“GRR” THE SOUND

OF REMEMBERED ANGER

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “’GRR….’ The Sound of Remembered Anger.”

G R R - “Grr” the sound of remembered anger.

What inner sounds do we make when so and so enters the room?”

“Grr” is one such sound.

ST. STEPHEN

Today is the feast of St. Stephen….  As we heard in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, when St. Stephen walked into a crowd,  some people got angry. [Cf. Acts 6: 8-10, 7, 54-59.]

Acts puts it this way: “When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him.”  They got angry at what he was saying in public in his preaching.  He was making Jesus sounds - preaching Jesus words - especially about forgiving one another.

In today’s gospel from Matthew 10:17-22, we hear about people hating Jesus and anyone who tells  his good news.

Notice the first two letters of the word “ground” or “grind”: “Gr”.

The title of my homily is, “’GRR….’ The Sound of Remembered Anger.”

NOTICE YOUR TEETH

Notice jaws. Notice teeth. Notice when we make the “Grr” sound.

There are people who annoy us. There are people whom we bother.

Catch what your mouth does when people who annoy us - or bother us - when we spot them in the room or walking into a room

Saki, the writer said,  “Women and elephants never forget an injury.”

Is that true? I’d assume that it’s both men and women who can’t drop rocks or hurts. Moreover, it’s often an “it all depends”.

Do elephants grind their teeth? I don’t know.

I know humans and dogs do.

Years ago in our house in Washington D.C. the rector had a German Shepherd dog named Bernadette.  Bernadette was also stationed here in Annapolis.  Bernadette was a friendly dog. Father Franny Salmon kept him  on a long, long rope - in the back yard - where the cars were parked. He was there to bark when strangers came through the back lot.

Father F.X. Murphy - who was also stationed here at St. Mary’s - was heading out of our backyard in our place in Washington D.C. In backing out his car, somehow the rope got stuck on the back fender of his car - and he dragged the dog about 6 blocks. People spotting this dragged dog. They were yelling and pointing to Father F.X. for all 6 blocks - before he noticed this.  He put the wounded Bernadette - with sore paws - in the back seat and came back.

I heard that Bernadette would go, “Grrrrrrrrrr!” every time F.X. pulled out in a car from that back lot - for years.

Father Tizio has Wilbur the pug - a pug - who remembers every person who ever gave him a treat.

Question: Do people make any inner sounds - grr - when we walk into a room - because of something we did or said 10 years ago.

CONCLUSION: HOPEFULLY

Hopefully when we walk into a room, people make “happy” sounds and they let their teeth and jaws have a rest.

Hopefully, when people get angry at us, we give them forgiveness smiles, sounds and words - like St. Stephen.

Amen.