October 20, 2020

GET   IT   IN   WRITING

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The title of my homily for this 27^th Saturday in Ordinary Time  is, “Get It In Writing.”

 

I suppose that’s one of the secrets of peace – the theme of this weekend’s retreat.

 

Get it in writing.

 

In literature courses in school, we heard of Tolstoy’s famous book: War and Peace.

 

Is that a three-word description of life? War and Peace?

 

In history courses in school, we heard of history telling us of wars and then peace treaties.

 

Get it in writing.

 

Is that the history of the world:  War and Peace?

 

In marriage get the ring and get the license – and sometimes  if it’s a second or third marriage: get the prenuptial agreement in writing as well.

 

Hey you never know.  Money – paper money and pensions -  etc. etc. deal with deals in writing.

 

If you’re starting a company or a country, get it in writing – contracts and constitutions.

 

Peace be with you.

 

WHY  THIS  TOPIC AT  THIS  MASS ON THIS RETREAT

 

Well, around 57 A.D. Paul – an apostle of Jesus Christ – wrote a letter to the  people of a few Christian communities in Galatia.  It’s broken down to 6 chapters in writing.

 

Today we heard what’s in writing:

 

“For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus.

For all of you who were baptized into Christ

have clothed yourselves with Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek,

there is neither slave nor free person,

there is not male and female;

for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

 

That’s revolutionary.

 

That could cause wars.

 

It can also bring peace.

 

The history of the world can also be described in another 3 words: walls or bridges?

 

Each of us has to ask ourselves: Am I a wall maker or a bridge builder?

 

SEPARATIONS

 

The history of the world is a history of  separating people i- divisions – putting people into all kinds of boxes:

 

male and female,

rich and poor,

black and white,

white people and people of color,

red states and blue states,

old and young,

gay and straight,

liberal and conservative,

friends and enemies,

lost and found,

religious and non-religious,

etc. and etc.

 

CHANGES

 

The history of the world is a history of barriers broken and  people discovering there are other people on the planet – other people on the other side of the wall.

 

How do we see the world?  How do we see each other?

 

Someone said, “The only way we will have a united world – is if we discover a whole other planet with another whole group of people and we better get united because here we go again  – we always need another us against another  them.”

 

Paul said:

 

There is neither Jew nor Greek,

there is neither slave nor free person,

there is not male and female;

 

That’s in writing.

 

It’s 2020.

 

What will the world look like in 20 years – or 200 years – or 2000 years?

 

I won’t be around for any of those three – at least with a mind.

 

If we read history – if we travel the New York Subway – if we watch TV – if we have ever been on a cruise to another part of the world – if we look around us – we see the results of  the world changing – women getting the vote – women running the house – people with different color skin – people speaking other languages -  people with different eyes – people with different opinions and different ways of seeing than us.

 

We can fight it or them – or we can listen and hopefully live and neighbor ourselves to each other.

 

The Jewish Temple in Paul’s time had the women’s court, the men’s section, the Gentiles space – mostly outside.

 

There has always Upstairs Downstairs – not just in Downton Abbey.

 

WOMEN PRIESTS

 

Take women priests in the Catholic Church.

 

Talk to me.

 

I’m sure in the talking about this, today’s gospel about Mary comes up.

 

Is Jesus putting his mother down – when a woman in the crowd called out,  while he was speaking:

 

“Blessed is the womb that carried you

and the breasts at which you nursed.”

    

And he replied, “Rather, blessed are those

who hear the word of God and observe it.”

 

There was Jesus bringing in not just his mom – not just all women, those who had children and those who didn’t have children – but all men as well.

 

The parish I was in for 17 years before I came here to San Alfonso  had a practice of new altar servers getting a shout out for the first time they served.

 

A  guy named Scott Meehan – who was in charge of training the servers - would come into the sacristy before Mass and tell the priest who had the Mass – “We have a new server today – Max or Mary – or whoever.”

 

This one Sunday he comes in and tells me that we have a new server, Jill or Mary – I wrote the name down – to make sure I had her name right. The Mass is almost over. It’s after communion.  It just happened to be the exact time Pope Francis was chosen. So before the final blessing - I say to those present: “We had a new server today, Jill. Could we give Jill a hand?”

 

Everyone claps and then I say, “Were you nervous?”

 

She pauses.  Then she says, “A little bit.”

 

Then I said, “Keep on keeping on. Someday you might be pope.”

 

Once more the whole church clapped. I was being cute.

 

Then I blessed everyone with the final blessing.

 

Then I found out, not everyone clapped.

 

This one lady came up to me in the vestibule of the church – when I’m saying, ‘Good bye. Have a great week.” and she says, “You just said you were for women priests.”

 

I said, “What?”

 

She said,  “Women can’t become pope.”

 

I repeated, “What?”

 

And then I got it. I said something like, “Relax. I was just trying to give the kid an extra shout out.”

 

Well, she showed up in the rectory that afternoon with her husband, with a big book by a German theologian  saying “Women can never be priests.”

 

I said, “Never read it.”

 

Then I said, “I’m not going to fight with you.   I know the theology of the church right now, but who knows what the church will look like in 3035?”

 

CONCLUSION

 

To be honest I put up a mental wall with that lady.

 

That’s the gist of “Up the Down Staircase” metaphor.

 

To be honest  we all have our wall builders  – instead of our bridge builders.

 

To be honest we have our walls  and our comments about people who are different from us – like I just did.

 

It could be young people or old people, fat people or skinny people.

 

I walked into breakfast this morning with a shirt that was really wrinkled.

 

I don’t iron – and don’t plan to – till death does its part to me.

 

Father Jack McGowan looked  at me and said, “Andrew never had a wrinkle he didn’t like.”

 

And I said, “Who said, ‘Wrinkles aren’t beautiful?”

 

If I was around Paul’s time I would get him to put it in writing, I would have him change today’s first reading to:

 

There is neither Jew nor Greek,

there is neither slave nor free person,

there is not male and female;

there is neither wrinkled nor unwrinkled.