“There is no medical proof that television causes brain damage - at least from five feet away.In fact, TV is probably the least physically harmful of all the
narcotics known to man.”
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt,
New York Times,
September 24, 1969
Friday, August 2, 2019
August 2, 2019
MUSIC EVERYWHERE
AND AT ALL TIMES
There is music everywhere and at all times.
Just listen - when you’re on the subway or
on the elevator or the escalator - alone or
with others. Birds singing - wind whistling-
boats tooting - cars beeping - babies crying …. Open up your ears, open up your soul, open up your being to the surround sound called music everywhere and at all times - like now.
Alphonsus Mary de Liguori was born at Marianella, a sector of Naples,
on September 27, 1696.
Firstborn of an aristocratic Neapolitan family he
completed his literary and scientific studies at home. He studied law and
achieved his doctorate in civil and canon law at the age of 16. At the age of
20 he was already known as a brilliant lawyer in the Neapolitan courts.
The turning point in his life came in 1723 with the loss of an
important case. This led him to leave the Tribunal and become a priest. He was
ordained on December 21, 1726. He immediately began an intense apostolate in
the poor sectors of Naples with the urchins and hobos, giving himself specially
to the catechesis and moral formation of the most simple people, by way of the
Evening Chapels. As a member of the Apostolic missions he also dedicated
himself to the preaching of missions in
the surrounding areas of the kingdom of Naples.
At a point where his health was seriously endangered by his apostolic
labors, he went off for a rest to Santa Maria dei Monti in the plateau above
Amalfi. There he came in contact with the poor peasants and shepherds who were
totally deprived of spiritual care. This experience gave birth, in the heart of
Alphonsus, to the desire to found an Institute for the evangelization of the
poor, scattered in the countryside and rural villages. The Congregation of the
Most Holy Redeemer was born at Scala on November 9, 1732.
Alphonsus, along with his first companions, went from village to
village, giving all of his human and spiritual gifts for the conversion of
sinners. Preaching and prayer formed the heart of his missionary activity.
Where he could not reach people with the spoken word, he sought to do
so through his writings. His 111 works went through many editions. The most
important are: his Theologica moralia,
The Great Means of Salvation, The EternalMaxims, The Glories of Mary, and The
Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ.
In 1762 he was named bishop of Santa Agata dei Goti. As bishop,
Alphonsus also gave all his missionary fervor. He especially worked for the
formation of the clergy.
In 1775 he left his diocese and withdrew to Pagani, where he died on
August 1, 1987 at the age of 91.
He was canonized by Gregory XVI on May 26, 1839. On March 23, 1871 Pius
IX declared him a Doctor of the Church and on April 26, 1950, Pius XII
proclaimed him Patron of confessors and moral theologians.
The title of my homily is, “St. Ignatius Loyola: May You
Live in Interesting Times.”
“May You Live in Interesting Times.” St. Ignatius of Loyola didn’t say that. But I
thought of that as I began looking at the life and times of St. Ignatius last
evening.
Some say, “May You Live in Interesting Times” is the English
translation of a Chinese curse.
St. Ignatius Loyola - 1491 - 1556 -founder of the Jesuits -certainly lived in interesting times.
When I looked up his dates and background last evening, I
began noticing the interesting people who lived in his period of time and history
Martin Luther - 1483-1546 lived at the same time.
So too Henry VIII - 1491- 1546.
So too Pope Julius II - 1443-1513.
So too Michelangelo - 1475 - 1564.
May you live in interesting times.
During Ignatius’ lifetime a lot of interesting things happened.
The Pope was the famous Julius II - who commissioned Michelangelo
to draw up and design his tomb.It was to be quite
large. It was to have 40 statues - one
of which is Moses. Interesting.
Next time you go to Rome, check out at the church of St.
Peter in Chains.Go downstairs and
you’ll find the famous statue of Moses by Michelangelo.When I saw it, I noticed that one had to put some coins in a box to get
electrical lights to go on. Since then they have put in new kinds of bulbs.
Interesting.
The shrine was to originally have a window nearby for
light - but that light was blocked when a building was put up next door.
SPEAKING OF MOSES
The Moses statue had Moses with 2 horns - based on a
mistranslation of Exodus 34 - our reading for today. Interesting. Moses didn’t
have horns - but they were to be light radiating out of his head.
For the sake of reflection we could compare Moses to Ignatius
of Loyola.
In Michelangelo’s statue Moses has the tablets of the 10
commandments - which many people go by. In the paintings of Ignatius we see him
writing - either the Exercises or his Rule.
I prefer Ignatius writings to the 10 Commandments.
