Reflections By The Bay: 3/18/18

Saturday, March 24, 2018

SING YOUR SONG!

"All you have to do
is to sing the song
you picked out!"

HOLY WEEK

This coming week is Holy Week.

In many ways it’s self-explanatory. What would it be like to invite 5 people up to the pulpit and have them explain what this week means to them? If you were one of the 5, what day would you say hits you the most?

In other words, each person would tell us which of the 4 Key Days of this coming week is their favorite: Palm Sunday or Easter Sunday, Holy Thursday of Good Friday. Which one is our favorite?

Palm Sunday: It's the type of day when everything is fine. Everything is celebration - even if we’re riding on a donkey instead of a Mercedes or a BMW. Everyone is raising their palms and waving to us, “Hi!”

Holy Thursday: It's a day when we’re enjoying a great meal with our family and friends. It’s Thanksgiving or it’s Christmas Dinner. It’s our anniversary or our birthday. It's a day when someone is washing our feet or doing our toe nails. It's a day when we realize all the people who are giving their life to and for us. They are saying with word and example: this is my body, this is my blood, I’m giving my life in sacrifice to and for you.

Good Friday: this my favorite. The 7 last messages of Christ are spoken to us personally. We gain inner peace because we hear Christ say to us from the Cross: “Father forgive you, for you really didn’t know what you were doing.” Or our dad or mom is dying in hospice or in the hospital and we hear them saying to God, “Into your hands, O God, I give you my spirit.” Or we’re walking the way of the cross and Mary, the mother of Jesus comes to our aid - or a Simon is there to help us.

Easter Sunday: is the type of day when the darkness disappears. It's a recovery day. It's a discovery day. We've experienced a painful death or a tough funeral of a loved one. Jesus overwhelms us - like Jesus coming through the walls of our inner room. We experience a Niagara Falls of a waterfall that washes away all our hurt and we say to God, “Mom, dad, or my child or spouse is in a better place. I believe in resurrection, Easter and new life. Thank you Jesus.”

The title of my brief homily is "Holy Week" and I’m asking: which if these 4 days is our favorite: Today Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday or Easter Sunday? Amen.

“OUCH!”

My niece Patty has this unique skill of

picking up on put downs - sneaky innuendos -

and digs people say - to say I'm better

than you. She says a naked, “Ouch!”

She then tightens her jaw a tiny bit.

She’s my godchild, so I brag about her.
I must add: she didn’t get this from me.

But after I hear that “Ouch!” and see

her face, I think back to the comment

that evoked that “Ouch!” out of her.

It could be about clothes or work or

someone’s kids or weight. “Ouch!”
It says to me: "Have a sense of justice,
fairness and respect for others. Pick up
on put downs and you too, scream, “Ouch!”

March 24, 2018

Thought for today:

“Great things are done

by a series of small things brought together.”

Vincent Van Gogh

Friday, March 23, 2018

SPRING IS COMING

"Anois teacht an Earraigh"

That's the Gaelic for: "Now Comes the Spring."

March 23, 2018

GOD AT?

God at 7?
God at 11?
God at 17?
God at 21?
God at 26?
God at 33?
God at 50?
God at 67?
God at 77?
God at 78?

Oh my God,
some people
drop you, lose you,
laze out about you,
back there at 17 or 33, or 67....
Not me.
I'm still with you -
you looking for me,
me looking for you -
half way to 79.

March 23, 2018

Thought for today:

“It was the experience

of mystery -

even if mixed with fear -

that engendered religion.”

Albert Einstein, Living Philosophies, 1931

Thursday, March 22, 2018

March 22, 2018

DIFFERENT

Different brings different ….

Some more than others.

Different: whether it’s a new job,

a new boss or a new move to

another town - different like death.

Oops that last one puts different

in a new perspective - like a new baby.

Different brings different….

Some more than others.

March 22, 2018

Thought for today:

“It seems hard to look at God’s cards. But that he plays dice and uses ‘telepathic’ methods (as the present quantum theory requires of him) is something that I cannot believe for a single moment.”

Albert Einstein, letter to Conelius Lanczos, February 14, 1938, in Helen Dukas and Banesh Hofman, Albert Einstein: The Human Side, 1979

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

March 21, 2018

MURDER MYSTERY:

MELANOMA

Melanoma

Plot: murdered by cancer.

My brother loved to read mysteries,

but his own mystery he wanted to

stop reading as soon as he knew the plot:

death by cancer.

Melanoma.

The detective work became the next chapter.

The killer had moved through the dark red rivers

of my brother’s body - this time hiding in his brain.

A tumor had erupted - a mass - behind his eye.

Chemotherapy - the loss of hair, the loss of strength.

Melanoma.

My brother, died this day, March 21, 1986.

He was in the hospital. The brain surgery didn’t work.

