“No one can find out except by trying whether he needs
prayer once an hour, once a week, or less often.”
Richard Cabot,
What Men Live By, 1915
SOME QUESTIONS:
DOWN TO THE THIRD
AND FOURTH GENERATION?
INTRODUCTION
The
title of my homily is, “Some Questions: Down
To The Third and Fourth Generation….”
The
main thrust of this homily will be questions - as opposed to answers.
When
it comes to grandparents and great grandparents,I have
a lot of questions. How about you?
Today’s
first reading from Exodus 20: 1-17 talks about punishment on past sins going
down to the 3rd and 4th generations.Does that really happen?
Today
- July 26th - we look at and celebrate the feast of St. Anne and St.
Joachim - the grandparents of Jesus on his mother Mary’s side.
Their
names are not in scriptures - but somewhere along the line - a tradition grew
up that Mary’s parents were named Joachim and Anne.
We
have their statues here at St. Mary’s - up there on the top cornersof our old main altar - facing out - facing you.
What
are your thoughts about Joachim and Anne?
And
St. Anne’s novenas abound - and end today. I did the one at St. Anne’s in Erie,
Pa. a few times.
SOMEQUESTIONS
What
are your thoughts about your grandparents - and their parents and their
parents?
What
are your questions?
I
like homilies that give me new questions.
What
are your questions about your grandparents?
I
only met one grandparent - my mom’s mom - but it was only on one occasion. The
rest of the time she lived in Ballynahown, County Galway Ireland. She was
wrinkled and wore heavy black shoes.
There
is a book entitled, It Didn’t Start With
You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle.
The
author Mark Wolynn is not a psychologist but he probes this question of how past stuff affects
us now.
The asks the question: does past stuff from our grandparents sculpt and
shape us.
I only heard someone talking about that book - but it got me thinking.
Reviewers say it’s nonsense - but it will get you thinking.
Is there a psychological and emotional type DNA?
Years and years ago, long before this book, I’ve heard people say if
you want to change someone you have to change their grandmother.
I’ve always heard that suicide can be intergenerational.
If we read the scriptures we know this question comes up. In the 9th
Chapter of John, people asked Jesus
about a blind man.Who caused his
blindness, his sins or his parents sins or what?Jesus said to that one, “Neither….”Then Jesus healed him.
Next I would add the reality of example: good and bad.
We pick up on both.
And I believe reflection on that can get us thinking the following: “Ibetter be giving good example.”
I believe reflection on that can also get us grateful for all the good
example that has been passed on to us.
I believe that is the value of saints: people from the past - who still
give us good example.
I believe that is the reason there are statues and biographies and
studying history.
I believe that is the value of autobiography
I know my mother’s mother went to Boston as a young lady - made some
money - loved it - got manipulated back to Ireland to get married and ended up stuck
there for life. As a result, she made it her dream to get my mother and her 3 sons to
America.
So yes, those in the past had some influences on our lives.
I think that’s enough for now:what are your questions about your past?
Thursday, July 25, 2019
PILGRIMS
The title of my homily is, “Pilgrims.”
I thought of this topic on this the feast of St. James - “Santiago”.
Today - July 25th - I assume extra pilgrims will arrive at
Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Each year, for the last 30 years, a couple of hundred
thousand pilgrims make their way to the city of Santiago de Compostela in
Northwest Spain - the Galalcia region.There are several ways or routes to take: the Portuguese, the French,
the English and the Spanish ways.Different pilgrims - different routes.
The idea is simply to make the pilgrimage - short, long
or medium length - or break it up for different times in one’s life.
Three thoughts.
FIRST: EGO FREE
Reflecting on today’s gospel about wanting to be number
1, a pilgrimage is the opposite of being all ego - or trying to be number one.
I went to Santiago de Compostela once - but we didn’t do
the walking.We arrived there by bus -
which we got on - from our cruise ship.
Close to the city of Santiago de Compostela,we were looking out the bus window - watching
and wondering about these nameless pilgrims. They were carrying heavy back packs
as they were arriving at the city.
We finally arrived at our destination: the big cathedral
of St. James. We got out of the bus and headed for Mass where we saw all these
nameless folks.
So a first message would be to be nameless, to be ego
free, to simply be a pilgrim - a learner, a watcher, a listener - on the
journey of life.
When I’m on a tour, the one person I don’t like on our
bus or tour is the show off. They are
the type who have to let those with them know that they know all about
everything. We use the classic label: the know-it-all.
