TWO HANDS:

TWO CHOICES

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 27 Sunday in Ordinary Time A is, "Two Hands, Two Choices."

When we hear today's gospel story - Matthew 21: 33-43, we hear some terrible things:

• people beating other people,
• people hurting other people
• people stoning other people,
• and then people killing other people.

 QUESTIONS

Whenever something terrible happens by one person against another person, people always ask the question: Why? Why do people do these things? Why do people do bad things to other people? Why?

 But people should also ask the opposite question: Why do people do good things to other people? Why? Why? Why?

ANSWER

And the answer at the bottom of all the wondering is that people have freedom of choice. We all have the power to do good or evil.

CHOICES GIVE CONTRASTS

 We can help or hurt.

 We can construct or destruct.

 We can build or tear down.

We can love or hate.

We can praise or blame.

We can light a candle or curse the darkness.

We can do good or evil.

We have the power of choice.

We can gossip, curse, blame, ruin another’s reputation or we can praise another.

KNIVES AND WORDS, STICKS AND STONES

We can use a knife to cut bread or cut someone.

We can use words to say to another, “Hey that was a neat thing you did yesterday for Charlie?” Or we can say, “You were really showing off when you drove Charlie to the mall yesterday.”

Words can lift of knock down.

We can use sticks and stones to build a home or to break windows and hurt the inhabitants.

LIKE

It’s like we have two rooms. The first room is filled with light and the other is filled with darkness.

We have the choice of whatever room we want to live in or dwell in most of the time.

LUCY

There’s a Peanuts cartoon somewhere. Lucy draws a big heart on a fence. Then she draws a line down the middle of the heart to divide in two. She fills in one side with chalk and says, “This is the human heart. One heart is always fighting the other half.”

NATIVE AMERICANS

The Native Americans used to say we have two dogs within us. One is a good dog; the other is bad dog. And they are always fighting each other.

CHOICES

The choice is always ours.

HANDS

Let me conclude with one of my poems. It’s called, “The Two Hands.”

                                 THE TWO HANDS

I am a fist,

                a sign of fear,

                a sign of anger,

                a sign of greed,

                a sign of tension.

                I can pound a desk,

                I can hoard money,

                I can try to scare you,

                I can punch you

                                   in the mouth.

                I am a fist.

                What do you think of me?

I am an open hand,

                 a sign of calm,

                 a sign of ease,

                 a sign of peace,

                 a sign of relaxation. 

                 I can dial a phone,

                 I can shake a hand,

                 I can change the diapers,

                 I can play cards,

                 I can break the bread,

                 I can heal the hurt,

                 I can write the poem.

                 I am an open hand.

                 What do you think of me?*

* page 107 in Listenings