YOU GOTTA CRY,
YOU GOTTA BEND,
AND THEN YOU DIE.
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 13 Friday in Ordinary
Time is, “You Gotta Laugh, You Gotta Cry, You Gotta Bend, and Then You Die.”
That’s a wisdom statement. That’s a description of ways
to deal with life.
FIRST STORY
For starters I like to tell a story that I love. It’s
about attitude. It’s about how we see life - how we see where we are - and how
we think.
A man is walking down a road and comes to a town.
He spots a man raking his lawn and he goes over to the
man and says, “I’m on the road and I’m looking for a place to settle. I’m
wondering what kind of town this is. What’s it like around here?”
The guy with the rake asks the man, “Where are you coming
from?”
The traveler says, “From a town a few hundred miles away
from here.”
“Well” says the man with the rake, “what was it like where you come from?”
The traveler says, “Oh it was a horrible place. That’s
why I left there. Everyone there was selfish and self-centered. People talked
about people behind their back. You had to lock your door all the time. Just
not that nice a place to be.”
“Well,” says the man with the rake, “I suppose you’ll
find the same sort of folks here.”
“Thank you,” says the man on the road, “Thank you. I guess I’ll just keep
traveling around till I find the right place.”
Twenty minutes later another man comes down that same
road into that same town and goes over to the same man and asks the same
question. “Hey mister, I’m looking around for a place to settle. What’s this
town like?”
And the man with the rake asks the same question, “Well
what was it like in the place you’re coming from.”
“Oh, it was wonderful,” says the traveler. “I loved the
place. Good people there. You never had to lock your door. People would watch
out for people. However, the company I was working for downsized, so I had to
get moving to try to find a job somewhere.”
“Well,” said the man with the rake, “I suppose you’ll
find the same kinds of folks here.”
“Oh, thank you,” said the man on the road. “I walk on in
and give it a try.”
ATTITUDE
That’s a story about attitude. The town is in the mind of
the beholder.
In this homily or reflection I want to talk about
attitude. Stepping back thoughts about dealing with life.
I like to stress the importance of altitude effecting
attitude.
If we stay low - hiding out in corners and watching TV
and not getting out and getting high on
the good stuff of life - then we stay low, down, and we can end being a
depressive.
Jesus told us to climb mountains - become transfigured -
otherwise we get disfigured - disgusted - distrustful about life.
So it’s good to go to the movies, take hikes, see plays,
go to concerts, take a good vacation, climb a mountain.
Altitude effects attitude.
SECOND STORY
I was talking to a Protestant minister recently and he said he was fed up with
the struggles within his community - and he was seriously thinking of becoming
a Catholic.
So I said to him - without telling the first story - that he’ll find in the
Catholic Church - the same struggles he finds in his Protestant Church.
I added that I live with 10 priests - and we are across
the board with different takes on different issues.
TODAY’S
READINGS
You gotta laugh, you gotta cry, you gotta bend and then
you die.
In today’s gospel Jesus calls Matthew a tax collector -
who stands up and follows Jesus - then he throws a great dinner for Jesus to
show him off to other tax collectors and sinners and the funny thing is the
Pharisees - instead of rejoicing that they are not going to be taxed by Matthew
any more - scream, “Your teacher eats with tax collectors and sinners.”
You gotta laugh at that. You gotta cry at that. We have
to bend and see ourselves as Pharisees, as Sinners, taxing others with our
complaints.
And in today’s first reading from Amos you gotta laugh at
the comment where baldness comes from: cheating in the marketplace. You gotta
cry that some are ripping off the poor - fixing the scales - adding to the
weights.
JUNIPERO SERRA
Today is the feast of Saint Junipera Serra.
You gotta laugh, you gotta cry, you gotta bend when it
comes to Saint Junipera Serra.
He and the Franciscans are responsible in big part for a
whole series of missions in California and down into Mexico. San Diego, Los
Angeles and all those other San Cities that got their names because of these Spanish
Missionaries.
You gotta laugh on how they plowed a great future. You
gotta cry that much was at the native people’s expense. You gotta scream at
those who complained at Serra’s tactics - rough at times - and if all this was
done today, it would be all very different.
You gotta say that much is hindsight!
Just as the Book of Genesis could not be written back
then with what we know now - so too the Franciscan Missions.
Once while in Tucson I got in on a trip to Magdalena
Mexico with a reporter, a photographer and a priest. We went down to a shrine
there of a Jesuit - I think it was Father Kino - but because the Jesuits were
repressed sometime back then - the habit on the Jesuit - was switched to that
of a Franciscan.
You gotta laugh at that.
I was told to climb the steps up onto this platform that
held a statue of the Jesuit priest dressed in a Franciscan habit. Each pilgrim had
to move along towards the head of the statue. The legend was that one then had
to put their hand to the back of the neck of the statue and if you could not
pick it up, you were in mortal sin.
The photographer and the reporter were off to the side ready
to take my picture. I could not lift it. I took my other hand and got Father
Kino by the neck and lifted him.
Snap. Snap. Picture. Picture. Me with a great smile.
CONCLUSION
Moral of the story: when it comes to religion, when it
comes to life, you have to laugh, you have to cry, you have to bend, and then
you die.
