Sometimes freedom is an option - if only we pause to see a way out. But we can be stupid. We can try to kick and fight those who can save us. Our Redeemer lives. He/She comes with saw or crowbar - to set us free.
“Don’t stay away from church because there are so many
hypocrites.There’s always room for one
more.”
Arthur R. Adams
Or John 8: 7
Friday, January 25, 2019
CONVERSION:
CONVERSION
OF ST. PAUL
INTRODUCTION
Today the Church celebrates the feast of the conversion of St. Paul. This is quite
interesting. Most of the time, when we celebrate a Saint’s Day, we celebrate
his or her whole life, but today we just celebrate a moment: the conversion of St. Paul.
OUR CONVERSION
MOMENTS
For a thought for today, I ask you to look at your life.
When were the moments of change? When were the conversion moments? Hopefully,
all of us can pick out some significant moments when we changed.
ONE OF MY
CONVERSION MOMENTS
I remember talking with a friend of mine once -- talking one
to one. He was a bit overweight and he said to me, “Did you ever notice how
many people who are overweight are always giving tips to other people who are
overweight, on how to lose weight?”
I said, “No!”
He continued, “Did you ever notice how many people who are not overweight are always needling overweight people about being overweight?”
I said, “No!”
He wasn’t trying to correct me. I was thinner at the time.
He was just sounding off. Well, after that I became more conscious and more aware of what he was saying. We were all living in a
big community, and sure enough, he was right. I began to notice people who needled him, grabbed his love handles, and often gave him suggestions on how to
lose weight.
I reflected even more. I realized how much the weight
comments hurt him, that he was quite sensitive about his weight. Well, from
that day to that day I never again kidded this guy about his weight. I was
converted. I have also been working on not kidding other people.
That conversation by him was a conversion moment for me.
What are your conversion moments?
THE NAGGING
HUSBAND
I remember a father telling me once that it took a good 25
fights with his wife for him to finally see that he was constantly on the case
of his oldest son, but his youngest son was getting away with murder. He was
the oldest son in his family. While growing up he was constantly being nagged by his father and hated it. He didn’t see he was doing the same thing to his son. He didn’t realize history was
repeating itself. Finally, he saw the light. Finally, he saw what his wife was
trying to tell him all the time.
He was able to laugh at himself, when he finally saw the
light.
CONVERSION – MAJOR
ISSUE
Today, then, we are celebrating a moment or an event in the
life of Paul. It’s a major moment, a major event, a major experience, in the
life of a great person.
Conversion is a major issue in life. Conversion is the major
issue of the upcoming second session of Renew. Conversion time is significant
changes in our lives time.
Conversion means we make major shifts, major changes within us. So today’s
feast day is a significant feast day.
CONVERSION OF PAUL
T. F. Manson said that Paul was a missionary and preacher
and prophet like Ezechiel, Isaiah or Jeremiah. He was less like a philosopher,
like Aristotle or Plato.
Paul was a preacher. Today is a preacher’s feast.
Redemptorists preach conversion, so this is a significant feast for us to
study.
In many paintings of this moment, Paul is pictured as
falling off a horse. We don’t even know if he was on a horse. The scriptures
just tell us he fell to the ground.
In conversion conversations, as in AA, we get the phrase,
“to hit bottom”. Paul hit bottom – the bottom of himself. Paul hit the ground,
the ground from which the God of Genesis scraped us together. Paul hit the dirt
– towards which we’re all going to eventually crumble into.
MAJOR ELEMENT OF
CONVERSION
The key ingredient in any conversion is the death of self.
The major element is the emptying of self – the thing that God did when we
became human – described so dramatically in the great hymn of God’s self
emptying in Philippians 2:5b-11.
Conversion for starters means self-emptying – death to self.
Isn’t one of the best scenes where we see this meaning of
conversion in the great message of St.
John the Baptist? It describes Paul’s conversion
perfectly. “I must decrease. He must increase.”
Basically that’s what conversion is all about: the emptying
of oneself.
As John McCall put it, the air has to be let out of our
tire. We are filled with hot air. We are inflated with self. John McCall says,
“In psychological terms, it’s called ‘ego reduction’.”
Swami Sachannawanda said it almost the same way. He said
that the “I” must go. As he liked to say it, “E Go. Let it go. Go.”
In Philippians 3: 4-10, Paul gives his credentials. He says:
I am a Hebrew. I was circumcised. I grew up a Benjaminite. I was a Pharisee. I
was righteous. Notice it was all I’s. I, I, I,
In his conversion, the I went. His eyes went. He became blind. He
who thought what he saw was right, became blind.
