Reflections By The Bay

2012-02-01T06:17:00.000-08:00

February 1, 2012

Quote for Today

"That ... man ... says women can't have as much rights as man, cause Christ wasn't a woman. Where did your Christ come from? ... From God and a woman. Man had nothing do with him."

Sojourner Truth [Isabella Van Wagener] c. 1797 - 1883, Speech at Woman's Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio [1851]

Sculpture of Sourjourner Truth, Battle Creek, Michigan. She was born in Harmonia, Michigan, just west of Battle Creek.

Welcome to Black History Month

2012-01-31T07:37:00.000-08:00

FAMILY PROBLEMS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 4th Tuesday in Ordinary time is, “Family Problems.”

Today’s first reading talks about Absalom who is very much part of the family problems of David: struggles, step children fighting step children, rivalries and today’s gospel talks about health problems - which happen in almost every family.

At times I’ve quoted something I heard one my nieces saying, “Every office, every work place, has someone who is not our cup of tea - to put it politely.”

Could we say, would we say, should we say, every family has some sandpaper situations and sandpaper people who rub each other the wrong way?

Could we listen to anyone talk about their family - without hearing about family health problems as well?

FIRST READING

The first reading tells the story of Absalom - the handsome son of David - the one with the great wavy hair. In yesterday’s first reading, we heard about him going after his father. Today we hear about his death on a mule - going under a large tree. His hair gets caught in the branches and the mule takes off. He’s screaming for help.

Joab - one of David’s key protectors - sees and senses an opportunity. He moves in with three pikes and thrusts them into Absalom’s chest - aiming at his heart - and killing him.

David falls apart when the news comes to him that Absalom has been killed. It’s a victory and a defeat. It’s a Good News-Bad News joke that David doesn’t see as a joke. David has lost his son - whom he had mixed emotions about.

Absalom was a strong character - wanting to overthrow his father and become king.

Earlier on Absalom waited at least two years to kill Abnon - a half brother in revenge family members who raped his sister Tamar. If your nobility, it’s hard to keep the family secrets in the closet.

William Faulkner’s novel, perhaps his best novel, is entitled, Absalom, Absalom. He writes about Tom Sutpen’s family - with its incest and its disasters, its struggles and its problems. Faulkner does what many great writers do: he takes a tragedy from the past, whether it’s in the Bible or in Shakespeare, and tells the story as it hits one family. Leonard Bernstein took Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet - a love story - as well as a tragedy that hits two families - and retells it as a musical in the setting in New York as the West Side Story.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel tells the story about two women, one a young girl who is close to death - whose father comes to Jesus for help; the other a middle aged woman who has major health bleeding problems and she comes to Jesus for help.

If you’re family, expect family issues as well as health problems. And in the two stories in today’s gospel, Jesus heals these two women.

CONCLUSION

I don’t know how to conclude this homily. It’s so easy to state problems, but what’s the solution? That’s the tricky part of the story.

A first step is to tell the story.

I would assume that prayer is going to God and telling the story - saying, “Here’s what’s happening. I need help.”

I would assume that going to see a counselor or a therapist or a priest or deacon and saying the same 6 words, “Here’s the story. I need help.”

The title of my homily is, “Family Problems.”

I said the first step is to tell the story to someone: God and others. To be heard by God and others can help.

The second step is to ask for help or to be helpful and a healing presence to another.

The 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, steps are the hard work and the struggle to make things work better - to get insights - and further steps towards healing and recovery. If it takes hundreds of mistakes or bad habits - or whatever - to get us into a problem, it often takes a lot of steps for recovery.

Communication, learning, effort, all take time.

Today - January 31st - is the feast day of St. John Bosco. He certainly learned how much presence and hard work - and personnel it takes to get and keep young people on the right path.

++++++++++

Drawing on top: The Death of Absalom by Gustave Dore [1832-1883]

2012-01-31T07:33:00.000-08:00

January 31, 2012

Quote for Today

"He proclaimed that to gain the whole world was nothing if the soul was injured, and yet he remained kind and sympathetic to every living thing. That is the most astonishing and the greatest fact about him?"

Adolf von Harnack, What Is Christianity?, [1901]

Question: What do you consider the greatest thing about Jesus?

2012-01-30T12:49:00.000-08:00

ANGER MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Anger Management.”

That’s a modern term - a term we didn’t hear about till recent years.

You hear it mentioned on TV talk shows. You might have seen the Anger Management movie - with Jack Nicholson in it. You might have noticed an article about it in a magazine at a doctor or dentist office waiting room.

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s readings for this Fourth Monday in Ordinary Time trigger the thought to take a look at anger and how I handle upset.

In the first reading - 2 Samuel 15: 13-14, 30; 16: 5-13 - we have this intriguing story that happened to David. His son, Absalom, wants to kill David. In the meanwhile a man named Shimei spots David walking along - head covered - and barefoot - and starts throwing stones and dirt at him - as well as cursing David in anger.

One of David’s chief officers, Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, says to David the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king. Let me go over and lop off his head?”

And David says, “What business is it of mine or of yours, sons of Zeruiah, that he curses?” Then he adds, “Hey, if my own son is out there planning and trying to kill me, how much more should this guy be throwing stones and cursing me. Maybe the Lord is behind all this and I’ll get a benefit from it.”

And in today’s gospel, - Mark 5: 1-20 - we have this long story about the time Jesus arrives in Gerasene territory and the Geresene people are furious at Jesus. He sent this big flock of pigs stampeding and then running over a cliff to their death. He did that to drive a Legion of Unclean Spirits out of this strange sick man whom nobody could control.

Those two stories triggered this question of anger management for me.

ANGER QUESTIONNAIRE

Here’s a first draft questionnaire on anger and anger management.

1) On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst, how do you rate yourself as being an angry person? _________________

2) What bugs you the most? _______________

3) Put a circle around any of the following buttons that when pushed - get you angry: the way people drive up your back end; drivers who don’t use their turn signal; people not picking up after themselves in your house; nobody empties or fills the dish washer; noise by neighbors; waiters; waitresses; Salespeople; phone calls during supper by political groups; politics; priests; bishops; the way people dress.

4) Whom do you know as having an anger problem? _____________

5) When you get angry, put a circle around a yes or a no: do you scream or blurt it out your anger (Yes) ___ (No) ____ ? Do you hold it in Yes) ___ (No) ____? Do you throw things Yes) ___ (No) ____ ?

6) When was the last time you really got angry? ____________

7) Do you talk back to your TV Yes) ___ (No) ____ ? Do you have any particular TV program that gets you mad? _______ Why do you watch it? _________________

8) What have you heard that you do that really annoys other people? _____________________________________________.

9) Describe an experience where you really “lost it” and you found out you totally misread the situation? _______________________.

10) How about your parents. Looking at patience and anger, compare yourself to them. __________________________

ANGER MANAGEMENT

I noticed in a few books and articles, advice from experts on how to improve on how you can manage anger better.

Some tell people to pause before speaking, yelling, or dealing with anger or an angry person. “Breathe!”

Some tell people to stand up and walk away before doing anything else.

Some suggest having a slogan or a mantra that works for you and to say it slowly when feeling the emotion of anger. For example: “Take it easy. Take it easy. Take it easy.” “Calm down.” “Calm down.” “Calm down.”

When talking to another who gets us angry, talk in the first person. Use the pronoun, “I” and not “You.” For example, “I’m finding myself getting angry when I come into the kitchen and the sink is filled with dishes - and it seems the expectation is that it’s my job to get all these dishes into the dish washer.” Those who suggest this “I” more than “you” say this works better. For example, “You are all a bunch of lazy slobs around here.”

Some suggest to try to repeat to someone who is angry with us what you hear them saying. Can you try to grasp the other’s viewpoint?

I noticed the suggestion: listen to what you’re saying. Do you tend to use the words, “Never” or “Always”. Can you move towards saying, “Sometimes”.

Can you laugh at yourself?

Can you notice how other people don’t get upset at all - at least outwardly at what you’re hot headed about? What does that tell you?

I love the example I once heard in a talk by James Gill, the Jesuit psychiatrist. Some say if you go angry at long lines and become stressed out to do the following. You’re coming to the check out counter at a store. There are 5 lines. Take the longest line. Then when you’re almost next, get off the line and go to the back of the line or another line. Or you’re heading for the toll booth while driving. If you don’t have EZ pass - once more pick the longest line. If you’re going to be parking at the Mall, pick a parking place that is the furthest from the entrance. When I first heard that, I thought it was strange, but I’ve been doing this for years and it works.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Anger Management.”

There are right and wrong things to get angry about.

There are better or worse ways of expressing one’s anger.

Remember Plato’s words, “ The life which is unexamined is not worth living.”

Remember David’s works, “Keep moving and don’t lop off people’s heads.”

Check out this You Tube

2012-01-30T06:12:00.000-08:00

January 30, 2012

Quote for today

"Either Jesus was and knew that He was, what He proclaimed Himself to be, or else he was a pitiable visionary."

Leonce de Grandmaison [1868-1927], Jesus Christ, 1930

Ikon top - 1266 - 1266 In Greek Macedon

2012-01-29T13:02:00.000-08:00

“WHAT HAVE YOU

TO DO WITH US,

JESUS OF NAZARETH?”

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is a question from today’s gospel, “What Have You To Do With Us, Jesus of Nazareth?”

Jesus comes to the town of Capernaum - where he spent some time. On a Sabbath Jesus enters the synagogue in town and taught the people. He begins like us - as a baby. He works in a carpenter shop. He becomes a wandering rabbi - a great teacher. He taught with authority - not as one of their scribes. He is hunted and hounded. He is arrested and killed on a cross. He rises from the dead - as Savior and Redeemer. Jesus is Lord!

Today’s gospel goes on, “In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?’” Then this character - filled with demons - asks, “Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the holy one of God.”

THREE QUESTIONS

Here are three questions,

1) Do we know what Jesus wants to do with us?

2) Do we have to be aware of our demons, know our addictions, problems, sins, before we know down deep who Jesus is?

3) What are we missing?

1) DO WE KNOW WHAT JESUS WANTS TO DO WITH US?

My first question is: We’re here in Church again this Sabbath. Do we know why God sent his Son to earth - to our world - when he did?

Do we know why Jesus came to Israel and then to us - to our inner synagogue - inner space, inner place - to be sitting at our beach at the dawn of each day - telling us where to put our nets - to get the catch of each day - and why he wants to walk with us in the cool of our evenings.

Do we realize that Jesus was sent by the Father in the fullness of time to be in communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Have we moved from the thought and the feeling that God does not want to destroy us - but to restore us - not to take the fun out of life - but to help us celebrate the joy of life.

Some people's perception of God seems to be that God is the cancer giver or the car crasher.

Receiving communion is very important for us. Do we realize Jesus wants to be in communion with us even more. Then we will know that we really want to be with God. We know Jesus is our center, our redeemer, our help, our God, our meaning.

In January of 2000 I got a great deal. An old priest always wanted to get to Israel - but he was hesitant - so our Provincial asked him if he wanted another one of our guys to go with him. Our provincial called me and asked if I wanted to go to Israel with Leo, one of our guys - whom I had been stationed with in the 1970’s and early 80’s. You can help carry Leo’s bags. I said, “Great!” and so I ended up on a retreat - a pilgrimage to Israel - with about 20 priests. I thought it was going to be just a tour - and a vacation. It ended up being a wonderful spiritual experience.

A Franciscan priest, Father Stephen Doyle, lead the retreat/ pilgrimage. Every spot we got to began with a reading of a New Testament scene that took place in that place. Then there were some prayers - and then some quiet. If it was the first place in the morning, we would begin with Mass together in that place.

So the Lake of Galilee, the possible mountain of the Transfiguration, Nazareth, Bethlehem, the place of the Sermon on the Mount, Jerusalem, the Garden, the Upper Room, the Wall, still stand out as wonderful memories - especially when the gospel reading at Mass was at a place where I once visited.

A good surprise was our bus ride to Capernaum - the setting for today’s gospel. It was on Friday January 14, 2000 - according to my journal. We got out of the bus - just outside of the metal fenced in place called Capernaum. The first place we walked to was the synagogue. It was about 5 minutes from the bus and the metal fence that is now part of the town. The 20 of us went into the synagogue. It had no roof - but it had walls - and stone benches on either side. Father Stephen Doyle mentioned that this was a synagogue from around the 2nd century A.D. Then he said that scholars conjecture that this synagogue was built on top of the one mentioned in today’s gospel. Then he read a text - a story from the gospels - about something that happened in Capernaum. Then he gave us an hour to just sit there in the synagogue - to think, to pray, to reflect that Jesus was here - somewhere.

The text he read might have been today’s gospel story. I sat there on one of those big solid benches - made of stone looking down into the open center of the synagogue.

As at the Lake of Galilee I kept feeling amazement that I was in one of the very places where Jesus visited and prayed and sang. I certainly became more and more aware of Jesus a bit more by being there in that synagogue.

Then after an hour we walked to a church where they think Peter’s mother-in-law lived.

Once more the first question was, “Do I know what Jesus wants to do to and for me?” Being in Israel certainly helped.

2) DO DEMONS AND PROBLEMS HELP?

My second question is: Do we have to sin, do we have to realize that we have our own demons, do we have to know our addictions and problems, before we know down deep whom Jesus is?

The man in today’s gospel with the demons knows whom Jesus is: the holy one of God.

Is Mark pulling our strings - challenging us - that the people in Jesus time who were with Jesus didn’t know who he was? Then surprise, this oddball, this man with demons does know.

For the Jews, at times inner problems were called demons. For the Greeks and Romans inner problems at times were called, “Evil spirits.”

Today they might be called mental problems, addictions, sin, depressions, complexes, or struggles, etc.

How many people who have dropped out of religion - out of our church - come back because of a death or a problem - or a sickness - an addiction or a struggle?

Is that what Mark is getting at here in this gospel?

In A.A., Alcohol’s Anonymous, the first step is to admit I’m powerless or I’m overpowered by alcohol - and I can’t recover on my own. And the second step is that God - Jesus - a Higher Power - than self is the one who can help me.

How many people get down on their knees when they or their spouse or their kid or kids are sick or have a problem?

Is that why this man in today’s gospel is in the synagogue in the first place? Perhaps he simply wants help.

3) WHAT ARE WE MISSING?

My third question is, "What are we missing?"

As we were getting in our bus just outside Capernaum, Father Stephen Doyle our tour guide and retreat master pointed out a whitewashed church with a bright red room off in the distance. It’s the Greek Orthodox church of St. John the Theologian.

Then he added that the church was built in 1931. Then before the bus started up, he told us to notice the big mounds and lumps of earth surrounding the white church with the red roof. He concluded, “It’s only the year 2000. Who knows what they are going to find down there in years to come?”

One of my fantasies - as well as a fantasy for a lot of people - is to be in on an archaeological dig. I know they off such an experience as a possible vacation - in places like Turkey or Egypt, Africa or Palestine.

Some people will do just that - but many people do their digging inside their own brain - in their own hidden spots - in their inner synagogue.

I can still see that white church with a strong red colored roof - surrounded by mounds of earth. What’s under those mounds of earth? I get that same feeling when I go to the library - or go on vacation - or when I'm reflective while driving - or when I just sit in a quiet church - or when I'm in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament - or after I really start praying during Mass - but for me it's after preaching and usually after the Creed.

I’ve done my digs into Dante and Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis and G. K. Chesterton, Herman Melville in Moby Dick and Nathaniel Hawthorne in some of his short stories, Flannery O’Connor and the poems of Mary Oliver, in the writings of Robert Coles and Robert Fulghum, and on and on and on.

Just yesterday I read an interesting comment that some people learn all their learning’s from hearsay. They hear what others say and they bring that inside of them. I got that because one of my life memories is being on a Metro North train going from Poughkeepsie New York to Grand Central Station, New York City. I had a book in hand - and also a spiral note book - ready to jot down the page of something that might hit me. Just in the 4 seats behind me were 4 women in two seats - facing each other. You could do that with the seats. Our section of our car was quiet except for these 4 gals - and they were recalling and remembering their time at Hunter College, New York City - 25 years earlier. As they talked I jotted down their questions and their comments. “What ever happened to what’s her name?” “Oh she married a podiatrist - but they broke up. I heard she was in Phoenix now with a shoe designer.” And on and on and on.

CONCLUSION

How do we learn what life is all about? How do we learn about God and ourselves? We can talk to each other. We can listen to each other. We arrive at God in a tragedy. We can spend time in a synagogue or a church on the Sabbath and say and pray, ““What Have You To Do With Us, Jesus of Nazareth?”

And surprise. There will be answers.”

2012-01-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

January 29, 2012

Quote for Today

"Christ is God or He is the world's greatest liar and impostor."

Dorothy Day, From Union Square to Rome, 1938

2012-01-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

IMPACT:
THAT MAN IS YOU

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3rd Saturday in Ordinary Time is, “Impact: That Man Is You!”

Last night after reading the readings for today the theme of “Impact” hit me.

