I discovered after writing the previous blog piece about clapping that some people have problems with clapping in church. I had never heard of this before. I was looking for a YouTube something on clapping in church - and surprise - there were YouTube pieces showing various folks criticizing people who suggest giving thanks to someone who made a contribution to the parish or what have you. I was surprised. However, I didn't "Boo!" at them. Tempted, but no. I don't want to go there. But I wondered, "Where have they been?" I've seen all kinds of clapping situations at Mass and at church. Haven't they been to a wedding where folks clapped for the newly married? Haven't they heard someone who just gave a great eulogy for a mom or a dad and there was a spontaneous applause? I dare an anti-clapper to go, "Shush!" when that happens. I've been here at St. Mary's and I've seen folks clap at a great sermon - and I've seen people becoming very quiet at a great sermon. I've seen Masses when the pastor or bishop congratulates the newly confirmed or newly coming into the Catholic Church and folks clapped for them. So I would have problems with anyone who is against clapping. If they personally don't want to clap, don't clap. Haven't they seen a tiny little kid under a year old clapping - and everyone loves the scene? I remember seeing a documentary on dance and Agnes de Mille said that Blacks saw some Irish tap dancers who were not moving their arms - and they thought to themselves, "Hello! Start snapping those fingers, start moving those arms and start dancing - and add some clapping in the mix. Okay soccer players can't use their hands, but the goalie and American football players can use their hands. "Hello" folks who are against clapping in church. Take a good look around. Let me find a few of these YouTube videos that feature "againsters" and "forers" when it comes to clapping. I noticed one uses Pope Benedict as a source for no clapping and then I spotted a video of people clapping for him. Smile. Loosen up everyone.
Today’s gospel opens up several points or issues we can
reflect upon.
1) We can meditate or reflect or pray about the idea:
Without Jesus we catch nothing; with Jesus we catch everything.
2) The Lord Jesus is always there on the shore of our
life—in the dark—the Son, the Dawn, about to rise and take away our darkness.
3) Forgiveness: there is a charcoal fire there. As
commentators point out, the only other place we hear about a charcoal fire was
in Jerusalem at the moment Peter denies Jesus. So this gospel will be a moment
of forgiveness for Peter.
4) The Church’s Mission is to be Open to all. And this is
the issue I would like to think and talk about. I always find that number 153
very interesting.
THE NUMBER 153
There are various interpretations on why John’s gospel tells
us that there were 153 fish.
Obviously, it’s a symbol of something. Yet, nobody really
knows for sure what the 153 means. I read different commentators and I noticed
some explanations given. Most commentators say we don’t know what the 153
stands for.
One theory is that 153 is the sum total of the first 17
numbers added up, that is, 1+2+3+4+5+6+7 etc. It might be a Pythagorean
calculation to which we no longer have the key. 17 would represent perfection
or wholeness. One can take 153 dots and put them in an equilateral triangle
with 17 dots at the base line and on each side with the remaining dots in the
middle. 153 dots laid out that way would make a perfect triangle.
What I like best is the thing that some think that 153
represents the number of species of fish that there were in the world at that
time. The learned poet Oppianus Cilix said there were 153 kinds of fish. Peter and the disciples are called to reach
out to all the world—to go fishing for all the different kinds of people.
The call to reach out to all: Peter and the whole church is
called to reach out to all people—to catch all people and then to celebrate
together with the Risen Christ in the great meal, the great banquet!
I believe that is a good theme for a homily that one can
take from this 21st chapter of St. John, especially since they cut
out the 3 “Do you love me” scene in today’s text. That can be found in the 3rd
Sunday of Easter, Year C. If we use it,
we can connect it better to Peter’s 3
fold denial of Christ.
The theme for this gospel is probably mission and ministry,
because it’s here at the end of the Gospel.
The worldwide mission of the church is to go out there and
bring in everyone—every kind of person—numbers of people—to form a pyramid of
people, a perfect triangle of people, to become like God. We’re made in his image. We are made in their
image and likeness. So mission—we are sent fishing—to bring into the Kingdom of God—all the peoples.
The Kingdom is like a dragnet thrown into the sea which
takes in every kind of person. (Cf. Matthew 13:47 or check Rev. 7:9 where it
mentions bringing together every tribe, tongue, and people.)
