VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL
The title of my homily is, “Vertical & Horizontal.”
[BIG GESTURE WITH HANDS] I the vertical, I the vertical;
[BIG GESTURE WITH HANDS] - the horizontal; - the horizontal.
This is good stuff to think about – to ponder its
simplicity - this reality of the up and down [GESTURE I] and the side
to side, sides of life [GESTURE -].
I don’t know if I can put this reality into words, but
I’ll try.
And I urge you to think about this reality - of the
vertical [GESTURE I] and the horizontal [GESTURE -] – for the way we are called to do
life – our spirituality – our religion – our way of thinking and being – our awareness’s
– with God and with each other.
Hey the sign of the cross is our sign – our plus – our
message – our life.
It will be a plus when do - and a minus when don’t.
And we all know the difference between a plus sign and a
minus sign.
The plus sign has both the vertical – the up and down
line – as well as the horizontal line – sideways to sideways.
The minus sign – is a minus – because it lacks one line –
the vertical.
I don’t know about you – the vertical and the horizontal
– are terms that I sometimes mix up. Sometimes I have to pause and say to
myself, “Okay the horizon is out there – over there – the sun is setting in the
west – on the horizon - in the distance – so okay – horizontal means this way –
east – west – so that means the vertical is the opposite – up and down – north to
south – and south to north. Okay I got that for now.
I have to make a similar pause to think about the words and concepts of
“affect” and “effect” I often don’t get the difference between those two words
and thought. At times I also find the idea of “latitude” and “longitude” – tricky
in my mind as well.
Okay back to vertical [GESTURE I] and
horizontal . [GESTURE - ] – the title and theme of this homily.
TODAY’S
READINGS
You’ll find in today’s readings a stress on both the
vertical – me and God – the up down line – as well as the horizontal line – me
and we – my neighbor and I – the sideways line – those in the same bench and
highway and street and planet together.
Today’s first reading from the Book of Exodus has Moses
telling the folks not to molest or oppress the alien - the widow or the orphan – the poor or the
needy. Hey you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
That’s the horizontal line. Moses had also told them
elsewhere about the key words of the everyday Jewish morning and evening prayer
– the Shema, the vertical: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the LORD is
one"
But there is also the other – the others
with us on this planet – so Moses calls out not to neglect anyone – especially
the aliens, the widows, the orphans and the poor.
I hear that loud and clear. My mother and father came
from poverty in Ireland and my mother often said about where she came from, “Ireland
has nothing.” And in 1994 I finally saw where she and my dad came from in a
small rocky coastal area above Galway. And as I stood on the edge of the rocky
grey shore I thought: “Thank you mom and dad.” They got married over here in
the States – but their brother and sister married each other over there.
I know where I come from so I get today’s first reading
from Exodus. I became a priest to work as a missionary in Brazil and never got
there – because I heard of the need for priests in a Catholic school classroom
and from the pulpit in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Brooklyn N.Y.
Today Ireland and Brazil are doing better. But the poor –
the immigrant – those without – are in our midst. As Jesus said, “The poor you
always have with you.”
I know I can be blind to the poor and think at times,
“Get a life. Pick up a shovel. Get a job – instead of a hand-out.” I know when
I say that I’m thinking from my mind-set not theirs.
Isn’t that one of the reasons folks skip the vertical and
don’t come to church – because they think we who go to church are a bunch of
selfish hypocrites who are screaming and blocking illegals from entering our
melting pot or land of opportunity. They
see bishops and priests concerned only about themselves and career and upward
mobility – and in the meanwhile we didn’t see on the horizon all these kids who
were abused.
Today’s second reading begins with the words: brothers
and sisters – and then talks about how the folks in Thessalonica were so
generous and so hospital to Paul and his companions. He adds how they had
turned from idols to Jesus. There they are: the horizontal and the vertical.
Today’s gospel has the two commandments – the vertical
command – “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first
commandment.” Then we have the
horizontal commandment. Jesus tells the
scholar of the law in today’s gospel, “The second is like it: You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.”
Then Jesus concludes with the comment: The whole law and
the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
It’s interesting that Luke in his Gospel has Jesus asking
the scholar of the law this same question about the answer to the question:
what’s the greatest commandment in the Law.
Here in Matthew Jesus is asked the question.
Luke – then adds perhaps the most important short story
ever written: the story of the Good Samaritan.
Talk about vertical and horizontal: read that story. It’s
written in the Bible in Luke 10:29-37. Just remember 10 as in 10 fingers.
Better by now it’s written in your brain and memory if you’re a Christian. You
know the story and its message.
A man is beaten up and left half dead on the road from
Jerusalem to Jericho. The priest and the Levite go right past him – stepping to
the other side of the road. They are keeping the law – the vertical me and God
line and Law - maybe even rushing to the temple as they go
by their neighbor – to get to God. Talk, think, ponder the vertical line. The Samaritan, the stranger, the foreigner,
the man outside the Law – stops and helps his neighbor – regardless of Law – on
who should help whom? He sees his neighbor – on the ground – on the same line
as he is – the horizontal line. He
stops, cares for him, brings him to an in, and pays for him and promises more
if it costs more.
There they are – the vertical and the horizontal.
Both are called for in commandment and in practical reality.
THE MAN GETTING
MARRIED
A few years back a man called and asked if I could do
some paper work for his upcoming marriage – which was to take place out
west. The priest in California said he
should see his local priest for proper paper work on this side of the country
for him.
He came in on a Wednesday afternoon – when St. Mary’s
corridor is filled with poor people asking for help with food and fuel bills.
And our St. Vincent de Paul Society and the many volunteers from this parish
are fabulous – plus all the money you put in the poor boxes here, etc. etc.
etc.
During the course of our conversation the man says to me
that he’s Catholic, but he doesn’t go to church – but his fiancée does. He’s noticing people out in the corridor and
asks who are they and what’s going on?
I tell him about the St. Vincent de Paul Society and how great this parish is
for the poor and he says, “We’re going to live here – after we get married –
could I volunteer to help the poor?”
To me there it was: the horizontal and the vertical.
The going to church didn’t grab him; but the helping the
poor did.
That's one reason I love it that our high school has kids having to do mandatory service hours - and I love it when at graduation time I hear about some kid doing hundreds and hundreds extra hours of service.
If I was giving this homily at St. Mary’s I’d point to
the corridor and the Blessed Sacrament chapel.
IN SPORTS AND
IN LIFE
While watching a football game we often see a player make
a great run or a great catch or a great TD throw and they raise their one
finger up to God: Give God the Glory!
That’s the vertical – and sometimes they give a
horizontal gesture to another player or players who helped make the run or what
have you work.
Give God the Glory.
Give others the glory – give the other a word of thanks.
CONCLUSION
So we come to church to give God the Glory – but we’re
told during the Mass – “Let us give one another a sign of peace” and we’re told
at the end of Mass – to go in peace and bring the love of Christ to our world.
Vertical and Horizontal.
The word “Mass” comes from the Latin word “Missa” – to be sent.
So we come to Mass – we come to God – the Most High – and
we are sent by God to the mass of humanity – to go out from this time and place
to all the world and made a difference – to make this world a better place to
be in today. Amen.
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