QUESTIONS 

AND ANSWERS

Quote of the Day - October 9. 2010


"It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."


James Thurber [1894-1951], Saying

THE DIVIDED HEART

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for today, the 27th Friday in Ordinary Time, is “The Divided Heart.”

SKILL

At the age of 35 I was playing a 3 on 3 basketball game. I’m a righty and I am standing out there past the foul line dribbling the ball with my right hand – planning to make a pass or a move towards the basket. 

This other priest guarding me is not standing directly in front of me – but off to my right. 

I say to him, “How come you’re guarding me like that.” 

He says, “Because I was trained to watch the other player and you can’t go to your left.”

“Ouch!”

I didn’t learn that I didn’t have that skill till I was 35. 

Well, after that I practiced going to my left and dribbling with my left hand as well.

Today I’m talking about “The Divided Heart!” 

AMBIGUITY

Ambiguity is a neat word to think about. It means "both". 

It takes skill to know how to deal with this human reality in the human heart. It's called "ambiguity".

We can be divided - pulled - in different ways.

It's a skill – that we need to learn. 

Ambiguity - dealing with "both's" - is a skill we all need to develop.

CORONA BEER COMMERCIAL

I’m sure you’ve all see Corona Beer commercials on TV. You’re looking at a guy and a girl in front of you – lounging in beach chairs – looking out at the water from a sunny sandy beach. A beautiful gal walks in front of them and the guy starts turning his head to the left and is watching the bikini gal going down the beach. His girlfriend or wife sitting next to him reaches for the lemon on the top of the bottle of Corona on the small table between them and squirts him.

There you go – one of the most basic divided heart issues – the male female relationship – and the possibility of another – entering into the story.

There are a zillion songs about being torn between two lovers – breakups – falling out of love – and those of you who have been in relationships that have fallen apart know the pain. Splits …. Cheating …. Being dropped for another always hurts.

DIVORCE

Those of you who have experienced a family breakup because of a divorce – know the pain. Do I side with mom or dad? It can happen every weekend. It can happen every conversation at the dinner table. And the breakup of mom and dad – many times – comes out of a divided heart – divided interests – divided relationships – and you might have seen it coming. Some kids even blame themselves.

BASIC

All of us know the basic reality of a divided heart. It happens amongst friends. It happens with time and energy. Everyone feels the pressure between work and play – sports and studies – school choices – time choices.

Choose you lose. Choose you win. Choice is about options.

I watch TV with some other priests. It’s fascinating watching people click back and forth between the news and a game. As a result we don’t see too many commercials.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel some people accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.

Jesus counters the crowd by getting right into the issue of the divided heart. He’s saying, “If I’m on the same team as Beelzebub – why would I destroy the team by casting out a demon? That would be stupid – and counterproductive.” Then he goes on to say,

“Every kingdom divided against itself
will be destroyed.

House will fall against house.

If Satan is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?

You say it is by Beelzebul
that I drive out demons.

If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,

by whom do your own people drive them out?

Therefore they will be your judges.

But if it is by the finger of God
that I drive out demons,

then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.

When a strong man fully armed

guards his palace,

his possessions are safe.

But when one stronger than he
attacks and overcomes him,

he takes away the armor

on which he relied

and distributes the spoils.

Whoever is not with me is against me,

and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

Jesus gets to the heart of the matter right there.

ST. PAUL

St. Paul got Jesus’ message big time – about knowing the human heart and how people think. Paul knew about the divided heart.

In Romans 7:14-25 – Paul speaks for all of us when he says what we all know. We plan to do what is right – we resolve to do what is right – and then we go out and do just the opposite.

Everyone who has decided on a diet or fasting or avoiding some sin – knows what Paul knew: we do the opposite.

Paul says that the law doesn’t work. The law just tells him what he ought to do and ought not to do. Lists and laws are not enough.

Paul says in Romans what he says in today’s first reading from Galatians 3: 7-14. And in Romans and Galatians he tells us what he discovered. Jesus is the one who can rescue us from this dilemma and this division.

Anyone who is a 12 step program is challenged in the very First Step that I am powerless over alcohol or ______ and my life has become unmanageable. Then Step Two and I came to believe that I need a higher power – a power greater than myself who could restore me to sanity. For the Christian, it’s Jesus!

When we learn this – we learn this. It’s a life time struggle for everyone – this challenge on how to live with a divided heart.

At some point it would be worth reading the so-called, “The Big Book” of Acoholics Anonymous – as well as reading St. Augustine’s Confessions – at least Book 8 – because it's in his 30’s when he accepts this reality. In the famous scene in the garden he turns over his life to Jesus – after taking Paul’s Letter to the Romans and reading Chapter 13: 11-14,

“The night is almost over.
It will soon be daylight.
Let us give up all the things
we prefer to do under cover of the dark.
Let us arm ourselves
and appear in the light.
Let us live decently
as people do in the daytime:
no drunken orgies,
no promiscuity
or living with no sexual restraints,
and no quarreling and jealousy.
Let our armor be the Lord Jesus Christ
and forget everything
about satisfying our bodies
with all their cravings.”
Tough stuff.

