Jesus , I've seen you on 100 crucifixes and in a 100 broken persons, but Jesus, I need to get away from these Good Friday moments. I need you to backtrack and see me up a tree like Zacchaeus and call me to come down - so we can sit down and have a good meal and a good talk together - and then plan a future together.
The title of my homily for this 33rd Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Behold I Stand at the Door
and Knock.”
TODAY’S FIRST
READING
In today’s first reading from the Book
of Revelation we have a very well-known Biblical text, “Behold, I stand at
the door and knock.” [Rev. 3:20]
I would think we have heard that text and sermons on that text enough
that it has become a part of our spiritual life.
It knocks on our door!
And every time we have a sermon or a homily on this text from Revelation
the preacher always brings in the story of Holman Hunt’s famous painting, “The
Light of the World.”
We know the story - we’ve heard it in a hundred sermons. We know the key
message, “The knob is on the inside.”
The message of that painting and that text is that it’s our move.
Christ wants in - but do we want him in?
TODAY’S GOSPEL
And it doesn’t always happen on weekday readings that the first reading
fits in perfectly with the gospel, but today it does. [Cf. Luke 19: 1-10.]
Jesus invites himself into Zacchaeus’ house and Zacchaeus invites Jesus
into his life.
We know these stories and we know them well.
What a great way to begin personal prayer - whether here in church or in our Eucharistic chapel down below - or while
sitting on our back porch - or in a
special prayer chair - that we have in some quiet part of our house. To just pause, breathe, be, and before doing
anything else, to hear Jesus knocking on our door - on our mind - on our heart.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Behold I stand at the door and knock.”
What a great opening prayer to a time of prayer, “Come Lord Jesus. Come
Lord Jesus. Come on in, Lord Jesus. Come on in.”
BACK TO THE
PAINTING
The painting is entitled, “The Light of the World.”
In the painting we only see Jesus. He is standing there with lantern in
hand and it’s well lit. And his face and his garments radiate light.
In the painting we see the weeds and ivy all over the door area - as if
the door hasn’t been open for years.
Holman started the painting when he was 22 and didn’t finish it till he
was 29. It wasn’t till 50 years later that he explained the painting. The door
is the closed mind. I thought the meaning was very obvious - because maybe I
heard sermons on this many, many times. However, maybe not everybody gets it - if their minds
are closed to Jesus and closed to hearing an explanation.
The painting was started at night. Somewhere along the line, Holman Hunt
said he went to Bethlehem to see the light there - to make sure he had it
right.
There are 3 versions of this painting. The first and best is in Keble
Chapel in Oxford. He wasn’t happy with how they had it set up, so he did a
larger and second version - and this hangs in St Paul’s church London - where
Hunt is buried. It’s not as good. A
third smaller version is in Manchester.
I would think, unless you saw the painting in person, it doesn’t make
much difference because there are so many copies of this painting all around
the world - on many walls, in many books and movies and what have you.
Last night as I was doing some research on the painting, I noticed that
it went on a worldwide tour between 1905 to 1907. It’s said that 4/5 of the
population of Australia saw it.
We get that. We’ve all seen the painting somewhere along the line.
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is, “Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock.
Surprise! Even if we keep the door locked, even if the knob is on the
inside, Jesus comes through walls. [Cf. John 20: 19-23]
November 15, 2016
BASIC
As basic as being nice….
As basic as rye bread and cold butter…. As basic as loving one another....
As basic as holding the door for the next person….
As basic as giving a phone number on an answering machine
slowly and then repeating it slowly ….
As basic as giving a subway seat to an older person
especially with packages ….
As basic as saying, “Nice moon tonight, God….”
As basic as using one’s car signal ….
As basic as not slamming doors - especially when others are napping ….
As basic as taking grandkids out for ice cream - often ….
As basic as leaving a public restroom neater than when
one used it ….
The title of my homily for this 33 Monday in Ordinary
time is, “Secret Revelations.”
BOOK OF
REVELATION
Today’s first reading is from the opening words of the Book of Revelation and then it jumps to
the 2nd chapter of the Book of
Revelation.
We are going to cover the rest of the Book of Revelation for the next and last
2 weeks of the Church Year’s weekday readings.
So I thought I’d say a little about the Book of
Revelation - under the theme of Secret Revelations.
The alternative year’s readings are Maccabees and the Book of Daniel.
A question: have you ever studied the Book of Revelation with a commentary in
book form, or tapes or a Bible Study Group?
It would be well worth it.
It’s dated from around the year 90 - written sometime
during the reign of Emperor Domitian - whose dates are 81 to 96 AD.
It’s filled with visions, drama, song, apocalyptic
language and images.
If it was on stage, we would see the Lamb, armies
marching, people breaking open the seals of secret documents, trumpets, roaring
dragons, lions, beasts and bowls, angels, clouds, the river of life, a new
heaven and a new earth.
The main stress - the main image - of the book is Jesus
Christ - the Lamb of God - who saves us and is our hope of salvation.
And because the church is going through tough times -
like persecutions the language in the Book of Revelation is code language at
times.
