“There is too much doing - too little being. When we begin to get strenuous life begins to grow intolerant.”
Martha Ostenso
[1900-1963]
Norwegian-American
Novelist
Thursday, August 13, 2020
August 13, 2020
FORGIVENESS:
MORE
OR LESS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my
homily for this 19th Thursday in Ordinary Time is,
“Forgiveness:More or Less.”
The gospel
Matthew 18: 21 to 19:1 talks about forgiveness – so I figure I better look at
forgiveness in this homily – and I better tie it in with peace the overarching
theme of this year’sretreat.
The first
reading is from Ezekiel 12: 1-12.He is a very interesting character to say the
least. I’ve always thought about Ezekiel as a mime expert.
Look up Marcel Marceau
the great Frenchmime or pantomimist on
Google. Or think about people statues you’ve seen on the streets of big cities
– people dressed as the Statue of Liberty or a tree or Abraham Lincoln or what
have you.
Mime is often
silence – no words – so read the words of Ezekiel that way.
Someone said
something like this,“90% of
communication is through the eyes and only 10 % is through the ears.”
Ezekiel seems to
have known that.
[GESTURE: I
don’t know. Maybe?]
Jesus is big
with words – but he does paint pictures with his words – like today’s gospel
about the man who is forgiven big time – and then goes out and won’t forgive
little time.
We can picture
him -More or Less…..
Ezekiel is big
with gestures – small skits and plays – like today’s first reading of him
digging a hole in the wall in the night – but calling people to see him do his
act – his skit - and then slipping through the hole in the wall with his
baggage – and migrating elsewhere.
WORDS ON THE BIG WHITE
CARDBOARDS
I went through
today’s first reading and today’s gospel and jotted down some of the words on
big pieces of white cardboard – with words in bold black print.
[I mime that I
have these pieces of big white pieces of cardboard.]
NEXT IMAGE:
CARDBOARD BOXES
I remember
hearing a guy telling us in a talk something he had done.He was transferred without warning from A to
B.
Evidently he
wasn’t happy with his change. He got his stuff to the new assignment, but he
left about a dozen boxes outside his room – in the corridor.
He said that
they remained there for about two years – till one day – he brought them into his
room. Then he closed his door and looked
at the boxes.He said to himself: “Guess
I wasn’t happy being changed to this place.”
Then he said he
laughed.
NEXTIMAGE: BAGGAGEAT THE AIRPORT
I once went to
the airport to pick someone up. I parked my car and went inside the
terminal.I was rather early, soI sat down in a spot where I could see
everything and everyone coming and going.
I love people
watching at an airport.
I stationed
myself in a seat where I could see people coming out from their flights – before
headed for the baggage carousels downstairs.It’s great watching people waiting for people – like I was.Some had signs. When a group would come out
into the terminal there would be people hugging and greeting each other.
Story…. Stories….When was the last time the group or family or
spouse or whoever saw this person who is
arriving by flight from somewhere over the rainbow?
I got a seat
where I could also see people getting out of cars and grabbing wheels and carts
to bring stuff from their cars into the terminal and head for the check-in
counters.
Well I spot this
lady getting out of cab. She grabs two of those carts with a platform for about
5 bags and then a clothing rack for a
lot of garment bags.
She was youngish
so she was able to push one cart by one hand and pull the other cart by the
other hand.
All together she
had about 10 suitcases of various sizes and about 15 garment bags.
Where was she headed
and for how long?
For good or to
come back home again – if this was her home?
If she was
coming back, would she have more or less?
I can still
picture this gal going through life pushing and pulling her carts.
Life! 101
RETREAT HOUSE
People come on
retreat to this retreat house with their suitcase or suitcases and maybe bags
and maybe garment bags.
Will they go
home with more or less than they arrived with.
QUESTION
Then there is
what’s inside us.
What do we
arrive with and what do we go home with?
More or less.
I’m still
thinking of the person one of the guys mentioned in their talk.An aunt held onto a gripe about getting a
wedding invitation later than the others in the family and she ended up not
talking to the other members of the family for 3 years.
Then when she
was invited to an anniversary she came back – without saying a word.
What was that
about?
As priest I’ve
heard similar stories dozens of time.
One of the
questions in the examination of conscience or consciousness from Tuesday evening
was something I’m still thinking about.It was a good question – right in this area. The question: Is there
anyone in my life back home still waiting for me to say, ‘I’m sorry!’”?
LIMA STAIRCASE
Last night I
came down here to this chapel and counted the steps.
I was hoping
there would be 1 step from the body of the church into the sanctuary.
There are two
steps.
When I was
preaching in all kinds of parishes around Ohio and the rest of the country, I noticed in many grammar schools they had staircases
with words on them – words you would see face to face as you walked up the
stairs.
Just one word at
a time: faith, hope, charity, patience, courage, understanding, respect.
Well, if I had a
can of white paint and I could paint one word on the face of these two steps,
what words would I paint.
Since the theme
of the retreat is PEACE, I would paint the word PEACE.
Since the theme
of this talk is FORGIVENESS, I would paint the word FORGIVENESS.
I would add that
PEACE is the goat, the end, the hope and FORGIEVENSSS is the means, the way, to
get there.
Notice in today’s
gospel, Jesus says to forgive 77 times.
Remember Jesus
also said if you’re coming to the altar and you got something against a brother
or a sister, first go and be reconciled with your brother or sister and then
come an offer your gift at the altar. [Confer Matthew5:23.]
CONCLUSION
Enough already ….
The last
sentence in today’s gospel is, “When Jesus finished these words, he left
Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.”