My brother, a book finished, a mystery, finished

too soon - but with many more pages and chapters to go, so many more stories to tell -

Melanoma.

March 21, 2018

Thought for today:

“Literature is news that stays news.”

Ezra Pound, How to Read, 1931

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Tuesday in Lent, is, “Complain, Complain, Complain.”

There’s a moment in the Book of Numbers - today’s first reading - where the Israelites are complaining, complaining, complaining, against both God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water. We are disgusted with this wretched food.”

In the history of the world, is complaining about food the Number 1 thing people complain about? Or is it about politicians and priests. I don’t know. You tell you.

HORSE BUNS

A story I’ve heard a dozen times down through the years is about 4 guys who went camping for a week. Nobody would volunteer to do the cooking - so one guy finally agreed to give it a try. However he said, “The first person who complains has to cook.” They he looked them all in the eye and asked, “Do the 3 of you agree to this?”

They agreed.

Well, the meals were atrocious - really bad - and the 3 other guys would grunt and gripe - moan and groan - but they would add, “But we’re not complaining.”

They didn’t want to get stuck with the cooking and any complaints about the cooking.

So he tried to make the food worse and worse, to force one of the 3 to complain and get stuck with the cooking.

Nothing worked.

On the 4^th afternoon the guy who was cooking spotted some horse buns on the trail. When nobody was looking he retrieved them carefully, and served them for supper - with catsup or course.

Well one guy says, “This stuff tastes like hoss manure” - then he paused and said, “but it’s good.”

QUESTIONS

Does every person have at least one complaint?

Does every group have at least one complainer?

Will someone always say every March, “It’s too cold.” Or, “It’s too hot in the office.” Or, “This has to be the worse winter of all time.”

Is there someone in every parish who says, “This has to be the worst parish in the United States - with the worse priests. Where did they get them?” Or will there always be someone to complain about the music. Or if there is a youth mass, will someone always report, “The high school Mass was okay, but someone has to train these kids to be quiet and be more disciplined in church.”

No matter what the restaurant is, will there always be someone who will say, “Did you notice, that the waiters and waitresses at that restaurant are the worst servers in the world?”

CONCLUSION - A FEW QUOTES TO WARD OFF COMPLAINERS ABOUT THIS SERMON. “DID YOU NOTICE, HE MENTIONED HORSE BUNS IN CHURCH FROM THE PULPIT?” OR, “HE DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING OF SUBSTANCE.”

Let me conclude with a few quotes in case I didn’t make a case for “Stop Complaining!”

“I have learned that in every circumstance that comes my way, I can choose to respond in one of two ways: I can whine or I can worship! And I can't worship without giving thanks. It just isn't possible. When we choose the pathway of worship and giving thanks, especially in the midst of difficult circumstances, there is a fragrance, a radiance, that issues forth out of our lives to bless the Lord and others.” [Nancy Leigh DeMoss]

“Thinking of what Jesus did NOT say from the cross: not a bitter, angry, unkind, whining, profane, unnecessary word. There is none like Him!” [Nancy Leigh DeMoss]

“A careful blending of sarcasm, irony, and teasing, bickering has its own distinctive cadence and rhythm and is as difficult to master as French, Spanish, or any elective second language. Like Chinese, the fine points of bickering can be discerned in the subtle rise and fall of the voice. If not practiced properly, bickering can be mistaken for its less sophisticated counterpart: whining.” [Linda Sunshine]

“If you want to understand any woman you must first ask about her mother and then listen carefully. Stories about food show a strong connection. Wistful silences demonstrate unfinished business. The more a daughter knows about the details of her mother's life - without flinching or whining - the stronger the daughter.” Anita Diament

“Why do people talk of the horrors of old age? It's great. I feel like a fine old car with the parts gradually wearing out, but I'm not complaining,... Those who find growing old terrible are people who haven't done what they wanted with their lives.” [Martha Gellhorn]

March 20, 2018

SENSIBLE

We have these basic senses.

We used to be taught there

were 5 senses: seeing, tasting,

touching, hearing and smelling.

Then we heard and figured out

there were more senses: fear,

motion, commotion, wonder, awe,

common sense and imagination.

Then we memorized life and called it

knowing by experience. Then we had

to be careful, because déjà vu could

take over and we stop learning.

March 20, 2018

Thought for today:

“During my eighty-seven years
I have witnessed
a whole succession
of technological revolutions.
But none of them has done away with
the need for character in the individual
or the ability to think.”

Bernard M. Baruch, Baruch: My Own Story, 1957

Monday, March 19, 2018

MARCH 19,

ST. JOSEPH CARPENTER

March 19

ST. JOSEPH
PATRON SAINT OF HIDDEN FIGURES

INTRODUCTION

March 19, 2018

THE SHAPE OF WOOD

It can be

a pencil,

a piece of paper,

a desk,
a drawer,

a baseball bat,

a fan,
a house,
a door,
window frames,

window shutters,

an oar,

a canoe,

a yard stick or a 12 inch ruler,

a picture frame,

a yo yo on a string,

an ice cream pop on a stick,

a living room floor,

a bed,

a table and a chair,

a handle for a ping pong paddle,

etc. etc. etc.

