THE BOOK
AS A MIRROR
Quote for Today - July 9, 2011
"A real book is not one that's read, but one that reads us."
W.H. Auden [1907-1973] Recalled at his death on September 28, 1973.
Photograph of W. H. Auden
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
MIGRATIONS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 14th Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Migrations.”
Today’s first reading from the end of the Book of Genesis describes the final step of how Jacob - now called “Israel” - and his family migrate to Egypt. Hunger and famine in the land of Canaan dictated Jacob to send his sons to Egypt to buy grain to survive.
The Book of Genesis is preparing us for the second book of the Bible, Exodus - which begins with how the Jews began to become persecuted and forced into slave labor - and so they escaped - exited - migrated from Egypt - and headed for the Promised Land of Palestine in order to set up their nation.
Today’s first reading from Genesis describes carts and livestock, husbands and wives, children and grandchildren - all migrating to Egypt.
THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD
The history of the world is a history of migrations.
It’s the stuff of story. It’s the story of families.
It’s good to know history. I would assume by the year 3011 the world will be very different - with different boundary markers - with more cocoa colored sking - and those living will know by DNA and whatever else they will have come up with by then - their origins - much better than we do today.
I celebrate that in 1996 I got to see for the first time where my mom and dad migrated from: the west coast of Ireland. However, right now, I don’t know how and why their relatives settled there a long, long time ago. And I’m sure that’s a long, long story.
I have a picture on my wall right above my desk - that shows what my mother would see if she walked out her back door. It’s a picture of rocks and water. She liked to say she could sit on their back step and put her big toe into Galway Bay. The house is gone. But the flagstone for that back step was still there. My mom’s sister, Nora, was there in 1996 to point all this out to us. My dad’s house - less than a stone throw away - as the Irish put it - is still standing.
My mother said she would kiss the land of America - every time she came back here - because she knew where she came from: poverty. She made it in America. One of her last jobs was working on Broadway - 32 Broadway - where she cleaned offices at night.
OUR SCRIPTURES
I like to point out that what people did for us with our Sacred Scriptures - telling us our faith roots - where we come from - we need to do for our families. In other words, we have to put together our scriptures.
The good news is that people have been doing this a lot in recent years. Alex Haley’s book Roots - with some of its roots in Annapolis - the genealogy movement - The Story Project program - and various other movements have certainly helped with the push.
Everyone’s story is a story of being rooted and being uprooted - moving and settling - and then moving on - settling down and on and on and on.
Aware of this and having an interest in all this gives me a greater love for all peoples.
So I’m saying that the Book of Genesis - Beginnings - is telling us that people come together in all kinds of different circumstances. I’m saying that all people are migrants. I think that’s why one of the first questions we all ask people, “Where are you from?” and “How did you get here?”
We are a world of migrants.
America more than most places….
The timing is the different. Native Americans are migrants from Asia - between 40,000 and 17,000 BC. Vikings sailed to Greenland, Newfoundland, Vinland in 962 AD. Whether Vikings got to Minnesota seems speculative - but it gave a football team a good name. And we have to laugh about comments that people make about other people. I love to say that Hispanics were here before the English - but don’t tell some people that - because they aren’t ready to migrate in their mind to some new thinking and on and on and on.
So I think it’s important to read good histories of our national origins - or watch good documentaries on TV.
It’s good to know where we come from - as well as where others come from. I am grateful for some good books I’ve read about Ireland. I am very grateful that I took the time to jot down my father’s story - at least 47 hand written pages before he died - and I taped my mother telling me her story before she died so suddenly.
CONCLUSIONS
In our study and in our research and in our story telling we’ll find what we find in the scriptures: good times and bad, sickness and health - as well as great gratitude for our deep roots - as well as the surprises when we get out of our carts and begin again in some new spot.
And the New Testament will bring us to the great story: that we are migrants into the next world.
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Scene on top of a painting I saw in a funeral parlor somewhere - showing a priest blessing a family heading to America and leaving land and friends behind.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
OH, I’M JUST WRESTLING
WITH SOMETHING
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 14th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Oh, I’m Just Wrestling With Something.”
How many times in our lives has someone said, to us, “What’s wrong?” and we respond, “Oh nothing.” Then the other says, “Well you look like you’re worried about something.” And we say, “Oh, I’m just wrestling with something.”
QUESTION
Is everyone wrestling with something?
Not always, but is there always something there that we wrestle with from time to time?
At times I’ve wondered about Professional Wrestling. It’s still around - not as much as years ago - but it’s still around - and what I wonder about is why do people get really into it - when it’s fake?
Now I don’t wrestle with that kind of a question, but I do wrestle with why some people get excited about things I’m not interested in or why some people are the way they are. How’s that for being self-centered?
And I know people wrestle with questions about their kids - and their neighbors - and co-workers. And I know people wrestle with their conscience. And I know people wrestle with the church and politics and government and with people who think differently than they think.
Now this inner wrestling doesn’t go on all the time in our minds. At least I hope not - but sometimes it’s just an inner battle we remotely click to at times on the TV screen called our mind. I assume we’re watching other things in our lives at most moments - but sometimes we wrestle with people and they are miles and miles away.