We could also reflect upon Pope Julius II - who
commissioned that statue of Moses to be part of his tomb. We could compare him to Ignatius. This pope
was took on the role of a soldier who lead papal armies into some battles. Julius II is described as gruff
and grouchy and didn’t have a sense of humor. Comparing Julius to Ignatius, Ignatius earlier life was that of a soldier -
but he changed his life style. Julius II
didn’t change as life went on.
Both were vain and self-centered when young - but
Ignatius was wounded by a 20 pound canon ball and went through a long period of
healing - of his legs and his outlook on life.
Ignatius took on vows - for example of celibacy and
Julius II had a mistress and at least 1 kid off to the side.
Looking back, they had interesting times - and I’m sure
all of us would rather be Ignatius over Julius II, Henry VIII, Martin
Luther.
None of us will
be Michelangelo or Moses - Martin Luther or King Henry VIII -but we can be like
the saint in today’s liturgy: St. Ignatius.
It would be smart
and wise to read about the life of St. Ignatius.After all, it was reading the lives of the saints that
Ignatius was converted.
CONCLUSION:
I began by saying
that the saying, “May you live in interesting times” might have come from a
Chinese saying. May our times be a blessing to us - and not a curse.
Don’t watch TV.
JULY 31, 2019
Thought for the day: "Whatever you are doing, that which makes you feel the most alive ... that is where God is."
Ignatius of Loyola
INSIDE THE HUMAN TEMPLE
CALLED THE SKULL
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 17 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Inside the Human Temple
Called the Skull.”
In this homily, I want to think out loud - using words as I try to figure out what’s going on inside
my temple - inside my tent = also called my skull, my head, my brain - with thoughts in the form of
words released through my mouth.
I’ve heard various people tell me that one of their
thoughts - inside their head - is wondering what goes on inside the homes they
walk or drive by.
“Who and what is behind that front door?” “What’s
happening behind those window curtains?”
“Who lives under that roof?” Knock, knock, who’s in there?
We have this temple here [touch head with fingers] -
our head - our brains - our skull - and it’s not that big - but like a computer
- it can have millions of bytes - and lots of Random Access Memory.
There are 100 people in the room - at times - wouldn’t we like to know what everyone is
thinking and talking to themselves about? Or do we only wonder about a few
people when we’re in church or in a crowd?
We find out who’s who and what’s what at times by talking
- by communicating - by Holy Communion with each other. As we heard in Sunday’s
gospel - by knocking, asking and seeking.
At times Jesus asked his disciples what they were talking
about among themselves - what were they arguing about - as they walked the
roads of Palestine.
What was Jesus thinking?
WWJT What was Jesus thinking when
he chose Judas? What was Jesus thinking
when he went into the same temple as an adult that he went into as a kid?
TODAY’S FIRST READING
I got this thought and these wonderings from today’s
first reading from Exodus 33 and 34.
It’s the story of Moses leaving the camp and going to the
meeting tent.
There he prayed. There he consulted the Lord. And when
people saw smoke at the entrance to the meeting tent when Moses was inside,
they would go stand at the entrance of
their own tents and meet the Lord.
And in these meetings with God in the tent Moses discovered
that God is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and
fidelity,
And in those meetings with God he deepened his understanding
of the Ten Commandments.
Exodus is telling us what Moses was thinking and doing
when he took the time to enter the tent that was the temple before there was a
temple.
OTHERS AND OURSELVES: WHAT’S IN OUR BRAIN
Like the TV commercial that goes, “What’s in your
wallet?” - a possible reflection for today would be this: “We probably won’t ever know what the other
people in this tent, this church, are thinking when they are here.”
However we can take some of the time we are in church to
reflect upon what we talk to God about
when we are in here - or if we do this at home - say on a porch or in a prayer
chair - keeping Jesus’ message that we all have an inner room - that ought to
be a house of prayer.
What do I talk to myself about? What are my conversations with myself and
with God like?
The first step might be we need to clear our temple up - getting
rid of our weeds - what we heard about in today’s gospel. Next we might use the
WHY question - asking why - not of others in our mind - but the WHY question
about ourselves. Or we can ask the Kojak
question: “Who loves ya, baby?” Isn’t that a regular question we all ask? So I
think today's first reading challenges us to do want Moses did: visit and go
into our inner temple.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
July30, 2019
Thought for today:
“God is mysterious, and so (for that matter) is the universe and one’s fellow man and one’s self and the snail on the garden path; but none
of these is so mysterious as to correspond to nothing within human
knowledge.”
"Lord,
keep me in the company of those seeking the truth, and spare me from those who
have found it".
Sent to me
yesterday by a parishioner - whose wife he said, heard it recently.
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE
ELIMINATE THE NEGATIVE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this feast of Saint Martha is, “Accentuate the Positive; Eliminate the
Negative.”
