WHAT’S ON YOUR CALENDAR?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “What’s On Your Calendar?”
There is the here and the hereafter. I think I preach on the here a lot more than the hereafter. However, today’s readings – especially Matthew and Isaiah – challenge us to reflect not only upon the here, but also the hereafter, to reflect upon death and what happens after death – a theme that comes up a bit more as we move more and more to the end of the church year.
The title of my homily is, “What’s On Your Calendar?”
Show me your calendar, your schedule maker, your Blackberry, and I’ll tell you who you are?
I am my schedule.
I am my relationships.
I am how and where, whom and what I spend the time of my life with.
What does your life, your use of time, look like?
What’s on your calendar?
MY CALENDAR
Years ago someone gave me one of those electronic schedule organizers – and I used it for a while – but I also stayed with my small paper calendar schedule book. After a while, the electronic gadget went into my bottom drawer – because I found ballpoint pen and small calendar quicker and more practical.
What does your calendar look like? How have you scheduled your life and your appointments down through the years? Kitchen calendar – electronic catch all – appointment book – what have you?
Yesterday when I was preparing this homily I checked out all my old appointment books. They too were in my bottom drawer. I counted 26 of those little calendars – from 1977 – 2002 - that Hallmark used to put out. They were free and I’d start looking for them every November – along with where to get a flu shot. Hallmark made them larger somewhere along the line, so I sliced and diced them a bit so they could fit in my wallet.
Then after I was stationed here in Annapolis, there were many more appointments, so I switched to a larger appointment book – one that could fit in my pocket – vinyl covered – 7 inches by 4 inches – that cost about 8 dollars at Office Depot or Staples. I have all of those from 2003 till this year – and I already have the one for 2009 – with appointments going into it.
I get very nervous when I misplace my current year’s appointment calendar – because this valuable little book has so much important information in it. And stupid, stupid, stupid, I know the rule for computers, I don’t back up. Many prayers in these past 31 years have been said to St. Anthony when I couldn’t locate the current calendar – but I would always find it.
I can look at these small – rather beaten up – appointment books and see where I’ve been, what I’ve done since 1979. I wish I had been smarter and kept a record of my life since my ordination in 1965 – and well before that.
Anyway. I have written here in my sermon, “Get to a message quickly, or get out of the pulpit – people have appointments to keep" – and to quote Robert Frost, “miles to go before they sleep.” – unless you prefer to do that right now.
INVITATION
Today’s readings continue a key theme from the Gospel of Matthew – the theme of invitation.
We get invitations, phone calls, requests each day for getting together with others. We get wedding invitations – game invitations, invitations to attend meetings – this and that invitations.
What’s on your calendar?
Obviously, being here, Sunday Mass is on your schedule. Obviously, being here is proof you want God in the time of your life.
What we say “Yes” to and what we say “No” to in the calendar of our life tells us a lot about who we are to ourselves.
How do you see life? A burden or a banquet?
Then there are the unscheduled – the moments we didn’t have in our schedule: the accidents, the deaths, the surprises – those phone calls – sometimes in the night – that came and we had to rearrange our schedules.
Some things we can control; some things we can’t control.
This is what makes life so fascinating and so frustrating. The plot thickens. We come around a corner and there is a traffic jam that messes up our schedules and sometimes changes our life.
Life is filled with the planned and the unplanned.
Life is filled with serendipity and sorrow.
Life: a chance meeting at an airport or a bar or church or a game or what have you – and two years later we are married.
How many people are changing their schedules as a result of the economic crisis we’re going through right now?
What does your calendar look like? How have you scheduled your life and your appointments down through the years? Kitchen calendar – electronic catch all – appointment book – what have you?
Yesterday when I was preparing this homily I checked out all my old appointment books. They too were in my bottom drawer. I counted 26 of those little calendars – from 1977 – 2002 - that Hallmark used to put out. They were free and I’d start looking for them every November – along with where to get a flu shot. Hallmark made them larger somewhere along the line, so I sliced and diced them a bit so they could fit in my wallet.
Then after I was stationed here in Annapolis, there were many more appointments, so I switched to a larger appointment book – one that could fit in my pocket – vinyl covered – 7 inches by 4 inches – that cost about 8 dollars at Office Depot or Staples. I have all of those from 2003 till this year – and I already have the one for 2009 – with appointments going into it.
I get very nervous when I misplace my current year’s appointment calendar – because this valuable little book has so much important information in it. And stupid, stupid, stupid, I know the rule for computers, I don’t back up. Many prayers in these past 31 years have been said to St. Anthony when I couldn’t locate the current calendar – but I would always find it.
I can look at these small – rather beaten up – appointment books and see where I’ve been, what I’ve done since 1979. I wish I had been smarter and kept a record of my life since my ordination in 1965 – and well before that.
Anyway. I have written here in my sermon, “Get to a message quickly, or get out of the pulpit – people have appointments to keep" – and to quote Robert Frost, “miles to go before they sleep.” – unless you prefer to do that right now.
INVITATION
Today’s readings continue a key theme from the Gospel of Matthew – the theme of invitation.
We get invitations, phone calls, requests each day for getting together with others. We get wedding invitations – game invitations, invitations to attend meetings – this and that invitations.
What’s on your calendar?
Obviously, being here, Sunday Mass is on your schedule. Obviously, being here is proof you want God in the time of your life.
What we say “Yes” to and what we say “No” to in the calendar of our life tells us a lot about who we are to ourselves.
How do you see life? A burden or a banquet?
Then there are the unscheduled – the moments we didn’t have in our schedule: the accidents, the deaths, the surprises – those phone calls – sometimes in the night – that came and we had to rearrange our schedules.
