THE ROOMS WE’RE IN

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of Pentecost is, “The Rooms We’re In”.

Since today’s first reading and today’s gospel both take place in a room – actually the same room – but at different times – it hit me to wonder about the rooms we spend much of our lives in.

What are the main rooms in our life – and how are we in these rooms?

Living room, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, the room with the TV we watch, the room with the computer, or at work, the office, the main office, our car, the bar, the coffee break space, church, a meeting room in an organization we belong to.

Are there others? Of course.

Take a few moments and wonder about all these different rooms we spend our lives in. Make a list!

THE UPPER ROOM

If you take a trip or make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, one of the regular spots for Christian tourists is “The Upper Room” in Old City Jerusalem.

It’s not the original Upper Room – but the tour guides will say – it was here in Old Jerusalem – and it would have been something like this.

When I went there with a group of priests in the year 2000, we spent a good hour in this room. The tour leader, Father Stephen Doyle, a Franciscan, read a reading – maybe even today’s first reading. I don’t remember. There are many New Testament texts that take place in the Upper Room. And then we became quiet and reflected on the importance of the Upper Room.

I remember writing an article on the Upper Room years ago and I don’t know if anyone read it – got an insight or two from it – but in writing it, it gave me several insights. I came up with 5 things that the Upper Room was: a place to eat, a place of fear, a place of prayer, a place of decision making, a place where our Spirit is renewed.

We too have these places – and we go to them from time to time.

Where do you go when you have fears? Where do you hide? I remember hearing about a mom of 4 boys who used to hide in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. How did she ever fit in there? My sister-in-law, when her daughters were small, said she had to lock herself in the bathroom for some moments of peace and she could hear her 7 daughters finger nails scraping the bathroom door. Where’s your man cave or woman’s space? Where is your place of decision making? Where do you like to pray? Where is your Spirit renewed? Where do you enjoy eating?

PENTECOST

Pentecost means 50 days after Easter.

It’s called the Birthday of the Church. It’s called the moment when the Holy Spirit rocked the room where the disciples were – filled with fear – and they were given new gifts – that would fill them – fire them up – emblazon them – and get them to open those doors and face the challenge of building a better world – as the disciples of Jesus.

The title of my homily is, “The Rooms We’re In?”

The hope of my homily is that each of us will look at the places and spaces of our life and have a rebirth in one of them – or all of them.

Let me just pick out three rooms – three spaces. I came up with 7 - but let me just give 3 - otherwise we'll be here forever.

FIRST ROOM: MEALS AT THE FAMILY TABLE

When we see pictures of the Upper Room we usually see Jesus at a table with his disciples surrounding him.

As kids we ate 90 % of our meals at our green and white metal kitchen table. We had a dining room – but that became our parent’s bed room when the four of us got bigger and they needed two bedrooms for the 4 of us kids in the back of our small house.

I remember that table with fond memories. I don’t know how we all fit in that tiny kitchen, but we did – inches away from the stove and sink and refrigerator – and each other.

Sunday afternoon meals were the best – 3 PM and then my dad would give us a dollar to go up and buy a gallon of ice cream at the drug store – which was open on Sunday afternoon and bring it back for the 6 of us.

How are we all doing with family meals?

I was just on a 3 day retreat with our junior h.s. kids and Ginny Dauses, our youth minister, had the movie, “The Blind Side” for the second night. I had seen it last Thanksgiving week with my sister-in-law and 6 of her daughters – and some of their kids – at Rehoboth Beach.

There is a scene in it where Michael Oher – now of the Ravens – sees the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. It’s a Norman Rockwell scene of a family all together enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner. He never had such an experience – finding food in Dumpsters or in the stands after a volley ball game in a gym. He’s invited into the Tuohy Home and it’s Thanksgiving and it’s dinner time and the two kids and dad take their turkey and stuff onto their plates and head for the couches and a football game on TV. Sandra Bullock as mother, Leigh Ann Touhy, sees Michael load up his plate and he’s not at the TV – she sees him sitting at their dining room table all alone. She gets the message – goes over – picks up the clicker and shuts off the TV and there are screams and yells but the next scene has them all at that dining room table – saying grace and enjoying a family meal together.

I was wondering if it hit those junior high school kids. It certainly reminded me once more of the importance of family meals together. “The family that eats together stays together!”

What about couples, marriages? I’ve run into couples who are married 18 or 38 years – who still try to go out at least once a month – for a meal together – a date night – sacred moments together. We priests here in our community try to go out on Sunday night for a meal together. We better practice what we preach. It’s different than weekday nights.

SECOND: PRAYER ROOMS

Where do we pray? My dad prayed in the cellar. I often saw him with his prayer book – the one with the rubber band – sitting there in a fold up beach chair – saying his prayers. My mom used the green marbled vinyl chair in the sun porch or on the edge of the big couch in our living room.

Where is your prayer room? Prayer space? Prayer moments?

When people tell me they want to pray more, I tell them to name some chair in their home as their prayer chair. Baptize it that with a prayer or hit it with some holy water if you have any. For the first three months I say only sit in it for 5 minutes at a time for prayer. Do not go longer than 5 minutes. 5 minutes. Next when is a good time for you to grab 5 minutes in your prayer chair. Discover that. Then just sit there and listen to the sounds in your home or where you are. Or have a Bible with a few of your favorite prayers in it. Read a psalm or if you don’t know where to begin in the Bible, go to the Letter of James. If you don’t get James, you’re hopeless. Pray for hope. Then get out of that chair after 5 minutes. You’ll soon find yourself liking that moment of renewal and refreshment. If you want, go to ten minutes after those 4 months. If ten minutes works, continue for 4 months more – if not, go back to 5 minutes. Then jump to 15 minutes for the last 4 months – but don’t go more than 15 minutes. Otherwise prayer will become a burden – rather than a delight.

THIRD ROOM: CAR TALK

One of the best rooms for many people is the space in their car – long peaceful escapes – sometimes in the worst of traffic.

Some people get refreshed with quiet time – just no nothing – peace and silence in a car.

Some enjoy music or CD’s of books or NPR or what have you.

My niece Patty discovered that picking up the kids at Catholic School – Maryland doesn’t allow school busing – like some states – has its advantages. She said just sitting there silently – her sons and two other kids she would pick up at school up in Glyndon and then Calvert Hall – they would talk to each other and she would pick up all they needed to know – without them knowing she was taking it all in.

I also discovered that some of the most memorable conversations I have had in my life – were in long car rides with just one person. So when I was a novice master in charge of future Redemptorists, if someone had to take a long trip somewhere I always suggested going with someone else. There was a kid whose mom was dying in Baltimore and we were in upstate New York, near Kingston, and I told him to go see his mom every other week – but take one other guy with you on Saturday morning for the long 6 hour drive there and 6 hours back on Sunday evening.

CONCLUSION

Come Holy Spirit – fill the rooms – the spaces and places – we spend our lives in. Breathe into us fresh air, so we can be fresh air, present new ideas, insights, wisdom to each other. Amen.