THE ABILITY TO SIT STILL

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “The Ability to Sit Still.”

Some folks don’t have any trouble sitting still. In fact, some people know some people who are sitting still too much and they want them to get off their butt and put the garbage out or help with the dishes or get a broom and sweep the kitchen or the garage floor.

Should marriage instructions have a sign: CPNNA?

“Couch Potatoes Need Not Apply.”

This homily is for those who need to slow down - to sit still - to take long looks at life.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

The theme of sitting still hit me when I read the first sentence in today’s first reading. “Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.”

I was trying to find out information about broom trees – and why they are called that. I discovered that the desert broom tree is really a short shrub – yet some of its branches can be 12 feet high. The dictionary indicates it, but I couldn’t find out for sure if they make brooms or just broom handles from these trees.

In the desert any tree – any place to hide – would be very welcome.

Elijah is on the run – and he sees a broom tree and heads for it – and begins begging God to take his life – because he’s fed up with life and running and running – because King Ahab and his wife Jezebel are after him for challenging them.

Running…. Running…. Running …. Ever feel that way?

And he falls asleep and an angel touches him and orders him to get up, eat and drink. And he spots a bread cake and a jug of water. He eats and then falls asleep again and once more the angel touches him and tells him to get up and eat and drink because he has a long journey ahead of him. The reading tell us, “He got up, ate, and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.” [1 Kings 19:8]

The message of the story is obvious: we need food and drink for the journey.

The purpose of the text is obvious: to connect it with the Gospel readings we have been hearing these 4 weeks – from Chapter 6 of John – how we need the bread of life, Jesus, to eat and be nourished by on the journey of life.

The message of the story is obvious: sometimes we want to end it all because everything is catching up on us.

Run…. Run…. Run….

BROOM TREE RETREAT HOUSES

I’ve never been to a retreat center with the name, “Broom Tree Retreat House,” but I know they have them around our world – for pastors and for those who need a good rest. They get their name and hope from today's story about Elijah on the run.

I did spend 22 years of my life in Retreat Houses: San Alfonso Retreat House West End, N.J; St. Alphonsus Retreat House Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, and Mount St. Alphonsus Retreat House, Esopus, New York. They were all named after the Redemptorist Founder, St. Alphonsus, whose statue is up here at St. Mary’s.

In those 3 places I saw thousands of people come for a break - for rest, for an escape.

I saw lots of people calming down – and just sitting looking out at the ocean, looking at trees, looking at a river or the hills in the distance.

People need trees to sit under.

People need good chairs to relax in.

People need places to escape to.

THREE QUOTES

I’m sure you’ve all heard the words of Pascal in reference to sitting. It’s in his book, Pensees, or Thoughts, “I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, our inability to sit still in a room.”

Is that true? Think about it: "... all human evil coming from our inability to sit still in a room?"

Lewis Thomas wrote, “We are, perhaps, uniquely among earth’s creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the present, unable to take in the idea of dying, unable to sit still.”

T.S. Eliot in his poem, Ash Wednesday, prays, “Teach us to sit still.”

I’m sure all of us here have a rosary and a Bible. Millions of people around the world every day sit still with worry beads or holy words – and just be – sitting still in prayer with God.

Many people know the words of Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”

ANNAPOLIS' HOLY PLACES

Here at St. Mary’s and now at St. John Neumann there is a garden where you can come and sit still and find peace.

Here at St. Mary’s and also St. John Neumann one can come and sit in church – on wooden benches – and just be – just be still.

Hundreds sit in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel down below – sitting still in the presence of Jesus, the Bread of Life – food for the journey – one of the great stresses of St. Alphonsus.

Where are your broom trees? Where are you resting places? Where are your hiding places?

There are 3 or 4 benches at Quiet Waters Park overlooking the South River. I know that because I remember blessing one of those benches - in memory of a husband who was killed by a machine in a factory accident.

With all the water around Annapolis – folks love to just sit on porches – overlooking water – or on rocks or on benches – or on green grass – or what have you – just relaxing – just being who I am.

Where are your broom trees? Where are you places to sit and become quiet?

STETHOSCOPE OR LISTENING DEVICE

We all know what a stereoscope or a listening device is.

If you put a microphone over Elijah’s heart you would have heard the pounding and the panic in him. He was scared for his life.

If we put a microphone over our own heart, what would we hear?

Today’s second reading from Ephesians has a great opening line, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit….” Then we are challenged to decide which sounds to dump and which sounds to keep.

Is this why people might be scared to sit still? They might not like the sounds within them. They might become too loud to listen to.

Ephesians says, “All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice.”

I once lived next door to a priest who had a drinking problem. It wasn’t here. It was in one of those retreat houses where I was stationed. And the walls between our rooms were not thick enough. Outside his room – in public – he was always such a gentleman – the priest with a great smile – but I could sometimes hear the sounds from his heart – anger, griping, complaining, whining, heavy duty, “How comes?” – coming through the walls. I tried to get him help. We tried to get him help. He never accepted help. “Ugh!” "Oooh!" Those are two of my inner sounds, "Ugh!" and "Oooh!"

And then Ephesians says the sounds and attitudes one should hear from within one’s walls: kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.”

The title of my homily is “The Ability to Sit Still.”

This week take time at least once and get ye to a broom tree. Sit down under it – at the Mall, on a porch, in a quiet back room, in a garden – and listen to your inner sounds - the state of your soul. Listen to your heart. What's going on in there? What are your sounds?

CONCLUSION

Ooops. Why do we come to Sunday Mass – if not to sit still? Okay it’s tough for kids. Okay, these benches are not that comfortable, but we come here to be, to be restored, to be fed with the bread of life, and then to leave here to get going again and again and again.

Life for most is longer than 40 days and 40 nights - till we get to the mountain of God.