Last night I reflected upon the question: “What have been the things that impacted me - those moments and memories, experiences and peoples who have impacted my life - changed me - got me to reconsider realities?”

It’s a good question. It’s worth reflecting upon. Answers will come - but not all the answers. There are things that had an impact upon us - but we forgot all about them

Then sometimes, something triggers a recall. Then we say, “Oh that’s where I got that thought or idea from. How many times has that hit us?

TODAY’S FIRST READING: 2 SAMUEL 12: 1-7, 10-17

The title of my homily is, “Impact: That Man Is You?”

The second part of that statement is what hit me last night, namely, “That Man Is You!” It’s a statement made by Nathan to David in today’s first reading. That’s the translation I was used to. The New American Bible as you heard today put it this way, “You are the man!”

It’s the title of a book by Louis Evely that came out in 1964 - and it had a great impact on people’s lives. I noticed in doing some research on this book last night - that his book is on many lists of people’s best books.

In one issue of U.S. Catholic magazine, people were asked to respond to this question: “What book had the greatest spiritual influence on your life?” Some people said it was, “That Man Is You,” by Louis Evely.

I also noticed a request sent in to another magazine: “What book would you recommend and why for my younger sister who now has interest in religion in her life?” Some recommended, “That Man Is You” by Louis Evely,

You know the whole story - part of which is in today’s first reading. David steals another man’s wife - Bathsheba. Nathan comes to him and tells him a parable. A poor man had nothing - nothing but a tiny little sheep. His neighbor was a rich man - who had a guest coming - so instead of taking from his own flock to come up with a meal for his visitor - he steals the poor man’s sheep.

David takes the bite. He says, “Who is this man who did such a thing? It’s not fair.”

Nathan the Prophet says, “That man is you.”

That statement - that story - taught me the power of parables and stories, movies and plays, as well as the power of books.

Impact.

Thinking about that last night - I realized that book taught me the great message: every story in the Bible has me in mind. Every story is about me. That man is you. That woman is you. That story is your story!”

I am the Magi and the Shepherds. I am all the characters in the Good Samaritan story. I’m the Good Thief and the Bad Thief. I’m the lost coin and the lost sheep. I’m Adam and Eve. I’m Moses and David. It am the Woman at the Well. I’m a disciple of Jesus - in the boat - as we heard in today’s gospel - and I’m trying to get to the other side and I’m facing a storm - and I need faith.

I’m doubting Thomas and I’m Thomas Aquinas - whose feast day is today - January 28th.

This message of seeing ourselves in every story is exactly what Shakespeare and the great movie makers knew. I’m Bogart and Bergman in Casablanca. I’m Jimmy Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life.

I am the person on the bridge in the famous 1893 painting by Edvard Munch - called “The Scream”. Everyone has deep screams inside their being. What are they?

Then I remembered an article I wrote for Priest magazine - a long, long time ago. The article was on my favorite 10 books. I wondered if I had Louis Evely’s book on my list. Yep, it was # 9.

THE LONG LINE

Surprise I noticed in the things I was reading last night mention of a story by a French playwright, Jean Anouilh. He told the story about the line of folks on their way up to the Pearly Gates. As I read that I said, “Oh no!” I was humbled because I realized where I got my idea for a sermon on just that - a sermon that I enjoyed giving. Surprise, it wasn’t my idea in the first place.

CONCLUSION

Realizing that I’m someone who has picked up stuff from all over, it’s no wonder I like the line in Ulysses, the poem by Tennyson, “I am part of all that I have met.”

This humbles me. It also leads to gratitude for all those who impacted my life.

2012-01-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

January 28, 2012

Quote for Today

"We are the strings in the concert of God's joy."

Jakob Boehme [1575-1624] German Mystic

2012-01-27T04:27:00.000-08:00

January 27, 2012

Quote for Today

"The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated."

William James [1842-1910]

Question: By midnight tonight, who are the 3 people you'll tell or show signs that you appreciate them?

2012-01-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

January 26, 2012

Quote for Today

"Conversion may occur in an instant, but the process of coming from sinfulness into a new life can be a long and arduous journey."

Charles Colson

Painting on Top: The Conversion of St. Paul [1600-1601] by Caravaggio (1571-1610) - which like Caravaggio's other painting of Paul's conversion can be found in Rome - this one in the Odescalchi Balbi Collectionl

2012-01-26T08:08:00.000-08:00

DIFFERENT SCHOOLS

OF THOUGHT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Different Schools of Thought.”

SOME QUESTIONS

I would think that all of us would take time - from time to time - to ask questions like the following, “Where am I coming from?” “Why do I think the way I think?” “Why do people think differently than the way I think? and vice versa?”

OUR HISTORY

I would think that all of us would take time - from time to time - to look at our own history - to write our autobiography - to tell our story to each other - to see our time line - how we have grown - how we have decayed - how we have recovered - how we are different from the way we were. [1]

I would think that all of us would take time - from time to time - to ponder who formed us - who got us to think the way we think?

I would think that all of us would take time - from time to time - to look at moments in our life - where we changed our opinions - the way we think, etc. Was it people who changed us? If we changed, was it gradual, unnoticed, unconscious, or what have you?

I would think that all of us would take time - from time to time - to look at moments in our life - where we changed because we heard an opinion or an understanding - and we said to ourselves, “I don’t agree with that.” How many takes on issues have we figured out on our own - based on our reasoning - and listening - our inner development of thought - based on perceived consequences - even when we see that our opinion is in the minority?

I would think that all of us would take time - from time to time - and recall the times we fell flat on our face - fell off our high horse - hit bottom - and realized we were deaf, dumb and blind - and we needed to get on to get ourselves straightened out - to get on the Straight and Narrow - so we can see further and wider - than the way we are seeing now.

I would think we all need or have had Paul like conversions.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today is the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul - January 25th.

The first reading tells us of the dramatic change in the life of Saul - moving from being someone who persecuted Christians - to being a follower of Christ. [Cf. Acts of the Apostles 22: 3-16]

It was an eye closing experience - to an eye opening experience.

We find Paul’s change being described in his letters as well as Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. [2]

PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT

If we read the scriptures, we discover that King Saul was different that King David. If we read the scriptures we find out that Paul was different than Peter - and Thomas different than Peter - and the same person, Saul was different than the person he became - Paul.

If we read the scriptures carefully, we can see that Mathew, Mark, Luke and John were all different - and some say that they are 4 schools of thought.

Today’s first reading mentions a character named Gamaliel - that Paul was trained by him - and Gamaliel was from the School of Hillel which was milder than the School of Shammai. Yet Paul (when he was Saul) was very strict - when it comes to the Law.

VATICAN II

I was lucky to be trained before, during and after Vatican II. It gave our class at times an understanding of those older and those younger than us.

I was lucky to have parents who were immigrants - as well as reflectively quiet - especially my dad. I often saw my dad quietly reading and praying. My sister Mary - in our Sunday afternoon - weekly phone call - has often said my mom was ahead of her times. Did I get a liberal streak from her? I don’t know.

There are questions we all have about our parents - our teachers - our experiences - as well as our background.

While studying theology in our major seminary from 1962-1966 our text books presented a theological dogma or teaching. Then it gave various opinions and schools of thought on various dogmas and issues.

We heard the great teaching of Vatican II - that a person’s conscience is king and queen of that person - but they need to have an informed conscience. [3]

I have read from time to time that Pope Benedict had a different background and take on different things than John Paul II - and John Paul I was different than John Paul II, etc. etc. etc.

Well, isn’t that true for all of us? Do people who grew up in a parish that had Franciscans have a different take on spirituality and thought than someone who grew up in a parish that had Jesuits or Benedictines? If someone went to church that had diocesan priests - would the place where those priests went to the major seminary - end up giving them different attitudes on preaching content and style?

As priest I think about the individual professors we had - what they were off on - how they saw life and God - having an impact on me.

Once upon a time I was asked to go with a group of people on a four hour bus ride to a spiritual retreat center for a weekend. The priest who was supposed to go with the group couldn’t make it. One of the leaders - as soon as we got started - asked if she could put a CD of Father John Corapi on the VCR. People agreed. I had heard of him - but never listened to him. He preached a long sermon - or talk. Then the lady asked if she could put another talk on - then a third talk. As I sat there listening I realized how different he was to other priests I had heard - as well as myself. He was clear and strong - but when I got to the retreat house I felt like I was in a room and the person in the next room had loud music on for 3 ½ hours - or hammering or drilling. On the way back - after getting into the bus - after a weekend of prayer, quiet, walking, some talks - the same lady asked if she could put Father John Corapi on the VCR - for the ride back - people said, “No!”

That experience and a zillion other experiences reaffirmed the obvious to me: we are different! We are all different people.

I keep in mind the saying, “The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of other people.”

I watched the State of the Union last evening and the guy with the clicker or remote or was switching back and forth between Fox and CNBC and CNN - and all three channels had commentators giving their take on President Barak Obama’s talk. Once more I saw the great differences in perceptions - agendas - takes.

I jokingly thought to myself, “Did they all hear and watch the same talk?”

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily was, “Different Schools of Thought.”

I love it that the Christian God is a Trinity of Persons - 3 divine persons.

I love it that Jesus chose a variety of persons - and as we heard in today’s gospel - he sent the 11 into the world to proclaim he Good News to all.

+++***+++

Painting on top: The Conversion of St. Paul on the Road to Damasascus, 1601. It can be found in the church of Santa Maria Del Popolo, Rome.

[1] Cf. Paul Tournier, The Person Reborn, Harper and Row, Publishers, Translated by Edwin Hudson, 1966; Jack Mezirow and Associates, Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood, A Guide to Transformative and Emancipatory Learning, Jossey-Bas Publishers, San Francisco, Oxford, 1990

[2] We find autobiography and biography of Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 to 13: 10; 1 Corinthians 9: 1-27; Acts of the Apostles 9: 1-22; and in lots of other places in the New Testament

[3] Cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, Chapter 4, 41. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part 3, Article 6, Moral Conscience.

2012-01-25T07:11:00.000-08:00

January 25, 2012

Quote for Today

"Concealed grudges are dangerous in friendships."

Anonymous

2012-01-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

KEEP CALM!

THE EXAMPLE

OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Keep Calm! The Example of St. Francis De Sales.”

Today, January 24, is the feast of St. Francis de Sales [1567-1622].

FREDDY PRENATT

A priest I used to talk to for Spiritual Direction while in our major seminary, Father Freddy Prenatt, liked St. Francis de Sales.

He stressed the virtue and practice of “Keep calm!” He liked to say that St. Francis de Sales stressed “Con calme!” - doing life with calmness. “Con calme!” He would add that St. Francis de Sales stressed, “Omnia suave”. Translation: “All things sweetly!” “Do all things sweetly.”

I could end right there. That’s a good sermon idea: work on keeping calm. Work on doing all things sweetly. Nice and easy!

TWO PAGES

I aim for two pages - 14 pica - in these homilies for weekday masses - so let me flesh this out a tiny bit more?

Is keeping calm - being calm - a virtue? Is it something one can work on? Are some people more calm and some people more volatile - simply by nature. Can you watch a child and see a whole life?

Someone with passion is valuable at times. Someone who is calm is valuable at times.

Does the person who is calm - better too calm - need a little more passion in their life? Doesn’t Yeats - William Butler Yeats- in his poem, The Second Coming say something about all this - when we writes about the world falling apart - because the center cannot hold? Then he says, “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

I read a bit last night about St. Francis de Sales.

It was interesting to read that this man who pushed for keeping calm - and doing all things sweetly - had a fierce temper - and had big struggles with anger. He admitted that it took him 20 years to overcome his temper.

This surprised people - but it seems that his solution was to zip his mouth - step back - hold off a responses - let things sit - give things time. If one does that, one can learn patience.

He got to know St. Vincent de Paul who said that he never met a kinder main in his life.

Is it where we are in the birth order - what are parents are like - that makes us what we’re like and become. He was the oldest of 12. He had a very definite - a very strong father. His father had big plans for him - including the woman he was to marry. His father got very angry with him when he announced he was going to go for the priesthood.

Was that the reason St. Alphonsus liked his writings - because he too was the oldest in his family - and his father was furious with his decision to stop being a lawyer to become a priest?

Both he and Alphonsus went through a serious depression. For Francis it was the fear of dying and going to hell. For Alphonsus it was that at times - he could be scrupulous - but it was also the loss of a big law case.

CONCLUSION

That’s enough. This morning I’m suggesting that we look at the issue of keeping calm - taking one’s time - building one’s life - not on fear - but on the love of God. I noticed that Alphonsus spotted that in Francis de Sales writings - and both said to build one’s life on just that - loving and being loved - God and each other.

2012-01-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

January 24, 2012

Quote for Today

"The drones make more noise and are in a greater hurry than the bees, but they do no make the honey."

St. Francis de Sales [1567-1622] Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 10.

2012-01-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

TO HAVE

A RIGHT TO LIFE

ATTITUDE

[The following is a reflection for our St. Mary's High School Right to Life Mass - before we headed on buses to Washington D.C. The readings were the readings of the day - January 23, 2012 - 3rd Monday in Ordinary Time.]

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to pinch oneself every once and a while - and realize I’m here in this place in this time - enjoying the gift of breath and life - on sunny days, grey days, high energy days and slowly moving - I’m dead tired days.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to realize I am made in the image and likeness of God - and this means to be a creator - and a lover - a friend - and a servant.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means the last sentence in today’s First Reading fits each of us more and more - by the grace of God - and because we buy the grace of God: “David grew steadily more powerful for the Lord of Hosts was with him.”

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means that the Psalm Response for today’s liturgy is part of our outlook and our inner look, “My faithfulness and mercy shall be with him or her” - because we’re trying to walk hand in Hand with the Lord.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means that the words in today’s gospel hits us and we’re all working not to become a house divided - but to become more and more a house on a strong foundation - with the Lord in the center of our life and home.”

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means that the words of the Mass, “This is my body …. this is my blood - I’m giving my life for you” is our way of seeing and doing life as well.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means that I notice a spider and a paper bug or mite and a fly and an ant crawling on the sidewalk or wall - and to realize I started small - egg and seed - and look at me now.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means I give up my time for others. A lady I know got on a plane this morning at BWI and is on her way to Jamaica right now to clean teeth this whole week in a small alcove inside a Catholic Church - that serves as a dental clinic all year long - and the alcoves of that church - with their statues - and now care for living people all year long - serving the folks on the area - and this dental hygienist does this in Cumberland, Maryland area one week a year as well - and one week in her parish as well. That’s 3 weeks of extra help - besides here regular life.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to wince yesterday when reading the book review in the Washington Post of a biography of Heinrich Himmler - who was in on the killing of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people - in the 1930’s and the first part of the 1940’s - till he killed himself by taking a pill of cyanide poison which the Nazi high command had on hand in case they were caught.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to be against and to speak up when one sees bullying - picking on others with verbal attacks - making fun of others - and the picking on and funny comments are not cute verbal fun between friends - but it’s nasty comments to hurt another - in order to feel better or bigger about oneself - at the expense of another.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to be against abortion - to cry because a future kid, a future singer, dancer, student, friend, scientist, mom, dad, has been destroyed - but to have a deep love and concern for the person who has been in on the abortion - because we’re dealing with human life here.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to live life to the full - in the service of others - discovering and developing one’s talents - working with others to make each other’s day - and to make the world better each day by my presence in it.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to enjoy the gift of life - to be grateful to God and one’s mom and dad for the gift of life - and be grateful for all the people in one’s life - known and unknown - realizing we all need each other - from the truck driver to the truck maker - from the pipe and platform welder to the rig operator in the Gulf of Mexico - and on and on and on - in all the different the streets and avenues, paths and roads of life.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to listen to the person next to me - not interrupting them - trying to hear what they have to say - what they are excited at - or angry at - not answering one’s cell phone when another is talking with me face to face.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means taking time to see as Jesus said - the birds of the air and the flowers of the field - buying bird feeders at Home Depot - and clearing out dumps to plant trees and flowers.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to be against Capital Punishment - to hope that murderers and criminals can get rehabilitated - or if someone is dangerous - that they are put in a safe place so they won’t hurt others.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to take the time to play with younger brothers and sisters - to thank one’s parents for the food they buy for us - appreciating and thanking them for their work - knowing the time it takes to make a pay check, to shop, to prepare meals, to keep a house and cars in good maintenance.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to take time with older folks - especially those who find it difficult to get out - or those who need home care - or assisted living or nursing home care.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?
It means to laugh and to sing and have fun - and to run - to play and to give others a chance to participate - whether it’s tag football - or Monopoly or chess or Boggle or charades or Wii.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to learn others languages - like Espanol - or Creole - a language that Father Joe learned and loved - during his 17 years of work as a Redemptorist in St. Lucia and Dominica.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to learn the nuances, the inner understandings, the hopes, the dreams, of our mom and dad, brothers and sisters, teachers, friends, by taking time while driving or being with them - to get their take on life and what’s happening in our family and in our circles.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means having a concern for the water and the look and feel of creation - as well as the sidewalks and parking lots - not dumping on them - not marring another’s walls with graffiti - leaving the bathroom stall we use in the highway rest area or the Burger King Bathroom cleaner than when we walked into it.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means respect for all peoples - all religions - all ways of life - even when we disagree with aspects of other’s take on life.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means noticing and affirming other’s positive and good stuff and not just pointing out their mistakes and miscues.