Translation: use ears and eyesmore than mouth.
When it comes to Santiago de Compostela, there are about
300,000pilgrims each year. I sense that
such a trip should be an ego free moment. For a week, a month, or even a50 day hike, one puts one foot in front of
the other - head is down as one walks step by step in pilgrimage to Santiago de
Compostela.
SECOND THOUGHT: CHRIST CENTERED
I assume that those who do a holy pilgrimage should become
more Christ centered.
I assume one meets and thinks good stuff - Christ stuff -
and they begin to deepen their faith and their following of Christ.
The gospels feature Christon the road - many roads - that eventually
lead to Jerusalem.
The symbol one receives at the end of the journey to
Santiago de Compostela is a shell.
A shell can be a symbol for many things.
Here it can symbolize one’s baptism - being dipped into
the waters of Christ - as James was called that day near the waters of Galilee.
He was called that day - along with his brother - to walk with Jesus - much to
the delight of his mom as we heard in today’s gospel [Cf.Matthew
20: 20-28.]
So that’s my second point: a pilgrimage ought to get us
in touch with what we ought to be doing with our life-to
get us in touch with our callings.
THIRD:DISCOVERING ONE’S GIFTS AND DIFFERENCES AS APOSTLES
And I assume that one of the experiences and discoveries
- when being an anonymous pilgrim, is one discovers who one is by being
anonymous.
Inbeing afollower of Christ - one slowly compares oneself
with fellow walkers - and talkers - along the way - and one sees one’s
differences - one’suniqueness, one’s
gifts.
Traveling together can be a wonderful learning
experience.
I think of the difference between the apostles: Peter becomes
a leader - who tends to put one’s foot
in one’s mouth. Thomas is seen as a doubter. Andrew brings people to Jesus.
Philip brings food to people who are looking for Jesus.John poetically imagines Christ.
In other words, we start off as a we - as a Christian -
but we also become a me - like James.
There is an anonymous - a face in a crowd - aspect to us
- but there is also a particular, a unique side to all of us.
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily has been “Pilgrims”.
Think Spain. Think Santiago de Compostela.
Think Rome, Lourdes, Chartres, Fatima and Israel.
TEXTURE
Texture intrigues ….
Where did God come up with the idea for the look and feel
of elephant or hippo skin?
Oak trees? Bananas inside and out?
A new baby’s fingers and the toes
of an 88 year old on the elevator
with me going up to the second floor in a nursing home? Walnut shells? Pearls?
Rocks? Shells? Sea weed?
The wind and rain on my face
on a rainy day? Interesting feel?
Summer rain of course. Just walking - not running.
Texture intrigues….
“If we compare our knowledge with that of the ancients, we appear very wise.But we are no nearer to solving the riddle of eternal justice than Cain was.”
Lev Shestov,
All Things Are
Possible, 1977
Painting: Cain and Abel
by John Reilly
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
GRUMBLE,
GRUMBLE, GRUMBLE
ORGRATITUDE,
GRATITUDE, GRATITUDE
INTRODUCTION
The title ofmy
homily is, “Grumble, Grumble, Grumble or Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude.”
Which is more me: grumble or gratitude?
I use the word “grumble” three times, because that’s how
many times it’s used in today’s first reading.
In this first reading from Exodus, we hear the Israelites
complaining about Moses. They are complaining about the one in charge - the
leader. They are also grumbling about food. Everyone gets hungry. Lastly they
don’t like where they are. They are complaining about - location, location,location - the dessert.
Soa challenge for
today:may your gratitude crumble your
grumble. May your thankfulness outweigh your grumbleness.
Tonight around 9 PM make a list of what you grumbled
about today.Also make a column at 9:07
PM what you loved and laughed about today.
Which will be more me today: grumble or gratitude?
Which horse wins: grumpy or grattitudy?
A FEW QUOTES:
“Some people are always grumbling because
roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.”
“Our prayer ought to be short and pure, unless it happens to
be prolonged by inspiration of divine grace.
In community, however, let
prayer be very short.”
St. Benedict, Rule of, c. 530
Monday, July 22, 2019
A PERSON OR A PLAN?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “A Person or a Plan.”
I want to use the word “person” in my title and my theme for today. I’m sure about that.
However, I’m not sure yet what the other word could be for something I want to
get at.
Right now I’m using “plan” - but it could be “program” or
“system” or something else like that.