I hope you go
home with less of the heavy stuff and more of the good stuff.
"God, what pathetic creatures had inherited the earth, to walk a little while with their eyes upon the stars and turn their gaze too soon upon the ground that held their feet!"
The title of my thoughts for this Wednesday in the 19th
Week in Ordinary Time is: “Genocide Or Mass Murders: One of My 5 Questions for
God.”
Every once and a while I hear someone say, “This is one of my
questions I have for God after I die.”
I have that thought at times. How about you. I also have the question: “Does everyone have a
list of questions they want to ask God when they die?”
TODAY’S FIRST READING
Today’s first reading – Ezechiel 9: 1 to 7 – then 10: 18-22 - has the story of people being marked with an
X. That’s the last letter in the Hebrew alphabeth – called a Tau or Thau.
Here in Ezechiel those who are to be saved are to be marked on
the forehead with an X.
The rest are to be slaughtered. Well, those are the ones I'm thinking and asking about this morning.
GENOCIDE
As soon as I hear about these Biblical wipeouts I find myself thinking about all the people who have
been slaughtered down through the centuries.
My guess is that the numbers slaughtered in the Bible are nothing in
comparison to the killings in the last century.
In the two big wars – World War I and II - millions died.
Last night I decided to finally jot down my list of genocides in
the 20th century.I don’t
know how one brings a list to the other side of their own death. And how to
make up my list is tricky. I find the numbers numbered rather differently.
What I want to talk to God about is Mao Zedong. From 1949 to 1976,
he is responsible for the deaths of 40 to 80 million people.
Stalin has high numbers as well: 20 million plus.
Hitler had 6 million Jews killed – plus a lot more people
killed.
I saw the movie – The Killing Fields [1984]. It talked
about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge – who killed some 1.5 million people between
1975-1979 in Cambodia.
In 1994 – in Rwanda some 800,000 people were
slaughtered in 100 days. Hutus killed the minority Tutsi people and others. I read Immaculee Ilibagiza’s book, Left to
Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwanda Holocaust. It made me wonder about whether the degree to
which Christianity and Catholicism had an impact on stopping such murder
sprees.
God what about all this? I’m serious
about this. I’ve heard people say: “Well, what about all the abortions?”
Yes – down through the ages – millions and
millions and millions and millions and millions of babies have been
aborted.And millions and millions and
millions of babies have died still born.
I want to ask God about them too. To me
they are also part of my belief that there is an afterlife – and that means a
lot of healing needs to take place – but in this homily I’m choosing to
askabout the lives of those folks who
have been murdered, killed, atrocitified – cut short after living some life?
I’m 80 and have been blessed with lots
of life – and have been in sweet situations.What
about those killed in genocides?
Down in Guatemala 45,000 to 60,000 were killed in the so called
silent holocaust – 1980-85.Then there
other numbers – like 166,000 Mayans killed. I read that that tribal people were
described as subhumans. Did that make it easier to kill them?
In Kurdistan - between 1986-1989 - some 50,000 to 182,000 Kurds were killed plus Assyians.
That’s some of the history of the world, God. What about all
these people? Will their voices ever be heard – like in eternity?
So once more, people make a big scream about aborted babies in
the millions and millions and millions – but I don't hear them asking, "What about the voice and vote of all these wiped out - having lived some of their existence – and then their story was cut short - because of race and religion and look - or what have you?"
God what about them?
LAST NIGHT IN LOOKING ALL THIS UP
Last night in looking this up, I read about something I never
heard of before.
Mao Zedong in China decided to kill all the sparrows. It’s
estimated that 800,000 sparrows were killed.People would bang pots and pans and tire the birds out and then kill
them on the ground. He held that they were eating all the grain and people were starving.Yes, the birds ate grain – yes people were starving. What Mao Zedong learned was that the sparrows also ate
bugs – like locusts. No sparrows, the locusts multiplied and killed a lot more of the wheat crop. As a result some 16
million people starved to death.
I know Jesus told us to look at the birds of the air.I know Jesus said in Luke 12: 22: “Think of
the ravens.They do not sow or
reap;they have no storehouses and no barns;yet God feeds them.And how much more are you worth than the birds.”
CONCLUSION
So God when I die I want to ask you about all these birds – but most
especially I want to ask you about all these people who were killed - too, too soon. You want
us to be aware of the birds and the people, why didn’t you do something about
them?
I know you had a horrible death on the cross – so too millions
and millions and millions and millions of people. God, one of my 5 questions is about genocide. Prepare your homework, I'm coming one of these days. And don't hand me a copy of the book of Job. Read it. I've also read, When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Kushner. I also know a bit about Free Will and Prayer. So that's one of my 5 questions. Be prepared.
August 12, 2020
Thought for Today
"It was a sly trick of God's to give a man work to do - it kept him from asking questions that God couldn't answer."
Martha Ostenso
[1900-1963]
Norwegian-American
Novelist
August 11, 2020
8 MORE BEATITUDES
Blessed are our plastic pill boxes
because they tell us what day it is.
Blessed are the words on our T-shirts because
they get us talking to one another.
Blessed are our young people because
they remind us that there is a future to work for.
Blessed are the old timers because they tell us
we have a past with its stories and its learnings.
Blessed are our wheels because they make
it easier to get us to where we’re going.
Blessed are cats and dogs because they tell us
“Feed us” along with
all of creation.
Blessed are our sins and mistakes because they
can teach and bring us to humility and understanding.
Blessed are the weather reports because they give us
something else to talk about besides those we don’t like.