He really hit bottom and down there in his deepest darkness,
he saw the light. He saw that Christ was the light of the world. He began to
know Christ.
As he continues in Philippians 3: 7, “But because of Christ,
I have come to consider all these advantages that I had as disadvantages. Not
only that, but I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme
advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of
everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ
and be given a place in him. I am no longer trying for perfection by my own
efforts, the perfection that comes from the Law, but I want only the perfection
that comesthrough faith in Christ, and
is from God and is based on faith. All I want is to know Christ and the power
of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of
his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of
the dead.”
That’s a conversion. A person who was dead, has come back to
life.
That’s what happened to Paul. That’s what we celebrate
today.
CONCLUSION
That is enough, there will be plenty more on another day.
Today is the feast of St. Francis de Sales. He’s the Patron
Saint of Retail Stores, “de Sales”. Joke. Here are a few thoughts coming out of
the life of this saint.
Saint’s feast days are usually the day they died. However,
St. Francis de Sales didn’t die on January 24. He died on December 28, 1622,
but that is the feast of the Holy Innocents, so they moved his feast to today
-- the day his bones were moved to his present tomb or something like that.
If his feast is moved again, he wouldn’t mind. That’s the
kind of personality he had. In fact, that would be my thought for the day.
St. Francis de Sales was known for his calmness -- his
gentleness.
FREDDY
That’s the message I found out about St. Francis de Sales
some 58 years ago in the seminary.
In the major seminary we had this teacher, Freddy -- Fred
Prenatt. We had him for one class in preaching every week for six years. I
remember very little from what he said in class, but I remember him for
something he would always say in confession and in sermons, “Omnia suaviter.”
And when asked where that came from, he would say, “St.
Francis de Sales”.
And when asked what “Omnia
suaviter” meant, he would say, “All
things sweetly.”
For some reason I never forgot that. I ended up making it
sort of a prayer and sort of a motto all through the years, “Omnia suaviter.”
Translated into Italian, “Con calme” or “Reposo”.
Translated into English, “Take it easy”, “Calm down”, “Count
to 10”, “A drop of honey does more good than a barrel of vinegar.”
Translated into AA-ese, “Nice and easy.” I’m sure you have
all seen that on a bumper sticker. It’s a good thing to remember whenever we
are feeling road rage or church rage or classroom rage or shopping line rage or
in the house rage.
Nice and easy.
Easy does it.
Omnia Suaviter, Con calme. Relax.
CONCLUSION
Relax. That’s a good message to remember from the life and
spirit of St. Francis de Sales.
Take it easy.
Calm down.
January24, 2019
Thought for today:
“Whom the gods would make bigots, they first deprive of
humor.”
James P. Gillis
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
WITHERED
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Withered!”
I spotted that word in today’s
gospel - early on Mark - Chapter 3: 1-6.
I would like to reflect upon healing:
helping the healing process and blocking the healing process.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
In today’s gospel we have this
moment when Jesus goes into a synagogue on the Sabbath and he sees a man with a
shriveled up hand.
And the Pharisees whose minds had
become shriveled up kept an eye on Jesus to see if Jesus would heal the man on
the Sabbath. He was doing that sort of thing. Now if Jesus did it, they would
be able to accuse him of breaking the Sabbath.
Jesus wanted to heal both the man
with the shriveled hand and the Pharisees.
Jesus likes to heal people who are
withered -- especially, people whom others want to remain withered.
Is it I Lord? Do I do that Lord?
CONVENT
Take for example, a young woman who
enters the convent. She enters full of life and discovers that the convent is
full of death.
In fact, it’s hell. Everyone is
stuck in the past. It stifles her. She suggests change. She is cut down. She
begins to wither up. She wants to leave. They want her to stay -- to stay and
wither some more -- to become like them.
GEORGE WALD
One of my favorite lectures was
given by the Harvard biologist, George Wald. In the talk he said that there
have been religions that chose death. He calls them religions of death.
Christianity and Judaism are not.
He quotes the great text in
Deuternomy, “Today I put before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.
Therefore choose life.”
JESUS
Jesus said that he was the life. He
said that he was the way, the truth and the life. He said that he came that we
might have life and have it to the full.
CONCLUSION: ME
Where am I?
This morning ask Jesus to heal you
where you are dying, withered, where you feel like a withered rejected branch,
on the vine. Ask Jesus, the Vinedresser, to prune you, to cut you, where you
need to be healed.
This morning, also ask, where am I
killing others, draining them, dragging them, suffocating them, hindering them
from deeper living.
