IMPACT?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 10^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Impact?”

And it’s in the form of a question mark. Who and what has impacted our lives?  How and what and who has influenced us to be the who we are today?  Impact?

It’s the nurture part of the “Nature vs. Nurture” question.

The first time I really thought about this question was in a preaching seminar.  One of the presenters asked us preachers,  “Who has influenced you?”  “Whom are you imitating?”

I had never thought about that till the question was asked. As time has gone on, I’ve thought about it a lot. I have realized that the first answer is the usual, “I don’t know!” I could relate to George Seferis - the Greek writer and diplomat’s response - to someone who asked him, “Who influenced you?” His answer: “Don’t ask who’s influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he’s digested, and I’ve been reading all my life.”  Yet he also said he was influenced by Yeats - and especially Eliot whom he translated.

So we can come up with answers - to who and how we have been formed and influenced.

I liked a trick that Father Jack Kingsbury - our last pastor used: to refer to past sermons that he gave - and sometimes he would add that he wanted to develop further something from that sermon.

I don’t use props too often, but I love the way Father John Tizio - our present pastor - uses props - especially with kids. He has them hidden till the moment he brings the prop out of hiding. I see his method having great impact and people remember props.

I’ve also been influenced by how I don’t want to preach and live by watching others in action.

I was at the Navy Academy graduation just two weeks or so ago - during which my grandnephew Sean graduated. I noticed President Obama - who gave the commencement address - saying at a transition point in his talk: “In the time I have left.”  He didn’t say, “In conclusion….”  or “Finally ….” because once you say that, people are expecting an ending - and if you don’t end right about then, you’ve lost them. That’s what they remember. You promised an ending, but you didn’t deliver.

So I expect I’ll be using that trick at some point….

QUESTION: IMPACT?

So my question for today is: Impact?  Who has impacted us?

Whom have I learned my life tricks from?  Whom has taught me my attitudes - my style - my ways of thinking and seeing and being and believing?

By coming up with answers to this question of “Impact?”, we can study our background and decide whether we hold that and want to go with that or what have you.

THE READINGS AT MASS

When we come to Mass we have two or three readings that can have an impact on us.

How have they formed us? How have they impacted us?

For starters I always suggest texts - single texts. What is our favorite Bible text? Which are the ones that grab us? When did they hit us? What do they tell us about ourselves?

I learned from Father Benedict Groeschel the statement: tell me your favorite Bible text and you’re telling me a lot about yourself.

Besides single favorite texts, we can ask what is our favorite gospel or book of the Bible? What does that tell you about yourself?

Today’s two readings are beginning readings.

The first reading is the opening verses of 2 Corinthians. We’ll be hearing parts of that letter till Saturday June 22^nd. It has a few grabbers - that can impact us - on the resurrection and on reconciliation. Listen the next two weeks.

Today’s  Gospel begins the Sermon on the Mount - Matthew 5, 6 and 7. We’ll be hearing parts of that till July 2^nd this year. Some of those messages of Jesus have impacted Christians for the past 2000 years. Which one’s are yours.

CONCLUSION

Whenever I hear the words, “Sermon on the Mount” which we begin today, I think of General Omar Bradley - whose Christian roots from his church in Missouri - certainly influenced and impacted his life.

Let me close with a famous comment by General Omar Bradley, “We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.”  Address on Armistice Day [1948]