NATIVE AMERICANS

I’m sure you all heard in some sermon or talk the same message from Native American wisdom. Wisdom figures or teachers tell young people that inside all of us there are two dogs. One dog is mean; the other one is good. And as we go through life they are forever fighting. And then someone from the crowd always asks, “Which one wins?” And the elder reflects for a moment and then says, “The one we feed the most.”

In some versions it’s two wolves. I’m sure the same story can be found in various images in most cultures around the world.

CONCLUSION

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his book, The Gulag Archipelago, addresses this issue when writing about making some people good and some people bad – sort of what the crowd was trying to do to Jesus in today’s gospel. Solzhenitsyn writes,

“If only it were all so simple!

If only there were evil people

somewhere insidiously

committing evil deeds,

and it were necessary only

to separate them

from the rest of us

and destroy them.

But the line

dividing good and evil

cuts through the heart

of every human being.

And who is willing to destroy

a piece of his own heart?”

In other words, it’s us. We have divided hearts and we need skills in dealing with this everyday struggle. Amen.

This was a homily for our St. Mary's H.S. seniors and juniors this morning at a school Mass. I didn't use a script and the homily didn't come out as organized as I would have liked - so I'm putting the written script here in my blog. It's a very important topic to ponder. Amen.

GRASPING

THE EDGE OF

THE BLANKET

Quote for the Day - October 8, 2010

"The huge concentric waves of universal life are shoreless. The starry sky that we study is but a partial appearance. We grasp but a few meshes of the vast network of existence."

Victor Hugo [1802-1885], William Shakespeare, 1864

THE ROSARY AS MEDICINE

Quote for the Day - October 7, 2010


Feast of the Holy Rosary


"Some people do not like to take the medicine that would heal them, and call it nonsense. The rosary is exactly that medicine which cures an amazing deal of nonsense. Call it spiritual homeopathy if you like. Many a proud spirit has been brought down by it - many a faddy spirit has been made patient by it. Many a queasy spirit has been made strong by it. Many a distracted spirit has become recollected by it."


Archbishop Ullathorne [1806-1889], Letters in the Oscation (19th century).



I have a whole series of meditations on the Rosary on this blog. Check them out.

HAVING A SENSE 

OF WONDER - 

AND A SENSE 

OF WORSHIP.

Quote for the Day - October 6,  2010

"The man who cannot wonder, who does not habitually wonder (and worship), were he President of the innumberable Royal Societies ... is but a Pair of Spectacles behind which there is no eye."

Thomas Carlyle [1795-1881], Sartor Resartus, 1836

SEELOS AND LINCOLN

Quote for the Day -- October 5, 2010

Feast of Blessed Francis X. Seelos, Redemptorist

"Next Monday I go to Washington City to see, if possible, Father Abraham and have a talk with him about the draft. If I do not succeed in obtaining a release from that unjust injunction, we will rather go to prison than to take up arms. As for paying the bounty for each Redemptorist in the draft, to pay for so many, we are not able."

Francis X. Seelos [1800-1867], as found on page 211 in Rev. Michael Curley's biography of Francis Xavier Seelos's life, Cheerful Ascetic. Seelos did get to see the President, Abraham Lincoln and wrote "I liked President Lincoln very much when I went to see him. He spoke to us in a sincere, free, and friendly manner." [also on page 211].

WISDOM FROM ST. FRANCIS

Where there is charity and wisdom,

there is neither fear nor ignorance.

Where there is patience and humility,
there is neither anger nor vexation.

Where there is poverty and joy,
there is neither greed nor avarice.

Where there is peace and meditation,
there is neither anxiety nor doubt.

From The Counsels of Holy Father St. Francis, Admonition 27

THE SON ALWAYS

RISES!

Quote for the Day - October 4, 2010

Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

"Praise to you, my Lord,

for all your creatures,
above all, Brother Sun,
who brings us the day
and lends us his light!"

St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226)

TINY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 27 Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C - is, “Tiny!”

As soon as that title and thought and theme hit me yesterday after I read today’s readings, it hit me that this sermon better be tiny – to prove the point. Let’s see if I can make this a tiny homily. If there is anyone here with that nick name, I am not picking on you. However, I do remember picking on a tiny guy – standing on my tippy toes when I was standing next to him – till he told me – off to the side – my doing this really bothered him – and that tiny comment – changed me from doing that. I can be insensitive – till someone tells me.

JESUS

Jesus saw tiny – tiny specifics – like mustard seeds – eyes of needles – rocks in hands – a poor widow putting two cents in a poor box – that you can buy 5 sparrows for 2 pennies in the market – the lilies in the field – the new patch on an old garment that had a hole in it – someone touching the hem of his garment – a servant coming in from the field after a long day at work – Zacchaeus that tiny tax collector guy up in a tree – the little child being yelled at – as the disciples tried to push them aside – and Jesus stopping what he was doing to say, “Let the little children into your life – if you want to see and experience the kingdom of God.”

