“We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.”
Attributed to Will Rogers
Friday, July 13, 2018
ROOTS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 14th Friday in
Ordinary Time is, ”Roots.”
Last night I read over the readings for today - and the
theme of “Roots” hit me.
My method is to simply look for some image or idea in the
readings for us to think about for that day.
Since Hosea talks in this particular reading about trees -
the theme of roots hit me.
I am not good when it comes to knowing the names of
trees. I followed a priest once who knew the names of all trees.Not me. It would be nice if I knew more than
Christmas trees.
Did you notice in today’s first reading that Hosea talks about 3 trees: the cypress, the cedar
and the olive.Then he also talks about
grape vines as well as the lily flower.
All five have roots and all 5 need to be watered.
Rootsneeds water
to rise, to grow, to blossom, to spread,
to continue.
WE DON’T LOOK AT ROOTS.
It’s interesting that we look at trees, but usually don’t
look at roots.
It’s like we spot the top of the table - and what’s on it
- but usually don’t look at the legs of a table.
Next time you’re in a wooded area, stop to look at the
roots of the differenttrees.Be careful. They can trip you up.
Or if you’re walking the dog - when it’s light - spot the
roots as you walk up or down the street.
Next time you see a tree that has been knocked over
because of a flood or steady downpour - and then some winds - take a good look at
the exposed roots and how extensive they are.
Realize that rootsare like what holds up a tree.
FAMILY ROOTS
Hopefully, we realize we are roots - family roots - of
our family tree - and hopefully we do
our best with good example and family presence and support - to the rest of the
family tree.
VALUES
Family values are the roots we build our life on.
We need to realize parents want their kidsto grow up with the best values.
STRENGHEN
Jesus spent his time trying to strengthen his disciples
for life’s struggles.
He knew sometimes we are sheep and there are wolves
around. He told us to be shrewd as serpents and as simple as doves.
Shrewd and simple: what a smart self description - or
daily goal.
He knew we need to grow stronger and stronger.
He knew trees and plants need to be watered.
CONCLUSION
Let me `close with a simple story about all this - in
case I didn’t hit home and touch your roots.
A couple were running into problems in their marriage -
so for some reason they decided to buy and plant a tree in their back yard.
They planted it in the corner of theirbackyard, and said to each other, “If this tree survives, we survive. If it
grows we grow. If it doesn’t make it, we’ll split. That’s it.”
At their 25th and 50th anniversary,
they renewed their vows under that tree, adding, “Many a time we caught the
other sneaking out in the night to water that tree.”
------------------------
Picture on top: Uprooted tree over the trail at Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge, Long Island, New York, Nov. 1, 2012, following Hurricane Sandy (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Todd Weston) In NCR
July 13, 2018
CONFESSIONAL BOX
How hard it is to admit
a mistake, a sin, a wrong.
Some just can’t do that. They
can’t say, “I’m made a mistake.”
Well, not every mistake….
The one to look at and
then take a second look at,
is the one we can’t confess.
Now that’s the one to put
in the box, the confessional
box, confess it - close the curtain and then move on.
“A good scare is worth
more to a man than good advice.”
Edgar Watson Howe,
Country Town Sayings, 1922
Monday, July 9, 2018
REBOUND
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 14th Monday in
Ordinary Time is, “Rebound.”
“Rebound” - a neat word - as in basketball - a shot is
taken - a miss - but someone gets the rebound.
Or a team loses - but they have another game - a fresh
start - and this time they win - and the newspaper - in the headline uses the
word, “Rebound!”
HOSEA
Today - for our first reading - we begin hearing the story
of Hosea - and it’s a story of a relationship - that is a struggle - Hosea and
Gomar- husband and wife - Israel and God. [Hosea 2:
16, 17c-18, 21-22]
Gomar - a prostitute marries Hosea - and she falls back into
prostitution and still Hosea - with great emotion and pain - takes her back.He loves her.
We find in his relationship to her - the word “hesed” - a key Biblical Hebrew word -
meaning so much: loving kindness - mercy
- forgiveness - loyalty.
It’s spelled, HESEDorCHESED.We hear it in words like Hasidic.