What do you wrestle with?
TODAY’S READINGS
Today’s readings triggered this theme - especially this first reading from Genesis 32: 23-33, where the word “wrestle” and the theme of wrestling is used - when telling us about Jacob.
Today’s gospel - Matthew 9: 32-38 - talks about demons. Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus went around casting out demons. Today a man who couldn’t speak is healed by Jesus. And the Pharisees who are always arguing and wrestling with Jesus - just don’t want Jesus around. He’s doing too much good and helping too many people and the crowds are following him. In the meanwhile the leaders of the Pharisees are not being good shepherds. They are not getting top billing as “holy” people - in the everyday arena of life.
But it’s really that first reading that triggers this question of wrestling.
GET IN THE RING
It’s important every once and a while to get in the ring - and face our opponent - face to face - to meet our match - to name our demons.
Jesus went into the desert for 40 days and faced the Big Three when it comes to temptations. We have the 40 days of Lent - a good time each year to do some good soul searching and see what’s pulling us in strange directions. We can’t be wrestling 24/7, 365. We need “Time outs” - breaks - before we break.
It’s good to make a retreat. It’s good to take long walks. It’s good to take time for prayer - like a night prayer - and take a look at what happened that day. This practice should get us in touch with moments we're thankful for and moments we're sorry about. If there are resentments - maybe we can make some resolutions for the morning - to have a better day, the next day. It’s good to read scripture and reflect upon what we're reading - especially texts that grab us - because they might give us hints at what we’re wrestling with inside the inner ring of our consciousness.
JACOB
Today’s first reading is all about Jacob.
The Book of Genesis has remarkable material for getting us in touch with key wrestling matches.
God is wrestling with Satan. His name means “Adversary”.
Then we hear about God wrestling with human beings: Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and on and on and on.
Today we’re hearing about Jacob.
We all know that Jacob was a sneak and liar. We know his mother liked him more than his twin brother - Esau - who was born first. Genesis has great stories. She figured out a way to fake her husband, Jacob’s father, into giving the oldest son’s blessing to Jacob the younger son. And several more times he’s sneaky and a trickster Once he told his brother, “I’ll meet you at such and such a place” and he headed in the opposite direction - immediately.
Life has consequences.
The Book of Genesis hints that Jacob had to stop to face his demons - face his lies and what he was avoiding - eventually.
In today’s reading he wrestles with a mysterious someone - all through the night. There are lots of theories who this someone is. Some say it’s an angel. Some say it’s God. Some say it’s with himself - for what he has done in the past.
Life is a banquet of consequences. Sin is a boomerang. Sin always has an aftertaste.
CONCLUSION
Forgiveness is forgiveness.
However, there is always the residue - the memory - the consequences - of what we have done.
The Bible is wonderfully vague - challenging us to be the twin of Jacob and become all alone and face our demons - our life decisions - etc. And when we do, there can be growth and maturity.
Jacob grew. As a result of his wrestling that night after he forded the river near Jabbok - he changed for the better. However, for the rest of his life he had a slight limp. Don't we all? Some say it came from the wrestling that night - when his hip was knocked out of it’s socket.
He also got a new name Israel - which some scholars translate it to mean, “One who wrestled with God.”
May we do likewise.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
BURDENS:
10 PROBLEMS and 10 SOLUTIONS
*
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Burdens: 10 Problems and 10 Solutions.”
Let me divide my homily into 2 parts: Part One: “10 Burden Scenarios” and Part 2: “10 Solutions.”
It will be a very simple homily for very difficult problems - and I’ll plan to do this just under 10 minutes.
PART ONE: 10 BURDEN SCENARIOS
What would it be like to be an ox - and a farmer puts a harness and a yoke around our neck every morning and we spend about 10 hours in the sun pulling a big wooden plow trudging through hard, clumpy dirt - earth - day after day after day? Okay this farmer takes off on Sunday.
What would it be like to be 132 pounds overweight - and everyone is making comments about our weight - behind our back and sometimes to and in our face - offering at least 1 diet a day - and they don’t know that we’re making inner comments and complaints to ourselves about our weight every day and offering ourselves at least 2 diets a day?
What would it be like to be a 24 year old young man and we believe we’re gay and our father has ranted and raved about those who are gay all through the years and we know if we came out, he would either snap or disown us or what have you - and the whole family might unravel and come tumbling down?
What would it be like to have a spouse who just simply refuses to sleep with us any more?
What would it be like to be married and we cheated on our spouse and we know if we ever told him or her - it would just devastate the other and we have to carry the shame and the stupidity - the sin - the mistake we made of biting into forbidden fruit 17 years ago and it never happened again - but it happened then?
What would it be like to have a great job and we buy a bigger house for our family and 4 small kids and we lose our job - just like that. We don’t receive a notice or a package. And debt sets in.
What would it be like to be abused - and we finally tell someone and they tell us, “Get over it!”
What would it be like to be in prison for 17 years - and we didn’t do it - and different folks are telling us, “Everyone in prison says they didn’t do it.”
What would it be like to be filled with cancer and the different specialists tell us, “You have about 4 weeks or less to live?”