That’s why a guide would be helpful. Moreover there has
been a lot of research on the type of literature we have here - and it’s often
connected to the Book of Daniel - which was written also in dangerous times.
Scott Hahn was some wonderful insights on the Book of
Revelation connecting it loud and clear with the Mass.
CHURCH: LOTS OF
VISIONARIES
For a thought for the day besides this quick introduction
to the Book of Revelation which begins today, I would like to say a few words
about the phenomenon of secret writings and secret revelations.
The history of Christianity has had a lot of visionaries
down through history who put their visions into written form.
From what I pick up - visionaries catch the attention of
those who feel they are in the dark - they don’t know - and they would like to
be in on the secret.
The Early Church has had various groups - who end up
being called, “Gnostics.”
They are in the know - and often they are declared to be
heretics.
When it comes to religion, we’ll meet many people, who
want to have an edge. They want to be safe. They want eternal life on the other
side of the unseen side of death.
Secrets sell. Secrets sell books. Secrets make money.
Before I came to Annapolis - which has it’s set geographical boundaries - I was
on the road - all over Ohio and lots of
other places. I also was in 3 retreat houses - for 22 years of my life - where
people came from all kinds of places. So I have had varied experiences of people from lots of places - who have told me
that they have read a book by a visionary.
I’ve checked some of them out.
Most of the time I have kept my mouth shut - following
the Gamaliel principal: - if this is of God, it will last, if this is nonsense,
it will end up on some book shelf gathering dust. [Cf. Acts of the Apostles 5:
38-39.]
Rome rarely gives its approval of visionries - some of
whom I consider crazy. Visionaries talk about the end of the world is coming.
Some talk about Mary being God. Others talk about St. Joseph being the Holy
Spirit.
For example, the visionary of Bayside, Long Island,
Veronica Lucken made statements about Paul
VI being an imposter and lots of other strange comments - so called “Secret
Revelations.”
These books sell.
And if someone said there is a visionary in Virginia or
Ocean City, I guarantee there will be traffic jams.
CONCLUSION:
ENOUGH WITH THE WHINING
I don’t want to say much more - other than saying, “Why
wouldn’t people concentrate on the gospels - like today’s gospel and pray with
the Blind Man - I want to see - like seeing our neighbor in need or a person
who could use a “hello” and a “compliment.”
Instead of reading stuff that often is complaints and
fuzzy theology and spirituality, read with the gospels - and if you have a good
guide, go for the Book of Revelation.
Amen.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
BARE RUIN’D
CHOIRS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 33 Sunday in Ordinary
Time is, “Bare Ruin’d Choirs.”
Those are 3 words and an image - a metaphor - from Sonnet
73 by William Shakespeare.
Here are the opening 4 lines of that sonnet:
That time of year thou may'st in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold;
Bare ruin'd choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
For some reason those words - "Bare ruin'd choirs" hit me - or I heard them -
when I read today’s readings.
Right now the leaves are falling - falling - falling from the
trees. The cold is coming.
I saw two little kids this morning marching across a lawn. They were shuffling and making noise by kicking up the brown leaves on the ground and
I was wondering what they were thinking and wondering about or feeling as they were doing this.
Change - things are changing. The days are getting shorter - and Day Lights
Saving Time in gone - and it’s darker in the afternoon.
How does all this affect us? It's November - the month we traditionally think of our dead - visit cemeteries - and pray and honor our dead.
Today’s readings are end of the church year type readings
that we hear every year at this time in November and they can sound kind of
pessimistic and rather uh ohish.
BARE RUIN’D
CHOIRS
Today’s gospel begins, “While some people were speaking
about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings Jesus
said, 'All that you see here - the days will come when there will not be left a
stone upon another stone that will not
be thrown down.'”
Reading that - picturing that - it triggered the human
experience of how we feel when we see ruin - mess - disaster - a flood in
Ellicott City - the continuing destruction in Aleppo and Mosul - burnt down homes in the hills of California - a
car wreck - even of a Lexus.
Ruin - wrecks - disasters trigger feelings - like being
in a restaurant - and the waitress or waiter or server is walking towards a table and a whole tray
filled with 5 meals slips and crashes and hits the floor and silence bounces
off the walls of the restaurant.
“Oh no!” “Uh oh!”
There are two types of people: those who feel for the
waitress or waiter or server who
experienced the crash and what they must be feeling at that moment - and the
person at the table who says inwardly, “Oh no, another 17 minute wait.”
Ruined chapel at Holyrood House Palace.
Shakespeare must have seen a deserted church - a ruined chapel
- without a roof. Only the bare walls remained. Weeds and trees and ivy crawled
up and down the broken walls. And the monks who sang prayers there are long
gone. Only birds on the branches or on walls can be heard at times.
Henry VIII and his people had looted and ransacked many a
monastery.
The time was autumn - and if one reads all 154 sonnets of
Shakespeare, one often hears his anxiety about aging - and the coming of one's fall - death. In his day, old age was much younger
than today’s attitudes on what is old. His 36 to 40 is today’s 66 to 76 - or
more.