The book of Hosea is a book about rebound.
MERCYAND
FORGIVENESS
Every relationship needs “rebound” - fresh starts -
trying again and again and again.
Jesus forgave Peter for betraying him.
Jesus preached forgiving 70 times 7 times.
Would the Judas story have had more impact - if Judas
didn’t kill himself in the horror of his betrayal of Jesus?Would the stations of the cross been
different - if Jesus could have somehow went to the Judas tree on the way to
Calvary and talk Judas out of killing himself?
YESTERDAY’S CAPITAL
Speaking of Hosea, in yesterday’s Capital, our town of Annapolis’ newspaper had an incident in the
Dear Abby column about someone described as “Dumbstruck in Chicago.”
Dear Abby - that first Abby died years ago…. This column
is being continued by her daughter. I
like to say I was at a dinner in Chicago - where I met that first Dear Abby. As
I was leaving I shook her hand “Good-Bye”.I always regret that I didn’t give her a quick kiss on her cheek - but
wow did she have a lot of powder make up on.
Yesterday’s Dear Abby letter describes a situation that goes as follows: “After
reading the letter from ‘Dumbstruck in Chicago,’ who’s dating a recently
divorced man who was unfaithful to his ex-wife through multiple affairs and
one-night stands with prostitutes, I cannot stay silent. That man screams of
being a sex addict. He needs the help of a certified sex addiction therapist
before he wrecks another woman’s life.”
It continues, “Dumbstruck should RUN - not walk - to the nearest S-Anon
meeting.It’s a 12-step program for
people who have been affected by another person’s sexual behavior. These
behaviors included infidelity by emotional or physical affairs, one-night
stands with prostitutes, hanging out in strip clubs and porn addiction.”
Continuing, “S-anon saved my sanity and gave me the
courage to offer my husband of 30 years a choice - recovery or divorce? Because he knew I was serious, he reluctantly
went into Sexaholics Anonymous as well as therapy with a certified sex
addiction therapist and has been sexually sober for five years.Our marriage is better today than I ever
dreamed it would be.
“Sex addiction is a disease and needs to be recognized as
the cause of ruining many marriages and tearing families apart. Please, Abby,
suggest SA and S-Anon when you reply to people who write you about these
issues.”Signed: “Anonymous in Kentucky.”
CONCLUSION:
Now that’s a story about Rebound. In case you might think
this should not be mentioned in church - ha em, read the book of Hosea. It’s one of the books of our
Bible.
July 9, 2018
FOREVER AND EVER, AMEN!
The cave woman went out to get
some water - but stopped to spot
and watch a red cardinal pausing
to view a valley from a branch.
A 16th century cardinal paused
to watch the smoke from a candle
going out and rising towards the
ceiling, as he said, “Oh ... life ….”
A grandfather with red suspenders taking 3 grand-kids for ice cream and getting one for himself as well, thinking, “Diabetes! Why not?"
“Listen, you son of a
b...., life isn’t all a g..-damn football game! You won’t always get the girl!
Life is rejection and pain and loss.”
Frederich Exley,
A Fan’s Notes,
1977
Sunday, July 8, 2018
HOMECOMING
[Instead of a homily, I rewrote today’s gospel in story form - changing it a bit. And it’s a change
of pace. This is called, “Homecoming.”]
“Why not?”
“It’s been a while since I was back home.”
“It will be good to see how mom is doing.”
So Jesus headed home - for some home cooking - to see how
the carpenter shop was doing - to sit and talk -without the pressure of the crowds.
“It will be good to get away from Peter and Andrew - and
James and John. It will be good for them to get a break from me. Being a
prophet can be a draining - full time - experience. I’m sure their families -
especially Old Zebedee - in Capernaum - will be happy to know his boys are alive
and well. They did leave rather suddenly - that day - when I simply said, ‘Come
follow me!’ and they dropped their nets
and did just that: follow me.”
Jesus walked up the streets of Nazareth. It was high noon
- hot and humid - and people were indoors - or in the shadows. Some people
stopped talking or doing what they were doing - when they spotted him - sort of
dumb struck. You could read on their faces, “He’s back!” A few waved a silent
sort of, “Hi.”
