PAUSE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 1^st Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Pause!”

How good are we at pausing ----------- resting --------------- being silent -------------------- stopping --------------------------- becoming quiet?

TODAY’S READINGS

As usual I picked up  today’s readings to read them out loud - so as to come up with a homily. Ooops!  I caught myself - before I started. I forgot to pray. I don’t always catch myself - pausing for a prayer beforehand. I closed my eyes and said a prayer to the Holy Spirit - for light - hoping something would hit me as I was reading the Word - something  that might help all of us.

Ooops. Sometimes I  look at an Ikon of Jesus Christ that is on my wall above me - above my computer.

Pause!

To pause is important.

As I read today’s first reading  - Hebrews 4: 1-5, 11 - I noticed that  the text had the word “rest” in it - 6 times. Interesting.

I then asked, “What’s the Greek word in the original text that they translated it by the English word  “rest”? It was  “katapausin” all 6 times - 5 nouns - 1 verb.

I then tried to find the derivation of the English word “rest” - which was used to translate the Greek word “katapausin”. I found in Webster’s dictionary that it’s from an old English word - that comes from an old German word, “rast”. Okay.

Then I remembered the word “rest” in of Jesus’ words:  “Come to me all you who are weary or heavily burdened and I will give you rest!” Matthew 11: 28. I wondered if Matthew has that same word “katapausin”.  It didn’t. It had the word “anapausin”.

It was then that I said to myself, “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! The English word 'pause' comes from both these words - each of which has a different prefix: “ana” up and “kata” down - but the same root word "pausin". We had studied about Xenophon’s Anabasis - the “going up” of the army he was part of. Our professor told us that “Katabasis” would mean in contrast, the “retreat”, or “going home” or “going down”.

Obviously, I like to pause at words - to see where they come from - to see their roots - prefixes and suffixes, etc. - and see what I can learn.

So the message for today is one word: Pause!  Rest. Stop. Calm. Peace. Relax.

COMMENTARIES

I noticed in the Collegeville Bible Commentary on The Letter to the Hebrews  that the author of this text in Hebrews is stressing three understandings of  this theme of “rest”:

1) The Promised Land: the dream place of rest for the Hebrews.

2) The Sabbath Rest: the 7^th day of Creation - the 7^th day for the Jews (Saturday) - the 7^th Day for the Christians (Sunday),

3) The Eternal Rest - eternity - heaven.

Stop! 

Pause at that! Besides the meaning of the some words, there’s plenty of food for thought right there at those 3 rest stops for some reflection today.

1) How many people around the world are like the Israelites in the desert, longing for the Promised Land? They are experiencing ongoing wars and raids and eviction and forced migration. They have a dream for peace. If only we could get to Scandinavia or America? If only we could relocate to somewhere where there is no horror and shooting and terror and bombs?  Those out of work, long for a paycheck and a home and food and peace.

2) How many people have to work 7 days a week? How many people don’t have Sabbath or weekends or breaks or holidays?

3) How many people don’t believe or sense or have even heard for sure that there is a life after this life - Resurrection - the Good News of Jesus.

As to inner rest, today’s gospel has the story of a man who can’t move outwardly. He’s paralyzed. Some friends bring him to Jesus. The crowd is crowing them out. They go up on the room and cut through it and lower the paralyzed man down with ropes to Jesus.

Jesus pauses to see the paralyzed man. Then Jesus shocks those present by forgiving the man of his sins.

I’ve preached on this gospel many, many, many times, so that’s why I went with today’s first reading. I want to learn something new. 

In the context of my message about rest or pausing, let me ask this question: “How many people are restless, or can’t be at peace, because of their sins? Sins can paralyze. Sins can force us to spend the rest of the day, the year, one’s life worrying about  a bad mistake on their part. Sin paralyzes people. Forgiveness is necessary for healing - to become unparalyzed.

CONCLUSION: ENOUGH ALREADY

So a conclusion is to take a break, pause, which is what we are doing here by being at Mass, and look at the issue of rest in our lives - and the rest of our lives and the rest of our existence.

In the meanwhile, just in case I was too wordy with my word stuff, let throw in one example that I have used all my life concerning this theme.

When I was in high school or college, way back, I once heard Jim Brown the famous football player on the Cleveland Browns being interviewed. He said something like this, “Watch young running backs  when they get tackled. They push off and fight to stand up and run back to the huddle. He said, “That’s wasted energy. When I get tackled. I slowly let the others get off me and get up. Then I slowly get up and slowly walk back to the huddle for the next play. Then watch me move.”