This morning ask, where and whom, I
don’t want healed and why.
In AA one hears stories about people
who keep on enabling another to be an alcoholic. There are also stories -
better stories - about withered people being healed.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
PAINTING ON TOP: Crow on a Withered Branch by Kawanabe Kyosa.
“When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.”
Eric Hoffer
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
OH, NOW I GET IT!
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 2nd Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Oh, Now I Get It.”
GETTING A JOKE
Have you ever heard someone tell a joke - and everyone
laughs - and you say, “I don’t get it.”
Like Father Tizio’s puns in the bulletin.Has there ever been a pun and you don’t get
it?
It’s smart not to lie.There have been instances when a group of people make up a joke - that’s
not a joke. Then someone tells it and the group in on it all laugh. Then those
not in on it - laugh. Next one of the group in on it asks someone who laughs.
“Did you get the joke?” and the person says, “Oh yeah. It’s a good one.” Then
they bust the person - and tell that person it was a set up - like Candid
Camera.
And sometimes there’s a joke and we don’t get it. We feel
stupid that we don’t get it. One of our
priests, Joe Austin, had a joke that he told 1000 times and I didn’t get it
till a year later. He would say to people, “How long is a Chinaman.”
And people would answer, “I don’t know.”
And he’d repeat himself, over and over again, “How long
is a Chinaman.”
Finally I got it, when I heard him tell a frustrated
other person. “It’s not a question. It’s a statement. “How Long” - is the Chinaman’s name. It’s like saying,
“Anthony is an Italianman.”Or “Pat is
an Irishman.”
Finally the other person says, “Oh, now I get it.”
Then they add, “Horrible joke!”
TODAY’S GOSPEL
In today’s gospel - Mark 2: 23-28 - Jesus addresses one of his pet peeves.
It’s the question of the Sabbath. He saw too many people
obsessing about the Sabbath to their detriment.
As priest I’ve heard thousands of time- people feeling quilty for missing Mass.
They were on vacation - on a cruise and there is no priest on board the ship.Or they broke their leg - or they are in
thehospital - or the weather is
horrible - and they can’t get to Mass.
Jesus is saying in today’s gospel: you are not made for
the Sabbath - the Sabbath is a gift for you.
He saw his fellow Israelites being off on being perfect -
no work - no extra whatever - on the Sabbath. People can forget that the
Sabbath is a day of rest from the rest of the week.
It seemed that they wanted to give God every second of
the Sabbath - forgetting that God was giving them restthe time of the Sabbath
CONCLUSION
Then at some point, someone gets what Jesus is saying about
the Sabbath - and they realize the purpose of the day and they say, “Ok, now I
get it.”
They get the whole purpose of the Sabbath as a day of
rest - and not only do they stop worrying about getting to Mass when they can’t
- but they stop working on the Sabbath - and it becomes a day of rest for them.
Dún do shúil, a rún mo chroÃ
A chuid den tsaol, 's a ghrá liom
Dún do shúil, a rún mo chroÃ
Agus gheobhair feirÃn amárach
Tá do dheaid ag teacht gan mhoill ón chnoc
Agus cearca fraoich ar láimh leis
Agus codlaidh go ciúin 'do luà sa choid
Agus gheobhair feirÃn amárach
Dún do shúil, a rún mo chroÃ
A chuid den tsaol, 's a ghrá liom
Dún do shúil, a rún mo chroÃ
Agus gheobhair feirÃn amárach
Tá an samhradh ag teacht le grian is le teas
Agus duilliúr ghlas ar phrátaÃ
Tá an ghaoth ag teacht go fial aneas
Agus gheobhaimid iasc amárach
Dún do shúil, a rún mo chroÃ
A chuid den tsaol, 's a ghrá liom
Dún do shúil, a rún mo chroÃ
Agus gheobhair feirÃn amárach
One English Translation:
Close your
eyes, my love
My worldly joy, my treasure
Close your eyes, my love
And you will get a present tomorrow
Your dad is
coming from the hills
With game and grouse in plenty
So close your eyes, my love, my joy
And you will get a present tomorrow
Close your
eyes, my love
My worldly joy, my treasure
Close your eyes, my love
And you will get a present tomorrow
The summer sun
shines bright and warm
And potato stalks grow greener
A bracing breeze blows from the south
And we will have fish tomorrow
Close your
eyes, my love
My worldly joy, my treasure
Close your eyes, my love
And you will get a present tomorrow
January22, 2019
Thought for today:
“I believe in the forgiveness of sins and the redemption of ignorance.”
