ONE OF YOUR 10

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “One of Your 10!”

When I lived in Pennsylvania I used to go see a Jesuit Priest, Frank Miles, a neat guy, for spiritual direction. I also saw him for a few 8 day directed retreats - which were silent retreats as well.

In a directed retreat, one method is to give the retreatant a single Biblical Text for the day or two days or for a short period of time - and the retreatant would spend a couple of hours of prayer, chewing on and digesting that text.

Well, Frank Miles gave me some wonderful texts - that fit my needs - and what was hitting me on that time of retreat - things I wanted to talk about.

It hit me that he really knew Bible texts in a special way. He owned them. So I asked him, “How many Bible texts do you own?”

He asked what I meant.

I explained.

“Oh,” then he said, “I get what you’re asking.”

Then he said, “I don’t know. Let me think about it.”

The next day he said, “About 75.”

The Bible is this portable library of some 73 different  books or scrolls - and this Jesuit priest said, “75 were his. He owned them.”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel has a Bible text - that all of us should own.

It should be part of our spiritual  repertoire and value system.  The text is this. You already know it. I’ve heard you say it at various times in your life. Here it is: “Let the one among you who is without sin  be the first to throw a stone at her.”

That’s John 8:7

Use your rosary and say that text on your beads, 59 times.  Think about it. Pray with it. Make it even more your own.

That’s one text you own.

The title of my homily for today is, “One of Your 10.”

I’m not saying to come up with 75.  I’m suggesting 10.

You  have a couple of texts that you already own and you’ve said those words - that text - that saying from time to time in your life.

I like Galatians 6:2. I own it, “Bear one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the Law of Christ.”  Come up with the best translation of the text that you like,   Galatians 6:2  is also  put this way in English,  “Help one another to carry these heavy loads, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

And I like John 10:10.  Actually John 10:10 B. “I have come that you might have life and that you live it to the full.”

If one of your deepest and best texts is an old translation, take that as a possible sign that this text has been in you for a long time.

So  I’m asking in this homily, “Come up with 10.”

NOW BACK TO THIS NOT THROWING STONES TEXT

The men who dragged this woman to Jesus - actually  were hoping to use his response as an excuse to throw stones at Jesus.

We hear in these Lenten texts especially - Pharisees and other groups wanting to kill Jesus.

Once we catch the power, the lightning, the wisdom, the depth of meaning in a text, it’s then that it can become our own.

SUGGESTION: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

If you want to get at this text in John about sin and stone throwing, I suggest reading Nathaniel Hawthorne.

He has two main novels and lots of short stories.

He lived in Massachusetts between 1804 to 1864.

However,  he wrote a lot about the mindset of the Puritans in New England from a much earlier time.  The Scarlett Letter takes place between 1642 and 1649.  Students of Hawthorne thought he wrote best about this earlier period of New England life compared to his time: the 1850’s and 1860.

The Puritans came to New England with the hope of purifying the Church of England.

The Puritans were purists. They were sometimes called, “Precisionists.”

They were stern - strict - and very off on sin.

They were not too happy about having fun.  They didn’t think well about young people dancing - for example around the so called “May Pole.”

Maturity meant sadness and sobriety - strictness and sternness.

You can find this type of person in all religious groups.

The key is to catch ourselves when we are being this type of person.

The woman dragged to Jesus in today’s gospel is caught in Adultery.

Hester Prynne - in The Scarlett Letter - has a child out of wedlock. It’s assumed that her husband was dead: Roger Chillingsworth.  She is tried - condemned - made to wear the scarlet letter A - for adultery - on the front of her robe.

Where is Jesus when he is needed?

Hawthorne was a Christian - but didn’t go to church. His house was his church on Sundays.

He sided with the Puritans a bit - but more with the transcendentalists - for a while.

The Puritans saw sin - the transcendentalists saw light and wisdom.

Hawthorne is complex - and he changed in time discovering more darkness and duplicity in people’s insides than when he was younger. 

Every one of us has to ask that question: as I age am seeing more emptiness and sin or more more love and joy in others?  Am I mellowing and laughing more or am I becoming, “The Scream” painting as I cross the bridges of life.

As I just said, “Hawthorne is complex.”  He also saw that Hester didn’t commit the worse sin in life.  Sexual sins are never that.  Food too. The real sins are the deeper sins.  C.S. Lewis also said that loud and clear. Dante too with his levels of hell.

Hawthorne saw that Hester sinned. But the worst sin, the deeper sin - was the sin of pride in the Puritans who didn’t want to see their own sins - but only others sin.

There are 3 main Characters in Hawthorne’s novel:  The Scarlet Letter, Hester, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester’s husband Roger Chillingsworth, Hester Prynne is the least sinful.  Dimmsdale is next. He’s the minister who is the father of Hester’s baby, The minister changes - grows - especially in understanding human beings - but Roger Chillingsworth doesn’t and commits the worst sin: revenge and can’t forgive Dimmsdale - and basically destroys himself in his fury.

As I read up on Hawthorne I heard various specialists say that Hawthorne learned a lot in his writing and studying all of this: that the human heart can be depraved - weak.

Hawthorne is trying to figure out how much we suffer from the attitudes and ways of our great grandparents etc.  His great grandparents were Puritans - and one might have been very much a part of the Salem Witch trials.

Hawthorne had very negative understandings of Catholicism and he thought we Catholics were fluff without depth because of confession and how easy we can sense  forgiveness and receive absolution.

The funny story is that his daughter Rose becomes a Catholic and a famous Dominican nun.

CONCLUSION

Enough.....