Jesus saw tiny.

LIFE

Life is made up of millions of tiny moments – moments that become memories – the mosaic of our life. Each day contains the tiny things: the holding the door – putting out the garbage – putting the seat down – a hot dog and two hamburgers left on the plate – and we know so and so prefers hot dogs to hamburgers - and we do too – but we take the hamburger – and leave the hot dog for the other – and nobody notices our tiny moment of decision but ourselves.

Life is the tiny: a tiny leak coming through a tiny hole in our roof, especially in a big downpour and it can ruin our wooden floor. A stitch in time can save nine. A thank you note or a post card can make someone’s day. Remembering birthdays and anniversaries – are better than the gift – but a gift is also nice. Shopping and getting him, his favorite mustard and getting her, her favorite mustard – another type – and there they are next to the one hot dog that is left – and often nobody notices the tiny – and sometimes the mustard taker realizes the TLC – and lets the cook know, making the cook very grateful.

Life is the tiny.

What is it like to be one of those tiny, tiny, tiny bugs that live in books? I learned a long time ago not to kill them – just to admire them – and wonder about them. What do they eat? What is their life span? Can they read? Do they realize they might become an endangered species if everyone buys a Kindle or a Nook – or some other e-Book?

The stars look so tiny up there – and the planets – and some of them are so much bigger than tiny earth in comparison.

Distance effects size and perspective – so too our awareness of God and each other. What ever happened to our 4th grade teacher or “Tiny” that big 250 to 300 pound happy guy every high school had?

Life is the tiny.

We all remember hearing Ben Franklin’s words, “A little neglect may breed great mischief … for want of a nail the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the horse is lost, for want of a horse the rider is lost.” George Herbert said the same thing – but who notices tiny plagiarism?

Yesterday at a wedding I’m just observing a couple taking their vows – and I’m sort of off to the side – a visiting priest did the vows – and at one point spontaneously – they were arm in arm – they both did a pinky hold for a moment. I never noticed a couple doing that tiny pinky coupling gesture before. Neat.

A NEGATIVE TAKE ON THIS

The tiny can make or break us.

There is a tiny poem by the African American Poet, Countee Cullen (1903 - 1946) called “Incident”. The scene is a Baltimore City bus or streetcar. It goes like this:

INCIDENT

Once riding in old Baltimore,

Heart-filled, head-filled with glee;
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, “Nigger.”

I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That’s all that I remember.

We all know the truth about that one. It’s been my experience that everyone here could write that poem – because we all have had tiny experiences that we still remember – with hurt and anger. The whole vacation, the whole trip was perfect, but we remember that one tiny thing that went wrong – something the waiter or waitress said in a tiny restaurant in Bulgaria or something our father-in-law said at our wedding 37 years ago. It ruined everything and we can’t forgive him.

At other times the tiny can be our own worst enemy.

If you saw the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, it was that zit that the bride got on her face on her wedding day. Ugh. What about the dress, the cake, the dancing, the ceremony – in comparison?

We all do this. We get up to read something at Mass or a meeting or a wedding and we flub one line or even one tiny word. The flub stands out like a zit on the pope’s nose – or whatever that was on Gorbachev’s forehead. Or we make one tiny mistake and so and so lets us know every time.

Picky, picky, picky. Tiny, tiny, tiny.

In the winter Olympics I never like the figure skating because they pick out one tiny flaw – or one fall – and then they show it in slow motion. I know it’s the way they do the score – but ugh – picky, picky, picky. I prefer hockey, they fall all the time and crash into the boards – but all is forgiven if you get the winning score.

THE TITLE OF MY HOMILY

The title of my homily is, “Tiny.”

In today’s gospel Jesus says faith is like a mustard seed. It’s the extra that makes our faith, like mustard on a ham sandwich – that is if we like mustard on a ham sandwich.

Our faith – the flame of faith as today’s second reading puts it – grows and glows by a tiny example we heard in some sermon 37 years ago – or by a moment at the Ocean – one summer morning – when we were all alone and walked the beach – and we stopped and looked at the sun rise or the waves crashing – and the gift of adult faith landed on our shore. Or we worked with someone – who was a person of faith – and without show – they planted the faith in the soil of our soul – or our moms and dads brought us to church – or we said grace before meals or a night prayer together. My mom used to bless us with holy water when we went off to school each morning. And we found out years later she’d go back to bed.

So it’s not the big, but the little things that build or destroy a life, a marriage, a relationship, a day.

I’m ending this tiny sermon right here, right now. Amen. Now that’s a tiny word, we all like to hear. Amen!

COMING  BACK 

DOWN  TO  EARTH. 

Quote for the DaY - October 3, 2010

"The universe is one of God's thoughts."


Friedrich Schiller [1728-1805]