What does it mean to have a right to life attitude?

It means to be thankful, to be Eucharist, at this moment, in this place, right now. Amen.

2012-01-23T04:29:00.000-08:00

January 23, 2012

Quote for Today

"All keys hang not on one person's key ring."

Someone

Question: Who are the key persons you hang onto and what keys do they have that you don't?

2012-01-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

RELUCTANCE AND

THE BOOK OF JONAH

INTRODUCTION

Today’s first reading features a section of The Book of Jonah - and having read that I came up with the theme and the title for his homily, “Reluctance and The Book of Jonah.”

Today’s first reading triggered the memory of reading a book many, many years ago entitled, “Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet.” It might have been written by Alexander Jones - but I couldn’t trace it down on the Internet.

In doing that search yesterday, I noticed that when preachers preach on Jonah, the word “reluctance” often shows up.

RELUCTANCE

Think about reluctance.

What to say and what not to say or when to say something to another? Choosing a career path? Marriage? Children? Switching jobs? Kids dating so and so? Another’s drinking patterns? Suggesting to another to bathe more or brush their teeth? Kids living together - and not being married? Moving? When to put a house on the market?

Reluctance means hesitation, stopping to consider, delaying, going slowly because one has some doubts or wonderings or fear about going in a certain direction. Reluctance indicates resisting, holding back or holding off, or see sawing a “yes’ or a “no”, being moderate, or to put oneself in neutral, or even in park, or reverse - and maybe go another way or direction.

Reluctance…. That’s Jonah’s middle name.

So Jonah has been labeled the reluctant prophet.

When was the last time you felt reluctance? What was going on?

THE BOOK OF JONAH

The Book of Jonah is a very short book or scroll in the Jewish Bible. As you know, the original texts didn’t have chapter and verses indicated in the text. In our texts, it’s 4 chapters and 48 verses all together. It can be read calmly in less than 10 minutes. When told as a story, I would think 7 minutes would be the max.

It’s found in the Jewish Bible with the prophets. It was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery. It has been a part of Israel’s body of thought. It’s read in its entirety at the afternoon service in Jewish synagogues on Yon Kippur - the Day of Repentance.

It’s a parable, a story, an imaginative tale, with an interesting theme: reaching out to the non-Jews - which is rarely a theme or a message in the Jewish Bible. It’s also a journey into the mind of God - and those who take that journey by reading this book, can have it come home to them that God is a God of mercy and forgiveness and second chances.

THE STORY

We know the story.

A man named Jonah is called by God to preach the message of repentance - change - conversion - to the people in the city of Nineveh in Assyria.

Jonah does not want to do this. It’s different. It’s difficult. It’s dangerous. So Jonah is reluctant - scared - filled with hesitation. He just doesn’t want to do this.

So he heads for the docks to get in a boat to get as far away from this call by God. He finds a boat that is about to set sail for Tarshish. Some say that means Spain. It doesn’t make much difference - it’s a tale. The boat sets sail when the tide is going out - and no sooner are they out to sea that a big storm comes up.

The crew say that someone on board is the problem. Finally they say it’s Jonah and they toss him overboard and the storm stops.

A big fish swallows Jonah and he’s inside this fish for 3 days and 3 nights.

Jonah is praying - praying big time.

This is a big fish story. Jonah repents and the fish dumps him on a beach. Once more God asks Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach conversion.

This time he says, “Yes” to God. He goes to Nineveh and preaches, “You have 40 days to repent - otherwise God is going to destroy your city.”

Surprise. They repent and the city is not destroyed.

Message and moral of the story: When God calls you to do something, do it, otherwise expect trouble.

Message: God calls not just the Jews to salvation.

Message: the Ninevites repented and Israel isn’t repenting.

Message: we can say, “No” to God - but we can also change - our mind and say, “Yes”.

TODAY’S OTHER READINGS

I assume that the team that put together today’s readings had in mind thinking about that what Mark presents first. Mark’s theme is Jesus calling people to follow him. This is the year of Mark and we’ll go through his Gospel this year in Ordinary Time. Having today’s gospel in place, they took a reading from The Book of Jonah because like the gospel, it’s a calling story. It’s also at the water. Both readings present calls to preach.

The second reading often doesn’t fit in, but today’s 2nd reading does. The folks are expecting the end of the world - and Jonah is preaching the end of it all for these folks if they don’t repent.

FATHER MAPPLE

Let me talk about Herman Melville’s famous book, Moby Dick. There is a scene early on in the book that describes a sermon in a church. Melville is putting on paper background material before the Pequod - Captain Ahab’s boat - and the crew set sail in search of whales - especially Moby Dick.

Father Mapple is in the pulpit - an odd pulpit - that is designed as ship. Behind the preacher is a sea scene. He had to climb a rope ladder to get up into the pulpit. I checked this out by finding scenes on Moby Dick movies - on YouTube.

Rumors are that Father Mapple used to be a sailor - and in his sermon - which is long - he talks about, “When God calls, you better listen. When God tells us what he wants of us, we better do it.”

Father Mapple says that Jonah’s sin was disobedience. He would not listen to God.

To flesh out, to spell out that message, he tells the story of Jonah. This is a logical choice - because the main character in the book won’t listen to God or others. Moreover the big fish in the Jonah story was described as the whale. And Captain Ahab ends up being killed by a whale.

The Jewish scriptures don’t say it’s a whale in the Jonah story. It simply tells the reader, it’s a big fish.

Father Mapple in his sermon on Jonah says that God calls us - God gives us a mission - God gives us our destiny and we better follow it.

A MESSAGE

A message for us today is to sit here in this church and ask God is He sending us a message. If God is, what is that message? If we grasp and get that message, are we following it? Or are we reluctant?

I have thought about that question - God’s will, God’s plan, God’s hope for me - much of my life.

I don’t know how to say that - other than that way - but I suspect - I assume - that everyone of us - has wondered about this question all our lives.

If for starters, God has a plan, a wanting, a will, a hope for me, how specific is it.

In reflecting upon all this for this homily, a key division of thought that hit me was: looking backwards and looking forwards.

At the age of 72, looking back at my life, I down deep say to myself and to God, “This made sense - being who I am, what I chose, what I’ve done, what’s happened in my life so far.”

I’ve learned that this hits us from time to time - especially at moments in life - when one is experiencing a blessing.

For example, seeing a grandkid getting baptized or seeing one’s kids in a play or sitting in the stands and seeing one of our kids playing a great game or graduating - and feeling great gratitude..

That’s looking backwards.

What about moving forwards? What about my future? What’s next?

This is where reluctance shows up over and over again - whether to retire - or move to South Carolina - whether to take a job in Washington State or Washington D.C.

Where the issue of reluctance shows up for me on a regular basis is the question of what to preach upon.

Before I start working on a sermon, I say a prayer. I sometimes say, “God help me to come up with something that will help at least one person here.”

Then I read the readings - and listen to what pops up.

I hear themes and issues. Ideas hit me. Then I ask, “Is that what folks need today?”

When I hear myself saying, “Uh oh!” I’m often at a reluctance moment.

Here is where the question and the idea of reluctance comes up.

The clock is ticking. I have to come up with a homily.

Take the issue of abortion. 3 or 4 people said I have to preach about abortion this weekend - because tomorrow is the day we have the March for Life in Washington D.C. and to peacefully demonstrate that we think the Roe Vs. Wade decision - was wrong.

I’m against abortion - but I feel reluctance at times about preaching about it - because I realize a bunch of things come with it. I rather use the words, “Pro Life” - because I want to stress being pro life for the whole of life.

I realize this issue is used to get votes. I realize there are people in church who have experienced the pain of abortion in their lives or in their families.

When abortion is brought up in sermons, I realize people feel squirm - feel deep emotions - hear various, "What about ....?"- and these questions or issues are jumping up and down in their brain - like on a trampoline. The word "abortion" brings with it “baggage” and even to stay that - hits buttons. It brings with it questions about the Catholic Church - and women’s issues -and men's issues - and men doing all the talking. It brings with it at times, “Capital Punishment”, “Child abuse by priests,” etc. It brings with it the strategy issue. What is the best way to end abortion, cut down on abortion, and what have you?

Talking about something is different than doing something about something - to make things better. That's why I always liked Pope Paul VI words, "Want peace. Work for justice." That's why I like the slogan, "Action speaks louder than words."

As priest, I remember being at a talk when I first got here on abortion. A speaker - a priest - came to St. John Neumann and said “There should be something said about abortion in every homily - and you should tell your priests that.” I raised my hand and said in the Q. and A. period, “I am a priest and I disagree that a priest has to say something about abortion in every homily.”

Silence.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Reluctance and The Book of Jonah.”

I said that the Book of Jonah brings up for me the issue of “Reluctance.”

I said that one area is to look backwards. In reminiscing, sometimes we realize that an experience, a decision, a moment or moments, in my life now makes sense. Thank you God.

I also said that the area of looking forwards brings with it feelings of reluctance at times. Having heard today’s readings - words from today’s pulpit - personal prayers while being here in this church today, is there a calling to do something in my life? How specific does God get? Is it volunteering? Is it moving? Is it confrontation? Is if forgiveness?

And I dare say, I believe it’s right there - in the reluctance - where we will discover God’s deepest calls to us.

2012-01-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

January 21, 2012

Quote for Today

"Every one can master a grief but he that has it."

Shakespeare [1564-1616]

Question: What's the one grief, one regret, one hurt, one resentment, you can't shake?

2012-01-21T08:57:00.000-08:00

January 21, 2012

Quote for Today

"Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity."

Edward Gibbon [1737-1794]

2012-01-20T14:13:00.000-08:00

COULD HAVE,

SHOULD HAVE,

BUT DIDN’T

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 2nd Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Could Have, Should Have, But Didn’t.”

The Scriptures are filled with all kinds of stories and examples - that have all kinds of interpretations - and implications - and thought provokers.

Today’s first reading, from First Samuel 24: 3-21 - has a fascinating story about David and Saul - the young man and the old man - the struggle for power between these two.

The thought that hit me after reading today’s first reading was all those times in life that we didn’t do what we could have done.

So I entitled my homily, “Could Have, Should Have, But Didn’t.”

THE STORY

There’s David and his men hiding in a cave and Saul is chasing after him with an army of 3,000 hand picked soldiers. They are in the mountains and Saul has to go. So he goes into a cave to go.

This is a great movie scene. You can picture it. It’s the same cave that David and his men are hiding in.

Saul takes off his shoulders his cloak and I picture him moving away a distance to relieve himself. David sees his chance. He could kill Saul who is trying to kill him right then and there.

I can’t read Hebrew - but I did spot an obvious nuance - that is in today’s reading. David could not only have killed him, but he could have cut it off.

Saul relieves himself - and then leaves the cave to get back to his army. David’s men are angry at him - for not killing Saul then and there. David says to his men that Saul has been anointed king by the Lord and therefore he couldn’t do it.

Then David comes out of the cave and yells to Saul. He shows him the piece of his cloak or mantle that he had cut off in the cave - and tells Saul - I could have killed you in the cave - but I didn’t.

Saul realizes that David didn’t and turns to tears. He then realizes that David is the man to follow him as king.

ONE MESSAGE

The message that hit me can be summed up with the title of this homily, “Could Have, Should Have, But Didn’t.”

Father Joe Krastel and I have been watching the Republican debates on TV. What struck me is that in a political debate, a speaker can say this or that. Moreover, a debater has to choose his words well.

How many times does a politician beat himself later on - on stupid things he or she said - or things that they could have said - but didn’t.

Years later or months later or the next morning, when they are thinking about questions they were asked in the debate, I’m sure they think about what could have said and chose not to say at a specific moment.

If they are wise and if they are experienced, I’m sure it hits them that what they didn’t say - unspoken words - are much better than words spoken that were real dumb - and could be used in the future by one’s opposition in a sound bite. Hopefully, everyone knows words are like the feathers in a pillow. Once a pillow is ripped apart, if it’s windy, the feathers inside are like spoken words and you don’t know where they are going to fly.

Don’t we all find ourselves in situations where we are angry or frustrated with another - and we know what we want to say, and we’re glad we kept our mouth shut.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Could Have, Should Have, But Didn’t.”

Today’s first reading says to me, sometimes the smarter thing to do is what David did - not to stick the sword in another to cut them down.

Hey he won the election - okay - he fought his way to become the king and got it. Amen.

+++++++++++++++

Drawing on Top: © House and Home, 2012 - found on line.

2012-01-20T07:32:00.000-08:00

January 20, 2012

Quote for the Day

"In an enemy spots are soon seen."

Someone

Question: today as you interact with friends and enemies or folks you don't enjoy being with, check out if the above quote is correct for you?

Picture from Google - just typed in "Dalmatian".

2012-01-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

THANK YOU PRAYER

Lord,
thank you for yesterday,
thank you for today,
and together
we’ll deal with tomorrow,
but not today. Amen.

2012-01-19T10:24:00.000-08:00

PSALM 23

The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I shall want.

In green, green pastures,
he refreshes my soul.

He leads me to peaceful waters.

He renews life within me,
and for his name’s sake
he guides me in the right path.

Even though the valley
I walk through seems
dark as death, I fear no evil,
for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff
give me courage.

You spread a table before me
in the sight of my foes.

You have anointed my head with oil,
my cup overflows.

Only goodness and kindness
shall follow me
all the days of my life.
And I shall live
in the house of the Lord,
for ever and ever. Amen.

This is a tiny re-translation of Psalm 23

2012-01-19T10:20:00.000-08:00

THE GREEN, GREEN,

GRASS OF EARTH

Lord, Jesus,
the heaviness of death
weighs down upon us.

And in these grave moments
doubt and dread can seep
into the ground of our belief.

Lord, Jesus
increase our faith
in this time of sorrow and loss.

Lord, Jesus, you are
our hope for eternal life.

Blades of green grass
always break through
hard earth or cement,
so too, because of you,
Good Shepherd,
we know that those
who have gone before us
will break through hard death
and walk with you
in the cool of the evening,
in the green, green grass
of eternity.
Amen.

2012-01-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

REMEMBER

Remember me
when you drive by cemeteries
or when you touch my favorite chair.

Remember we were young once.

Remember our good moments
together, especially when you feel all alone.

Remember the times we forgave each other.

Remember the times we laughed,
especially when tears are tearing you up.

Remember how thankful I am
for the glue of your love when it seems
I was coming apart at the seams.

Remember the times you saw me praying.

Remember the signals and signs
we sent across so many rooms and we
were the only ones who knew them.

Remember Jesus rose from the dead.

Remember Jesus’ promise at the banquet
of every Mass that that we’ll all meet again
at the Eternal Banquet of Heaven.

2012-01-19T06:56:00.000-08:00

January 19, 2012

Quote for Today

"Don't use the word 'rope' in the house where someone hung him or herself."

Anonymous

Question for the day: What are the words that cause uproar or inner roar in your house or heart?

2012-01-18T06:34:00.000-08:00

January 18, 2012

Quote for Today

"Some people's life is built on a proverb."

German Proverb

What proverb or 2 or 3 key proverbs is your life built upon?

2012-01-17T13:06:00.000-08:00

IF YOU CAN’T PRAY, BREATHE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 2nd Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “If You Can’t Pray, Breathe.”

From time to time I’ve noticed in surveys about what Catholics are looking for from their Church, they are looking for teachings and methods about how to pray - or how to pray better.

A key quote in the scriptures on this for me has always been, Luke 11: 2. “Lord, teach us how to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus' disciples had seen John the Baptist’s disciples praying. They saw Jesus praying in a certain place, so here was their chance to ask him that question. So Jesus taught them the Our Father. Then he gave them a few more teachings about prayer: to bother God - to keep knocking on God’s door, seeking, and asking God for what we want. [1]

The most basic prayer that Jesus is teaching there is the so called, “Prayer of Petition” - “Bidding Prayers” - “Asking Prayers”.

St. Alphonsus, founder of the Redemptorists was a great teacher of prayer. You can see his statue up here in our sanctuary - as part of the old high altar - and across from St. Teresa of Avila - another great teacher on prayer. Alphonsus wrote a whole book on prayer - entitling it, Prayer: The Great Means of Salvation. His basic teaching is: “If you want to be saved, pray. If you don’t, you’re going to be lost.”

I love it that he says in the Introduction to his book on prayer: “I have published several spiritual works but I judge that none of them is as useful as this little work, in which I speak on prayer, the necessary and surest means of obtaining salvation and all the graces necessary to attain that goal.”

Then he makes a great promotional pitch for his book. He says, “While I do not have means to do so, if I were able I would have as many copies of this book printed as there are faithful in the world. I would give each one a copy so that everyone might know how necessary prayer is in order to be saved.”

