think our PT, Physical Therapy Department, and our OT, Occupational Therapy Department, are the best in the state.”

However, it was their kids who were the greatest teachers. Bob and Joan had 2 kids: both married, neither of whom had kids. Jose and Lourdes had their 8 kids and those 8 kids each seemed to have 6, 7 or 8 kids each. Sunday afternoons, when all showed up, chairs were out of the question. Bob and Jose’s room was as crowded as a tenement apartment. They had to move to the lounge—which both families soon took over. It was Bob and Joan’s first introduction to real Spanish food and Spanish culture and Spanish family life. “Mi casa, su casa” was the menu of the day. Soon all were laughing as they were eating Spanish food on paper plates with plastic knives and plastic forks that had come out of stained brown paper bags.

Contrast is a great teacher.

Then came the homework. As the weeks rolled on, it was at night that Bob began to do his homework. He gave himself poor grades as he compared his life to Jose’s.

Both men talked. Bob told Jose how lucky he was to have such beautiful children and grandchildren. He said how much he liked Miguel, Jose’s little 2 year old grandson. Jose added, “Isn’t he such a funny character?” Bob added, “Watching your family, I see how wrong I’ve been about people who live in the city and in apartment houses. I now see how important the things in life you can’t buy are: kisses, hugs, humor, laughter, children and grandchildren. Wow! When I walk out of this hospital, I’m going to be walking out a new person, Jose. Thanks. Oops. Muchas gracias.”

HOMILETIC REFLECTIONS

In today’s gospel we listened to one of Jesus’ great parables: the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. “Two men went up to the temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.”

In today’s gospel Jesus uses contrast. Contrast is a great teacher. And Jesus, the great teacher, is constantly trying to reach us and teach us by the use of contrasts, by the use of comparisons.

If contrasts and comparisons can get us to buy athletic shoes or diet food, why not use it to get us to change our attitudes?

Jesus aimed his parable at the Pharisee within each of us. Jesus throws this parable to us today to get us to think about how we view each other.

The Pharisee came into the temple not to praise God but to praise himself. The Pharisee came into the temple not only to put himself on a pedestal, but to put others in the basement. “I give you thanks, O God, that I am not like the rest of the people around here—grasping, crooked, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes on all I possess.”

The Tax Collector, the “sinner”, went to the temple to pray. When he walked into the presence of God, he realized by contrast his sinfulness. Contrast is a great teacher. He felt the vast difference between himself and God. He kept his distance and prayed, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

Then Jesus hits us with the message. Then Jesus gives us his teaching, once more by using contrast. The Tax Collector, the sinner, the other man, Jesus says, went home from the temple justified, but the other man did not. “For all those who exalt themselves shall be humbled, while they who humble themselves shall be exalted.”

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

When are we going to learn this great lesson from life?

For most people, it’s probably one of those things we learn in the second half of life.

As St. Paul puts it in today’s second reading to Timothy, “It’s going to be after the fight is over and after the race is run.”

Isn’t that when most people really learn about life: after the race; after the fight; event; after the mistake; after the fall; in the winter of life?

Isn’t it when we are young and strong, rich and self-righteous, that we don’t listen and don’t learn? Aren’t those our Pharisee years?

And isn’t it when we are older and weaker, when we start to experience our body falling apart, that we begin to see what life is all about?

For Bob in today’s opening story, wasn’t it the time in his life when he was humbled by a stroke that his mind began to get exalted thoughts? Wasn’t the hospital his greatest classroom? Wasn’t Jose and his family his greatest teachers?

Doesn’t everyone say, “I never appreciated my health till I lost it.” Don’t we all hear people say, “I never appreciated my wife or husband till I lost her or him” Sickness gets us to sort out who and what’s really important in life.

Conclusion: As we heard in today’s first reading, isn’t it when we are weak and feel like an orphan or a widow that we finally begin to realize that God is listening to us and we ought to be listening to God? Isn’t the purpose of coming into this church, this temple, this hospital, to learn, to pray, to listen, to be emptied of ourselves and to walk out filled with a greater awareness of God and exalted thoughts about our neighbor?

“For all those who exalt themselves shall be humbled, while they who humble themselves shall be exalted.”