Mary was shocked to see him open the front door - of
their two room home.
“Jesus!”
The hug and the hold was long and tight.
“Welcome home!”
Jesus said, “Mom, I missed you. I miss you.”
Tears of joy flowed freely - down both their faces.
Mary said, “Sit down.Relax.I’ll get you something to
eat.”
Then she said,“Wine
or water?”
He got the joke - and the smile on her face - and the
wink in her eye.
He said, “That was a good wedding, wasn’t it?
She said, “The couple over there in Cana still talk about
you.”
She placed before him a chalice of red wine - and another
one for herself - opposite him - at the wooden table - a good solid wooden table. Joseph always made the best.
Jesus knocked on the wood and said, looking into her eyes:
“I miss him too.”
At that comment, she came over and gave him one of those complicated
sit down and standing up hug and a kiss on top of his head.
She came back with some delicious bread - broke it -
handed him some.
She sat down.Then
with cup in hand - they clinked chalices - ate bread -and shared what’s
happening.
Words became flesh - as she told him about their
relatives and neighbors.
Even though - she assumed - by now - everybody in town
knew he was back,nobody bothered them.Nobody was at the door.
He told her, “This feels good. It’s good to be home.”
He told her where he had been, “Capernaum, the Lake, up
north and down south.”
“People are struggling,” he said. “People are struggling
- but life is good.”
She told him how James and Joses, Judas and Simon, and
all his male and female relatives were doing.
She told him, “The carpenter shop is still going
strong.Your cousin is doing a good job.
The town misses you. They especially miss Joseph.”
“Me too,” said Jesus.
“Me too, said Mary.
Silence.
There were some nice moments of silence - the kind that
are essential - to one to one conversations - the salt and pepper of good table
talk - the bread and wine - of a good
homecoming.
Mary then told him that folks in town thought he went off
the deep end - leaving us to become a prophet and a teacher, a rabbi and a
story teller, a healer and a challenger.
Jesus said, “Listen, I laugh at that myself. A prophet at
first - especially if he is a stranger - gets listened to everywhere- except back home - with his own family and
kin. Family see right through you.They
never would expect anything good could come from a tiny town like this.I try to tell folks that it all comes from
within - not from out there.
Silence.
“Then - out there - it’s only when they really listen -
to what I’m trying to say - that they get riled up and want me to leave or to kill me - because folks often don’t like
what they know is within.”
Mary said, “When they ask me where did you get all your
wisdom - that you never went to school here - I say, “Hey, he didn’t leave here
till he was 30. He learned everything - as far as I could figure out - before
he left here. He learned from watching -
watching - watching - the birds of the sky and the flowers of the field.”
“I tell them that you were always a great listener -
listening to people tell about lost sons and daughters - who slipped away to
far countries.”
“I tell them you noticed the Pharisees and those who had
to have front seats in the synagogue and at celebrations.”
“I tell them you always stopped to check the wheat and
the grapes of the vines.”
“You knew good fruit and bad fruit.”
“I tell them when you came to forks in the roads, you
always took the narrow path. That was you.”
“Thank you, mom. Thank you.”
He stayed there for a few days - saw a few of the
neighbors - visited and prayed over and cured a few sick people by laying his
hands on them, but it seemed that his
original comment was right on the money: “A prophet is not accepted in his own
town - his own native place.”
As he left home - after some good home cooking - some warm
home love - from his mom - he could accept the loneliness of not being accepted -
not being known for who he really was.
As he walked to catch up with his disciples at Capernaum, he said to himself, "I guess, you can’t work miracles in people who won’t sit down with themselves - who won't sit down with others in communion - who won’t sit down with bread and wine - who won't break open and pour out and
really share the body and blood of their lives with each other.”
July 8, 2018
NAME THAT TUNE NAME THAT TEXT
Want to know what makes the other
tick, tap, bubble, burst, or dance?
Ask the other, their favorite song or
musical piece - Voila! There’s
the answer. Want to know God's favorite Bible text. Voila! How about Galatians 6:2 or Luke 18:16?