Maybe by doing this sermon - what I’m trying to get at
- might become clearer to me.
However, I’m not sure.
RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY
When it comes to Religion and Spirituality we have both ideas
and persons.
We have lists and we have people
who follow those lists of what to do.
When it comes to spirituality we have systems or
programs. For example: we have Jesuit, Franciscan, Carmelite, Redemptorist, Quaker,
Buddhist, Confucian spiritualities.Some
dovetail each other at different points - but each has unique flavors -
specific stresses - particular pushes or nuances.
A RELATIONSHIP WITH A PERSON
Of the two - persons or plans - I like to present persons as central - more than books or
spelled out systems.
The call to be Christian is the call to relate, connect,
marry, follow a person with the name of Jesus.
Then we have the system of that person.
So we have Jesus - the human and divine person - who gave
us teachings and thoughts - parables and beatitudes - beatitudes and woes.
For example, someone or some early Christian Community put together Jesus' so called Sermon on the Mount. It's found in Mathew chapters 5, 6, and 7. It's a great listing of some great teachings of Jesus. It was a great teaching method - that
Matthew sculpted or tweaked and put it into his gospel.
Like a catechism it’s a great list of how to be a good
Christian.
It's unique to Matthew. Luke has some of those teachings in the so called, "Sermon on the Plain." [Cf. Luke 6: 17-49.]
In St. Paul we have both. St Paul gave lists - like what love is
- we hear his great listing of what love is at most weddings with the reading of 1st Corinthians 12: 31- 13: 8. But Paul also stressed my main point: Christianity is a relationship with
Christ. Read: “I live - now not I - but Christ lives
with me.” [Cf. Galatians 2: 26.]
Or take St. Alphonsus whose feast is coming up on August 1st. He wrote over 100 books - but he summed up his main message in one sentence: “The whole sanctity and perfection
of a soul consists in loving Jesus Christ, our God, our sovereign good, and our
Redeemer.” That's on the opening page of his book, The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ."
ANOTHER WAYOF PUTTING ALL THIS
A person wants to be happy. A person wants to give up an
addiction. A person wants to change.
He or she comes up with a plan or a program - like the 12 Step Program called AA or any 12 Step
programs.
Now I think - it's my belief - that any spiritual program won’t last until one makes that program personal.
Unless one gets connected with a
group or a community - until one starts relating to God as a Higher Power with others - then recovery won't make it or won't last.
For example: in AA, one has to do one’s 5th step
with others - confessing one’s life to another - bouncing one's life off in a relationship with another.
So what I'm saying here is that I hold that systems won’t change us.Persons change us.
For example, a person falls in love, marries, and in 10 years he or
she is a new person - that is, if it’s a good marriage - a selfless marriage.
People change people. People change in relationship with people.
For example, a couple are self-ish or self-centered. They have a baby
- and the baby changes them - gets them out of themselves - when they sacrifice themselves for their child and their children.If that doesn’t happen, we have a baby and then a person who goes
through life hurt or damaged or complaining - maybe without knowing why - without knowing or with knowing that
their parent didn’t launch or love them enough.
CONCLUSION
I say all this on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene - July 22nd. She
met Jesus. She fell in love with him.She
had a relationship with him.
She changed and grew as a human being - because as we
hear in today’s readings, she loved Jesus.
I heard all this through the years when people explained the spirituality of St. Alphonsus.
St. Alphonsus said all this when he wrote in his book,
The Practice of the Love of Christ: “Whoever
loves me, says Jesus Christ himself, shall be loved by my Eternal Father: 'My
Father loves you because you have loved Me.' (John 16:27). Some, says St.
Francis de Sales,make perfection consist in an austere life; others in prayer;
others in frequenting the Sacraments; others in alms-deeds. But they deceive
themselves: perfection consists in loving God with our whole heart. The Apostle
wrote: “Over all these … put on love, which is the bond of perfection”
Colossians 3:14. It is charity which keeps us united and preserves all the
virtues that render a man perfect. Hence St. Augustine said: “Love God, and do
whatever you please;” because a soul that
loves God is taught by that same love never to do anything that will displease
him, and to leave nothing undone that may please him.”
“The primary word I–Thou can be spoken only with the whole being.
Concentration and fusion into the whole being can never take place through my
agency, nor can it ever take place without me. I become through my relation to
the Thou; as I become I, I say Thou.
“All real living is meeting.