© Markings

Homiletic Reflections

30 Sunday OT C

Oct. 29, 1995

Andy Costello, CSSR

THE PHARISEE AND 
THE PUBLICAN

(Luke 18:9-14)

I thank you, Lord,
that I am not like
so many other people
in this parish.

I won’t mention any names,
but at least I’m trying
to do my best,
not like so and so.

I go to church regularly.
I pray every day.
And I volunteer for many other activities,
not like so and so
who only shows up to be seen.
And thank God,
I don’t have to grow up today
like these teenagers standing
in the back of church.
Why don’t they come up front
or at least sit down with the rest of us?

And a teen in the back
kept her distance saying,
“Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.”

© Andy Costello, Prayers in The Night, 2009

*

THE ABILITY
TO LAUGH
AT ONESELF

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “The Ability to Laugh at Oneself.”

Can I laugh at myself?

I would think that’s one of the marks of a mature and healthy person.

Reading today’s parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, I would say loud and clear, “Jesus had a great sense of humor.”

Can I read today's gospel and laugh at myself?

Can I read today's gospel and see myself in the story?

Today’s gospel is for churchgoers – not for non-churchgoers!

THE PERSONALITY OF LUKE

This is the year of Luke. As you know the Church rotates Matthew, Mark and Luke on a three year cycle: A B C . This is the year of Luke: C. I have been finding myself really challenged by Luke this time around. How about you?

As I was reading today’s gospel, I started to wonder about Luke. Was he liked? Was he a character? Did he like to sit in the back row or off to the side at Christian assemblies and just watch the human condition – and laugh? Did he upset people by his humor and human stories?

Sometimes those who get the message don’t like the message!

BABIES LAUGHING

While looking something up on Google the other day, I spotted off to the side the caption, “Laughing baby”. It was on You Tube: those quick, short, 1, 2 or 3 minute films. I hit the button and I had a whole series of babies laughing. Great stuff. [At Google type: "You Tube Babies Laughing" then hit the "You Tube Baby Laughing" site, then hit Hahaha 1:40 From BlackOleg -Nov. o4, 2006 25,936,829 hits"]
Amazing. I could feel my face laughing as I was watching these laughing babies.

It was wonderful.

I thought of Jesus’ words, “Unless you be like little children, you won’t recognize the kingdom of God.” (Cf. Luke 18:15-17; Matthew 18: 1-4; Mark 10:13-16.)

Isn’t it wonderful to see not just a smiling baby – but a laughing baby?

Baby, when was the last time we really laughed?

COURT JESTERS

In the middle ages they had court jesters – to keep a king honest. The jester had free reign to make fun of the king – his mannerisms – his idiosyncrasies – his pomposity and his personality.

If you have a chance to see anything by Shakespeare, watch it. Shakespeare has court jesters and plenty of funny as well as sharp observations about human beings.

I don’t know enough history to know if any court jesters were hung or beheaded or stabbed to death for mimicking a king.

I don’t know enough history to know if bishops and popes ever had church jesters.

They are needed, necessary, and very important for the church.

ANTOINETTE

Years and years ago I was stationed at a retreat house where the bishop of the diocese would visit from time to time for meetings. For some reason, a great Italian gal named Antoinette, who cleaned rooms, and worked in the dining room, decided to play a joke on the bishop. She short sheeted his bed. Surprise! He loved it. Someone was treating him like a human being. He came back a few months later and was disappointed that Antoinette didn’t short sheet him again.

That was in the 1970’s. Surprise! His grand niece got married here at St. Mary’s about 3 weeks ago. I ended up at the bishop’s nephews’ table at the Marriott for the wedding banquet, so I told the deceased bishop’s nephews the story about the short sheeting by Antoinette. They then told me several jokes their uncle used to tell them. I was glad to hear that – because I had heard he could be dull at times. In fact, I heard seminarians used to comment that when he taught theology, they thought he was dead - a normal criticism for seminarians for their professors - at least when I was young. However, they added that he was always very much alive the day after he would visit home. The joke was: he got a shot of formaldehyde. His father was an undertaker

Humor! It’s a necessary ingredient if you want to sit down at the table of life.