His publisher for 26 years, Remondini of Venice, must have loved that. He helped Alphonsus in getting out many of his 111 published works. Alphonsus knew that a lot of the publishers in Italy were sloppy - not Remondini, who had branches in Bologna, Ferrara and Rome - and agents in all the other major cities of Italy as well as on the other side of the Alps.

ONE TEACHING ON PRAYER - NOT IN ALPHONSUS

So being a Redemptorist, if someone asked me where to begin on how to pray, I would suggest reading books on prayer - and St. Alphonsus would be a good place to start. [2]

Having said all that, one teaching in Alphonsus that I don’t see in his writings about prayer, that I would push is the following: “If You Can’t Pray, Breathe.”

I’ve read much of Alphonsus and he certainly teaches and pushes prayer - jumping from writing about prayer - to jumping into prayer in his writings. For example, he might be talking about Jesus and Mary - and then start praying to Jesus and Mary in print.

Still people have trouble praying. So I would teach people to commit themselves to a time for prayer - whether it’s before Mass - during Mass - in the car - doing what I see as “Sitting Back Prayer” or "Sitting Down Prayer".

I would teach a person to just sit there for a moment - saying to God - “I’m here to pray.” Then I would suggest, pausing. Then I would suggest breathing. Catch your breath. Realize your breath. Breathe in and out - in and out - in and out. Realize that’s what God did when he created the first human. God formed us out of the clay of the earth and breathed life into that clay and we became human - making us in God's own image and likeness. If we’re breathing - if we have breath, we are alive. When a baby is born, they get that baby breathing. When someone drowns, they give that person artificial respiration - to try to get them breathing again.When we pray, we need inspiration.

So I would suggest that the first steps in prayer would simply to be in the presence of God our Creator and let God breathe life into us once again - to form us - to inform us.

In the Book of Genesis when this is described very imaginatively, the breath is called in Hebrew, the “Ruah” - the Breath of God. [3]

I’m not making this up. Breathing is the basic instinct in the opening prayer of many people who pray, “Come Holy Spirit!” “Come Breath of God.” Breathe new life into this clay called “me” again.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

That’s the first step - realizing the gift of the Breath of Life, the breath of God in us.

I began thinking about this last night when I read today’s first reading when Samuel, the Seer, the See-er, the Prophet. He goes looking for the next king amongst Jesse’s sons. Not seeing him there amongst Jesse's 7 sons, he asks if there area any other sons. Jesse says, “Well, there is one more, the youngest, who is out there shepherding.” Samuel says, “Send for him!” And when he saw David, he knew this is the one. And Samuel said, “Anoint him. This is the one!” [4]

THE RUSH OF THE SPIRIT

And then we hear the great line in today’s first reading, “the Spirit of the Lord rushed up him.”

When I spotted the word “rushed” - I was intrigued. So I looked up the Hebrew word last night that one English translator translated as “rushed”. The Hebrew root word is “t-saw-lakh”. The Jewish Study Bible translates it, “The spirit of the Lord gripped David from that day on.” The Hebrew word “t-saw-lakh” means to break out, to come out mightily, to push from or forward, to cause to, to tear into him, to rush upon, to grip.”

I’ve noticed that teachers about prayer from around the world often begin by telling folks to begin by breathing - then becoming aware of their breathing. I’ve noticed Catholic teachers of prayer, sometimes begin by teaching people to begin praying by saying, “Come Holy Spirit.” I noticed that when Jesus began his public ministry he took the text from Isaiah that said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” [5]

CONCLUSION

The title of this homily was, “If you can’t pray, breathe.”

In reading and reflecting upon how to pray, I learned that prayer is taking time to catch one’s breath. I learned that taking time to catch one’s breath, one finds oneself - and one finds God - and one finds one's neighbor. We all share the air we breathe. I learned that making time for prayer, a good place to begin is to begin by breathing - by becoming aware of one’s breath. I learned by doing that one starts to sense the Spirit of the Lord coming upon one - sometimes in a rush - sometimes as a still small wind. [6]

So if you want to learn how to pray, whether it’s here at Mass, before, during of after, of if one prays better at home or in the Eucharistic Chapel - or when driving, sense your breath, catch yourself breathing - and allow the Spirit grip us, impulse us, push us, rush upon us, to go forth from prayer to love and to serve. Amen.

NOTES

[1] Luke 11:1-15

[2] A helpful book would be Alphonsus de Liguori, The Classics of Western Spirituality, Selected Writings, Paulist Press, 1999. This book has prayers and how to pray - taught by a saint - who has been described by some as, "The Doctor of Prayer."

[3] Genesis 2: 4-7

[4] Confer 1 Samuel 16: 1-13

[5] Luke 4: 16-21; Isaiah 61: 1-3

[6] 1 Kings 19: 11-12; John 3:7-9

2012-01-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2012

Quote for Today

"We are always the same age inside."

Gertrude Stein

Okay, let's hear it. How old do you see yourself?

2012-01-16T07:15:00.000-08:00

"BROTHER CAN YOU SPARE A DIME - OR A QUARTER OR SOME LOOSE CHANGE?"

Someone just sent me by e-mail the following YouTube. Check it out!

2012-01-16T06:32:00.000-08:00

January 16, 2012

Quote for Today

"The life of every one is a diary in which they mean to write one story, and write another, and their humblest hour is when they compare the volume as it is with what they vowed to make it."

James M. Barrie (1860-1937)

2012-01-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

PLANE STORY:

THE PERSON IN SEAT 17C

[This is a story I wrote yesterday for this Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B. It was for the Saturday Adult 4:30 in the Afternoon Mass - and I'm going to try it out on our Teenage Mass for this Sunday evening. Please note that Samuel is the main character in today's first reading and Andrew is the main character in today's gospel.]

The plane was stuck on the tarmac - after its arrival at O’Hare Airport, Chicago.

A snow storm to the west - a snow storm to the north - caused delays in landings and take offs.

Then the plane just sat there - a decent distance from the terminal.

The pilot announced at least 3 times, “We’re trying to get an arrival spot - but planes came in here ahead of us - because they couldn’t land where they were going - because of the weather. Sorry ---- they are ahead of us - but they are promising we’ll get a spot ------- soon.

The “soon” sound didn’t sound too convincing.

The pilot who made the announcement was just a voice - and not a face - as he made the announcement. He was rather happy about that.

The person in 17C just sat there patiently - sat there very calmly - in an aisle seat.

Time ticked and ticked and ticked.

When that same announcement was made a fourth time, someone was really ticked off. Someone in the back of the plane screamed: “Come on. Stop lying. This isn’t fair. We have people waiting for us at the curb.”

Cell phones are convenient - but they come with a price.

The person in 17C didn’t get upset.

He was surprised he didn’t get upset.

As he sat there he wondered where and when he got this gift of patience. He certainly didn’t have it 10 years ago. He certainly didn’t get it from his mom and dad - both of whom were time conscious - and neatnics - and wanted their kids to never be late - to on time always - and never to keep people waiting.

He sat there in the plane - on the tarmac - as if in prayer and meditation in a quiet afternoon church.

It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon - and they were supposed to get off the plane at 3:25.

As the person in 17C sat there, hearing comments from around him - as he heard the level of frustration rising - he started thinking about two people whom he had met in his life - both of whom probably contributed to his receiving the gift of serenity.

The first was a Rabbi - the Rabbi - in his life. He began thinking about this person with great gratitude.
He met the Rabbi in the hospital when the 2 of them were in the same hospital - in the same room - about 7 years ago. Both were there for the same heart problem. Both were getting the same heart operation - a quadruple-by-pass. Both had the same heart specialist and surgeon.

The person in 17C knew this guy in the other bed was Jewish. It was Saturday morning. He was in a hospital gown - with his yarmulke on. He also had a prayer shawl around his shoulders - and the man was praying.

With that the person in 17C asked the man, “By any chance, are you a Rabbi or something?”

The man answered, “Actually I am.”

17C introduced himself. Then the Rabbi introduced himself as, “Sam.”

They talked about their families and where they were from - standard conversation starters. Then their visitors came in for the day. When they left the two men continued their conversation.

17C said he was quite nervous about the upcoming operation.

Sam, the Rabbi, was quite calm before the operation.

17C noticed that Sam was very calm after the operation as well - and he was still nervous. “Now what?” he thought.

Alone 17C asked his roommate, “Rabbi Sam, what’s your secret?”

Sam, the Rabbi, said, “What secret? The secret for what?”

17C said, “That’s 2 questions.”

Sam, the Rabbi, said, “Haven’t you ever noticed that Jews like the ask questions?”

17C said, “I’m asking you about the secret of your serenity? What’s the secret of your serenity?”

Sam answered, “Did you just noticed you asked 2 questions? Are you Jewish by any chance?”

17C laughed and said, “No, I’m Catholic - well Catholic, but I don’t practice being Catholic.”

Sam said, “Why not?”

Silence.

Then Sam said, “I’m easy going. And it’s no secret why I’m easy going. I see God is in on everything. I simply say to God, “Speak Lord. Your servant is listening.”

17C said, “Well what does God say to you?”

Sam said, “God is saying, ‘Sam you’re getting older. You got to cut down on the fats. You gotta get more exercise. More walking Sam. More walking. And one more thing, Sam. You’re mortal.”

A pause ….

Sam then said, “I said to God at that one, ‘God, what’s that supposed to mean? ‘You’re mortal, Sam, you’re mortal.’”

“And God said, “Sam you got term limits.”

17C said, “Oh….”

Another pause - some silence.

Then 17C said, “It sounds like you’re doing it.”

“Doing what?”

“You’re listening to God.”

Silence.

Then the Rabbi said, “I learned all this from my Rabbi when I made my Bar Mitzvah when I was a kid. I had to pick a Bible text. So I picked a story about Samuel - my namesake. I read the story about the time when Samuel was in the temple and Eli was the priest. Samuel heard someone calling. He thought it was Eli so he ran to him. Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to sleep.” This happened three times before he realized that the Lord was calling this kid named Samuel. Eli told Samuel, “If the Lord calls you again, say, ‘Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.’”

Then Sam said, “I didn’t know it then, but that was to be the secret of my life. In fact, that’s why I became a Rabbi - to teach people to listen to God. Didn’t you notice that I already told you that when we first began to speak?”

Sam then said, “Every moment of life is loaded with all kinds of messages from God. Once you wake up to that, you start to hear God always speaking to you. In fact, sometimes you feel like you’re in a traffic jam with God’s messages. There are so many of them.”

Silence.

Then Sam said, “I listen for God’s messages when I’m in a traffic jam or when I’m at the doctors or here in the hospital. It might be one of my kids needing attention. It might be the stars at night or a sunrise. It certainly was this heart operation.” Then Sam concluded, “Once you start listening - God starts talking.”

Silence.

As 17C sat there in seat 17C he thought about what Sam the Rabbi taught him. Then the second person in his life who taught him so much came to mind. This man’s name was “Andy.”

Andy was a guy he worked with - but they never really talked. He was just one more background person in his life. But 17C was aware that Andy was there at times.

One day both were in Burger King two streets away from where they worked. They were grabbing lunch. Andy was behind him in line - and they began talking.

They sat together and 17C asked Andy, Andy’s secret of life.”

Andy said, “What do you mean? What secret of life?

17C said, “Well, I don’t know really know you, but you always seem so easy going - so at peace.”

17C didn’t realize it at that moment as he was thinking about all this on the tarmac - but he asked Andy the same question he asked the Rabbi.

And Andy said, “Do you really want to know?”

17C said, “Yes!”

“Well,” Andy said, “I’m a Catholic and Christ is the center of my life.”

"Ooops!" - a feeling of "Ooops!" plopped onto their table at Burger King with that comment.

Then Andy continued, “In my church there was this big, blank brick wall. They didn’t know what to put there in that empty space.

“Well they put up there this big, big enormous cross - with Jesus on it.

“Some liked it. Some didn’t.

“I didn’t know at first what to think.

“Then I realized that Christ is the center of life. Once someone gets that - they got it all. Next I realized that people get this especially when they are feeling the cross in their life. Then they can discover that’s what the cross is all about. Jesus on the cross is like a big plane and we can get on him and fly through space on him - especially when the ride is bumpy.”

Then without knowing why, 17C said to Andy, there in that Burger King that day, “I’m a Catholic - but I haven’t gone to church in years.”

And Andy said, “That’s okay - well that’s sort of okay - but don’t look at the church - it can be crazy at times - just look at Christ. He’s the center. And Jesus had to deal with the crazies. He had to deal with the men he chose - even though they didn’t get it till after he was killed and one of them betrayed him.”

“Oh,” said 17C.

Quiet. That was a lot to digest - in Burger King.

And that was a few years back when he had those 2 experiences - the moments with the Rabbi and the moments with Andy.

17C sitting there on that tarmac was thanking God that Sam the Rabbi taught him that God is always speaking and he learned from Andy that God’s big word - big message to us - was Jesus - especially Jesus on the cross.

He realized it was Andy who got him back to church

Just then the pilot announced. “We just got clearance.”

Everyone - except 17C clapped.

The plane started heading for the terminal.

Just then 17B, who was right next to him, elbow to elbow, said to 17C, “Mister what’s your secret. I noticed you’ve been sitting here so, so calm, while everyone else is antsy and grumbling and yelling. What’s your secret?”

17C said, “Do you really want to know?”

17B said, “Yes.”

Well, 17C said, “God is speaking to us in moments like this and Jesus Christ helps us in moments like this.”

At that 17B’s jaw dropped - thinking to himself, “Who is this guy sitting here next to me? Tim Tebow?”

2012-01-15T10:26:00.000-08:00

ANDREW

[The following is a story I wrote for today's Kids' Mass - the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B. A mysterious line in today's gospel is, "It was about four in the afternoon." So I weaved that into this imaginary story.]

Once upon a time there was a 3rd grade kid named Andrew.

Now Andrew had an older brother named Peter - who was in the 5th grade.

Now Peter rubbed it in at times that he was the older, the smarter, the stronger, the bigger and the better brother.

Andrew remained quiet - knowing - he was really the smarter brother. He also thought he had the better name. Okay, Andrew wasn’t the bigger or stronger or older brother - but Andrew had a quiet, healthy, funny confidence in himself. Moreover, who wouldn’t want to have the great name of “Andrew” - a much better name that “Peter”?

Their mom and dad went to church every Sunday with their two boys. And their 2 boys, not being in Catholic School - went to the Faith Formation - Religious Education classes - in their parish that took place for their age - after Mass every Sunday morning.

Now Andrew had a buddy - named Eli - his parents were Giant’s Fans. One day Andrew asked Eli if he ever went to church. Eli said, “I think we’re Catholics - but mom and dad don’t go to church.” And Eli added, “And they have never taken my sister and I to church. Wait a minute”, Eli said, “I think we went to Christmas Mass two ago. I think it was two years ago - when I was little.”

Now Eli and Andrew were the best of friends - playing Wii, lacrosse, basketball and chess together.

Well, one Sunday afternoon, it was about 4 in the afternoon, Andrew was telling his buddy Eli about the neat thing that happened in their religious education class that morning. Eli said, “I’d love to go with you to church and religion class some Sunday.”

Andrew told his dad that Sunday evening - at the halftime of the football game - what Eli had said. His dad said, “Well, we could take him next Sunday - but I better ask Eli’s dad first.”

Andrew’s dad saw Eli’s dad the following Saturday at their sons’ basketball game. He mentioned that his son Andrew mentioned that Eli would like to go to church with Andrew. Then Andrew’s dad said, “We could take him, but I wanted to ask you first.”

Eli’s dad became very, very, very, very silent when he heard this.

“Uh oh,” Andrew’s dad said to himself. “I just hit some kind of a memory button in Eli’s dad.”

Then Eli’s dad said, “Well, I’ll ask Eli and if you want to take him, no problem. It can’t do any harm.”

Andrew’s dad made a sort of silent, “Phew!” at that.

Andrew’s dad didn’t hear anything from Eli’s dad for that Sunday.

However, Eli’s dad must have asked Eli about this - because Andrew’s dad got a call that following Saturday afternoon around 4 o’clock - saying Eli could go to Mass with Andrew’s family the next day - Sunday morning.

Andrew felt good at Mass - being there with his best friend - that Sunday morning. And the religious education class great that day. Andrew went up to his teacher before class and told his teacher that he had brought his best friend with him. The teacher welcomed Eli. Then the whole class welcomed him. Third graders can be really friendly.

The same thing happened the next Sunday - and the Sunday after that - and the Sunday after that.

Now the story changes a bit….

Without knowing it, something happened to Eli’s mom and dad. They were sort of embarrassed a bit - or some feeling like that - because someone else’s parents were taking their son to Mass and Faith Formation or Religious Education.

At a basketball game - not a practice - the following Saturday - about 4 PM in the afternoon a surprise happened.

Eli’s dad was sitting with Andrew’s dad watching their sons playing together in a basketball game. It was half way through the second half and the score was 14 to 6. Their two sons’ team was winning.