“[…]
“No aim, no lust, and no
anticipation intervene between I and Thou. Desire itself is transformed as it plunges out of
its dream into the appearance. Every means is an obstacle. Only when every
means has collapsed does the meeting come about.” Martin Buber
“We cannot go where God is not, and where God is, all is well.”
Anonymous
PICKING YOUR
PART
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “PickingYourPart.”
50
years ago - today - as you know - the first people on the moon landed at 4:17
in the afternoon - July 20, 1969 - but they didn’t step out of the landing
module till 7 hours later.
Relax
- it’s a hot day - and we’ll be out of here before that.
TITLE OF MY HOMILY
The
title of my homily is, “Picking Your Part.”
On
May 20th - I was in
Washington Hospital Center for triple bypass heart surgery. My niece Patty
drove to Annapolis from Reisterstown and picked me up here at St. Mary’s - that
Monday morning at 3:45 AM. She got me to Washington Hospital Center at 5:30 and
they prepped me for surgery at 6:30 AM. I woke up that night about 9:30 or so. There was Patty. It's great to have such a neat niece.
That
night and in the days to come I thought I was going to die. That night and in
the days to come I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the parts I’veplayed in my life - especially as a priest
and the scenes I’ve been in.
It’s
now 2 months later - it’s July 21th - and I have a lot of thoughts.
I
just played the part of someone recovering from heart surgery.
Thank
you God for a wonderful life and the chance to play the part of a priest.
Thank
you God for all the wonderful people in my life - whom I have met on the stage
of life. Priests meet a lot of people. Thank you for being some of those
people.Lucky me.
I
think of Shakespeare’s line: “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they
have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts,
his acts being seven ages.”
I don’t
know what stage in life I’m in right now.I know I just played the part of priest for 17 years here at St. Mary’s
Annapolis. Thank you God.
Thank you
all for being on stage with me - for supporting me - for being so nice to me.
Thank you for all the prayers and cards and hopes I’ve heard from you. Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you!
BEING
AN ACTOR
I was blessed with a good
education.I was blessed with a good
life choice.
Was it my choice or what
to become a priest?I’m still wondering
about that.
First you act out that
part - then hopefully one becomes that part.
Before I came here to
Annapolis, August 2002, I worked with a guy named Tom and I heard him once say
in a talk - a sermon - that when he was a small kid in OLPH Brooklyn - he saw a
priest being a priest - at an OLPH novena service. And he said to himself, “I’d
like to do that.” Then he added, “I’d like to try that.” Then he said, “I’d
like to become a priest and I did.”
I’ve often wondered if I
thought the same way.I’m not sure. I
heard a priest come into our Catholic grammar school classroom and tell us
about his work as a missionary in Brazil. Then he asked us to raise our hand if
we’re interested in being a priest some day.
I raised my hand - and
it’s still up.
At times I’ve wondered,
“What did I do?”It’s been tough these
past few years with the priest scandal - priests on the stage of life - playing
the bad guy. Ugh.”
In the seminary I was
blessed with being in lots of plays.
In college, in a play,
Dracula,I played the part of Renfield.
He was a weird character - who worked
for Dracula- the one who ate
flies.Fun part. Yum .... Yum .... Yum.
In another play, this one
was in high school, I played the part of
Reggie. In Act 1, I played the part of someonein their 40’s. Then as the play
progressed, I slowly got younger. My lines in the 3rd act were the
easiest:“Goo Goo! Ga. Ga!” “Boo Goo Goo
Ga!”That’s all I remember.
I once had the lead in anotherplay. We were in the first act and someone
forgot their line. As you can imagine a second of silence on stage - with a
forgotten line - feels like 10 minutes. I quickly grabbed a line and got the
play going again. "The show must go on."
Well - when I did that - I saw the director in the wings - waving his
arms - “Oh no!” “No No No!”Finally Act
1 ended. The curtain closed. I headed right towards the director and said,
“What happened?”
“What happened? What happened! You cut 4
people out of the play. Their names are on the program. Their parents are in
the audience. Ugh!”
I don’t know if anyone
else remembered that moment. But I did.I’ve often worried about cutting people out of the play of life. I do it
regularly in conversations.
I thought of this again
last week when I heard that John Means -
the only Oriole on the American League All Star Team - didn’t get into the
game.
Bummer. But that was the
part he was asked to play: to be there as a long reliever - just in case the
game got tied.
HOW TO READ THE
SCRIPTURES.