HUMOR: SOMETIMES IT'S MISSING

If there is anything I see missing in the Muslim public stance towards life – it’s the need for folks to laugh at each other. Of course, I’m saying this from total ignorance. I don’t know what TV is like in the Middle East. I hope there are Muslim comedians and cartoonists who can get folks to see craziness, inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies.

At times I also worry about our Church. In the last twenty years, there seems to be a movement to the rigid – the strict – the severe - the very formal. I think there is a serious need to be seriously tickled at times. I like a painting by Louis Bosa called "Procession". It shows a great cast of characters in a religious procession. I also like paintings by the Colombian artist, Fernando Botero. He makes everyone - priests, bishops - as well as animals - round and firm and fully packed. They make the viewer smile. I see some people in church that don’t look like they have smiled in 10 years. In my opinion, I sense that the religious groups around the world who are getting recruits don’t seem to have laughter in their life style. I hope I’m wrong. Maybe they laugh at themselves behind closed doors - but I think they have to tell their faces to smile when they are in public.

CARTOONISTS

Where are the cartoonists? Critic magazine used to have great Catholic church cartoons – that poked great fun at us priests and bishops. We passed the cartoons around. I hope bishops did the same. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves.

Cartoonists can sometimes capture the essence of a situation with just one picture – one cartoon.

I’ve heard cartoonists asked by commentators, “Whom do you want for the next president?” and their answer is often based on whom they think they can make the best cartoons of. Smile.

If someone made a cartoon of any one of us, what would they feature? Our nose? Our double chin? Our belly? Our bald head? Our face? The things we’re off on? What would we laugh at about ourselves?

HUMILITY

I have given various priest retreats in my life – and I often have said to priests that part of humility is humor – and part of humor is honesty – and part of humility and honesty is being earthy. After all the word humility means “earth” – “humus”. We are made of earth and we’re going to return to earth.

Everyone of us has to go to the bathroom and everyone of us has to go to the undertaker.

In the meanwhile, smile! Laugh! Enjoy this great gift of life.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

So today’s gospel has Jesus poking fun of those who go to the temple to show off. He pokes fun at those who are convinced of their own righteousness and despise every one else.

Jesus tells the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, so we can see ourselves in the mirror and laugh at what we see.

Let’s be honest. Everyone of us who comes to church looks down on someone else who comes to church.

Let me repeat that: “Let’s be honest. Everyone of us who comes to church looks down on someone else who comes to church.”

The Pharisee in the gospel walks up to the front – where everyone can see him. Notice Jesus says that he prays to himself. I think that's a great English translation from the Greek. He says, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and I pay tithes on my whole income.”

How about that? Don’t we think that about the people whom arrive late or leave early? Don’t we think that about those whom we think don’t dress correctly for Mass? Do we think that about those who bang kneelers or what have you?

Don’t we say that same sentiment at least once a day. Thank God I’m not like that person who is 1000 pounds overweight – or has that weird hairdo - or has that junky car – or eats so stupidly – or sees life differently than I see life? Thank God I’m not like that guy who sits outside of church and mumbles to himself.

I was just up at a meeting for 100 of us in New Jersey – and I was very happy to be me and not some of these other guys. And I'm sure they said the same thing seeing me. And every time I catch myself thinking that, I have to laugh at myself.

And Jesus says the tax collector – who were thieves and sneaks – also went to the temple to pray. He prayed, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” And Jesus said the tax collector is the one who went home justified – "for whoever exalts himself will be humbled and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

CONCLUSION

I assume that heaven is going to be very, very funny that first week.

I say that about heaven because I think it’s going to be one big surprise after another.

I think that because God the Creator has a great sense of humor: creating hippos and giraffes, penguins and pelicans, owls and otters, mosquitoes and monkeys.

And if we think some animals look strange or funny looking at times, next time you’re at the airport or the beach, just look around. Better: take a look at all of us here today. Let’s laugh healthy laughs about each other – especially ourselves.

* (Painting on top by Louis Bosa, "Procession", oil on canvas, H. 40" x W. 62", 1952, James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA - gift of Donald E. and Anna Bosa Mulligan - To see the painting up close, just put the arrow of your mouse or cursor on it and click it. Make sure you smile.)