WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “What Are You Watching?”

Today we start the season of Advent.

Along with waiting and wondering, waking up and welcoming, watching is an Advent theme.

What are you watching?

Am I watching myself walking more and more with Jesus Christ as the center of my life – putting on the Lord Jesus Christ more and more as today’s second reading from Paul to the Romans puts it – or am I still watching myself walking along alone with just myself?

MAUREEN McCANN

About 20 years ago I heard an example about listening in a talk by a Sister Maureen McCann – a Sister of Mercy from Dallas, Pennsylvania. Imagine remembering something from a talk from 20 years ago? I don’t remember what I preached on a week ago. She stressed the importance of listening to what we’re talking to ourselves about. She used the image of a radio receiver. It has lots of stations and lots of sounds. Just spin the dial. She talked about the importance of listening to the conversations that are going on inside our head all day long. She said to listen to oneself and listen to what bugs us, what we’re off on, what worries us, what our “ what if’s?” are, etc. etc. etc. Then she said to fine tune with the dial a clear something we’re concerned about. Then she added, “Turn up the volume.” Then she asked the key question: “What does that say to you about you?” For some reason that made a lot of sense to me back then as well down through the years.

The title of my homily is, “What Are You Watching?”

Instead of the image of listening to a radio – I’m using the image of what we’re watching, for example on television or in a movie, in this homily.

Catch yourself with the question I’m asking: “What are you watching?”

Hasn’t someone walked into a room where you’re watching TV and said, “What are you watching?”

Catch yourself with the second question Sister Maureen McCann asked, “What does that say to you about you?” What does what you’re watching say to you about you?

We've all heard the saying, "We become what we eat." Well, we become what we watch. It becomes us.

CUTE E-MAILSomeone sent me a cute e-mail about two weeks ago. A little girl is kneeling down at her bed – hands folded. It looks like she is saying her night prayers. She prays, “And dear God please send some clothes for all these women on grandpa’s computer. Amen.”

What are you watching?

What are kids watching about us when they are watching us?

THANKSGIVING WEEK

I just spent Thanksgiving week with my brother’s family. They rented this big house again this year in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. We had about 30 people – 15 adults and 15 kids. It varied a bit because everyone didn’t get there at the same time.

It was great sitting there watching what two generations below me were doing and saying – playing – laughing about – concerned about.

Each day a bunch of us adults took a good long walk along the streets of Dewey Beach and then doubled back on sand – right on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

What did we talk about? What were we concerned about?

Family – of course – because we were reconnecting. None of my nieces came from the same state. So I heard about stuff from Arizona, California, New Orleans, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Florida. We even talked about our lost niece who lives in New Mexico. Location didn’t matter really. What mattered were jobs, education, stories, SAT scores, and funny and interesting things that were happening in the family.

What mattered was what we were watching in our lives?

One of my nieces told a story about 3 brothers. The middle brother is dating a girl the older brother dated last year. The older brother who is now in college told his younger brother to tell the middle brother that the ex-girlfriend is high maintenance.

Watching all this I began wondering what high maintenance means. I’ll have to watch for that – for examples of that – so I can learn just what “high maintenance” means. Would any of the priests in our rectory be described as “high maintenance”? Interesting question. Am I?

The title of my homily is, “What Am I Watching?”

AS I WATCH PEOPLEAs I watch people, I see people worrying about the economy.

As I watch people, I see people wondering about getting parking places, traffic, the weather and food.

As I watch people, I see people watching their cell phones and gadgets and youth and clothes and style and sports and exercise and weight.

As I watch people, I see parents wondering about their children – their marriages, their grandkids not going to church – not being baptized and what have you.

As I watch people, I see some people off and running into Christmas shopping already – trying to save money, getting bargains and a great gift for those they love. As I watched the evening news Black Friday night, I heard retailers and commentators talk about how it looks better than last year – and I said to myself, “Smart move. Get the economy going – before the actual statistics come in.”

As priest I pinch myself because I get to watch the big mysteries of life being played out in people’s lives: people getting married – new babies – anniversaries – as well the tough stuff of life.

As priest, I watch and listen and meet people who are dealing with divorce and drugs and drink.

As priest I pick up the phone. A woman has called the rectory. She asks for a priest. I make an appointment with her. She comes to the rectory. She talks. Death is knocking on her door. She knows it. It’s cancer again. It’s knocked 3 times already. Cancer sometimes is an angel of death – a messenger that announces, “Only so much time is left.” She sits there and talks about all this. She talks about her life. Most of it is wonderful. She talks about what she would like at her funeral. She asks about her desire not to be resuscitated. She asks if that okay to say that. She adds, “Hey I’m 88 and I’ve had a good life.”

As priest I’m watching all this. As a human I’m wondering, “What will it be like when this hits me?” I think of all the people I’ve watched when they have been in the same situation.

I see myself getting older. I watch myself having senior moments. I noticed wrinkles– on the inside skin of my arms just below my elbow. I see that my skin is not what it used to be. I think of a guy I visited at a nursing home here in Annapolis – 102 years of age – good mind – but as I sat there – his skin just didn’t fit – it was hard and different and it seemed like leather covering and sliding and hiding his bones.

The title of my homily is, “What Are You Watching?”

ADVENTAdvent is a season the church unfolds every year – and every year it seems to get lost in the Christmas rush.

I see the booklets Saint Mary’s provides for folks and I watch people pick them up in the back of church and I hear people saying with good thanksgiving, “Thanks. I love these little books.”

Evidently some people make the most of this Advent Season – where we look at the first coming of Christ, the here and now presence of Christ – and the final coming of Christ.

I think of the Bishops’ Meetings that just took place this November in Baltimore. I was happy to read that the Bishops were watching a study made of Catholics in the United States.

It was sad to read that the studies said “that only half of young Catholics marry in the church, and that weekly Mass attendance has dropped to about 35 percent of Catholics from a peak of 78 percent in the 1960s.”

I was glad to read that instead of blaming others, some bishops said we need to look at ourselves. Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Florida said that the November meeting was a lot of “naval gazing.” He said that we were talking about budgets and assessments instead of thinking “about the number of people who are leaving the church and the possible reasons for this.” (1)Another bishop said of the November meetings that if he had “been watching the body’s televised sessions from the outside… we bishops ‘would’ve looked like fools.'”

Thank God someone’s watching.

As I watch myself, how do I see myself as a follower of Jesus Christ?

As people watch us, how do they see us as followers of Jesus Christ?

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “What Are You Watching?”

Advent is a time of watching.

The readings for this First Sunday in Advent challenge us to make dramatic changes in our lives – changing angry violent weapon words into healing words of peace – changing wasted time into servant time – waking up instead of sleeping – living in the light and not hiding in the light – realizing we only have so much time – and that we never know when “El Fin” “The End” is going to appear on the movie of our life.

What does that movie look like?

What are you thinking about yourself as you watch yourself?

What are those who are watching us – especially the generations after us watching as they watch us?




(1) I found this on the blog called, "Whispers in the Loggia." The piece is entited, "I'm Not 'Archbishop of America'", From the President's Desk, Tuesday November 23, 2010