He worried a lot about wrinkles and aging - aches and
pains - the slow dying of the body as well as the death of buildings. And I would add: In his sonnets we hear a lot about the fragility of relationships - how they can fail and crush one half of that relationship.
WHAT DO WE
WORRY ABOUT?
Spirituality - and religion - and faith deal with worries
and loss and aging - and how we deal with the changes of life.
How does the waiter or server deal with slipped and
crashing trays?
How does the person dealing with waiting for his or her
supper deal with slow and slippage and chewy roast beef - with gristle - or a
hamburger that doesn't taste like the image of the great hamburger on its way as
it’s pictured in one’s mind?
How do we deal with other drivers on the highways of
life? How do we deal with being dropped or divorced or dissed?
How do we deal with parents who don’t understand and kids
who won’t go to church - or a brother or sister who won’t help with taking care
of mom and dad who need help with depends and getting them to the doctor.
We come to church to think and pray about life.
We take walks from time to time to think and pray about
life.
We listen to Jesus to hear his take on what’s really
valuable about life.
It’s all about service. I like the word "love" - but I think two other words ending with "ve" - have more impact. Those words are "give" and "serve". It’s all about waiting and receiving
with joy the love of one another.
It’s about Thanksgiving which is coming up.
It’s about how we see.
WHEN DO WE
LEARN LIFE’S LESSONS?
When I see kids making and playing with soap bubbles -
big amazing ones that have a rainbow on them and they burst - does a kid learn
a life lesson from that?
How about building sand castles at the beach and it’s
almost finished and the tide has changed and it wipes out our castle? Do we learn anything from that?
How about a kid dropping his or her ice cream on tiny stones in an
ice cream stand parking lot. Add to that a parent saying, "That's it! You weren’t
careful?” Do they learn anything from that moment and that correction?
How about the death of a favorite grandmother?
How about playing with pick up sticks and a kid just
can’t get the hang of it?
How about playing Monopoly or rummy or checkers and I
lose every time?
As Dabo Swinney said last night after Clemson’s loss to
Pittsburgh, “There’s a lot more learning
in a loss than a victory. Every time....”
CHURCH
Church is a learning center.
Church is a vision center.
Choirs are still singing in this church.
I had 3 masses this weekend at Our Lady of the Chesapeake
in Pasadena and the cantor sang this neat song - and from my seat in the
sanctuary I was looking out and it seemed like every person in the church was
singing along - the refrain. It was a love song about how God loves us.
And a lot of people had their eyes closed and a smile on
their face.
I was moved.
So I hope that singing and worshiping here moves all of
us. I hope by coming into church tonight a smile arrives and lasts on your face all week.
And I studied those faces and asked myself, “Why are you
here today? What are you looking for? What do you need?”
The answer came loud and clear.
I need you Lord.
I need you to be with me this evening and this week.
Lord sometimes I feel like a bare ruin'd choir. The song
is out of me. My faith has disappeared.
GARRY WILLS
Garry Wills in the 1970’s wrote a whole book called,
“Bare Ruin’d Choirs” and it was about his disappointment with our church.
That’s what he said the Catholic Church had done to him.
Bummer. I pray for comebacks.
I feel deeply about those who left - family members -
etc. etc. etc.
I pray that your church - this church - your inner holy
place has a room and it’s a holy place because Christ is within you.
CLOSING EXAMPLE
Let me close with a powerful memory and moment I had and
it has to do with a chapel.
I worked for 7 years at St. Alphonsus Retreat House in
Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania. It was mainly a men’s retreat house - modeled on the
famous Malvern Retreat house outside of Philadelphia.
On Saturday night each man on the retreat had 15 minutes
of so in prayer alone - in front of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar
in the Monstrance.
The chapel was dark - except for candles and Christ on
the altar.
After putting Christ in the Blessed Sacrament on the altar, I went into the sacristy behind the altar. I wasn't thinking. I stopped to figure something out in the sacristy and didn't get moving. In other
words I was slow and forgot someone would be all alone in the chapel.
So I came out of the sacristy and was about to walk down
the main aisle of the small chapel when I stepped on top of the body of a man
who was laying on the floor face down. So instead of kneeling on the kneeler
before the altar, he was laying on the floor before the altar.
I tripped - caught myself - I was much younger - and was
able to right myself by grabbing onto the front bench.
The guy said, “Ooops sorry.”
I said the same thing and left.
The next morning Leonard, this 6 foot 4 bruiser of a man
came up to me and said, I’m sorry about last night.”
I said, “No problem." Then I asked, "But what were you doing on the
floor.?
"Oh," he said, "that’s how I pray when I’m here all alone in
the chapel."
He continued, "I’m a plumber and a few years back we were
digging this big hole to fix a pipe and we didn’t use a caisson. Big mistake.
My son was down the hole and the whole sides caved in and he was buried.
"I screamed to Jesus Christ for help as we all grabbed
shovels and started digging digging and my shovel hit my son right in the head - and we
got him out - okay.
"So when I’m kneeling there in prayer, that’s my savior who
saved my son."
