I AM A PART  OF  ALL 

THAT  I  HAVE  MET  

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time is, “I Am A Part of All That I Have Met.”

That’s a line from a poem, Ulysses, by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

I heard that line in that poem in high school and for some reason I have never forgotten it and have said it to myself many times.

“I Am A Part of All That I Have Met.”

TODAY’S READINGS

Those words by Tennyson came back to me last night as I sat down to work on this homily for this morning.

I say that because the first reading and the gospel talk about words as seeds planted in the field of our memory or our brains.

The first reading from Isaiah 55:10 -11 begins with the image of God watering the earth with rain and snow to make it fertile and fruitful. In doing this the earth gives seed to the one who sows and then bread to the one who eats.

Then Isaiah says that God also sends down words from his mouth and that word will be fruitful. It will not be void – or empty. It will do God’s will. He has God saying, “I will achieve the end for which I sent it.”

Those words are very clear. Get it? Got it?  Good!

If you’ve ever been to Israel and Palestine – or if you look at the TV background on many a story about fighting going on over there – you know that the earth can be dry desert like.

Today's gospel -  Matthew 13: 1-23 - presents his wording of the Parable of the Sower which is also very clear – even if one is not a gardener or a farmer.

Jesus pictures himself as a farmer sowing parables and wisdom and stories like seed on our world. Then he says there are 4 kinds of people who are the recipients – just as the seeds the sower is tossing land on all kinds of soil and earth.

Some people are rock deaf and dumb and dense. Some people are shallow. Some people are good listeners – get and love the message – but they have too many other things in their minds. Some people get the message, grow, and become fruitful – 100, 60, 30fold.

Jesus understood what every preacher and teacher and parent knows.

Best of luck – keep trying – keep nagging – keep advertising: “Please! I don’t want to be the only one around here who empties the dish washer every time.”

Some people don’t hear. They just don’t get it. It’s like talking to the sidewalk. 

Some people listen lightly and nothing really hits home.

Some people have depth, but they have too many other things going on in their lives. They promise, promise, but we are only 1 of their 100 promises.

Some folks get it and go with it and grow with it.

THIS HOMILY: 3 RAMIFICATIONS OF THIS REALITY

There are many ramifications to today’s two readings – including today’s second reading as well. Let me give just 3.

ONE: TRUST THE PROCESS

I was taught years ago the slogan: “Trust the Process.”

When I first heard it, I might have said, “Great!”  But I really didn’t get it.

At 49 - my brother gets cancer, Melanoma – Irish Skin -  and is told from Day 1 – “You have 18 months to live." And that’s what he got. I asked him Day 1, “How are you going to deal with this?” He said, “I’ll let you know.”

Just before he died he said, “I’m glad I didn’t wait till now to smell the roses.” Then he said, “Thank God, mom and dad gave us the gift of faith. Without faith in God, I don’t know what I would do.”

So moms and dads, trust the process. You’re here. Maybe your kids ain’t – but trust the process. If they saw you here, if you prayed at meals and an Our Father or whatever at home with them - or you said a prayer in your car whenever you went on a trip, you planted that in the field of your kids.

It’s in them. Trust the process. Time has a wonderful way of coming home to us.

TWO: WHO SAID ELEPHANTS HAVE THE BEST MEMORIES?

We humans have great memories. 

Someone mentions South Korea or the Southside of Chicago and a memory something that went south years and years ago bops up from out of our depths.

I was taking a 5 hour car trip once. Since I would be with myself, I grabbed  some old cassette tapes – from 25 years ago. My car now had a CD player – so I grabbed a cassette player – put new batteries in it – and off I drove.

I’m listening to this tape – and I say, “Woo!” The speaker, a Jesuit, gave this great example. And I say out loud in my car to myself, “Oh that’s where I got that from – and I thought I was so original.”

Is our brain a tape recorder? Nope. But I do remember all these years a book I read by Doctor Wilder Penfield – a Montreal Canada neurosurgeon.

In treating epilepsy and doing brain surgery – to avoid doing big time damage – he did brain mapping – keeping the patient somewhat conscious – so as to know what parts of the brain triggered stuff in other parts of the body. This was in the 70’s – and his brain mapping is still used. Accidentally he discovered that in some patients – touching a specific part of the brain, triggered memories. Other brain surgeons have not been able to replicate this – and it was only in 5% of his patients.

However, when news of this got out, it became the stuff of imagination. Who needs waterboarding, just open a person’s brain and tap, tap?

That book by Dr. Wilder Penfield told me that we have a lot in our brain – amazing. It told me what one reads from time to time, that we have only just got to edge of the exploration of the human brain. Talk about Mars and outer space. What about the inner space of the brain and the soul and spirit of us people?

Stick around to 2492. Some Doctor Christopher or Krista Columbus of will discover whole new worlds in the human brain.

So no wonder when Jack says Blue – Jill thinks of seeing the Blue Angels in Annapolis in 2014.

THREE – GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT, SO TOO BEETHOVEN AND BACH

If all this is somewhat true, if we are like soil, earth, and seeds are planted and they grow – especially if they are watered, then the obvious message is: Plant the good stuff; avoid the weeds.

Work a garden. Listen to good music. Watch good movies. Read good books. Walk in beautiful places. Sit and pray in quiet afternoon churches. Try listening prayer.

We all remember the saying from years ago, “Garbage in; garbage out.”

You reap what you sow.

In this homily, I'm throwing out seed  ideas. I'm hoping some will take root, but I heard what Jesus said about different kinds of listeners.

If you're listening, then know that you don't have dementia yet. 

But if anyone is still listening – I failed, because I see preaching as triggering stuff folks can go off on – to listen to your own stuff that you need to tend to and stop listening to the preacher.

However, if anyone is still listening, you should have some questions - about memories.

Here are a few possible ones - with comments.

What do I do with my past sins? I confessed them – I regretted them – but they are still bothering me from time to time.

Response. Welcome to the club.

Response – the good news is that you don’t have dementia – but a good long term memory.

Response – our sins can keep us humble.

Response – our sins can help us to understand others. I  never forget Hawthorne’s story where in a New England town there is this lady who spends her time, “Tch, tch, tch", other people.  So this other lady says, “Why don’t you go out and commit a really good sin and maybe then you’ll understand the rest of us.”

That story was worth the price and the reading of the whole story.

Response – all this should get us thinking - how we were formed - where we got our ideas from - and also get us thinking about not drinking poison.

Perhaps we should also reflect upon next Sunday's gospel - Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds - the one in which the farmer says let both grow till harvest time. Pull them out now, you might do damage to the good stuff growing in your field. [Cf. Matthew 13:24-30]

So the following gets me thinking.  I love shoot-em-up movies. I loved the Bourne Movies and Kill Bill I and 2 – and they are rated R for violence.  I still have no desire to kill any of the priests I live with. How about you? If you feel that way, maybe you shouldn’t be looking at those movies.

CONCLUSION

When you come up for communion this morning – say, pray, “Jesus, I am a part of all that I have met. Thanks for the good. Help me to learn from the bad.”

Then pray, “Jesus come into me today in communion and help me to bring you out into our world today and tomorrow – so those who meet me, meet you. Amen.”