PROVERBS AND PARABLES

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C,  is, “Proverbs and Parables.”

“Proverbs and Parables” ….

Today’s first reading from the Book of Sirach - which is one of the Wisdom Books in the Bible - and is a great collection of proverbs -  has this comment: “The mind of a sage - a wise person - appreciates proverbs and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise.” [Cf. Sirach 3:29]

Today’s gospel from Luke - our gospel for this Church Year - has the comment, “He told a parable to those who had been invited….” [Cf. Luke 14:7]

There they are: Proverbs and Parables - the title and the topic of this homily.

QUESTIONS

So I have 2 questions: What are the proverbs you use in your life?  What are the parables you use in your life?

I am assuming everyone has proverbs and parables in mind....

Wouldn’t it be wise  to know our proverbs and parables - the ones that we inwardly say - when we’re doing our day - especially when we come to a crossroad or a check point or an itchy situation? 

Wouldn’t it be wise to know the proverbs and parables that others use - that they think work for them.

If the answer to those questions are yes - then I assume it would be the wise to be more conscious of our inner workings with proverbs and parables. 

That’s the message of this sermon.

FOR EXAMPLE # 1

For example, I once worked at a retreat house - 1969 - 1976 -  along the New Jersey shore - right on the ocean. We had this big storm and the boardwalk we had along the property right above the ocean, got ripped up and tossed onto  the lawn - going towards our house - away from the ocean.

No boardwalk. So I got a hammer and nails. I was younger then. And every afternoon for about an hour I would take the loose boards - or I would pull boards loose from the wreckage - and bring them down to frame foundation of the old boardwalk - and redo the boardwalk.  Well, one day while banging nails into a board,  I found myself saying, “Board by board the boardwalk is built.”

And in time we had a boardwalk. It was the only thing I ever built. I got transferred a year after I finished my masterpiece - and I came back a year later - and my boardwalk was gone - replaced by a much longer and better boardwalk.

Today’s gospel says: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The boardwalk no longer existed on the ground - but it had become built into my brain. I had constructed a proverb - which was also a parable.

For the rest of my life since then, I have often found myself chopping away at a task - step by step - saying inwardly, “Board by board the boardwalk is built.”

Page by page the book is read. Word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, the sermon is written. Dish by dish the dishwasher is filled. Dish by dish the dishwasher is emptied.

It’s the same message in any 12 Step Program. A day at a time. A journey of a 1,000 miles begins with that first step. Piecemeal brings peace.

FOR EXAMPLE # 2

That first example came from a personal experience.  My second example comes from an old priest I was once working with. There was this lady at the place - it was not here - who could be difficult. This old priest would often say - after an incident,  “As my father used to say, ‘I’d give that lady a wide berth.'” That was around 1980 or so and I’ve said that inwardly many a time since - about various men and women.

IT’S THE SAME WITH PARABLES

It’s the same with parables and stories.

Not only do we find ourselves saying proverbs inwardly, proverbs like, “A stitch in time saves nine!” or “Practice what you preach!” - but we also refer inwardly to a bunch of inner stories that we use for how to deal with life.

And sometimes proverbs and parables - are interconnected.

FOR EXAMPLE # 3

Once upon a time, I was working with a priest named Tom.  This was from 1994-2002. We worked on the road out of St. Gerard's Parish, Lima, Ohio. Once in a homily he was giving, he told the story about visiting one of our rectories - priest houses. He said he had walked in and this other priest really beat on him verbally. Off to the side, and later on, another priest who saw the whole thing, said to him, “How could you let that guy beat on you like that?”

Tom answered, “Oh that was Charlie just being Charlie.”

That to me is the Charlie being Charlie parable.

I always hope something I say in a homily would help someone all these years like that comment in that homily has helped me.

When a similar thing happened to me, I have found peace inwardly saying, "Oh that's X just being X."

I’m sure you’ve heard us priests get nonsense off or stuff you disagree with. I’m sure some of you when our babble gets too much - when our words are on sand paper - you have thought, “Oh that’s Father X, just being Father X.”

Tom's message had the same message as the parable of the scorpion - which I’ve read in a dozen versions. Evidently, it has helped many people down through the years.

An old man was walking down a road along side a stream. He stops and sees a scorpion out on a dead tree limb. Slowly he works his way down the bank of the river sort of crawling towards the scorpion.

Just then two men are walking down that same road and they call out to the old man - struggling to get out onto the branch towards the scorpion, “What are you doing?”

The old man turned and said, “Oh I’m trying to save this scorpion out here. He’s going to fall and drown.”

One of the two men says, “Are you crazy? He’s going to sting and possibly kill you.”

And the old man says, “Well, his nature might be to sting and kill. It’s my nature to help and save.”

And he continued to work his way towards the scorpion. In some versions he’s stung by the scorpion. But the main message is that we do in life what our nature is - while others go through life as stingers.

When I’ve dealt with folks who can give a nasty sting - with some nasty comments - I try to remember that saying and that story - about the scorpion and about Tom -  that proverb and that parable - whenever I’m dealing with stingers.

CONCLUSION: TODAY’S GOSPEL

That’s my homily - short and sweet - as the proverb goes - to do some homework on what our personal proverbs and parables are.

Ooops - I better mention that today’s gospel has both a parable and a proverb. The parable is a reminder to not get filled up with self and want to sit in the seat to be seen. Nope Jesus’ parable has the message to take the back seat - and have others tell us to step up. Today’s parable then has the great proverb, “Everyone who humbles themselves will be exalted and everyone who exalts themselves will slip on a banana peel.”

Ooops! And the banquet in today’s gospel is this Mass - and guess who the poor, the crippled, the lamb and the blind who have been invited are?