Eli’s dad said, “I been thinking. I was baptized a Catholic many years ago - but my parents rarely went to church and we are just like them - my wife and I. We really have never gone to church. We were thinking the other night - seeing how this made Eli sad that we didn’t go to church like you and your wife. Maybe we should look into this.”

Andy’s dad felt joyful at this news - but he also felt a bit nervous about what to say next. He was happy that his son Andrew started all this - but what now? He wondered if he was over his head here.

Then he said, “Why not come to church tomorrow - the same time as us - and surprise your son?”

Then during the Mass watch the priest. See if he’s someone you could talk to. If not, try another priest. We have several priests at our parish. They are all old and a bit overweight - but they are nice guys - and each one of them is different.

“Okay,” said Eli’s dad.

The next day - Sunday - they came to church - stood in the back - and searched for where Andrew’s parents were sitting. Finally, they spotted Andrew’s mom and dad and two sons, Peter and Andrew - as well as their son Eli.

Surprise. Wow was Eli surprised when his mom and dad and his sister got into the bench next to Andrew. It was a tight fit, but they filled a whole bench.

It was a powerful moment - not just for Eli - but for both sets of parents. Eli’s sister and Andrew’s brother - being out of the loop - didn’t understand why their parents were crying - several times during the Mass. They were mixed feelings tears - feelings of joy and feelings of something else.

This doesn’t happen - most of the time - but the First Reading that Sunday told the story about a priest named Eli and the Sunday Gospel that Sunday morning told the story of Andrew going to his brother and telling him that he had found Jesus. Eli and Andrew both elbowed each other - first when Eli's name was mentioned and next when Andrew's name was mentioned on the same day. "How about that!" they thought. Andrew had the added delight that his name was being mentioned in church. It’s usually Peter - but today his name was mentioned. Once more he felt more important that his brother Peter.

It was about 4 o’clock that Sunday afternoon that Andrew began to realize a tiny bit about what he had done - getting Eli and his sister and their parents to go to church - and he gave a pump fist in the air to Jesus. He had seen football players do that - when they get a touchdown. Now he knew just what that meant.

And better good news, that Sunday morning after Mass - while Eli and Andrew were in Religion Class, Eli’s parents and their daughter went up to the priest and introduced themselves. They asked if they could make an appointment to see him.

Bottom line: Eli’s sister began going to faith formation in the 2nd grade and Eli’s parents attended the RCIA program in the parish. They found out this program wasn’t just for non-Catholics who were thinking of becoming Catholics - but also for Catholics who never really got any religious education in the Catholic Faith in the first place.

Peter - Andrew’s brother - didn’t catch any of this story - and this was fine for Andrew. He liked being the hero of the story. Amen.

2012-01-15T07:45:00.000-08:00

January 15, 2012

Quote for Today

Maturity: "The day you have your first real laugh at yourself."

Ethel Barrymore [1879-1959]

2012-01-14T05:46:00.000-08:00

January 14, 2012

Quote for Today

Family: "The we of me."

Carson McCullers [1917-1967]

2012-01-13T05:54:00.000-08:00

January 13, 2012

Quote for Today

"A first rate soup is better than a second rate painting."

Abraham Maslow [1908-1970]

2012-01-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

January 12, 2012

Quote for Today

"I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the year's."

Henry Moore [1898-1986]

Sculpture on top: "Die Liegende" or "Reclining Figure" by Henry Moore - reclinging in Stuggart Germany.

2012-01-11T16:52:00.000-08:00

BELIEF IN DEMONS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Wednesday in the First Week of Ordinary Time is, “Belief In Demons.”

If we want to understand the Bible, we better get an understanding of demons. It helps if we have relatives from Italy or from Spanish countries. Yet, demons, the evil eye, evil forces, are pretty much part of all the old cultures of the world.

Today some people have trouble saying, “I believe in God.” Would it be more difficult to say, “I believe in demons”? I don’t know. I’d have to think about that and do more listening and studying on that one.

DEMONS

If we read the scriptures and / or if we study the cultures of the Mediterranean Basin - as well as Africa - and Asia - we find evidence of a regular belief in demons - and spirits - and scary energies.

To the Greeks demons or “daimons” are lesser deities - some good - some bad. Breaking the Greek word, “daimon” down - it has in it the root word “to know”. Demons know.

There are demons at one’s doorstep. There are demons in the marketplace. There are demons in one’s sleep. There is a specific demon - “Utukku” who attacks the neck. Another - named “Namtaru” attacked the throat. And on and on and on. There are demons that attack pregnant women. There are demons that come with the south wind - or what have you. And in time they get specific names.

We usually think of demons as bad - because when we are sick or troubled - when we’re filled with negative vibes - then we’re more apt to think of demons as evil - and negative. In general they are usually bad forces - bad spirits.

But angels - are forces - that are good - and bring energy - and demons are certainly forces of energy.

So we see Angels at entrances to churches. The Holy Water fonts at the main entrance at St. Mary’s are two marble angels.

In the great cathedrals of Europe we see gargoyles up there on the walls - and at the tops of pillars - that are part of the draining system - and they spit out water - or what have you. They are also saying that evil should stay outside - when people go into pray.

In the Holy, Holy at Mass, we say “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts!” We hear about the presence of countless hosts of Angels.” We hear about Thrones and Dominions - and all those around God’s altar in heaven.

So some of those hosts are these good spirits.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Here in today’s gospel, Peter’s mother-in-law has demons - and as a result she is sick - and can’t serve.

So Jesus heals here of her sickness - and she rises to serve.

The message is obvious: Jesus can heal and help us deal with our bad demons.

Obviously, we know a lot more about sickness in the year 2012 than they knew in 32 - in the year of the Lord.

But today there are still lots of sicknesses where the Lord Jesus can enter into the story.

We could list mental sickness …. depression …. alcoholism (In the first step, one declares that I am powerless of demon rum). In the second step one declares that there is a power greater than myself who can help - and for some this is God.

CONCLUSION

The goal of my homily is to simply state that in Scriptural texts and Scripture settings, we’ll hear about demons - who were a very real part of human life in the both Testaments.

The bottom line then would be prayer and to declare what we heard in today’s first reading, “Here I am Lord, I’m listening.”

Here I am Lord I’m waiting for your power to heal me - so I can serve better. Amen.

2012-01-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

January 11, 2012

Quote for Today

"He fell in love with himself at first sight and it is a passion to which he has always remained faithful."

Anthony Powell [1905-2000], Acceptance World (1955) Chapter 1.

2012-01-10T11:18:00.000-08:00

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this First Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “The Gospel of Mark.”

As you know, this year - 2012 - is the year for the Gospel of Mark for our Sunday Gospels in Ordinary Time. Last year, year A, was Matthew. This year, year B, this year, is Mark. Next year, Year C, will be the year of Luke.

That’s the Sunday gospels. However, Mark being the shortest of the gospels - only 16 chapters - gets bumped on a few Sundays. This will happen next Sunday, but on the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, we’ll start going through the Gospel of Mark for the rest of the year - with a few exceptions.

That’s Sundays. On weekdays in Ordinary Time we have Mark for the first 9 weeks of Ordinary Time readings. This year, that’s till June 9th, then we'll start Matthew, then finish the year with Luke.

LOOKING AT THE GOSPEL OF MARK

Mark is the shortest and the earliest of the gospels - dated to around 64 to 67. A.D.

Last week I noticed in Newman Book Store in Washington D.C. - not too far from Catholic University and the National Shrine - that they had books on Mark on display. Last year there were books on Matthew featured. So we keep on getting new books on the gospels.

This year people will find books on Mark to look at. There will be workshops in parishes on Mark as well. So by the end of this year folks will have a greater grasp of the themes and main emphases found in the Gospel of Mark.

With the changes after Vatican II in the Liturgy, the Catholic Church cannot be attacked as not being Biblical.

I always like to quote the mandate of Vatican II in The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, # 51. “The treasures of the bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word. In this way a more representative portion of the holy scriptures will be read to the people in the course of a prescribed number of years.”

So this year we have Mark on Sundays in Ordinary Time as well as at the first 9 weeks in Ordinary Time of the church year. Lent jumps in with Ash Wednesday. Then there is the Easter season. Then after Easter and Pentecost - on Monday May 28th we get back to Mark - to finish his pre-Passion account messages  on Saturday June 9th (i.e, finishing with Mark 12: 38-44.)

I’ve met people who say, “Mark is my favorite gospel!” but I’ve heard more say it’s Luke or John. And I just read in Time magazine that Tim Tebow draws not only on the famous John 3:16 text that has been seen on signs at many football games, but also on the Gospel of Matthew - especially that we be salt and light to the world. [1]

ONE QUICK TAKE

For a sermon thought for today, let me offer a strange idea or a different take. I’ll be quick.

By serendipity or by chance, today’s first reading from 1st Samuel has the story of Hannah going to the temple shrine at Shiloh to pray to God to get pregnant. Her prayer is very specific. She wants to have a son. She does what many people do. She bargains with God. She makes promises to God. Her prayer is very clear. It’s a vow prayer:

                 "LORD of hosts,
                 If you look with pity on the misery of your handmaid,
                 if you remember me and do not forget me,
                 if you give your handmaid a male child,
                 I will give him to the LORD for as long as he lives;
                 neither wine nor liquor shall he drink,
                 and no razor shall ever touch his head.”

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of The Baptism of the Lord, so we didn’t get the reading from First Samuel that is right before today’s text. It tells us that Hannah went to this shrine every year - with her prayer and she was not having luck with pregnancy. However, her husband’s other wife, Penniah, had several children and rubbed it in that Hannah didn’t have kids. Perhaps, Penniah's motive for irking Hannah was, as the text indicates, that Elkanah, the husband of the two wives, liked Hannah more.

Well, today’s story has Eli, the priest, watching Hannah pray. Her lips are moving without making any sounds. He thinks she’s drunk. She isn’t and she tells Eli that she isn’t. She says she’s praying for a child. Well, he says, “Go in peace and may God grant your request.”

That’s the way these stories are told. And she has a son: Samuel.

Well, here’s a twist - triggered by this story that Eli thought Hanna was drunk. There is a book by John C. Mellon entitled, “Mark As Recovery Story.” He writes the whole book as if Mark has alcoholism in mind in his gospel. Sure enough he sees today’s gospel story of the man yelling in the synagogue as someone who could be an alcoholic. Interesting. [2]

I read John Mellon's book and don’t agree that Mark has this in mind. However, ever since I read that book, whenever I read the Gospel of Mark, it challenges me to see that as a possibility in the different stories and incidents in his gospel.

So that's why I push reading a book on a specific gospel. It triggers nuances, wonderings, questions, possibilities, that we didn't see before.

TWO  CONCLUSIONS

1) Check the library or on line for books on Mark.

2) This year, read and pray with the Gospel of Mark on your own. Also, during this year here in church, listen to the Gospel of Mark when it’s used on Sundays - and when it’s used this first part of ordinary time with your issues in mind - whether it’s alcohol or what have you. Amen.

+++++++++++++++

NOTES

Painting on top: St. Mark by James Tissot (1836-1902) by James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum, NYC. NY

[1] Jon Meacham, "Faith on the Field", "Tebow's Testimony", Time magazine, January 16, 2012, pp. 40-42

[2] John C. Mellon, Mark as Recovery Story, University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 1995

2012-01-10T09:42:00.000-08:00

January 10, 2012

Quote for Today

"A sermon can help people in different ways. Some rise from it greatly strengthened; others wake from it refreshed."

Anononymous

2012-01-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

FEELING DIRTY,

FEELING CLEAN

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of the Baptism of Jesus is, “Feeling Dirty, Feeling Clean.”

There are various options for readings for today - so I didn’t know what to preach on. Baptism obviously. The readings last week mentioned baptism as well - and I preached on baptism on Friday at Heritage Harbor - and I had a nice baptism yesterday - so baptism is on my mind - but what to preach on?

THE ESSENCE

I asked myself, “What is the essence of baptism? What is the key meaning - the central reality - of baptism?”

Since water is the main ingredient, I assumed the answer would either be cleaning or life. Without water, there is no life.

Come Holy Spirit - enlighten me - to what is the best answer to the question: “What is the essence of baptism?”

The answer that hit me for today is, “cleanliness”.

"Come to the waters!"

Sometimes when we really feel grungy and grimy, we say to ourselves, “I need a good shower.”

Way before showers - or if people prefer baths, it would be, “I need a good bath.”

And we come up out of the water or out of the shower feeling new, cleansed, alive and awake.

And people go to the ocean or to water falls or lakes or pools or the river - for renewal.

JOHN THE BAPTIST’S BAPTISM

If one reads the scriptures carefully, John the Baptist called people to the Jordan River, so they could bathe themselves, cleanse themselves, wash themselves free of sin. Repent! Change! Start again. [Cf. today’s gospel, Mark 1: 7-11]]

I was told in theology and scripture studies that John saw his baptism as a reenactment. When the people of Israel entered the Promised Land way back when, they came to the Jordan River. They then down went one river bank - went through the waters - and came up the other side a new people. With God’s promise, they were being given a fresh start in the Promised Land. [Cf. Joshua 3: 1-17]

There is a catch in this interpretation because in the Book of Joshua - as in the Book of Exodus - when the people crossed through the waters, the waters parted. [Cf. Exodus 14: 15-31] In time and in memory - in song and in story - these moments were connected and seen as going through the waters in order to enter new life - to be given freedom and a fresh start.

How many western movies have we seen a scene where someone who has been in a lot of trouble or mess says, “Let’s ride to Rio Grande - cross the river into Mexico - and make a fresh start on the other side?” How many people cross the ocean or rivers and come to a new place - with the idea of a fresh new start.

The Greek word for dip is “baptizo” - from which we get our word, “baptism”.

The word was used in describing the process of dyeing clothes. Garments were dipped into a colored liquid. The word was used to describe putting a ladle into soup or water to draw some out. In the gospel of Luke the word is used for washing.

So it has many meanings.

The key issue is the symbolic action. The key thing is to see baptism as a religious gesture - a reenactment - an action that gets across a deep message and a deep reality.

In the Dead Sea Qumran Community around the time of Christ they had ceremonial washings. The documents that they have found there say that mere washing is not enough. An inner change - an inner purification of the soul - is called for. [1]

When little kids say a dirty word, a mom or dad give the warning, “I’m going to wash your mouth out with soap and water.” Kids get that message - probably because they tasted what soap and water taste like - perhaps when they got water in their mouth while taking a bath.

When adults say the wrong thing. When gossip or a cutting remark comes out of our mouth - we feel ugly. We feel dirty. We might even shake our head. Is that an attempt to push the dirty feeling our tongue has for being used to hurt someone - to their face or behind their back?

So down deep - we get baptism.

When parents of a new born baby pick god-parents for their child - I would think they have inborn instinct about those they pick and those they don’t pick.

Down deep we know what it feels like to be right with God and ourselves and others - and when we feel wrong about ourselves and others.

Down deep we know that the old saying, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” - makes sense.

Down deep we feel the need for confession or to get to church - to say the prayers in the first part of the Mass. Down deep we get the meaning of blessing ourselves with Holy Water when we come into church - so as to be clean. We get why people wash their feet in some religious ceremonies or before entering a temple or mosque.

Some people sometimes feel, “I just need to take a shower.”

And hopefully we hear the words of God the Father said over Jesus once again, “This is my beloved son [or daughter].” And we feel the Holy Spirit breathing deep within us once again. Amen.

CONCLUSION

So baptism means many things. I’m stressing today the idea of being cleansed - getting a fresh start - and feeling clean again. I ask you to do your homework and ask yourself, “What’s my take on what baptism means”?

NOTES

[1] John McKenzie, S.J., Dictionary of the Bible, "Baptism," page 79

2012-01-09T06:31:00.000-08:00

January 9, 2012

Quote for Today

"One visit is worth a basket full of letters."

Anonymous

This is an old quote. Today would it be translated: a computer full of e-mails?

2012-01-08T15:32:00.000-08:00

SHEPHERDS AND KINGS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of the Epiphany is, “Shepherds and Kings.”

When we walk up to the Christmas crib or crèche, we see shepherds and kings.

They are not there by accident.

NO SMOKING SIGN

I follow the “No Smoking” sign rule when I read the Bible.

If it’s in here, it’s in here for a reason.

Smoke gets in your eyes.

If there is a “No Smoking” sign in a building - or now - just outside the entrance of a building - someone has been smoking there - and somebody doesn’t want smokers there.

If there are speed bumps, if there are “No Dogs Allowed” signs, if there is a violinist playing on the street and there is a box in front of him or her, they are expecting a tip.

Everything on stage - everything in a good story - is there for a reason. Everyone who has done plays knows Chekhov’s rule, “If in the first act, you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following act, it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.”

So if we hear about shepherds in the Christmas readings and Wise Men or Magi or Kings at the Epiphany readings, they are here for a reason.

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE

There are two kinds of people who discover the Light - who discover Jesus - who discover God.

Today’s first reading from Isaiah says, “Raise your eyes and look about.” Isaiah continues, “Then you will be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow.” [Cf. Isaiah 60:1-6]

What do you see, what do you tend to notice, when you look around you? When it comes to God, what have you discovered? When it comes to God, what type of a person are you?

