STAYING  OR  LEAVING?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time [B]  is, “Staying or Leaving?”

Question mark.  Notice I have a question mark after that word, “leaving”.

In this homily, I’m asking the question: Staying or leaving?

IT’S  A BASIC LIFE QUESTION

Staying or leaving is a very basic life experience.

We’re at a wedding or a picnic or a family get together. Do we stay or leave? 

We’re at a movie and it’s horrible. Do we get up and leave - or stay till we see those wonderful two words: “The End.”

And sometimes - we don’t want the party or the celebration to end.

We were at a Bowie Baysox baseball game two weeks ago. It was a double header. Bowie was playing the Richmond Flying Squirrels.  It’s the mascots.

The 3 of us during that second game got the thought at some point: “When are we going to get moving?”  Someone finally said it out loud, “Have we had enough?”

Couples know the signals - looking at the door, the watch, the Iphone, seeing others getting up, the yawning, seeing the eyes - seeing if they are saying,  “Let’s get going.”

I learned in listening to people:  when they take their car keys out, it’s close to closing time.

TODAY’S READINGS: STAYING OR LEAVING

I hear that question in today’s readings.

We’ve been listening to  the 6^th Chapter of John as our gospel reading for 5 Sundays now. Today is the finale: stay with Jesus or leave Jesus.

And the decision is based on whether a person accepts or walks away from Jesus. Do we accept Jesus as the Son of God -  as the Bread of Life - as the Precious Blood of God.

Jesus says, “This is a hard choice. This is a hard saying.”

Jesus is asking his disciples,  “Where do you stand on me - with me?  Are you going to stay or are you going to leave?”

And the last paragraph in today’s gospel begins, “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”

Today’s first reading from the Book of Joshua has Joshua gathering together all the tribes of Israel and asking everyone that day, that moment, “Decide whom you will serve: the gods your fathers served beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling.”

And Joshua makes the preemptive choice: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

In today’s second reading from Ephesians the staying or leaving question shows up in marriages - in the hearts and minds of husbands and wives.

I know a lady in Ohio who calls up her local church every time this reading about wives being called to be subordinate to their husbands is the reading for the following Sunday. She calls around Wednesday.  I’m sure the parish secretary has no clue what the priest for the following Sunday is going to do.  I would assume that it doesn’t make any difference to that woman that this letter to the Ephesians  is challenging husbands in this same reading to love their wives - to hand themselves over to their wives - like the church is called to be subordinate to Christ.

I would assume it wouldn’t make any difference if this woman was told that of course that was the attitude in the Mediterranean basin in the 1^st century and is today in many places.  If I was asked,  I might comment, “I like to jokingly say, ‘Why don’t we make God female and only females as priests, bishops, popes, for the next 2000 years and I’m sure things would be different.”

I wouldn’t say - but I’d be tempted to say, “The reason we don’t have female priests is because in some places, they want at least one male present.”

Why do we stay or leave?  That is the question.

LETTERS TO THE PASTOR

I’m sure pastors and bishops got a lot of letters in the last week or so about the horrible abuse of children, teenagers, and cover ups in our church.

I said last week from the pulpit that when the Pennsylvania news reports came out, it wasn’t an easy day being a priest.

Father Tizio gave us a letter from a couple leaving the parish and the church because of all this.

I wonder how many other people in our church - in our country - are asking that same question: to stay or to leave.

I’ve been talking to 3 people this year - who are looking to come into the church. Because of their jobs and schedules,  they can’ t make our RCIA program - which we be starting soon in preparation of coming into the church next Easter.  Will they ask and address this question?

THE EDGE OF A RAZOR BLADE

To stay or to leave is sometimes like being placed on the edge of a razor blade.

I am thankful for  whoever it was in my family line in Ireland who started going to church. The answer to that that question is not listed in my DNA - Ancestry Dot Com.

I remember hearing from my mom about her house in Ireland - which was right on the waters of Galway Bay. She said, “In the morning I could stand of this big grey flagstone at our back door and I could stick my big toe into the water.”

When I finally got to Ireland for the first time in 1995 and saw where my mom was from, I found out that my mom’s house was down - but that grey flagstone was right there - with water lapping it.

When I looked around at the rocks - lots and lots and lots of rocks - I remember my mom saying, “Ireland has nothing.”  She was glad she went to Boston around 19 years of age - and began a new life in America - working as a hotel cleaning woman, then a maid at the Adam’s Hotel.

About 3 years ago - by luck - I heard a wonderful story that they carted away the stones from my mom’s house - when they tore it down and used those stones for the foundation of the new church in that area.

Tully Church Inverin

I heard that and said to myself, “I’ll use that for a homily some day.”

Today is my chance. I’m glad my mom and dad - both  from Ballynahown, County Galway Ireland - but got married here in the States - that they stayed in the church and passed that faith down to us 4 kids.

My mom knew of the weaknesses in priests and people.

When I came home from the seminary for the first time, first vacation, when I got off the train, my dad seeing me so thin  said, “You’re not going back, are you?” I said, “Of course I’m going back.”

Like most priests - especially seeing the negative stuff in our church - as well as seeing so many priests leave - [9 out of the 16 ordained in my class left - 2 came back] - at times I’ve asked, what many married people have asked, what many Catholics have asked, “Stay or leave?”

Obviously my answer is the same answer the disciples at the end of today's gospel gave: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."  

Now that's a creed!

CONCLUSION

I’ve always liked the comment: “An old lady in Jersey City once said, ‘The 5 marks of the Catholic Church are: it’s one, holy, Catholic, apostolic and it survives its clergy.’”