I’d like to reflect on an aspect of ministry: being open to
everyone or to put it negatively, not to exclude anyone - especially people we
judge or perceive as “uuuuuh!”
AQUARIUMS:
BALTIMORE - BOSTON - CONEY ISLAND - CAMDEN
Aren’t people, especially kids, but even adults moved,
excited, wowed a bit, when they visit an aquarium? I’ve been to aquariums in Baltimore, Boston,
Coney Island, and Camden, N.J.
One soon sees that there are more than 153 kinds of fish.
You might even see more than 153 kinds of fish in just one tank. I love to
watch people watch fish in an aquarium—especially kids. Wow. I hear kids spotting an interesting fish and
elbowing another kid with a “Look at that one. Wooooo!”
MESSAGES
In ministry, we spot all kinds of folks. We have to be in the
pool with all kinds of people. We have
to deal with sharks, piranhas and barracudas’ - as well as quiet but colorful other
types of tropical fish.
It’s difficult to be in communion with all.
With Christ, the stranger on the beach, it’s much easier.
Without Christ we struggle all through the night in the dark
- catching nothing.
In the gospel there are only 7 disciples. It’s not the whole
apostolic college of followers.
IXTUS: the fish - becomes a symbol for Christ. It can be
seen in the catacombs in Rome, on
tombstones and today on bumpers.
In catacombs of St. Sebastian 2nd half of 2nd century in Rome
We can compare this story in John with the story of Luke and
the catching of fish. In both accounts they have caught nothing. Many
specialists ask if both stories are about one experience. John has it after the
resurrection. Luke has it at the beginning of the call. Benoit likes Luke
because they already gave up their nets.
“It is the Lord!” John is the one who spots Jesus. He seems
to have a special spiritual sense - more spiritual insight - than Peter.
Peter is painted as the awkward one - impetuous - jumps in the
water - leaps out of the boat. His reactions are instinctive. The others stay
in boat till they get to shore. If everyone was like Peter, maybe the fish would
have been lost.
In John’s version of this fish story, the Eucharist - manna
- multiplication of the loaves - is feathered. Jesus gives life.
It’s the 3rd appearance of Jesus.
Notice that the net is not broken. The strain of mass
conversions took place and effected local communities - yet the kingdom of God
has room for all. Many - but unbroken
CONCLUSION
The bottom line is that all are called - including the strange
rangers.
The title of my homily for this Easter Thursday is "Marcion"
I pulled together today's thoughts because of one sentence in today's gospel from Luke: "Then he [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures."
In order to understand Christ, one needs to understand the
whole of Scriptures. That’s a theme that appears quite a bit during the Easter
season. That’s the theme I’d like to reflect upon a bit today. Or to put it
another way: private interpretation of scripture vs. public interpretation.
When Christ died the disciples of Jesus had the rug pulled
out from under them. In the days that followed, the Risen Christ appeared to
them in mystery. Slowly they began to piece together what he had been saying to
them while he was with them before his death and resurrection. Slowly they
began to see his story in the Old Testament story. And even more slowly they
and then the Church began to understand the New Testament. But only slowly.
Slowly we need to begin to see both his story and our story
in the Old and New Testaments. Slowly we need to study scripture - but also
tradition - Church history. We need to look at the whole picture - the big
picture. We need to be Catholic - not Partial.
MARCION
It’s always easier to see the spots on the other leopard’s
back than our own. So let’s start with a character in Early Christianity whose
name was Marcion.
He was born in Sinope, in Pontus,
on the Black Sea. His father was a bishop and
his family belonged to the upper crust. He made a fortune on his own as a ship
owner. Somewhere along the line he went off on his own thinking. The result was
excommunication in his local church. The person who did it: his father.
