LESSON HERE?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 32 Sunday in Ordinary Time A
is, “What’s The Lesson Here?”
“What’s the Lesson Here?”
A theme for today’s readings is just that: the wisdom
learning from an experience.
We heard that in the opening line of today’s first reading,
“Resplendent and unfading is wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who
love her, and found by those who seek her.”
What’s the wisdom here? What’s the learning here? What’s the
message here? What’s the lesson here?
PATRICIA LIVINGSTON
The spiritual writer, Patricia Livingston, has some
wonderful books, but she’s an even better speaker.
I remember her saying the following in one of her talks. Her
niece, a little girl, came up to her and
said, “Aunt Pat, you’re always saying, ‘What’s the lesson here?’ Why do you say
that?”
And Pat said she told her niece she didn’t know she was
doing that.
“Well, you are and you’re doing it always.” her niece
replied.
Then Pat Livingston told us that in the weeks that followed
that question from her niece, that she found herself saying just that, “What’s the lesson here?”
Was it that young people listen? Young people wonder? Young people ask
questions? Young people notice.
Then she tried to figure out where she herself learned that.
When did she start to do that?
She said that she
never found out. But she added that she is grateful for whoever taught her to
do that, because if you read her books, she often talks about her experiences
and what she learned from them.
I think I heard that message because I want to do the same
thing. I like to think about my experiences and ask myself, “What’s the lesson
here?” I wonder who taught me that.
EXPERIENCE
We’ve all heard the saying that experience is the best
teacher.
It’s usually said by us old fogies to young people. “You’ll
learn as soon as you’ve had enough experience.”
Translation: shut up kid and watch. Maybe you’ll learn
something.
Experience is not the best teacher.
I repeat: Experience is not the best teacher.
We can have the same experience a hundred times and never
learn from any one of them. We can make the same stupid mistake dozens of times
and still not learn.
Reflection and learning from our experiences is the best
teacher – that is, if we learn good stuff and get smarter in the process.
Otherwise, when it comes to stupidity, all of us can be
repeat performers.
I heard someone say in a talk, “A person can have 18 years of
experience or a person can have the same 1 years’ experience 18 times.”
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel talks about 10 young women. 5 are wise and 5 are foolish.
What’s the lesson here in this parable?
Is it simply: the wise prepare and the foolish don’t.
Is it simply: be prepared?
That’s the boy scout’s motto: Be prepared.
Do boy scouts learn to be prepared more than those who never
were scouts?
A lesson for me would be: The only person who can answer
these questions is me, myself, and I.
Coaches like to go to players [Two fingers to eyes gesture].
They want them to learn. They want them to see. Notice. Be
awake (as today’s second reading and gospel puts it).
I would think we have to answer that question for ourselves:
Look. See. Notice.
SELF TEST
I am saying: to make his sermon practical - each of us has
to look at our own life and jot down what we learned in life that has worked.
Here are 3 wisdom statements that I learned from experience.
First of all: Don’t argue when you’re in an informal group
setting.
I was once at a big meeting with lots of Redemptorists. I’m sitting there one evening at supper in a group of about 6 guys. Half were for
something; half were against it. When I
noticed we were having this argument I shut up and just waiting for the meal to end.
Next morning I was at breakfast with 5 other guys - one from
the night before group. Surprise, the
same argument happened and the guy from the night before was now yelling for
the opposite of what he was voicing the night before.
Wisdom learning: shut up in arguments and some people will
switch their opinions in time.
Second learning: Make yourself necessary if you want a job.
One summer - while in college - I worked for Coca Cola. A guy I knew told me that he was going down
to the Coca Cola plant on New Lots Avenue in Brooklyn to sign up to be a
helper. I went with him. We had to join the Teamsters and were told to show up
the following Monday morning at 8 AM.
If a Coca Cola truck - which had 300 cases of soda on it -
sold more than 150 cases that day - they had to have a helper.
Not everyone got hired that Monday morning. I did.
Tuesday morning I was there - and I didn’t get hired.
Wednesday morning I was hired. Without knowing it, I learned
the secret for getting a job: Make Yourself Necessary.
The driver’s name was Gigi Quarto. How could I ever forget
that name.
When we got to his first stop, I said to him, “Let me do
this. You just sit here and I’ll do the work.”
He said, “Okay!” I knew what to do next from Monday.
I went into the store and said, “Coca Cola.”
The grocery store owner handed me the key to the lock on the
metal doors out front, that led to the basement. I went downstairs and found 11
empty Coca Cola wooden cases with 24 bottles.
I brought them upstairs - next to metal cellar doors. I then
went into the store and told the owner I have 11 empty cases and handed him the
key to cellar door.
I then went out to the truck - got the dolly - and got 11
cases and wheeled them into the store. I
put them where he had his Coca Cola. I handed him the paper that listed 11 out
and 11 in and he signed the bill. I then put the 11 empty cases of Coca Cola bottles
onto the truck where there was space
from the 11 that I removed.
I got back into the truck and handed Gigi the receipt.
I did that on every stop that day - and we were finished by
lunch. We ate. Sat under a tree and headed back to the Coca Cola Plant at 2 PM.
Guess what? Obviously I got work every day that summer - with Gigi Quarto. And when he was away for
2 weeks’ vacation - he had buddy ask for
me each day.
The lesson - the moral of the story: Make yourself
necessary.
Third Lesson: In a good sermon, or writing or movie, or TV
show, you don’t notice the writer or the speaker, you only notice the message
that hits you.
So after Mass if someone says, “That was a good sermon” or “I
didn’t get your sermon” or “That was not a good sermon.” I don’t listen to any of that.
But if the listener has some story or example hit their
stories and example, then to me that was a good sermon.
Like last Sunday I was giving examples of conversion moments
in people’s lives. After Mass a lady came over to me in the back of the church
and said, “Let me tell you my conversion moment. Some priest yelled at me years
ago - so for the next 16 years I didn’t go to Mass. Then one Sunday morning my
daughter-in-law on vacation said to me, “Want to go to Mass? We did and I have
not missed sense.”
What’s the lesson there?
The target person is the listener, not yourself. You are not to be even noticed.
CONCLUSION
So if you find yourself saying for the rest of your life,
whenever you experience something, “What’s the Lesson here?”