March 19, 2018

Nelson Mandela,

photo by Yousuf Karsh 1990

Thought for today:

“Old age and sickness

bring out the essential characteristics

of a man.”

Felix Frankfurter, Felix Frankfurter Reminisces, 1960

Sunday, March 18, 2018

THREE TIMES:

THIS CAN’T BE A COINCIDENT

[The title of my story for this 5th Sunday in Lent - Year B is, “Three Times: This Can’t Be a Coincident.”]

Two guys - Philip and Andrew - knew each other a bit all through their growing up years in Maryland. They knew who the other was all through Grammar School - same class - then high school - same school, same class - then they both went to the same college - but they took different classes - graduating the same year: 1993.

Then they lost track of each other - going their separate ways.

Andrew became a dentist. Philip became an electrical engineer. Andrew lived and worked and was married and had a family in Denver, Colorado. Philip lived in New Orleans - same situation - working and married with family.

There was a time there - both wanted to be priests.

Ooops, I didn’t mention that the college they went to was a college many people never heard of: UMBC - and this weekend many had came back for their 25^th UMBC - Silver Anniversary.

They came alone - their spouses and family had lots of stuff going on this weekend in March.

Unfortunately they didn’t spot each other at the banquet on Saturday night. Times change and people change how they look. Philip had a mustache and a beard and lots of top hair. Andrew was bald - completely bald.

There they were at the 8 AM Sunday Mass - at a local church - up near UMBC.

They didn’t spot each other till coming back from receiving communion.

After Mass they headed to each other and both said, “If I knew you were coming to Mass this morning I would have gone with you in the same Uber.”

They spotted a breakfast place across the street and went for breakfast.

Both had airplane flights in the late afternoon - out of BWI.

They sat there and talked from 9:15 till 12:15.

Looking back this became the highlight of their 25 Anniversary Weekend.

They talked about all the classmates they met the night before at a big banquet.

They talked about their years at UMBC - and then about what happened after that: their marriages, their families, what they learned.

Both lost their parents: cancer.

They talked about what happened after college graduation.

Then sort of by accident they talked about 3 things that happened to both of them - that they said, had to be and interesting coincident.

Philip said to Andrew, “I see that you still go to church.”

“Yeah, I always did. It must be my family. My mom and dad gave us the gift of our Catholic faith.”

Philip said, “Me too.”

Then Philip said, “The key thing was something that happened at Dental School. It was a Sunday morning and I was heading out for church one Sunday morning and a guy I know saw me heading for my car. He was just coming back from breakfast and a newspaper. He asked me where I was headed this early on a Sunday morning. I just simply said, “Oh I going out to Mass.”

Philip then said, “A year later that guy said to me, “I want to thank you for something you said last year - that you were going out to church on a Sunday morning.”

He said he was a Lutheran and he had stopped going to church. Then he said, “Well you got me back to church. Thank you.”

Andrew said, “That’s funny. A Jewish gal saw me doing the same thing and she said three years later. ‘You got me back to my religion. Thank you.”

They continued talking. Philip then said, “Yeah and that happened two more times through the years. Three times. That can’t be a coincident.”

Andrew said, “That’s funny. Now that you say that, that happened two more times to me as well. One was a neighbor in Denver. I see him in Church all the time with his family, and he sometimes introduces himself as the guy who got me back to church.”

They both went to BWI together - same Uber - and something happened to both of them in their plane ride home that Sunday late afternoon: Andrew to Denver…. Philip to New Orleans.

While flying, they both remembered the Gospel they heard - but didn’t hear that Sunday morning in a church near UMBC in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sometimes we don’t hear the gospel we heard that morning till a long time after wards. This can’t be a coincident. They both realized that their names were Philip and Andrew and in the gospel that morning Philip and Andrew were both asked by other people: “We want to see Jesus.”

And they both brought people to Jesus.

And they both thanked their parents for bringing them to Jesus.

And they both called each other on their cell phones when there plane landed, but before they could get off the plane - one in Denver and one in New Orleans.

They didn’t talk too long. They both told each other about the wonderful coincident of that weekend.

And oops there was a fourth coincident - but only from Philip’s side. That overheard conversation got the person next to him thinking. The person on Andrew side got annoyed.

But who knows, sometimes people only hear the gospel a long time after wards.

[This story is a total fabrication. I assume that there was no 25th Anniversary of UMBC this weekend - but I had to get Philip and Andrew back to school for this story. But the story in today's gospel is from the Gospel of John, today's gospel reading, John 12: 20-33.]