Whether that was the reason or for some other reason, he
went to Rome in
140. In July of 144 he was excommunicated again - this time by the Church in Rome.
Johanes Quasten [1900-1987], world famous Roman Catholic Theologian and expert on the Early Church, points out, “There was an important difference
between Marcion and the other Gnostics. While the other Gnostics founded only
schools, Marcion after his separation from the Church of Rome founded his own
Church. He established a hierarchy of bishops, priests and deacons. The
liturgical meetings were very similar to those of the Roman Church. For this
reason he gained more adherents than any other Gnostic. Ten years after his
excommunication, Justin reports that his church had spread, `over the whole of
mankind.’ Up to the middle of the fifth century there remained many Marcionite
communities in the Orient, especially in Syria. Some of them were still in
existence at the dawn of the Middle Ages.” (Cf p. 268, Vol. I Quasten)
Exactly what he taught is hard to say. Very little of what
he wrote remains. But what he said had a great impact, based on the number of
communities of Marcionites that sprung up and the amount of print he received
from so many other EarlyChurch writers.
For our purpose here I am using Marcion as an example of the
type of person who is narrow in his use of Scripture. He is a good example of
someone who selects scripture to back his own viewpoints and not the other way
around.
It happens all the time. Listen to people. If there is any
one area where people have lots of their own opinions and theories, it’s with
the Bible. They like what they like and they avoid what they don’t like. We’re
selective readers and listeners.
One of my private theories is that another cause of this
practice is that people have picked up their ideas from preachers through the
years who didn’t do enough homework. You’re looking at one right here. We
preachers get a lot of nonsense off. Laziness is one of the main causes. That’s
another one of my pet theories. It takes time to read up on the different
studies and research on different scripture passages. It’s much easier to
babble on from the pulpit: the Tower
of Babel.
The Catholic Church certainly has opened up a lot on the
Bible in the past 50 + years. And one of the good things that has happened in
the Catholic Church, is their 3 year, 2 year and 1 year cycle in the use of
Scripture. It forces us to read and hear most of the Bible in a 3 year cycle.
As we move ahead, hopefully, people will attend scripture courses and preachers
will do more homework and become more and more open to being stretched.
Marcion eliminated Matthew, Mark and John. Then he cut out a
lot of Luke. In Paul he razor bladed out the pastoral epistles of Paul as well
as Hebrews. He put the Letter to the Galatians first and changed the Epistle to
the Ephesians to the Epistles to the Laodiceans. He also eliminated the whole
OT. So becoming a priest in his church would be a lot faster. You would not
have to study a lot of that Scripture
stuff.
Marcion read the scriptures and saw 2 gods. Read the
scriptures and listen to the psalms when we say office and you can see where he
might be coming from.
First there is the good God who lives in the third heaven.
You find him in the New Testament - or better in what Marcion had saved of the
New Testament.
Then there is the just god who created the world and man.
This god is none other than the demiurge - who is well known in Gnostic sects.
This second god did not create the world out of nothingness, but formed it out
of the eternal matter, the seed of all evil. This god - this second god - is
the god of the Jews - the god of the Law and the Prophets. He has passions. He
gets angry. He is revengeful. He is the author of all evil - be it physical or
moral. He is the instigator of all wars. (cf. Quasten, Vol. 1, p. 270)
How’s that for selective editing? How’s that for selective
thinking?
THE NEED TO BE
CATHOLIC
What do you do with someone who thinks and preaches that
way? You throw the bum out. His father did it and the Church of Rome did.
The word Catholic means whole - KATA HOLOS.
So some obvious lessons for us can be found here.
1) The need to
know what we believe in - what scripture texts we favor and what ones we avoid.
2) The need to be
open to all the scriptures - to do our homework - to do our research - to study
and to read.
3) The need to be
open to the Church and its teachings. Marcion wasn’t. But the Church also needs
to be open to the research and study done by scripture people. In the past this
hasn’t been always so.
4) The need to be
open to our tradition - both in the Old and New Testament - to clarify and
collate what we have learned and go from there.
CONCLUSION
I think that’s about enough for now. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mosaic on top - Jesus Christ Pantocrator in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey.
The title of my homily is “The
Subject Was Bread.”
And I want to touch on two basic
points: the value of long walks and what we can learn from being broken.
WALK THE WALK - TALK THE TALK
My first point would be the value of
walking. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we discover a lot of stuff from a distance.
Sometimes we have to get away from
home to figure out what is happening
back home.
Sometimes we have to get away from
it all, to understand it all.
These two men in the gospel found
this out. It wasn’t till they walked the walk and talked the talk that they
discovered that Christ had risen from the dead.