The first type person has God coming to them. The shepherds were out there at night tending their sheep when the angel of the Lord came to them by surprise.

The second type person goes in search of God. The Magi - the word used in today’s translation of Matthew 2: 1-12 - are the searchers - those who come from a far to discover the Light.

Which is more me? Going after or waiting for? Making it happen or it happens to me?

The butter is still in the refrigerator and the bread is on the table. Am I the type that gets up and gets it or do I wait for someone to bring the butter out for me?

Am I a waiter or a get up and get it myselfer?

Am I content or am I restless?

Am I like the shepherds and God comes to me or am I like the 3 kings and go in search of God?

Do I see, meet, discover God, when I’m doing my work, and God surprises me at times in my everyday activities?

Or do I have to get up and do my own searching to find God?

I think one reason why we have these stories in the scriptures is for us to figure out ourselves - to see ourselves in the stories.

No kidding.

LITERATURE TELLS US THAT PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT

If we read the scriptures - if we read literature - we know that the writer - knows that people are different.

Once upon a time there was a tortoise and a hare ….

Once upon a time there was a girl named Cinderella who had 2 stepsisters ….

King Lear had three daughters and he was getting older ….

Jesus used to visit the home of his friend Lazarus - who had two sisters. One was named Mary and the other was named Martha ….

A shepherd had 100 sheep - 99 were safe and sound - but one of them was lost….

A woman had 10 coins - and one was lost and she ….

A man had two sons ….

A man named Jacob had 12 sons and 1 daughter ….

Jesus had 12 disciples - and the one named Judas - betrayed him.

On the cross hung Jesus - along with two thieves. The thief on his right said…. The king on his left said ….

There is a Zen story about a man who had two sons. One son left home and traveled the world for a couple of years and then came home. The other son never left home - but worked the farm and stayed with his father. Which one saw more? Which one learned more?

Often these stories, these plays, these movies, these parables, end without telling us the moral or the message.

In these stories there are gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh - to be opened - and their glitter can get us. They have a scent and it can reach us. And good stories - really good stories - contain a pain - a sword that can open up our eyes to insight, wisdom, an epiphany. [Cf. Hebrews 4:12.]

Which character in the story is a lot like me? The play, the movie, the scriptures are a mirror. See myself in the story.

Look in the mirror and see the spinach in one’s teeth - as well as the look in one’s eyes - and then pause and really look deeper into one’s being. Who am I and what’s going on inside of me?

WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR GOD MOMENTS

What have been our God moments?

On the feast of Christmas many people are like the shepherds. They hear the music. They see the light - the stars - the stained glass windows in the distance - and these get these folks to church for Christmas. They are like the shepherds. They see the baby. Ooh. Ah. Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. Then they go back to their fields and their work.

On the feast of the Epiphany many people are like the Magi, or the Wise or the Kings - searching for the new born King of the Jews. They discover him - do him homage - and then they depart for home by another way. They are changed.

What have been our Christmas Moments - when God brought us to himself and what have been our Epiphany Moments when we went in search of God - and found him.

What have been our God moments?

That would be the key question that I am asking in this homily.

That’s my sign - a la a “No Smoking” sign - that I’m projecting onto the screen of your mind today.

“God Moments!”

Two words.

Make a list of the God moments of one's life.

If you want me to be more specific, make it 3 or 5 key God moments.

Just jot them down.

Andrew Greeley did some research and found out that most people have had revelations - personal God moments in their lives. [Cf. today's second reading from Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6]

Let me present a quick 3 step process on how to get in touch with our God Moments.

First step: just jot. Just jot down telegraphically items like: "Rome 1993" or "the birth of our first child" - or "the death of my dad" - or "Second Honeymoon on our 25 anniversary in 2003" -or a Sunday Mass 9 years ago" - or "I was walking in the woods once and" - or "Cancer 2007" or "a funeral 14 years ago of a dearest friend".

So step one is to just jot down a quick list of epiphany moments in one’s life.

Second step: flesh them out. Just flesh them out.

For example, someone might flesh out a listed moment this way: “I was in Rome in the summer of 1993. It was hot and we came into St. Peter’s Square. It was all set up for a large outdoor talk by Pope John Paul II. There were over 200,000 people there - mostly standing. Then in the middle of the talk - I couldn’t really understand most of the words - it hit me that I’m a Catholic and so are all these people in all these different languages and look - and we’re one with each other in Christ. I can’t explain it, but my faith suddenly made so much more sense to me. I felt so one with God and all these people. Thank You God. Thank You, God!”

Or, for example, someone might write, “I was with my 3 year old granddaughter and we were playing with Play Doh and she started to make a lion and a camel and a man and a woman and a baby. Well, I asked her what she was making. She looked at me as if I were really dumb. Then she said, ‘It’s the Christmas crib you took me to see in church yesterday.’ Well, that moment was like a lightning storm. I realized in a flash all the good things I passed down to my 4 kids as well as some bad example. I cried and I laughed. Then I said to myself, 'It’s all okay. Jesus was born in a stable with ox and ass and you know what they can do to your floor - and who cares if I helped create lions and camels instead? God will take care of all.' And as I was crying tears of joy, my little granddaughter didn’t say a word but came over and hugged me. Thank You God. Thank you God.”

Third step: after you have about 5 of them. Put a "K" or an "S" next to the story. The K and the S stand for King or Shepherd. The king moments were God moments when I went searching for God and the S moments are the Shepherd moments. They are God moments that just happened to me. They were total surprise. An angel appeared and the next moment you were in the presence of Jesus.

CONCLUSION

Amen.

2012-01-08T06:25:00.000-08:00

January 7, 2012

Quote for Today

"The wise will not only bow at the manger but also at the cross."

Someone

2012-01-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

COPIOSA APUD

EUM REDEMPTIO

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for January 7th, the Saturday before the Epiphany, is, “Copiosa Apud Eum Redemptio.”

It’s the Redemptorist Motto: “Copious With Him Redemption.”

Or much better translations from the Latin, “With Him There is Fullness of Redemption.” Or, “With Him Abundant Redemption.” or “With Christ there is Plenteous Redemption.”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel - the story of Wedding Feast at Cana - imagines - describes - and pictures - what fullness of redemption looks like. It’s a wedding banquet that doesn’t run out of wine. It has lots of wine - plenty of wine - a fullness of wine.

We know the story: there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and they ran out of wine.

And the Mother of Jesus is there.

Just as Eve took the wrong fruit - Mary brings us Christ the fullness of the fruit of her womb. Take and eat. Take and drink.

Message: When empty, go to Christ and expect fullness.

Message: why have millions and millions of people gone up aisles in Catholic churches and knelt and begged at the images and ikons of Mary. They want help - always - perpetual help.

Hail Mary, full of grace .... full of gifts .... full of help....

Redemption, Salvation, Fullness, Abundance, Total Fulfillment, Satisfaction is often described as a banquet - where we get our total fulfillment.

And Jesus turns the water - 20 to 30 gallons of water - in 6 big water jars into wine. Jesus saves the wedding. Jesus saves the celebration. Jesus saves the couple. He does what Mary asks him to do. Help this couple. Save this situation.

SCRIPTURE MESSAGES

The Book of Genesis begins with God creating this world in abundance - sun, moon, stars, birds, cattle, trees. And all is good.

The Book of Genesis begins with God creating man and woman and places them in a beautiful garden. And all is good.

Then man and woman mess up. We hear about sin in today’s first reading - especially with sin that kills - that is deadly - yet people bite into it. [Confer 1 John 5: 14-21]

Today’s gospel from John begins with the first miracle - the first sign of Christ’s arrival - and love - simply helping this couple. [Cf. John 2: 1-12]

This first sign of God’s New Presence with Christ - is that Jesus brings abundance. Our God is an overflowing and generous God.

What is our take - our sense of what God is like? When describing God: don’t think small.

When it snows - if we get snow this winter - just watch how much comes down.

The next time you go to Ocean City or Rehoboth - or you’re out in the bay - just pause and sense all the water there is - fullness - and it goes all around the world and then some. Water takes up more than 75 percent of the globe. That’s why this planet has life.

If you’ve been to Niagara Falls - just close your eyes and return there in your imagination - and listen to the ongoing flow - the non-stop flow.

If you’re out on a clear night, stop to look up. Glance at the stars in the vast sky. Notice the abundance of stars, the abundance of black night, the abundance of distance. If we know anything about God, we know there’s more - more out there. The universe is 5 to 10 billion years old. That’s our primitive guess as of now. Imagine what’s going to come - in billions of years to come. Humans on this planet have been around for only a short time compared to the age of the earth. There’s an abundance of time to come. When I hear people predict endings - I smile. We’re limited in our thinking and our seeing beyond yourselves - but God isn’t. God is abundance.

As I was thinking about this last night, as I was thinking of abundance - as in abundance of redemption - a memory of seeing a Tomato Throwing Celebration in Spain that was on TV came to mind. I went to Google and checked it. I found out that there are various tomato throwing celebrations all around the world. The granddaddy of them is in Buhan, Spain. It started in 1945 when some young men grabbed some tomatoes from a vegetable stand in a brawl in the town’s main square. The following year the young people repeated the moment with another tomato fight - on the 3rd Wednesday of August - this time with tomatoes they brought from home. The police tried to stop them. By 1950 the town allowed the fight. However, when things got out of hand, some young people were imprisoned, the residents of Bunoh forced the police to release the kids. The tradition continued. It was banned. It continued. It was banned. It increased and now it’s an annual event - when 150,000 tomatoes, 90,000 pounds, are thrown for about an hour.

It’s an amazing site - abundance of tomatoes and tomato juice flowing through the streets - and all is abundantly red. Check it out!

Now that’s abundance! Now that's a party! Now that's a celebration!

How about seeing God as a God who gives a crop of 100 million tomatoes every year -as well as oranges, apples, grapes and wheat that becomes flour that becomes bread.

How about seeing our God who gave at a Last Supper bread and wine - his body and blood - and the chalice and the plate - the bread and the wine - his love and his presence - as gifts - have never stopped flowing.

Surprise we’re at that wedding feast again today. It continues ....

CONCLUSION

We are made in the image and likeness of God. So if God is a God of Abundance, am I abundant when it comes to love and forgiveness and giving?

2012-01-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

January 7, 2012

Quote for Today

"There are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink."

Booth Tartington [1869-1946], Penrod (1914), chapter 110

2012-01-06T05:53:00.000-08:00

January 6, 2012

Quote for Today

"You can't plow a field by turning it over in your mind."

Anonymous

2012-01-05T10:36:00.000-08:00

SAINT JOHN NEUMANN

Today, January 5th, 1861, is the anniversary of the death of Bishop John Neumann.

He was a diocesan priest, who became a Redemptorist, who became the 4th Bishop of Philadelphia.

While walking across Vine - near 13th Street - in Old Philadelphia, he felt something going wrong with him. When he got to the other side he began to stagger. He fell over. Two men rushed over to him. They carried him into the house of a non-Catholic. That’s where he died right after that. A priest was called for - so as to be given Last Rites - but John Neumann died before the priest arrived.

That morning he had said to Father Urban, a priest who had dropped in to see him, “I have a strange feeling today. I feel as I never felt before. I have to go out and do a little business and the fresh air will do me good.” Then the bishop added the following, “A man must always be ready, for death comes when and where God wills it.”

2012-01-05T05:50:00.001-08:00

June 5, 2012

Quote for Today

"With mistakes, like a lot of other things,
it isn't the initial cost - it's the upkeep."

Anonymous

2012-01-04T06:14:00.000-08:00

January 4, 2012

Quote for Today

"God tempers the wind ... to the shorn lamb."

Laurence Sterne [1713-1768], A Sentimental Journey [1768]

The full line, without the ... is, "God tempers the wind, said Maria, to the shorn lamb."

Painting on top: "Shearing the Rams" [1896] by the Australian Impressionistic painter Tom Roberts.

***

P.S. I always wonder about this saying - because it says so much. I would think a discussion group would say much - if this saying was brought up as a discussion topic. It has some of the sense of one of my favorite quotes from Marian Evans Cross [1819-1880] - a.k.a. George Eliot, "If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is on the other side of silence." [Middlemarch 1871-1872, Chapter 22.]

The following texts might help such a discussion.

In Matthew 10: 26 to 31 we read that Jesus said, "Do not be afraid of them therefore. For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows."

In John 3: 8 we read that Jesus said, "The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes or where it is going."

In Mark 4: 35-41 we read the following scene, "With the coming of evening that same day, he said to them: 'Let us cross over to the other side.' And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said, 'Master, do you not care? We are going down!' And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Quiet now! Be calm!' And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them, 'Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?' They were filled with awe and said to one another, 'Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.'"

Also read Luke 15:4-7; John 10: 1-21; Ezekiel 34; Jeremiah 23:1-4; Isaiah 56:11.

Rereading the opening quote, "God tempers the wind, said Maria, to the shorn lamb" here are 3 questions:

1) Does God go, "Ouch!" when someone smashes a mosquito dead when it's about to bore into one's arm? 2) Does God go, "Ouch!" when a fly is hit by a car and a wing is damaged? 3) Is God aware of each hair on each spider's head?

2012-01-03T07:22:00.000-08:00

YOU’RE RIGHT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for today, Tuesday, January 3nd, is “You’re Right!”

Today’s first reading from First Letter of John, Chapter 2 into Chapter 3, uses the words “righteous” and “righteousness”.

The issue of being right is a very human issue - and therefore - if I’m right - a very religious issue.

We join and stay with our religion because we think it’s right - we hope it’s right - we pray it’s right - and we use our brain and our faith as well - to follow it. We have blessed assurances from time to time - but we also have questions, we have doubts, and to the best of our understanding, we think it’s right.

LAST NIGHT

Last night, to prepare this homily I did what I like to do - I did some research on something in the readings - something that triggers wonderings or questions. The question of being right and righteousness hit me. Everyone wants to be right. We see that struggle in Jewish Scriptures as well as the Christian Scriptures.

In the Jewish Scriptures the Hebrew words for "right" and "righteous" and "righteousness" have the root word, “SEDEK”, spelled, “SEDEK” or “SEDAKA” or “TSEDAQUA”. [1]

In Judaism the goal in life was to see that God was RIGHT. Follow God and you’ll be right. And then be right with your family and your neighbor. No wrongs. No lies. No injustice. Be right with God.

Some kings were that way - described as being right with God and with the people - treating them with justice, loving kindness and mercy.

In time the list of what God wants us to do to be right increases. It takes in how to treat each other as well as what to eat, what not to eat, how to pray, how to worship, how to spend the Sabbath.

Jesus arrives and is off on what he sees is right and just and kind. He also sees that some people - some leaders - were off on what is right - to the detriment - to the crushing of the spirit of people - especially with regards the Sabbath. One picks up how the Scribes and the Pharisees were angry with him - especially when he healed people on the Sabbath.

So they killed him because they thought he wasn’t right. They told him that he was wrong.

Then comes the Acts of the Apostles and the beginning of the Early Church and we hear about Saul - a Pharisee - who saw Jewish folks following Jesus’ way. He too thought they were wrong and he was right - so he went after them - only to fall on his face - and discover something: he was wrong. Jesus was right.

In time he discovered that following Christ, entering into his life and spirit - is what makes for righteousness with God. And that’s what he basically preached: Righteousness, Salvation, Being Right with God is entering into Christ. We don’t earn all this. Grace and Salvation and Life: all is gift.

CONTRADICTION

Last night as I read all this, I felt the contradiction, the paradox, a major issue that was taking place in the life of Early Christians. They thought they were right; the Jewish people thought they were right and that was that. How does one deal with this contradiction, this paradox, this struggle - when two groups think they are right.

OLD STORY

Then the old joke of the Rabbi who was a great marriage counselor came to mind.

But last night I saw that the old joke is also a parable and the solution to this question about how do we deal with someone who thinks they are right, but we know we’re right.

The old joke goes something like this.

Once upon a time in the early part of the last century there was a small Jewish village in Eastern Europe. Their Rabbi was an excellent marriage counselor. Everyone raved about how wonderful he was.

His wife wondered about this all the time. She would meet another woman in the market place who would thank her for having such a wise husband - and how he helped her in her marriage Then she would meet men who would say the same thing. This happened all the time and all the time she jokingly would say to herself, “He certainly has fooled you.” She wanted to say, “Are we talking about the same person?” but she never dared say that.

Well, one day she was in the market and this woman says to her, “You’re the rabbi’s wife. You’re the luckiest woman in the world - having such a wonderful husband. My husband and I are having trouble and a bunch of my friends told me to see the Rabbi and tomorrow morning at 11 my husband and I are going to see him at your place.”

For the rest of the day it hit her: “Here is my chance to find out - just what he does with all these couples.”

So she tells her husband that evening that she’s going shopping tomorrow morning - and he really doesn’t hear her. She says to herself, “As usual.”