What would it be like to be in church and all we hear Sunday after Sunday is abortion and we had an abortion 26 years ago and it’s been eating at us all our life - and we were told we were forgiven by God - but we can’t forgive ourselves and we just want to go under the floor of the church or run - every time this issue comes up?
PART 2: 10 SOLUTIONS
1) Become a Realist. Become a Philosopher. Another word would be to be able to say to oneself, “Hello!” To be a realist is to say: Milk goes sour. Bread becomes green. Beer and pop lose their fizz. Most of everything have a shelf life. Then they go in the dump or a museum if they are old enough. So too us. We have a shelf life. We have an expiration date. We get wrinkled and we leak. It’s part of the deal. Of course funerals are tough - especially if the person who died went too soon. As they say, it’s how we live and what we do with the dash between our dates . Of course we can do our part to prolong the gift of life - like exercising, eating smart, getting enough sleep, not smoking and not being dumb. Yet there is always a bottom line. Death and taxes - as they say - will always be around. Movies have “The End” and the music sometimes tells us it’s coming. Sermons have endings, but sometimes you never know when they are coming.
2) Be Sweet! There’s a book I like by Roy Blount Jr. that deals with lots of the problems and burdens of life. It’s title is, “Be Sweet!” something his mother said in many of life’s situations. “Be sweet!”
3) Jot down 10 Bible Texts. Get paper and pen and jot down 10 texts we own - 10 texts that really help us and help others. I was at a wedding a week ago yesterday and this gal had tattooed on her back two lines. I’m standing behind her and I realize they are in Latin, so and I started to translate them. Suddenly she turns and I said, “I was just trying to read your back." She says, “Oh it’s Romans 12: 2" and I said to her, “Thanks! Interesting." And she smiled. My favorite text is Galatians 6: 2 and I don’t and won’t tattoo the words on my back. But I have them on the walls of my everyday mind: “Bear one another’s burdens and in this way you’ll fulfill the law of Christ.” The trick is to make those words flesh each day.
4) Jot Down 10 Sayings. What are your 10 favorite sayings? The ones that help you deal with life. An old priest whom I used to work with, had a whole series of sayings that would pop out when various things happened. What are yours? Two things he often said were, “I don’t think Jesus wanted to make life that difficult.” Another thing he would say, “My father used to always say, ‘I’d give that lady a wide berth.'” Those of you who dock boats know what that means.
5) What Are Your Stories or Parables? In dealing with life’s problems and life’s situations, I have discovered that people also have stories and examples that help them deal with life’s problems. The trick is to play back a good story that helps you in a sticky problem. What are your top ten stories or examples or parables.
For example, I like to use the "Chinese story of the Horse" in certain situations. I’m sure you’ve heard the Chinese horse story. You just have to memorize it and make it your own. Father John Harrison in his homilies uses stories all the time. He knows they help folks. Let me give just one that helps folks. It has certainly helped me.
The Chinese Horse Story. A farmer had this fantastic horse - and the horse could do everything. He could pull the family cart to town for shopping. He could pull the plow which he and his 17 year old son used to farm their land. Well one day the horse jumped over the fence and disappeared. The neighbors heard about it and came and said, “Wow, sorry to hear that you lost your prize horse.” And the farmer said to them, “We’ll see. We’ll see.” The next day the prize horse came back with 7 wild horses and the whole town came to the farmer and said, “Wow. You’re a lucky man.” And he said, “We’ll see. We’ll see,” The next day his only son, the 17 year old one, was riding one of the new wild horses, and was thrown to the ground and broke his leg. And the neighbors said to his father, “Wow that’s horrible. What are you going to do now? Your son is going to be laid up for months.” And the father said, “We’ll see.” The next day an army came marching through the area and grabbed every young male and forced them into their army and marched off.” The next day the neighbors - many of whom lost their sons - said to the farmer, “You’re lucky. They didn’t take your son.” And he said, “We’ll see. We'll see.”
What are your 10 top stories?
6) Talk to Someone. Don’t go it alone. But learn the difference between poison and venting. Venting is good, but when it becomes poison, stop the complaining and move on.
7) Walk. Take Good Long Walks. If you remember the Forest Gump movie when he lost Jenny he started to run - and run - and run - till he had run away enough from his problem to get back to life. Walk. Run. Move it.
8) Borrow a donkey! In today’s first reading we have a Bible text from the prophet Zechariah. It says that your king will come to you riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass and he’ll banish the chariot and the horse. He’ll banish the warrior’s bow and proclaim peace to the nations. This text was taken by Jesus - as we know from Palm Sunday. If you want peace, get off your high horse. Borrow a donkey. Become humble - and stop shooting everyone in sight with sharp arrows - and you’ll discover peace in this way - while on your way.
9) Pray and then do something about the situation, if you can. I have about 25 sayings that say just that. My favorite version is, “Pray for potatoes, but pick up a shovel.”
10) Go to Jesus. He says in today’s gospel for us to do just that:
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
This took just 10 minutes. I didn’t want to be a burden to you.
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Painting on top
by Norbert Schwontkowski
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