IT WAS ________.

FILL IN THE BLANK

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 4th Tuesday after Easter  is, “It Was ______. Fill In The Blank.”

Some homework for today. If you had to describe your life in 3 words, the first 2 words being, “It was” or “It is”, what word would be your 3rd word?

IT WAS WINTER

There is a short sentence in today’s gospel that triggered the thought for this homily. The sentence is, “It was winter.”

I remember when we were studying English literature, our teacher said that Ernest Hemingway’s impact on American English writing was, “Short sentences.”

“It was winter.” Now that’s a short sentence. This sentence appears in John 10:22. However, in Greek, which the New Testament comes to us in, it’s in a 10 word sentence. That is short compared to many New Testament sentences. The Greek New Testament is loaded with lots of “and’s” or “kai’s. In Greek “KAI” is the word for “and”.

There is another 3 word sentence in the Gospel of John that I also love, “It was night” (John 13:30) That was how the Greek was translated in the New American Bible. I noticed the New American Bible Revised Edition added the word "And." It's now, "And it was night." The Greek for that sentence is also 10 words. Not a big deal, but I still love, "It was night." What a great comment after Jesus dipped the bread in the sauce dish and handed it to Judas. It was the same hand that Judas used to steal money. It was the same hand that took the 30 pieces of silver. The dish might be filled with a blood red sauce. It was a sauce of bitter herbs.  Then Judas went out to betray Jesus with a kiss. "It was night!" Judas dipped himself deeper into the dark! [I also noticed that the word in Greek for dip is "BAPTO." Was there an early church theme that one can be baptized in evil as well as good?]

This coming Advent we’re going to have new English translations of the Latin Mass Prayers. From what I’ve been reading, those sentences are going to be even longer than they are now. Some of those prayers have sentences that are 30 and 40 words long – and sometimes they are headscratchers. Of course, that’s my opinion.

Also in my opinion, the translators for American English ought to take a course in the writings of Ernest Hemingway. Sometimes I catch my sentences being too, too long, so I have to keep remembering to make my sentences shorter when I write.

I’m assuming that those who worked on this new translation of the Latin to English want to be able to say after all is done, “It’s as close to the Latin as possible.” I would want them to say, “It is clear.” Once more this is my opinion, but who am I? This is why I love Emily Dickenson’s poem # 288,

                         “I’m Nobody! Who are you?
                          Are you – Nobody - Too?”
                          Then there’s a pair of us?
                          Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!

                          How dreary – to be – Somebody!
                          How public – like a Frog –
                          To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
                          To an admiring Bog!

KISS

We’ve all heard the KISS principle for public speaking and writing: Keep It Simple Stupid.

We have a story about one of our Redemptorist general chapters in Rome. This Italian guy was giving a comment about some issue. He was going on and on and on in very heated Italian. The translators couldn’t find space in between his words to translate – so they waited till he finally finished. The English translator simply said, “He’s against it.” Everyone laughed – and the speaker started looking around – trying to figure out what happened.

I put a quote on my BLOG yesterday from Schiller, “What is the short meaning of the long speech?” I’ll have to remember that when I finish a homily. Re-write it. Edit it. Make it clearer. Make it shorter.

I also have to remember what I wrote down somewhere, “If you can’t put what you’re trying to say on a match book cover, you don’t know what you’re saying.”

CONCLUSIONS

So what am I saying here?

I’m saying I was taught that clear thinking and clear writing should be brief and to the point – a la Ernest Hemingway.

I’m saying that I would hope that the Church readings and prayers would be translated into crisp– short – sentences - if possible - sort of like “It was night!” or “It was winter.”

I’m saying that we’d be better communicators, if we say what we’re tying to say in short bursts of words like we hear at the end of today’s first reading, “It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.” Translated into one’s home or one’s life, we should hear ourselves saying,  “Sorry. That wasn’t very Christian of me.”

I’m asking, “What are our personal prayers like? Are they brief and to the point or meaningless babble?” Translation. For example, a possible morning prayer: “Another day, Lord. Thanks.” For example, a possible night prayer: “Lord, it’s been a long day. Good night. I’m dead tired. Thanks for everything. Enough. Sorry."

In this homily, I've given you homework:  Describe your life in 3 words, the first 2 words being: It Was ______. 

I came up with my 3rd word. I’m glad I wouldn’t say of my life, “It was winter.” Or “It was night.” I would like  to say, “It was always spring.” But that is 4 words, so my answer is, “It was surprise.”

Fill in your blank. Your life: It was ________.