The next morning around 10:30 she dresses up to go downtown to do some shopping - and once more tells him that she’s going shopping. She’s gathering her stuff. It’s about 10 to 11 and he goes out back to the out house and she yells, “Bye now. I’m going shopping.”

She goes to the front door opens it - as he’s going out the back door. When she hears it close, she heads into the rabbi’s study or meeting or counseling room. She hides behind the curtain and waits and waits and waits. She hears the bell ring and she hears him welcoming the couple. She hears him say, “Who would like to come in and see me first?”

Silence. So she hears the husband say, “Honey, you go in first.”

The wife comes in and pours her heart out to the rabbi and says all the things that are eating her about her husband.

The Rabbi listens. After saying 3 or 4 times, “Anything else?” she says, “No. That’s it.”

“Well,” the rabbi says, “after hearing all that, you’re right. You’re right, but don’t tell your husband you’re right - just let him think he’s right. That’s the secret of a good marriage.”

The wife says, “Thank you. Thank you. I always thought was right.”

She walks out and in comes the husband. He tells the rabbi all his complaints about his wife - and this and that.

And after listening to him - and after getting him to voice all his complaints - the rabbi says, “You’re right. You’re right, but don’t tell your wife that you’re right. Just let her think she’s right. That’s the secret of a good marriage.”

And the husband with a wonderful smile says to the Rabbi. “I always knew I was right - but you’re right, I better not tell her - otherwise I might upset her once more.”

He too walks out of the Rabbi’s room with a great smile. And husband and wife give each other a nice hug and both say, “Thank you!” to the Rabbi.” And both walk back home holding hands.

The Rabbi is standing at the door - watching them walking together - and feeling good about himself. He turns around and there is his wife - furious. She says, “I was just in your room behind the curtain for the last 45 minutes and I heard you listen to that wife and then say, ‘You’re right.’ Then when you listened to her husband, you said the same thing to him. How can they both be right?”

And the rabbi said with a great smile, “You’re right.”

CONCLUSION

There’s a great lesson there. In life, when someone thinks they are right, our comments aren’t going to change things. So just remain quiet or say, “You’re right” and watch what happens.

Now some of you might disagree with this. Guess what? You’re right.

**********

NOTE

[1] The Hebrew word "TSEDEQ" or "SEDEK" is usually translated into Greek with the word, "DIKAIOS" or "DIKAIOSYNE" or "DIKAIOSIS" - with the sense of the Hebrew word "SEDEK".

2012-01-03T07:11:00.000-08:00

January 3, 2011

Quote for Today

"You will never 'find' time for anything.
If you want time, you must make it."

Charles Buxton

2012-01-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

January 2, 2012

Quote for Today

"Never look for the birds of this year in the nests of the last."

Miguel de Cervantes [1547-1616]

2012-01-01T15:19:00.000-08:00

IT’S ABOUT TIME

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Sunday, January 1st, is, “It’s About Time.”

That’s one of those phrases that has various meanings.

Time is something we think about from time to time - especially at the time of a new year - and a new calendar in our kitchen or wherever we hang our calendars.

Happy New Year.

As I took down my calendar this morning for 2011, I found a Sarah Palin calendar someone gave me last summer. I had forgotten about it. Surprise! Everyday there are surprises underneath everything.

FIRST MEANING - THE TIME OF OUR LIFE

The first meaning of time is numbers - the numbers on the calendar - the numbers in the time of our life.

Born: on such and such a day - in such and such a year - those numbers we put on the form when asked: date of birth?

And every year that goes by, we know our birth day - and the number of our years. We are not scared to announce them when we’re 2 - but we might hesitate to announce them when we’re 52 or 62 or 72.

Then as various poets put it - every year we go by our death day without knowing it - so there is no cake and ice cream - just the blowing out of the candle - on the anniversary of the day we are going to die.

Reality Therapy: we only have so much time - so many days, weeks, months and years.

How much time we get is anyone’s guess.

The Bible - in Psalm 90 - written way back when - said - we get seventy - and eighty if we’re blessed with good health. Every time I read that in the scriptures, I pinch myself, because I’m up to 72 now. My dad made it to 68 and my brother to 51, so I’m receiving a bonus so far. But my dad’s dad and my mom’s dad - made it to 90 +. Will I be that lucky? Am I wearing their genes? If my health is good and my brain system still work, I’ll take being 90. There aren’t enough people becoming priests - but would people take a 90 year old priest? Only time will tell.

So that’s the first reality - the numbers - the dates - the opening and the closing dates.

Babies in the night, kids in the playground, young people moving in packs in the mall trigger thoughts of the first moment: birth - childhood - the beginnings of the great adventure called, “life”.

Funerals, the obituary column, wrinkles, canes, leaks, wheelchairs, pains, cemeteries - white crosses along the highways - all remind us of the last moment: death. I believe and I hope in a next after that: I’ll take that reality - resurrection - on faith. I believe there will be a new morning after the mourning - after death - one’s personal Easter - Resurrection - because this was Jesus’ promise.

If we’re here this morning, we’ve been already launched in our time capsule. We’re here somewhere along the timeline of our life. It’s January 1st, 2012.

2012: 4 numbers in this combination are numbers we’ll need some time to get used to. Most of us here have been born in one century - the 20th - and we’re here to pray and Thank God for a new beginning in the 12th year of this 21st century.

So each of us has an opening act - and then when the play is over - we’ll have the closing of the curtain.

“All the world’s a stage" as Shakespeare put it in his play, As You Like It,

                    "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….”

How was the play? What parts did we play? Do we like our story so far? What has been the plot? Are we having the time of our life?

It seems some people choose to have the time of their life; others seem to lose the time of their life; while others refuse to have the time of their life.

Which is more me?
Let me now move to the second thought about time.

SECOND MEANING - THE REALITIVITY OF TIME

Einstein, who made it to 76, talked about the relativity of time and life.

Moreover, he didn't believe God played dice with the universe.

Life has meaning and we're meaning makers.

Einstein certainly led a full life - and when we walked on stage, people knew, "That's Albert Einstein!"

What happens when I walk into a room and come on stage?

What do people say?

Einstein worked to the end - bringing the draft of a big speech he was to give - with him to the hospital - where he died. When he realized his health condition, he said he wanted to die gracefully or as he put it, "elegantly".
He joked about his concept of the relativity of time when he said to his students, "When you’re with your girl friend, hours feel like minutes - but when you’re sitting in a classroom minutes seem like hours."

I always quote the old saying, “How long a minute takes depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on.” However, this quote has lost its power once homes were built with more than one bathroom.

We know time is very relative. My goal for how long a sermon I give should take is 10 minutes. If it feels like it’s only 7 minutes - great; if it feels like 15 minutes - or longer - that’s an uh oh.

Time is relative.

Sometimes we’re biting our nails while looking at the hands of a clock; sometimes we’re clapping our hands - totally forgetting what time it is.

Some years are better than other years.

How was 2011 for you? [Long Pause]

Answers to that question would tell you an awful lot about yourself.

Some years nobody dies.

Some years float by. Haven't we heard people say, "Looking back now my 30's are only a blur."

Some years had a lot of great things happening. Other years were tough, tough. They had stuff - especially death or a divorce or bad decision or a disaster in the family - that impacted our time on stage very dramatically.

Once more: how has your life been so far?

Did you ever think of writing your autobiography?

When I ask people that question, they pause and then ask back, “Who would read it?”

And I answer quickly, “You!”

How was 2011 for you?

Long before Einstein, Christianity talked about the relativity of time. It talked about the difference between chronos and kairos - 2 Greek words for “time”.

Those who high school kids at St. Mary's might have heard of a Kairos Retreat - and know the difference between Kairos and Chronos.
Chronos means tick, tick, tick tock time - or quiet digital creep. Chronos time is the same every year - except for this coming Leap Year - 2012.

Chronos time is our basic chronology.

Kairos time is special event time. Not every day is the same as every day.

At the Passover Meal, the smallest child asks the oldest person, “Why is this night different than any other night?”

Some days, some nights, are different from other days and other nights.

Sunday is different than Friday.

July 4th is different than January 1st.

At the Passover Meal, Jesus’ last supper, Jesus asked powerful questions and gave powerful answers about life - about the meaning of life. It’s as simple as sharing bread and wine with each other - and as complex as giving our lives to each other - saying, “This is my body - this is my blood - I’m giving my life for you.” In this giving of ourselves - we experience - transformation and transubstantiation. In this way we become consubstantial with Christ and each other - as we move slowly, slowly, slowly, more and more and more - into God.

Today, January 1st, our Church, goes backwards a bit to our beginning with Mary - who gave birth to a baby - who was born in a stable - whose first visitors were shepherds.

The shepherds see a great light. Have I seen the Light yet?

A new shepherd - a Good Shepherd - Jesus has appeared - as a baby - as a cry in the night - as one of us. Glory to God in the highest?

Why did Jesus come when he came?

In today’s second reading from Galatians, St. Paul answers by saying “When the fullness of time had come God sent his son, born of a woman…. “ Why then? Why there? The Jewish answer is obvious. “Why not?”

If there is one thing we need to discover with God when we start sending questions to God: it’s God’s saying, “Why not?”

Life is filled with mystery - “Why nots?” - surprises.

Life is not just tick, tock time.

Life is filled with our historical moments.

What does my life, my history, look like and sound like?

What have been my memorable lines when on stage?

We are an unwritten book of stories - moments - mysteries - scenes - surprises.

When we look back at a marriage, we see many twists and turns in the plot,  The marriage might have come about by going on a blind date - because someone gave us a call - or we went a certain school. Surprise! People meet people - fall in love - get married - and we couldn’t have planned the scenario. Ah sweet mystery of life…

What will 2012 be like for us? What will be its gifts and mysteries?

Answers to that question are forthcoming.

Answers to that question makes life so unboring.

CONCLUSION: AM I HAVING THE TIME OF MY LIFE?

The relativity of time challenges us to enter into the mystery by our choices. We can’t control a tsunami - or a hurricane - or a drunk driver - or a fire - or for the most part, noise from a neighbor’s house.

Yet we can control a few things in our house - but as they say, "Want to make God laugh, tell him your plans?"

Yet in time we can control our attitude, our reaction, our way of dealing with the cards we’re dealt.

I just spent 3 days with my family at a family wedding in Austin, Texas. How could anyone know Brian would meet Tanya at George Washington University - fall in love - and get married in Austin, Texas?

On the plane flying back last night, while watching a replay of the three days I was there, one of the things that hit me was the games of cards I saw our family playing. There were lots of games of cards - sometimes - four different groups were playing at the same time in the inner section of the hotel - which you can see from all the inner balconies. While waiting for our plane in Austin 4 of us were playing in the C35 waiting area. Two carry on luggage pieces, one on top of the other made a great card table.
Cards are one thing our family has always played in the in betweens between the main events of our lives.

My mom and dad played cards. We played cards. The next generation and the generation after our generation play cards. I love it that it’s just a deck of cards - without batteries - and there are no new models: just a deck of cards.

And if you play cards, you know about the moment of time we have after we pick up the cards we’ve been dealt. We pick them up with hope and expectation. We look at our hand. Then we ask ourselves: now how am I going to play these cards I just received?

Here is where New Year’s Resolutions could come in.

As we all know New Year’s Resolutions get a bad rap - and perhaps rightly so. The resolutions we make on December 31 or January 1st - are usually not the real resolutions that work in life.

I suspect real life resolutions happen when we have to react to how the game of cards called life is being played. Others play a card and we have to act and react. Next! Now what do I do because of what another has just done?

I suspect real resolutions happen when we fall on our face - or when we are forced to make changes - because of something that was just dealt us.

There is a word in today’s gospel - “reflecting” that is worth reflecting upon. It says that “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”

My first reaction upon reading this was that the word “ponder” had disappeared - as in "Mary was pondering all these things in her heart."

I checked out various translations from the Greek into English, and noticed that some use the word "ponder" and some don’t. I like "ponder" better than "reflect". But as is obvious, I don’t get what I want in life - many, many times. Someone else is dealing the cards. Dang it.

For those interested the Greek word in the original text is, “sumballo” - to throw together. You can hear the word “ball” there - to catch the ball that is thrown to us and to run with it.

Whatever. …

So let me suggest two things to ponder this year.

The first would be to ponder or reflect upon what we’re reflecting upon.

Auguste Rodin, the sculptor, was right. We all have seen his famous statute of “The Thinker”. That’s us. Every one of us - when we get down to our Naked Self - are thinkers.

So it’s good to think about what we are think about - to catch our thoughts - to run after the bouncing ball of each thought.. That will tell us an awful lot about ourselves.

And secondly: to resolve this year to reflect deeper and deeper on what has happened and what is happening in our life - how we got from where we were to where we are right now.

To reflect upon: how am I using the time of my life and am I having the time of my life? If not, why not. It’s time to be having the time of my life. You’re here this morning. You know there are 168 hours in a week - and you know this one hour a week - helps you deal better with the other 167 hours of the week.

I’m thinking one of the things that happens at Mass is like that moment we’re looking at the cards we’re dealt. What now? What next? Then we go forward - fed and fortified by the Lord Jesus - hopefully having the time of our lives.

If we’re not, then it’s about time that we enjoy this day - this moment - this time in our life.

If we’re not, it’s about time, we ponder and become amazed at the gift of life we have received. A lot of things had to happen - a zillion billion trillion of them in fact - to get us to this moment of life - here in this place right now, January 1st, 2012.

So have a Happy New Year!

**********

Note:

This is the basic text I used this morning for my homily. However, this Blog version is a bit longer, because I tried to clarify it and strengthen it - a bit. As a result it got longer in this fix up.

Picture of the 1902 sculpture, "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin - [1840-1917]

2012-01-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

January 1, 2012

Quote for the Day

"No one ever regarded the first of January with indifference."

Charles Lamb [1775-1834]

2011-12-31T22:13:00.000-08:00

December 31, 2011

Quote for Today

"A noted preacher had a special black book labeled, 'Complaints of Members Against One Another.' When one of his congregation told him about the faults of another, he would say, 'Here is my complaint book. I will write down what you say, and you can sign it. Then when I have time I will take up the matter officially concerning this sister or brother.' The sight of the open book and the ready pen had its effect. 'Oh no, I couldn't sign anything like that!' they would say. In 40 years this preacher never got anyone to write a line in it."

Anonymous in Voice of Truth

2011-12-29T01:18:00.000-08:00

December 30, 2011

Quote for The Day

"Life is merely a fraction of a second.
An infinitely small amount of time to fulfill
our desires, our dreams, our passions."

Paul Gauguin [1848-1903]

Painting on top: "The Yellow Christ", "Le Christ jaune", 1889 - by Paul Gauguin, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y.

2011-12-29T01:04:00.000-08:00

December 29, 2011

Quote for Today

"Les vrais paradis sont les paradis qu'on a perdus."

"The true paradises are paradises we have lost."

Marcel Proust [1871-1922], Le temps retouve (Time Regained, 1926, translated 1931 by S. Hudson, chapter 3, p. 215.

Painting on top, "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" 1897, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, by Paul Gauguin [1848-1903]

2011-12-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

AWARENESS

OF THE POWER

OF BAD EXAMPLE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of the Holy Innocents - December 28 - is, “Awareness of the Power of Bad Example.”

HIGH SCHOOL RETREAT

Let me begin with by mentioning a very interesting thing that happened on a high school retreat with some of our kids.

There we were having a group discussion on the issue of teen age drinking and drugs. Sitting there listening, it triggered the memory of a meeting for parents that I attended a few years back about teenage issues. A specialist on teenage issues was the main speaker. She worked in Anne Arundel County. St. Mary’s was on average with other high schools in the country regarding teenage drinking. I was hoping we would be lower; I was glad we were not higher. The presenter had done an anonymous survey amongst our kids - and was telling parents what she saw was going on with our kids. I was also thinking about things kids have said in other discussions on this very issue.

That’s how it began - but the interesting thing that hit me didn't happen yet.

The young people first started talking about themselves. They talked about peer pressure - driving after drinking - looking for parties with booze, everybody does it, etc.

Then surprise, they started talking about how some of their parents drink too much - and also offer their kids alcohol at times. I had heard that before as well.

Now the interesting moment …. For the first time, I heard the following: these high school kids talked about how they were giving bad example with their drinking to the younger kids in our school - as well as to their brothers and sisters.

FREEZE THAT: AWARENESS OF MY POWER TO GIVE BAD EXAMPLE

I wanted to yell, “Freeze the moment!” I wanted to yell, “Great insight! Some of you are saying that you are moving from being self-centered to being other-centered.”

I didn’t because I thought the conversation was progressing very well. It was moving into possible further awareness’s they were not seeing till that moment.

I kept listening and noticed that the conversation - was opening up some mouths that were quiet till then. I sat there hoping and praying that more minds would open to deeper and further challenges.

It would be great if those moments in that discussion could be frozen and then thawed out as life moved on for them.

I am personally scared for these kids as they move on to college - where for some kids binge nights are every night.

Each of us needs to pause and examine what is the good example I’m giving - and what are the bad examples I’m giving - especially towards children.

