HOW  WAS  IT?

INTRODUCTION

The  title of my homily for this Thursday in the Third Week of Advent is, “How Was It?”

In  the  second half of life, do we all look back on our life and talk to ourselves about how it was?

Then it’s nice if there is somebody – or somebodies - who are willing to ask us, “How was it?”

“How was what?” we counter.

“Our lives" comes the answer.

How was our life?

And then they listen – they hear us out!

BRENDAN

I remember I ran into a guy – Brendan -  a confrere – a Redemptorist – whom I sort of accidentally asked, “How’s it going?”

I didn’t know he  had just come back a week earlier from a 4-month Sabbatical at Notre Dame in Indiana. He had just made a continuing education program for priests.

I had time. He had time. He talked. I listened.

So, he told me all that he had experienced – side trips – football games – books – experts – learnings.

And he said at the end: “Thanks for asking. You’re the first person who did.”

I learned from that moment – seeing Brendan’s face and hearing his enthusiasm. So from then on: whenever I heard of a guy who took a Sabbatical,  I’d ask, “How Was It?”

I made that part of my life – to do that.

X

As I thought about that - I realized I still have a beef about something that used to happen during the 8 ½ years I was in Lima, Ohio. 

Myself and another guy used to do parish missions out of Lima - working as a preaching team - working in lots and lots of parishes. 

We’d get back from a parish mission and show up for breakfast the next morning – and one guy there would never ask, “How was it?” Instead he would be reading the morning newspaper – as if we had never left town.

That was one of those inner gripes – we never say – moving around in our inner cage.

Grrrrrrr!  Gripe!

 BARREN

These thoughts hit me when I read today’s two readings.

In both readings the word “barren” appears. Two women are without children – the number 1 answer  women answer with when asked “How was your life?”

Out come the pictures.  Out come the stories.

So, Samson’s mom – didn’t have Samson yet – to tell the world about her Rockyesque like son. So too Elizabeth didn’t have her son John the Baptist yet – to brag to the world about.[Cf. Judges  3: 2-7, 24-25a; Luke 1: 5-25]

We who have chosen celibacy – we who have not had children – hopefully we are not barren.  We have life to talk about.  I always like to ask teachers: “Did you ever have a student – whom you knew was going to become a star – and he or she became a star?”

ERIK ERIKSON

I have always liked Erik Erikson’s 8 stages of life.

I have asked thousands – stress on thousands of people: “Did you write your autobiography yet?”

At funerals of older folk, I like to repeat a quote I once heard, “When an old person dies, it’s as if a whole library has burnt down.” 

Imagine the autobiographies in this room – hopefully one or two written down - and all the rest are at least a talking or audio books.

Erik Erikson’s 7th stage of life is Generativity vs. Stagnation.

What have I done with my life?

Now this can be a dangerous topic – because sometimes some people never got  the opportunity to star?  It could be health reasons or what have you.

But for those who had the opportunities - hopefully we can all make a decent account of our stewardship.

CONCLUSION

So hopefully, with the grace of God we have not stagnated.

And the added beauty of it is, if we have stagnated, we can all change and come into the garden – in the last hour. Amen.

So the title of my homily was: "How Was It?"

Maybe that’s what God asks us when we walk into – the banquet hall – as well as all those who will be waiting for us.

“How was it?”

Knowing me I’ll say, “How was it?” That’s not the question. It’s,  "How is it here?"