DO  YOU  HAVE  A  QUESTION?

  

INTRODUCTION

Today’s gospel opens up with someone walking up to Jesus and ask him a question and it ends up with this comment: “And no one dared to ask him any more questions.” [Cf. Mark 12: 28b to 34]

People are still walking up to Jesus and asking him questions.

So the title of my homily is, “Do You Have a Question?”

We’ve all been at talks - when they have a Q and A session after the talk - and someone gets up and goes on and on and on. And the person running the Question and Answer period finally asks,  “Do you have a question?”

Sometimes the person does and sometimes they don’t.

The title of my homily is, “Do You Have a Question?”

When I’m preaching the thing I worry about is that people have questions - but I’m probably not answering them in my homily.

FOR EXAMPLE

For example are you going to say something about the Bishops and Priests and Church’s problem with sexual abuse of minors - as well as cover-ups.

For example: are you going to say something about the Pittsburgh killings or the elections or the march or voting next Tuesday or  what have you?

For example: what does that comment about Babylon in the first reading mean?

CLEMENT JEDRZEJEWSKI

In the early 1970’s I was stationed in a retreat house in Long Branch, N.J. and we used to say Mass in the morning at another retreat house - also on the Atlantic Ocean. Neat spot.

In this other retreat house - run by the Sisters of Peace - an old man - Clement Jedrzejewski - got a room there.  He was the only man in the place and he didn’t have a car - and this was way before Uber or Lyft.

I once said to him, “Clement if you ever want to go shopping - or go to the drugstore and you need a lift, just ask me. Maybe you want toothpaste or what have you.

Well he took me up on it - and it became a great move.

While driving I asked him what he did before New Jersey and he said he was a professor at a small college in Brooklyn: St. Francis College.

He said he taught teaching methods. 

On one trip I told him I did about 15 high school - 3 day retreats - each year and did he have any suggestions.  He asked a few questions and said, “Let me think about it.”

On another trip to a drugstore he said, “When the kids arrive, let them check out the whole place. A dog when it comes to a new house sniffs everywhere.”

Then he said, “Get their questions. Say there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers.”

Then he said, “Hand out pieces of paper. Have them by themselves write down all the questions they have about their life: the future, work, family, relationships, school, drugs, booze, what have you.”

Then tell them, still by themselves, put a circle around the top 3. 

Then put that piece of paper in your pocket.

Next do the same thing with one other person - a whole page of questions - then the top  3.

Next do that with 4 or 5 others - whole page - circle top 3.  Tell them to pick 4 or 5 friends or people you know - not strangers.  If you want this retreat to go beyond the 3 days - pick people you hang with.

Then do this with the whole group. Large pieces of paper on the wall - then agree on 3.

This took two hours that first evening, but we had 3 areas they agree upon.

Then for the next 2 days, we tackled those 3 questions.

QUESTION

Try it. Jot down or put on your electronic pads and computers all your questions - then pick out your top 3.

What are your top 3 questions about your life, your future, your past - and talk them over with your closest people.

Questions are great. They are shaped like fish hooks - and if you want to go down deep below the waters: fish.

Jesus walked around Palestine and began by catching 4 fishermen.

Abraham Heschel wrote, “It is not enough for me to be able to say, `I am’’ I want to know who I am, and in relation to whom I live. It is not enough for me to ask questions; I want to know how to answer the one question that seems to encompass everything I face; What am I here for?”

Alexander Eliot wrote, “Personal answers to ultimate questions. That is what we seek.” Alexander Eliot

I jotted down in my quote book, a great quote from Betty Friedan. It’s in her book,  The Feminine Mystique, 1963, “Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night—she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question -- `Is this all?’”

Didn’t Peggy Lee have a song way back then, “Is that all there is? my friend. Is that all there is?”

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s readings trigger the big question: “What am I supposed to do with my life everyday?”

As I began, we find the scene in today’s gospel - where a scribe - that’s someone who could write - comes up to Jesus with a question:

"Which is the first of all the commandments?" 

Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these." 

This was something people went to Rabbi’s with all the time - as well as wisdom teachers - in all the religions and philosophies of our world.

CONCLUSION

What is your question?

Start with a page full…. Narrow it down to 3.  Narrow it down to 1.

Then get answers.

You’ll find them everywhere.

And when you ask the best question and you get a great answer, hear Jesus say, “Do that and you shall live - really live.”