I’ve heard that phrase, “Walk the
walk and talk the talk,” a few times in the past couple of years, but it has
not been till lately that I really heard it.
So let me use it a bit more this
morning.
So if we have a problem, don’t just
stand there, do something. Don’t just sit there or sleep there in upper rooms,
get out of bed. Get off our butt and go for a good walk. Hence the value of puzzles
- fishing - climbing - traveling - all un-upper room stuff. That’s just
standing there. So don’t just stand there, do something. We’ll have a chance of
putting it all together by getting away from it all.
Sometimes we have to get away from
it all, walking so far that what is near makes sense.
And when we walk the walk, we’ll
find ourselves talking the talk. And as we walk, if we monitor ourselves, we’ll find ourselves talking to ourselves.
Every night, when it is dark, it’s
smart to look back on our day and in prayer, hear Christ ask, “How was your
day?”
Some people can’t deal with silence.
Can you? Some people can’t drive in a car by themselves without turning on the
radio. Can you? They need music. Can you be quiet? They need talk. Can you be
silent? They can’t spend a free day by themselves. Can you? They need to turn
on the TV. Can you be reflective? And when they try prayer, they wonder why
they have so many distractions. Help.
So there is a value in taking long
walks. They can be like plane or bus trips home when someone dies. A person
does a lot of thinking in moments like that. Help.
And if you start being able to be
alone and do a lot of walking and talking to yourself, get a journal. You’ll
find yourself having a lot to jot down.
WEST END: WALKING ON THE WATER
When I was stationed at West End, I
noticed that a lot of people used to walk by the ocean - or around Tankanasee
Lake. So walking prayer helps talking prayer and listening prayer.
So my first suggestion is: Walk the
walk, talk the talk. Walk, talk, talk, walk. Walking prayer. Talking prayer.
Listening prayer. Try it, you’ll like it till it all makes sense.
When I look back on my life, I see also see the value of taking
trips with just one other person. Three’s a crowd.
Prayer can be a long trip with God.
EMMAUS STORY
At the heart of the Emmaus story is
this point that it wasn’t till these 2 men walked the walk away from Jerusalem that
they talked the talk that brought them back to Jerusalem.
How many times has it happened that
it wasn’t till the next day we see how stupid we were. It wasn’t till later
that we noticed that our assumptions and our expectations are all wrong.
Some commentators say that Jericho
is west, so these 2 were heading backwards into the dark - away from the dawn.
Then when they recognized Christ in the Jewish Bible stories as they talked,
and recognized him in the breaking of the bread, and in the story of their
lives, and on reflecting on it all, it all made sense. And obviously, they had
to run home to announce that they too experienced Christ - the Risen One.
So Emmaus can be now - on any road -
on any trip - at any Mass - at any meal - in any conversation.
THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES
I don’t remember the movie enough to
get the facts straight. But once there was a movie named, “The Subject Was Roses” [1968]. Patricia Neal plays the part of
Nettie Cleary. She’s married to John Cleary, played by Jack Albertson. The
marriage was dull and boring. Once when it hit the skids, Nettie took money from a coin collection. She then
packed and took a bus from Port Authority in N.Y. to Spring Lake, N. J. or
somewhere down there on the New Jersey Shore and spent a few days walking along
the beach and talking to herself about her marriage. What hit me was the need
to get away from it all to get back to it all.
I might have it all wrong, but the
key memory that brought her back was that her husband gave her roses once.
Later on she was to find out that the son Timothy - played by Martin Sheen - suggested it to the father. “Here give them to
her. It means a lot to a woman to receive roses.” The husband gave her the
roses, but it wasn’t his idea. They were given without heart, without
understanding.
THE SUBJECT WAS BREAD THAT WAS BROKEN
My second point is the learnings
that we can come up with - when we are broken.
Sometimes somebody has to die or
leave, before we find out how much that person means to us and how much this person
does for us.
The disciples experienced Christ in
the breaking of the bread. Jesus didn’t give us roses. He gave us bread and he
gives us wine - back to basics.
But the key word today is
“breaking”. Sometimes it’s only when we are broken, when the bottom has caved
in, when we have given up and walked away, when we are crushed, that we
understand the meaning of it all.
