AVOIDING THE TITLE  “COMPLAINER” 

AT THE FUNERAL PARLOR

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 18^th Monday in Ordinary Time  is, “Avoiding The Title, ‘Complainer’ At The Funeral Parlor.”

At many funerals there is a eulogy - by a family member or a friend. It’s  a description - or a rendering of the person who died - usually edited - to avoid the negatives - to help all deal with the death of a loved one.  Hopefully, there will be many  positive comments.

Then there is the unofficial eulogy - the real one of the person who died. Most of the time it’s kept within - but sometimes people whisper - with hand to their mouth, “You know, she was a complainer.” Or “He liked to “gripe, growl, and groan.”  Hopefully, there will be some good stuff as well.

The title of my homily is, “Avoiding The Title, ‘Complainer’ At The Funeral Parlor.”

TODAY’S READINGS

In today’s two readings - especially the first reading - folks are complaining. In the Book of Numbers they are complaining about the horrible food in the desert.  They also start voicing a basic complaint: we should never have moved in the first place.

The gospel complaint is about inconvenience - of having to feed all these folks. The disciples want Jesus to dismiss the crowd.

Jesus says: “Feed the crowd.”

TELL ME YOUR COMPLAINTS AND I’LL TELL YOU WHO YOU ARE.

Is there a definitive list of life’s top ten complaints?

I don’t know. That’s my first response to that question. Now I’ll be on the lookout for the most frequent gripes or complaints of people.

My guess would be that the list would contain: food, weather, noise, interruptions, traffic,  aches and pains, not getting my way - and especially others.

Yet, I don’t know. I have to think a bit more about all this.

I would think a basic question is whether most of my complaints are about myself or others. The answer to that would tell me a lot about myself.

Complaining about sloppiness, mismanagement, lateness, laziness, might indicate that I’m a neat person. Show me your house, your closets, the trunk of your car, and if it’s very neat, I might be able to tell you what you complain about. I would assume it would be the opposite: sloppiness and lazainess.

Knowing our pet peeves - would also tell us a lot about ourselves.

Listening to a person’s political complaints will tell others what TV news channel that person might  watch for news.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Avoiding The Title, ‘Complainer’ At The Funeral Parlor.”

I was talking to a lady yesterday who has lost her hair and a lot more - because of cancer. She and her husband are praying for a cure, and she’s going for another major surgery next week, yet she said with a rich smile: “Death it’s a part of life! I’m ready.”

Mark Twain in his  Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar, Chapter 10, wrote, “All say, ‘How hard it is that we have to die’ - a strange complaint to come from the mouths of those who have had to live.”

I would assume then that the bottom line is gratitude and joy for all the days of life we have had so far - for our food - our home - where we live, our relatives and friends,  and our hope for more - and we learn to enjoy them all - before we die. Amen