Some things we can control; some things we can’t control.
This is what makes life so fascinating and so frustrating. The plot thickens. We come around a corner and there is a traffic jam that messes up our schedules and sometimes changes our life.
Life is filled with the planned and the unplanned.
Life is filled with serendipity and sorrow.
Life: a chance meeting at an airport or a bar or church or a game or what have you – and two years later we are married.
How many people are changing their schedules as a result of the economic crisis we’re going through right now?
How many people have said in the last two weeks, “I guess I’m not retiring at 65?”
I hope everyone noticed how today's second reading from Philippians is rather relevant for today. Hopefully, we learn to live with abundance as well as need - to enjoy when we're well fed, but also we learn to deal with life when we are going hungry.
Life is both.
Life is not a straight line.
Death is a flat line.
After death will be the surprise!
A bunch of years back my nephew who works on Wall Street was out of work for about a year and a half. He dropped on many desks his resume – no luck. But at a party an old buddy said, “Where are you working now Gerard?”
Death is a flat line.
After death will be the surprise!
A bunch of years back my nephew who works on Wall Street was out of work for about a year and a half. He dropped on many desks his resume – no luck. But at a party an old buddy said, “Where are you working now Gerard?”
“I’m out of work!”
“Oh, here’s my card. Come in and see me on Monday morning.”
He’s been at that place the last bunch of years. I called him on Thursday evening around 7:45 and woke him up. He was exhausted with all the action of the last few weeks - but he’s making a living.
Life is the surprise invitations.
Life: some things can be planned; some things you can’t plan.
THE BANQUET OF ETERNITY
One of the great images of eternity is the banquet.
Death is on everyone’s calendar. We just don’t know the day nor the hour – nor the year.
Life after death is often described as a wedding banquet in both Jewish and Christian scriptures.
The Christian scriptures keep proclaiming Jesus is our Savior – the Way, the Truth and the Life. Our great hope is resurrection – because “Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again.”
The Christian scriptures also say – our eternity depends on the here and now – whether we love God and neighbor – whether we help create heaven or hell for each other now. Matthew’s addition to today’s gospel story compared to the other gospels has the addition of the story of the man without the wedding garment. If you read Matthew – especially Matthew 25 and the story of General Judgment, presence is not enough. We need to be sheep not goats. We need to be aware and care for our neighbor – to hear the King say, “Come, you whom the Father has blessed, take your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
Life is the surprise invitations.
Life: some things can be planned; some things you can’t plan.
THE BANQUET OF ETERNITY
One of the great images of eternity is the banquet.
Death is on everyone’s calendar. We just don’t know the day nor the hour – nor the year.
Life after death is often described as a wedding banquet in both Jewish and Christian scriptures.
The Christian scriptures keep proclaiming Jesus is our Savior – the Way, the Truth and the Life. Our great hope is resurrection – because “Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again.”
The Christian scriptures also say – our eternity depends on the here and now – whether we love God and neighbor – whether we help create heaven or hell for each other now. Matthew’s addition to today’s gospel story compared to the other gospels has the addition of the story of the man without the wedding garment. If you read Matthew – especially Matthew 25 and the story of General Judgment, presence is not enough. We need to be sheep not goats. We need to be aware and care for our neighbor – to hear the King say, “Come, you whom the Father has blessed, take your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
The Christian scriptures also say – it’s a mystery.
THREE PRIESTS AT DEATH
Father Joseph Donders in a sermon for today’s gospel from Matthew * tells the story of a priest who was dying. He said he was standing at the deathbed of this very holy man. He said the priest gripped both hands with his blanket and the doctor said, “His heart.”
“But his friend whispered to me in the corner of the room: ‘Not his heart: Matthew twenty-two verse fourteen!’”
Matthew 22:14 is the closing sentence in today’s gospel. “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”
The priest was scared to death as he was dying.
A former priest standing right there in front of this pulpit was here for the wedding of his daughter. He told me, “I’m in my 70’s and I’m getting closer to death. I can’t wait to find out what it’s going to be like on the other side.”
Surprised, I said, “Not me. I’m not ready yet.”
I remember hearing a story about a priest who was dying. He was watching a Met game when another priest came to give him the Last Rites, etc. The dying priest said to the other priest, “Hurry up, the Mets are coming to bat.”
That surprised me. I hope it wouldn’t be me. The priest who was dying wasn’t a Redemptorist – nor was he from Brooklyn – but he was a Met fan. Poor fellow. That story, which I have never forgot, makes me wonder from time to time, “If I knew I was dying, what would I be like?”
Death is not on our calendar – but from time to time – we realize it’s going to happen on some day of our calendar.
Death – don’t we wonder how we’re going to handle it?
Death – don’t we wonder what is going to happen after it?
CONCLUSION: THE BANQUET ON THE MOUNTAIN
Today’s first reading from Isaiah, Chapter 25, gives a great vision of hope. It describes End Times as a gathering of all peoples on a mountain – and it will be a feast. There will be rich food and choice wines. And the veil that veils all people will be destroyed. The web that is woven over all nations will be destroyed. And then Isaiah says words we need to savor: “He will destroy death forever.”
What a powerful image!
What a great vision of hope!
All the veils, all the webs, all the walls that separate us, will all be torn down. Praise God.
God is for us – not against us. God wants to save us.
Then we heard these words from Isaiah, “Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”
I hope when I die someone standing there off to the side will see a smile on my face instead of a fear, and instead of saying, “Matthew 22:14”, that person will say, “Isaiah 25:9 & 10.”
* Joseph Donders, The Peace of Jesus, Reflections on the Gospels for the A-cycle, page 268
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