We have to break open the package to
get to the contents. We have to take off
the wrapping, to find out what’s inside the package. We have to break the
bread, we have to chew the bread, so as to get it into your systems.
So Jesus gives us “our daily bread”.
And we experience our daily “breaks”.
The subject was bread - bread that
was broken.
Broken brings some people back to
Mass - and they recognize him in
the breaking of the bread. We recognize Jesus in the breaking of the
flesh. We recognize Jesus in the breaking of a life. We recognize Jesus in the
breaking moments of our lives.
“Were not our hearts breaking inside
us as talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”
CONCLUSION
So I’m preaching two basic themes
this morning:
1) Learn how to be by oneself.
Taking long walks by ourself is one of the best things we can do for ourself.
Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we’ll discover a lot of stuff that is
happening back home. Sometimes we have to get away from it all, to understand
it all.
2) Being broken - like bread -
reveals a lot of things. Sometimes somebody has to die or leave, before we’ll
find out how much that person meant to us and how much that person did for us.
April 19, 2017
GOD
Dammed-if-You-do,
dammed-if-You-don’t.
Do those words echo from
earth into the Trinity - each day?
Jack is praying for rain and Jill is
praying for sunshine today in Peoria.
God, take mom, she’s suffered enough.
God, leave mom, for another day, we pray.
And won’t we be surprised to meet in heaven so and so
The title of my homily is, “Our Religion Is Personal, Relational.”
It has a catechism. We have a Bible. We have rules and
regulations and all that, but the bottom line is this: our religion is all
about a personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit.
Our religion is all about entering into communion - Holy
Communion - with Jesus who brings us into the Trinity.
So it’s not words. It’s the Word become flesh who lived
and walked amongst us.
It’s not prayers. It’s being with God - and God is often
quiet - silence - presence - keeping all the universe going and together with
all the more there is - especially with all we don’t even know about yet.
THE GOSPEL OF
JOHN
As we know there are 4 gospels. The first three, Matthew,
Mark and Luke, are filled with many of the teachings - sayings and parables of
Jesus.
The fourth gospel, John, is quite different than Matthew,
Mark and Luke.
The 4 gospels stress being in relationship with God, but I
see the gospel of John stressing having a relationship with Jesus more.
Let me simply run through the gospel of John - chapter by chapter - from the beginning - by mentioning
people - especially one to one moments Jesus had with different persons.
In the beginning was the word - and that word became flesh - and John the
Baptist witnessed to that person called Jesus. He was not Jesus. Jesus was Jesus. [1:19]
Like Andrew we approach Jesus and ask, “Where do you
stay. Who are you?” [1:40]
And Jesus says, ‘Come and see!” Like Peter, someone comes
to us and says, “I think I have found the messiah, the one we are all looking
for.
Like the couple who have run out of wine, Jesus can fill
us to overflowing. [2:1]
Like Nicodemus, we can come to Jesus in the night. [3:1]
Like the Samaritan Woman, Jesus can give us living water. [4:1]
Like the sick, Jesus can wash us clean and heal us. [5:1]
Like those without bread, Jesus can feed us when we’re
empty.[6:1]
Like the adulterous woman, Jesus can get those who want
to condemn us to put down their rocks.[8:1]
Like the blind man Jesus can give us sight. [9:1]
When we feel like sheep without a shepherd, Jesus can recognize us. [10:1]
When we die like Lazarus, Jesus will raise us from the
dead.[11:1]
Like those who are hungry and thirsty, Jesus can take away
our thirsts and hungers. [13:1]
When we realize like everyone we are condemned to die at
some point - when we have to make our way of the cross, Jesus did it before us. [18:1]
And after we die there is resurrection. Like Thomas and
Mary Magdalen, Jesus will let us touch him the Risen One.[20:1]
Like the apostles Jesus will feed us with the Bread of
Life.[21:1]
Those, in general, are the people and situations Jesus
found himself in.
In today’s gospel from John [20:11-18] Mary meets Jesus - the Risen Christ -
and she wants to cling to him - hold onto him - to be in communion with him. So
too us - but she has to let go - so as to
go tell the rest of us - that she has seen the Lord - who is going to the
Father - our Father and your Father.
