DID YOU EVER WANT 

TO KILL SOMEONE? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Did You Ever Want  to  Kill  Someone?”

A homily is a  reflection on the readings.

Both readings for today - this 4^th Friday in Lent - talk about people wanting to kill people.  So that’s where I got the title of this homily: “Did You Ever Want to Kill Someone?”

I asked myself the question and thought about it and I have to say, “I have never wanted to kill anyone.”

Thank God, obviously.

Don’t call 911 on me.

Then I asked, “Did I ever want someone dead?”

“No.”

Next question: “Did I ever wish someone would disappear - be on the other side of the street from me - or they are taking the down staircase and I’m on the up staircase?”

Answer. I hesitate and then answer, “Probably, yes!”

I heard someone say, “There’s one in every office.”

A what?  I PITA - a person who is dysfunctional - someone who de-energizes everyone.

In hearing that there problem people around us,  I think of the gospel text, that I jokingly use at times, “Is it I, Lord?”

TODAY’S READINGS

If you read the Bible, then you know that prophets, those who challenge us, are often threatened with extermination.

If you read the gospels, especially near the end of Lent, you know that Jesus is often threatened.

And they got him killed!

The person on the cross and the cross are central to Christianity.

MOTIVE

People who correct us or challenge us or get under our skin are people who can anger us.

Is anger the #1 cause of murders.

Combined with booze - that can become a lethal dose of poison for our relationships.

Yesterday we got the news - the verdict - in a murder case in New Jersey. My brother-in-law’s nephew, Richie Doody, was murdered around Thanksgiving 2015, by a guy named Conrad Sipa.

We still don’t know the motive: but by the violence in how Richie was murdered, there was a lot of anger there. Richie was beaten by a golf club, a lamp and his neck was slit with a knife.

Conrad Sipa was out on a million dollar bail for the past 3 years - so the long awaited trial was a source of frustration on the part of the Doody families. Conrad was found guilty of 8 out of 9 charges.

ANGER: SOME SUGGESTIONS

So I would list anger as one of life’s major issues.

Since anger shows up in our neck, our fists, our shoulders, our words, here are a few suggestions - on what to do with our body.

When angry, walk.

Walk out the door and walk about the block.

Stand there or sit down and make a fist or two fists as tight as you can.  Then raise your fists, your hands, as if you have all your anger in your hands - in your grasp - then open your hands, release the anger in  your hands,  as if you’re releasing pigeons into the sky.

Or open your mouth, stick your tongue out.  Now bite your tongue saying, “Enough with the anger.” Or “Enough with the friction.”

Bite your tongue with every prayer and pray, “Help!”