Without knowing it, by being in plays, I was learning a great way
to read the scriptures - to hear the Bible stories. Take the script. Read the
parts.
Listen to the story - especially
if it has characters - and ask, “What part am I playing?”“What part would I like to play?”“What part don’t I want to play?”
Many of the Bible stories
were acted out - before they were written out. They were shown - so people can see themselves on the stage
called, “Life.”
I also learned all this from
a book called, That Man is You by
Louis Evely.
Evely pointed out what the
prophet Nathan did to David the king. He told David a story about a rich man
stealing a sheep from a poor man. Davidupon hearing the unfairness in the story, asked, “Who is the man who did this? If he’s a
member of my kingdom, I’ll punish him big time.”
At that Nathan told David, “That man is you! You stole
another man’s wife.”
Today we heard the story
of Martha and Mary. Did you hear Jesus' words to Martha, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." I was wondering, is that where I got the thought and the title of this homily: "Picking Your Part"? So who is more me in the Martha-Mary story? What
part am I playing?Serving? Working my
butt off - but spending my life complaining?Worried about everything - but missing out on the essential?
Last Sunday in the gospel we heard the story about the Good
Samaritan.Which of the characters is
me? Do I feel hurt, beaten up in life?Do I walk by the hurting - like the priest or the Levite? Do I hurt
others?Or do I stop and help my brother
or sister in need?
So a great way to read and
hear the Bible is to pick a story. Pick it apart. Pick a part. Or ask, “Which
part am I playing right now?”
Then ask, “What’s the
message here for me?”
GRATEFUL
I’m glad my parents chose the
part to love each other and chose to have 4 kids - especially that last one:
me.
I am grateful for all the
folks I have met on the stage of life in New York City - New Jersey - in
Wisconsin - - on the road - in Ohio - in Pennsylvania - in upstate New York - Annapolis
and in so many other places.
AFTERWARDS
I don’t know about you,
but I learn from afterwards - after the play is over.
As I said, “I’ve been
doing a lot of thinking and thanking for the past two months.”
Next, I was totally
surprised when I got a phone call telling me that I was being transferred to a
retreat house in New Jersey. Bummer? Blessing? I'll find out.
But now I'll have a chance to
figure out what I’ll learnedfrom 17
years here in Annapolis - well over 300 weddings - hundreds of funerals - 1,000 baptism - and
having met so many different people - some I’ll figure out afterwards.
This got me thinking of a story I heard from a guy named Marty which
he told at a family get together.
He told us about a cousin
of his who went to Brooklyn for a family gathering one Thanksgiving.He wasasked to run over to the local deli to get rye bread and some cheese and
stuff - and he meets an old friend named Carol.
“Carol it’s great to see
you?”
“What’s happened in your
life since when we were kids here in Brooklyn?”
She says, “Well, what
happened to you?”
He says, “Well, I got married
and moved to New Jersey and I work in New York and I have 3 kids.”
“Nice,” she says.
And he says, “And Carol,
what’s happened to you?”
She says, “You know who I
am, don’t you?”
“Yeah, you’re Carol Klein.
What’s happened to you?”
And she says, “I changed
my name when I became a singer”
“Wow he says, “What’s your
singing name?"
And she says, “Carol King.”
Then she said, “You don’t know me.”
He started singing and
yelling, “Carol King. Carol King. Oh my God You’re my favorite singer and I went on a date with my favorite singer and didn’t know it.”
I’m like that. I figure
out things afterwards. I’ll look back at many of you whom I met here at
Annapolis after I’m gone and say, “Wow!”
CONCLUSION
From her 1971 TapestryAlbum, I'm dating myself - Carol King sang in one song these
words that sum up for me much of my life - but afterwards, “My life has been a tapestry
of rich and royal hue / An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view /
….A wondrous woven magic in bits of
blue and gold / A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold.”
In another song - “So Far
Away”….It’s in that same album, Carol
King also sang, “Doesn't
anybody stay in one place anymore? / It would be so fine to see your face at my
door / It doesn't help to know you're just time away.”
I’m
about to play that part this August - the part of a human being on this stage called
“Life.” who is moving.It’s called. “The
moving part.”We all play it and let’s
hope we all play it well on this stage called “Life.”
Sometimes
we pick it;sometimes it’s picked for
us.
Let’s
hope we all learn from it - afterwards - and the learning is gratitude -
especially for the people whom we were on stage with. Amen? Amen!