Many people have heard the song, “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive”.
It was one of Bing Crosby’s best songs.
A guy named - Harold Arlen - wrote the music.Johnny Mercer did the lyrics. Lots of other singers have tackled
this 1944 song. It has won many rewards and awards. Johnny Mercer told the
story that his agent went to hear Father Divine preach. The agent came back to JohnnyMercerand told him hehad heard a sermon whose subject was 'you got to accentuate the
positive and eliminate the negative.'
And Johnny
Mercer said, 'Wow, that's a colorful phrase!”
Father
Divine (c. 1876-1965) was an African American Spiritual Leader and Preacher -
The Messenger - who preached mainly on the East Coast. His full given name was,
Reverend Major Jealous Divine. He was born in either Hutchinson Island, Georgia
or Rockville, Maryland.
The song was
written in 1944 - and really became famous in 1945 - the year World War II
ended.
MARTHA
MARY STORIES
For today’s first reading we are allowed the first
reading for this 17th Monday in Ordinary Time- the
Exodus text - we’ve been following. However,
when it comes to the gospel for today, we
are told to use one of the two key Martha-Mary stories in the gospels. John 11: 11-29 or Luke 10: 38-42.
John 11: 19-29 is put first.
Noticing that choice - I thought of the choice of picking
the positive towards Martha story - in contrast with the negative towards
Martha story - where Jesus corrects Martha and says, “Martha, Martha, you’re anxious
and upset about many things; one thing
is required. Mary has chosen the better
part.”
In the gospel story from John it says Mary was sitting at
home - whereas Martha went looking for Jesus when her brother died and we end
up hearing wonderful faith words about Martha’s belief in the resurrection of
Jesus.
She’s the heroine in the John story - but the Martha
story we all know is the negative one from Luke.
EVERY DAY
Every day we have the choice to say good things about
another or pick a negative moment about them.
I once heard a talk by a psychologist - in which he said,
“If someone says Jack Jones is a nice guy, nobody responds, but if we say, ‘Jack Jones is a dirty no good son of a
b….’ everyone jumps in with ‘Yeah!
Yeah!’ and then they start giving
examples of things they don’t like about Jack Jones.”
Everyone has heard that the only time we hear only good
things about another is when they die.
So as the song goes, and it has Bible stuff in it, “accentuate
the positive.”I’ll read it. I can’t
sing. Ooops that’s negative. To be positive, I can read - and it sounds like a
sermon - well that’s its origin from the famous black preacher, Father Divine.
Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive
You've got to
accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
You've got to
spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene
To illustrate
his last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do
Just when everything looked so dark
Man, they said
we better, accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
No, do not mess with Mister In-Between
Do you hear me?
Oh, listen to me children and-a you will hear
About the elininatin' of the negative
And the accent on the positive
And gather 'round me children if you're willin'
And sit tight while I start reviewin'
The…
CONCLUSION
So every day we have the opportunity to choose the
negative or the positive when talking about others - and also when talking
about ourselves.
Our move.
Sunday, July 28, 2019
HOW DOES GOD
WORK?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time [Year C] is, “HowDoesGodWork?”
That question hit me when I read and thought about what
happens in today’s first reading from the Book
of Genesis 18: 20-32.
It begins with how God thinks about sin and evil in our
world. God hears that there is a lot of evil going on in Sodom and Gomorrah.
People are screaming to God about it. So God decides to go down and check it
out.
Sure enough, it’s horrible in those 2 towns. Then God
wonders whether to tell Abraham and his visitors what he’s going to do about
it: God is going to destroy those towns.
So God decides to tell Abraham.
Then we have this bargaining with God by Abraham.If there are 50 innocent people there, would
you still destroy those cities?God says
“Far be it for me to destroy - if you can find me 50 innocent people down there.”
Next Abrahamgoes
for 45. Then 40.Then 30. Then 20.Then 10.
Great story telling ….
Would I be one of the 10?
Is that how God works? Is that how God thinks?
I think a lot of people think that way: that God works that way.
I also think
people are bargaining with God all the time.
And whenever there is an earthquake, or hurricane, or
vastforest fires, I hear people saying
and thinking God is doing this.
How does God work?
FOR THIS HOMILY
Is that enough for a homily - to just say that people are
trying to bargain with God all the time and people think God zaps people -
especially when they sin?I hear people
saying things like this when cancer and sickness and struggle and family stuff
- comes pouring into our lives like a
storm.
I’m only on the top of page 2 of this homily, so I assume that I better add a few more
comments.
For starters I would assume we ought to look at how we
think.
For starters I would also add that it would be smart toask
myself, “What are my thoughts about God? How God operates?