ST. ALPHONSUS
St. Alphonsus said all this in his classic book: The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ.
Alphonsus at times floundered around in worry, dark
moods, scrupulosity, till he discovered
the whole secret of life, of sanctity, of happiness, is the practice of the
love of Jesus Christ.
How do we do that?
Answer: it’s the same answer as to how to get into Carnegie Hall:
Practice, practice, practice.
CONCLUSION
So here we are in church for morning mass - practicing,
practicing, practicing, being in communion with Jesus Christ.
We’re hugging, holding onto Jesus. We’re tying our
ligaments, realignments, our religion from which the word “ligaments” is
rooted, and we’re tightening ourselves to Christ, who brings us deeper into the
Trinity, who brings us deeper and deeper into the community called The Body of
Christ. Amen.
The title of my homily for this Monday in Easter Week is, “Running.”
I noticed that word in yesterday’s Gospel - the Easter
Sunday Gospel - from John 20: 1-9.
Mary of Magdala ran back from the empty tomb to Simon
Peter in John 20: 2. Then in verse 20: 4 Peter and the Beloved Disciple ran
together to the tomb - but the Beloved Disciple ran faster.
Then in today’s gospel from Matthew 28: 8-15, Mary
Magdalen and the other Mary are described as moving quickly - as well as
running. Check Matthew 28:8.
The Greek word used is TRECHO - to run - to
rush.
So how about a little thinking - and reflecting - on
running for a Monday after Easter quick homily?
QUESTIONS
Do you still run?
Are you usually in a rush?
Compared to your parents, are you quicker or slower that they
were usually.
My dad was always up early - ready to move - earlier than
my mom - who was always there early as well - for wherever we were to go to next.
My dad was lean
and described as a runner when he was young.
I heard a man - seeing my mother - in her late 70’s - going up the Avenue in Brooklyn - saying,
“Mrs. Costello you’re faster than a bus.”
How fast are you?
Is your mind faster than your legs?
Are you early or are you like me, usually close to late,
sometimes late, but getting a lot of things done?
I picture myself - while driving from St. Mary’s - to
here at St. John Neumann - looking at my watch 5 times while rushing to this
Monday Mass every week at 12:10. I get out of the car and I love running,
dashing - rushing into the sacristy and ready to start down the aisle at 12:10
and a half.
And I love to see people check their watch as I walk down
the main aisle.
Are you a watch watcher?
QUOTES
Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne [1735-1814], whoever he
was, said of the Congress of Vienna,
“The Congress doesn’t run - it waltzes.”
Great quote, because some people never answer questions. They
just waltz around an answer - sometimes.
How about you?
How do you see our congress?
Are you direct or indirect?
Do you think some people who are direct - should learn to
button their lips more and unbutton their ears and mind - and rush to listen
more and better?
What’s your attitude towards heaven? The hereafter? Christ as the meaning of life?
What do you think of this quote from the Letter to the Hebrews:
“With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of
us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the
sin that clings so easily, and keep running with patience in the race we have
started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings
it to perfection….” [Hebrews 12: 1-2]
The scriptures - especially St. Paul like to use the
image of getting to heaven as being in a race - with Christ as the finish
prize.
In the meanwhile life sometimes is not as clear as a race
- a beginning, the run, and then the finish line.
Life has a lot of possible side trips and distractions,
surprises and possible delays because of road blocks.
Here’s a quote about love: Shakespeare in A
Midsummer-Night’s Dream has someone say, “The course of true love never did
run smooth.” Act One, Scene One, line 132
If love, if marriage, was simply a marathon or a 10 K
race, we might be able to keep our eye on the goal, but life is a long run - so
too love.
No wonder the marriage vows have, “for better for worse,
for richer for poorer….”
CONCLUSION
In the long run - in a long life - it’s difficult to stay
the course.
Keep moving. Keep running.
We’re not running for an empty tomb.
We’re running to find the full embrace of God the Father - and the arms on our
shoulders in the moment - of Christ the Risen Lord.
-----------------------------------------------
Painting on top: The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulcher on the Morning of the Resurrection [1898] bu Eugene Burnand [1850-1921]
