MY LEFT FOOT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time C  is, “My Left Foot.”

When I read today’s second reading - St. Paul’s words from his 1^st Letter to the Corinthians - about the many parts of the human body - and saying each part is important - and each part needs each part - I remembered the movie, My Left Foot,  from way back.

St. Paul says, “If a foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,’ it does not for this reason belong any less to the body.”  Then he goes on to say the same of the ear, the eyes, and the rest of the parts of the body. We’re all in this together.

Today’s second reading is a great reading to reflect upon - for a parish, for a family, for our world. We all need each other.

I read somewhere that Paul probably heard that message from Greek public speakers - who used that message to stress the need for everyone to make a city work.

We need people to speak up, people who listen, people who are handy, people who do the foot work, people who are the brains, people who are the eyes of the city and the neighborhoods.

THE MOVIE: MY LEFT FOOT

Some movies move us. Some movies entertain us. Some movies are forgotten. Some movies are part of the rest of our life.

I have never forgotten the story of Christy Brown in the 1989 movie, My Left Foot. He has cerebral palsy - one of 13 children of a Dublin, Ireland bricklayer and his wife Bridget. Christy’s father writes his son off as just a lump - a non-person - who lays on the floor - who crawls along on the floor. The only part of his body that is not effected by cerebral palsy is his left foot.

The big moment in the movie is when as a kid he picks up a piece of chalk with his left foot and writes the letter A. His father thinks it’s just a scribble. His brother and sister and mother see an A.

The day comes when he writes the word “MOTHER” in chalk on the floor. At that his father who had no hope in him is shocked and totally surprised. He picks up his 9 year old son, throws him over his shoulder and brings him to the local pub. He walks in and announces to everyone, “This is Christy Brown, my son. Genius.”

The movie is powerful, real, tough, and not easy to take. The language is very rough. Christy becomes adult - and Daniel Day-Lewis - now also of Abraham Lincoln movie fame - plays the part that Hugh O’Conor plays as the kid. Christy Brown becomes a writer and an artist and an alcoholic. Daniel Day-Lewis won the 1990 Academy Award - for best actor and Brenda Flicker won best supporting actress as his mother - in this movie.

The lesson I got out of the movie was the value of every human being - no matter the situation - no matter the handicap. It also got me to stop and wonder when I experience any person: who is this other person. Who is this person that I write off because of what they look like - or how they are dressed - or who I think they are?

Surprise! Every person is a surprise! Every person is a gift to be opened - heard, experienced, loved and appreciated. We are all part of the Body of Christ - member with member.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

This year - Year C - in the 3 Year Cycle of Gospel Readings - we have the year of Luke.

Today’s gospel reading is interesting.  It begins with the opening words to the Gospel of Luke and then jumps to Chapter 4. Here is the opening words to Luke - Chapter 1 - verses 1- 4.

Since many have undertaken

to compile a narrative of the events
that have been fulfilled among us,
just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning
and ministers of the word have handed them down to us,
I too have decided,
after investigating everything accurately anew,
to write it down in an orderly sequence for you,
most excellent Theophilus,
so that you may realize

the certainty of the teachings
you have received.

That’s the only gospel that begins that way. It gives motive, purpose and method.

We, the reader, are called, “Theophilus” - a lover of God.

After those 4 verses, Luke presents in his gospel, “The Infancy Narrative” - which we heard at Christmas time.  That leads us to  Chapter 3 where we hear about John the Baptist. He prepares us for the coming of the Lord. Then Jesus goes into the desert and he experiences the 3 temptations. We’ll hear them on the First Sunday of Lent - next month - February 17. Then - today - the 3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, we hear about Jesus coming out of the desert and going back to Nazareth - his hometown.

It’s a powerful scene. Jesus gives his Inaugural Address.

The scene is similar to today’s first reading when Ezra the scribe stands on a wooden platform - opens a scroll - and reads to the people from daybreak till midday.

Both texts are inaugural addresses - begin again stories.

Jesus’ reading is much, much, shorter than Ezra the Scribe’s reading. Jesus reads from the Isaiah scroll that is handed him. It’s unrolled and he finds the passage in Isaiah where it is written,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.

He said to them, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

This year the scroll of Luke will be unrolled for us and we’ll hear Jesus reaching out to the poor, the captive, the blind and the oppressed - and he’ll heal and set them free.

We’ll meet people who are considered worthless and useless like Christy Brown. Jesus will call fishermen and tax collectors. He’ll reach out to the blind and the lame. He’ll ask us to see the widow who lost her only son. He’ll brag about the woman whom everyone saw as the sinner and Jesus saw her love and how she washed his left foot and right foot with her tears and ointment and dried his feet with her hair.

In Luke we’ll hear the great parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, Dives and Lazarus, the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in the temple.

In Luke we’ll learn to pray and to invite Jesus into our homes and our hearts.

Luke is known as the Gospel to the Poor.

This year the call from Jesus through Luke is to see the persons in our lives - members of our families - people we work with - neighbors - people we pass by - people in this church - whom we might not be we’re not seeing.

CONCLUSION

Touch your left hand and then your right hand. Rub them. Perhaps the only time we notice them - the only time we’re aware of our hands - is when we cut a finger - or the cold weather dries out a finger tip - or we have arthritis.

Tap your right foot and then your left foot. Wiggle your toes in both your right and left foot. We notice them perhaps only when we stub a toe or have a corn or a callus or dry skin or someone steps on our toes.

It’s the same with our eyes and ears. We take them for granted - along with our nose and tongue - and the rest of the parts of our body.

I have a very fond memory of going to Tio Pepe’s Restaurant in Baltimore in February of 1986. My brother had lost all sense of taste with his cancer treatments - but his taste buds came back that month - and so it was a great meal together. A short time later - in the next month of March he died. I celebrate that memory and his life. He taught me to taste each bite of food - and enjoy the taste.

May we do that for all people being aware how tasty - how wonderful - how unique we all are - and how blind we can be of each other.

Who is that tiny pinky toe left foot person in our life whom we are not aware of? Who is the Christy Brown whom we’re not noticing? She’s in the nursing home. He’s next door. He’s in our family. He’s playing music on a street corner in Washington D.C. He’s under a bridge in Annapolis and baby it’s cold outside.

We come into this warm church and Jesus walks in and stands up front and says a few words to wake us up to see, to hear, to listen to, to love and to notice each other - especially the unnoticeable lady at the check out counter or the usher at Mass. Amen.