If I were God, would I give people freedom? Then how would I deal with the consequences of
freedom? There is the possibility of evil?How would I push goodness?
I also would think it would be wise to come up with other
ways of thinking - other scenarios - other ways God could be and life could be.
Then to talk to each other about our takes on God - how
God works?
Talk to each other about what we have learned about life
- and how life works - how God works.
Try the 3 C’s: Compare. Clarify. Communicate.
I would think it would be wise to make lists of what we
have learned so far about God and life and myself.
FOR EXAMPLE: PEOPLE THINK AND WORK DIFFERENTLY
It’s obvious, but I think we all need to state that we
often think and see and work differently - and we often forget this and this gets
us in trouble.
I don’t know about you, but I forget that - lots of times.
50, 45, 40, 30, 20, 10 people all see the same movie- surprise we all see it differently.
We’re watching a baseball game.It was a strike. No the pitch was way
outside. It was a ball. Safe. Out. Fair
ball. Foul ball. Let’s go to the video
tape.
I think realizing this - stating this -will give us a lot more peace with each
other.
FOR EXAMPLE: TEACH THY TONGUE TO SAY I DON’T KNOW
Somewhere along the line I learned to say, “Teach thy
tongue to say, ‘I don’t know.’”
It’s from the Talmud - a collection of Jewish writings.
“Teach thy tongue to say, “I don’t know.”
We don’t. I think that’s a great wisdom statement - and
the older I get, the more I say it.
I think happy people can say, “I don’t know.”
FOR EXAMPLE: TO REALIZE WE DO DIFFERENTLY
If anyone should know that people think and do
differently it’s married folks.
A couple I know have the following scenario every time
they go out to eat at a restaurant.She
always asks for different - something different from what’s on the menu.I’ve seen her do this every time I’ve been
with them.
Most of the time the waiter or waitress says, “No
problem!” and they jot something down on their pad.
And it works.
Another couple I know do the following.The wife tells me she found out a long time
ago what his favorite part of any meal is. He cuts a piece of meat or fish or
something and puts it off to the side and that’s the last thing he eats.
Yum. Yum.
She learned by watching what he’s thinking and doing.
When it comes to God, do we want God to be
different?
Do we want the
menu, the day, the relationship, life, to go differently than it goes? Do we get our way?When we don’t,what
happens next?Are some people satisfied
with whatever comes out of the kitchen and are some people different - and some
neversatisfied?
Do we have a say? What’s our favorite part of life?What do we love?Do we tell each other? Do we thank each
other?
CHANGE
Now I better give something better than that in this
homily.
I think of Jack Nicholson - as Lt. Colonel Nathan R.
Jessup -in the movie, “A Few Good Men”
as he says to Tom Cruise - who plays the
part of a JAG officer, Daniel Kaffee. “Don’t tellme that’s all you got?Don’t tell me you dragged me all the way up
here for just this?Tell me there’s
more.”
Many times when giving a homily I wonder if everyone is
saying just that: “Don’t tellme that’s
all you got?Don’t tell me you dragged
me all the way up here for just this?Tell me there’s more.”
There is. We have today’s gospel: Luke 11: 1-13.
Today’s gospel teaches me that we can change our thoughts
about how God is and we can also change ourselves. We can also become more like
God.
So that brings us
to today’s gospel - where Jesus tells us what God our Father is like.
First of all Jesus tells us God is Our Father - and then he tells
us how a good father works. Isn’t that the title of my homily?
God gives daily bread. Get it. Work for it. Find it. Take
and enjoy daily bread.
My sister Mary told me that she often sat down in the afternoon
with my mom - after my mom got home from
work. She would watch my mother take a whole loaf of fresh - still warm - rye
bread out of a bag from the Neighbor Bakery. That was the bakery’s actual name. She would get out of the refrigerator cold butter. She
would - cut the bread - it was not pre-sliced. Then on went cold butter. Hot
tea was also part of the ritual.
My mom loved this
ritual - late afternoon - but before supper. She and my sister would be
enjoying the daily bread of life together.
So there’s a great message right there on how God works:
God wants us to enjoy the daily bread of life.
At the beginning of each day to say: Our Father help me
to enjoy the daily bread of today.
At the end of each day to look back and say, “Thank you
for the daily bread of what I ate and experienced today.
Next God is a forgiver.If we have gripes against each other, we won’t enjoy breaking bread with each other.
Sounds like the Mass to me?
Sounds like good moments - like eating together - to me.
Next, if you don’t have bread or forgiveness, get off
your butt and start asking, knocking, sharing, giving each other what we hope
the other can give us.
CONCLUSION
I think that’s enough. 5 pages. 10 minute homily. Amen.