I also hoped that they would move their words from babble to not picking up the bottle.

Example speaks louder than words.

JESUS WAS OFF ON THIS TOPIC

For starters Jesus was off on this topic - not to give bad example - especially towards children.

He said it would be better to have a mill stone tied around your neck and you’re thrown into the sea - than to have given bad example to kids. That’s a strong statement. [Cf. Mark 9:42; Matthew 18:6; Luke 17:2]

Then paradoxically - but really not - Jesus struggled to get people to go within - to walk around listening to their inner thoughts - checking out their actual attitudes - that this was more important than outward example.

He said this because the Pharisees could give good example, but in reality, it was their inside, their motives, that Jesus went after. Yes they gave good example. However, they used their example to try to manipulate people to think these Pharisees were super people.

A QUOTE

Someone said, “A good example is worth a thousand sermons.”

If that is true, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, what is the impact of bad example?

If Chinese kids speak Chinese - because that is the language they hear at home - then it’s obvious they speak the language, the tones, the attitudes, the meanings of their parents.

If the message of Christmas is that the word became flesh, then we need to realize that our words become flesh in others, especially children. Children are our words become flesh. We have the accent and the attitudes, the behavior and the being of our parents.

Today’s gospel talks about the slaughter of the Holy Innocents. In how many homes are the words of Jeremiah that we hear in today’s gospel being fulfilled because of the bad example of others - especially because of alcohol - and people are killed because of drunken drivers or alcohol poisoning? [Cf. Matthew 2: 13 - 18; Jeremiah 31: 15]

                     A voice was heard in Ramah,
                     sobbing and loud lamentation;
                     Rachel weeping for her children,
                     and she would not be consoled,
                     since they were no more.

If the message of today’s first reading is to be aware of sin - as well as our words and impact on others - then we need to grow in awareness of the power of our example. [Cf. 1 John 1:5-2:2]

CONCLUSION

Today the feast of the Holy Innocents, my message is to be aware of our impact on children. We can kill kids by the impact of our bad example on the innocent.

2011-12-28T05:50:00.000-08:00

December 28, 2011

Quote for Today

"Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind."

W. Somerset Maugham [1874-1965], Of Human Bondage (1915), Chapter39

2011-12-27T10:54:00.000-08:00

2 FEELINGS:

COMPLETE AND INCOMPLETE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “2 Feelings: Complete and Incomplete.”

We know what it is to feel complete and we know what it feels to be incomplete.

We know the difference. We know when something or someone is missing. We know when we finished something - and we feel it went well - for example, experiencing Christmas as a family, putting together a great family meal - vacation - or what have you.

DREW BREES

Last night I was watching Monday night football. I wanted to get to bed but I also wanted to see if Drew Brees would break Dan Marino’s single season yards passing record of 5084 from 1984.

The problem was I was alone. Father Joe Krastel would have been there - but he’s up at his brother’s. Then a priest who was visiting us for 2 days dropped in our common room - where I was watching TV. Well, the game got slow. He wanted to see the record broken - but it wasn’t happening, so he went to bed. He said he was quite tired. Well, right near the end of the game Drew Brees pulled it off and broke the record with a touchdown pass.

It was neat - but I didn’t feel complete - because I was by myself - and it’s great to see these things with others.

It triggered a memory of the same thing happening years ago. It was the first game of the 1988 World Series. The Dodgers were losing 4-3 in the 9th inning against the Oakland Athletics. Dennis Eckersley their closer was on the mound. Kirk Gibson came out of the locker room for the Dodgers and Tommy Lasorda put him in the pinch hit. Gibson said that he was available. One Dodger was on base. Both of Gibson’s legs were injured from the previous games to get to the World Series. He also had a stomach virus. This was to be his only appearance in the World Series. The count was 0 and 2 - then Gibson worked the count to 3 and 2. As in the movie, The Natural, Kirk Gibson’s hits a famous home run. It was great, but I felt incomplete, because I was by myself. The Dodgers went on to win the 1988 World Series 4 games to 1.

I am sure you have had the same experience - the names, the place, the situation would be different - but you know the feeling. It’s the same.

To be human is to want to go through life with others - especially to share the biggest and best moments - with another or others.

This is what makes death and divorce and separations so tough.

This is why Genesis has the words, “It is not good to be alone.”

EVEN DEEPER

What’s even deeper and more painful is when another or others are there but they yawn or they look at their watch - or they don’t understand what we’re so excited about - or they don’t care about sports or religion or what have you.

GET THAT?

Get that, get this idea about not being connected, or being alone or being out of sync with another or others, you then grasp one of the key themes of John the Evangelist?

He knew about communion. He knew about Christ. He knew what makes for joy: it’s communion.

He grasped the loneliness of Jesus who came amongst us - and people didn’t get him or his words - and walked away. Then John adds, but to those who do receive the Word, they get the fullness - the completeness.

In today’s first reading from 1st John he tells his motive for writing. I write that you too will get what we got: Jesus. And we tell you, so that your joy may be complete. [Cf. 1 John 1: 1-4.]

That’s why in today’s gospel we hear that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb - she was empty without Jesus. That’s why in today’s gospel Peter and John ran to the tomb. That’s why John says of John, “He saw and believed.” Faith is connection. Faith brings completeness. [Cf. John 20: 1a, 2-8.]

CONCLUSION

Completeness ….

The hunger for completeness ….

That’s what makes the world go round.

That’s why the world is round - so that we roll towards each other.

That’s why the apple and the orange are round…. Want a piece?

That’s why the communion is round …. Take and eat.

2011-12-27T10:09:00.001-08:00

December 27, 2011

Quote for Today

"Suppose all the joys, the cares, and the opportunities afforded you in life could be gathered into a bag which you could carry on your shoulders. And suppose each person in the world brought his burden to one common heap, there to be given the privilege of depositing his bag and selecting any other bag of his or her choice. Do you know what would happen? Invariably, each one would be content once again to pick up the bag he had deposited on the heap and go his or her way."

Based on Plutarch, Consolation to Apollonius. I've heard variations of this metaphor using the image of the cross rather than the bag.

2011-12-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

December 26, 2011

Quote for Today

"The cut worm forgives the plow."

William Blake [1757-1827]

2011-12-25T08:54:00.000-08:00

2 WISE WOMEN,

1 WISE MAN

[The title for my Christmas Story for 2011 is, “2 Wise Women, 1 Wise Man.” Every Christmas I write a Christmas story in memory of Father John Duffy who died Christmas Eve 1993 - and who wrote a Christmas story for his niece every Christmas. I typed out a few of them for him. Hearing about his death that Christmas Eve while sitting down to write a sermon - I decided on writing a Christmas story - in his memory - instead - and I’ve been doing that every Christmas since. This year’s story # 19 - is entitled, “2 Wise Women, 1 Wise Man.”]

You never know what’s going on behind closed doors - as you drive down any street - any road - any avenue - in any city, town or village - across our world - any day - let alone Christmas Day. You never know what a group at any table at any restaurant around our world are toasting, if you’re sitting there at another table and they lift their glasses. “You can only imagine” as the song goes. “You can only imagine.”

Once upon a time, there was this couple named Maria and Jose - and they lived in San Antonio, Texas - both born in the good old USA.

Jose’ dad was a shepherd - who had drifted over the border from Mexico a long time ago - finding work as a shepherd on the Edwards Plateau in Texas. I believe this was in the 1920’s. Then when things got tough - he moved to San Antonio and took any job he could get. He married Serena - and they raised 6 kids - the youngest being Jose - who at 25 married a woman named Maria.

Jose and Maria were not blessed with children. They tried and tried - hoped and hoped - but they had no luck in bringing children into this world. This was painful because their many brothers and sisters had many kids - and they knew that the gift of a child - was the gift of a lifetime. Wasn’t that at the heart of the Christmas story? God knows us very well. He came in the birth of a child. So Christmas, especially Christmas, was one tough moment for Jose and Maria.

At the age of 30, they decided on adopting kids. This all takes place back in the early 1950’s. Adoption wasn’t as difficult and as expensive as it is now. They adopted two girls and a boy - each very different from each other. Chad, the boy - was from French Equatorial Africa - now called Congo. Susan, a Navajo girl, was from New Mexico. And Toki, the other girl, was from Japan. As I said, these 3 kids came from very different backgrounds. We’ll leave the story on how they found these 3 kids to another story.

Schools in San Antonio were okay. Actually, with these 3, it didn’t make much difference because these 3 kids were sponges for knowledge. Their parents, Maria and Jose, had the wisdom to let them learn - challenging them with their homework as well as bringing them to the library every Saturday - helping them lug at least 10 books home each week.

These 3 kids grew in wisdom, age and grace, as the Bible puts it.

And you might not believe this, but one went to Princeton, one to Georgetown, one to Notre Dame. None went for sports. All went for knowledge and for the future.

One went to work for the World Bank in Europe. One went to work in the Foreign Service of our country - serving in Korea, Taiwan and Cambodia. The third, Susan, the Navajo from New Mexico, after graduating from Princeton with honors - went and became a nun. This brought great joy to her parents - who were devout Catholics all their lives. She ended up teaching and then doing social work with Native Americans in Washington State, Arizona, New Mexico and then doing advocacy work for Native Americans in Washington D.C.

Time went on. Toki and Chad had wonderful marriages - marrying someone they met in their field. Both had families of 5 kids each - all of whom flourished. Family pictures that came in the mail every Christmas went on refrigerator doors of relatives and friends and stayed for quite a while. Obviously they stayed on mom and dad’s refrigerator door all year long. These grand kids had great facial features - great mixes of DNA. Whatever it takes to form beautiful textures in our looks - these 5 kids from Toki and her husband, these 5 kids from Chad and his wife got them.

Some not so good news…. Living at great distances - scattered all around the world - holding important jobs - being very busy - they were not able - unlike so many families - to get together as a family for Christmas and Thanksgiving with mom and dad - Jose and Maria.

Yet, Maria and Jose would see their 3 kids and Toki and Chad’s kids - but never all together. That was a sword that cut into their hearts at times. Hearing about the work their 3 kids were doing - and what their grand kids were up to - in various places around the world - made up for that at times. However, Christmas could be tough - because they knew what Christmas could be like when all the family were together as they experienced it when their mom and dad were alive.

Their 3 kids of course did get back - in time - for their parents funerals: dad in 1973 and mom in 1979. Toki - was almost late for her mom’s funeral. She had to take 3 different planes to get back home to San Antonio from Cambodia.

Toki and Chad retired in the early 1990’s. Both settled back home in the States. Susan, Sister Susan, was still working in Washington D.C. She jokingly said she had become a Redskins fan - especially in their better years. Toki and Chad’s kids were off and running - college - marriage - interesting jobs - and like their parents, they too were making starting to make a difference in different parts of our world.

Now here is where the story gets wonderful - and why I loved this story as I heard it the first place.

In the year 2000 Toki and Chad - remember both were retired - were talking to each other on the phone - one from New York and the other from St. Paul, Minnesota. They were talking about their mom and dad. “You know, we’ve been busy all our lives - working, working, working - as parents and public servants. You know, we never really sat down and talked to each other as adults about our roots.”

Then one of them said - looking back, they are not sure which one actually said this, “Why don’t we get together and do just that. Let’s call Susan to see if she thinks the same.”

So they called Susan and all 3 decided to meet in San Antonio for their first Christmas together in at least 40 years. They picked Christmas, because Christmas is a get-together day for all of us - especially family. They picked Christmas because down deep they knew this is where it all begins for those of us who are Christians and Catholics. The crib is where we come from as Christians. It begins with a baby.

Then came the question: just us or with our kids as well?

With Toki and Chad’s kids scattered all over the place - with cost and logistics, they decided they wanted to do this upcoming Christmas with just us. So it would be Sister Susan by herself, Toki with her husband from Minnesota and Chad with his wife from New York. It sounded a bit selfish at first, so they told their kids that we’ll get together for Thanksgiving as usual. They added, “We need to get together in San Antonio to do something that was long overdue.”

Toki checked the Internet and found a good hotel in San Antonio and booked it for 3 rooms for Christmas 2000 - 3 days and 3 nights.

“What are we going to do? What are we going to talk about for 3 days?” These were the questions that intrigued them a bit for the next few months before Christmas.

When they got to San Antonio and began their talking, they laughed, because it was no problem. They talked and talked and talked. They went looking for their old homes - two of them. One was still standing. They rang that bell and told the family who lived there, that they lived there way bay. They were welcomed in and stories began flowing. They went to their old church. It was still standing - still going full steam ahead. They also went searching for their old schools. Both grammar and high school were long gone. They rented a big car and took a four and a half hour drive one day to the Edwards Plateau - where their grandfather who came from Mexico to work as a shepherd in the 1920’s first worked.

All through this, Toki and Chad’s spouses were very quiet - but were enjoying hearing all the stories.

On the way back from Edwards Plateau the light went on for what these 3 people on this planet were going to do for Christmas for the next bunch of years.

Someone said, “Hello! We’re adopted.”

Silence.

Sometimes the obvious brings the most silence.

“What about where we come from?”

Of course they had thought about this many times - but never had time to really check it out. So the plan was to check out their stories and then travel to their roots.

They were going to spend Christmas in Japan where Toki came from. They were going to spend Christmas at a reservation in New Mexico where Sister Susan came from. They were going to spend Christmas in the Congo where Chad came from. They were going to spend time in Mexico where their grandfather came from and Oklahoma City where their grandmother had come from. They were going to spend time in Corpus Christi, Texas where their mom, Maria had originally come from - and on and on and on.

And this they did. They had been too busy all these years to follow their own star - only guiding others to find their stars and their destinations. They finally got the wisdom to sit at the roots of their other trees. Each Christmas from 2000 on till today - they found wonderful Christmas gifts under their different family trees - ready to be unwrapped and shared with each other.

You should see the face book pictures and entries and the e-mail stories they sent their children and grand kids and friends from all these fascinating places - they visited - the places where they came from.

Almost finished this story ….

One small ritual - one small ritual every Christmas night - from these three - Chad, Toki and Susan - whether it was in Japan or Mexico, the Congo or New Mexico - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma or Corpus Christi, Texas, they raised their glasses at every meal - at least twice and toasted, “To mom and dad, Jose and Maria, thank you for the gift of life - thank you for bringing us together. Thank you for the gift of family. Amen!”

**********

Painting on top: The Journey of the Magi, c. 1435, by Stefano di Giovanni [Sassetta], Sienese.

This story is total imagination - translation - nothing is true - except the reality of places like Edwards Plateau in Texas - 238 miles from San Antonio.

2011-12-25T06:24:00.000-08:00

December 25, 2011

Quote for Christmas Day

TU SCENDI DALLE STELLE

Tu scendi dalle stelle
O Re del Cielo
E vieni in una grotta
Al freddo al gelo
E vieni in una grotta
Al freddo al gelo.

O Bambino mio Divino
Io ti vedo qui a tremar,
O Dio Beato!
Ah, quanto ti costò
L’avermi amato.
Ah, quanto ti costò
L’avermi amato.

A te che sei del mondo,
Il creatore,
Mancano panni e fuoco,
O mio Signore.
Mancano panni e fuoco,
O mio Signore.

Caro eletto pargoletto,
Quanto questa povertà
Più mi innamora,
Giacchè ti fece amor
Povero ancora.
Giacchè ti fece amor
Povero ancora.

Video on top: Luciano Pavorotti singing "Tu Scende Dalle Stelle" - a famous Italian Christmas song which was written by the founder of the Redemptorists, St. Alphonsus de Liguori.

2011-12-24T06:51:00.000-08:00

December 24, 2011

Quote for Today

"God knows no distance."

Charleszetta Waddles

Painting on top: Holy Night by Carlo Maratta, 1625-1717

2011-12-23T05:50:00.000-08:00

December 23, 2011

Quote for Today

"If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead."

Gelett Burgess

2011-12-22T06:50:00.000-08:00

December 22, 2011

Quote for Today

"If you wait for inspiration you'll be standing on the corner after the parade is a mile down the street."

Ben Nicholas

2011-12-21T06:20:00.000-08:00

December 21, 2011

Quote for Today

"Can anything be sadder than work unfinished? Yes; work never begun."

Christina Rossetti [1830-1894]

2011-12-20T07:29:00.000-08:00

AMAZING GRACE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this December 20th is, “Amazing Grace!”

That word “grace” in today’s gospel - Luke 1:26-30 - when the Angel Gabriel says to Mary, “Hail, full of grace” - triggers all kinds of stuff for me. It’s a great reminder that God is always “hailing” me - that life is full of grace. Everyday is filled with gifts. However, I need reminders over and over again - every day in fact.

For starters, what a great morning prayer, to wake up every morning - to sit on the edge of one’s bed - to pause - half awake or half asleep still - to listen - to hear the message from the angels of the morning saying to us, “Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with you.”

That should / would / could scare us and then we can hear the angels follow up by saying what the Angel Gabriel said, “Do not be afraid.”

What a great attitude to have for each day - not to be afraid - because the Lord is with us - and we are filled with grace.

IN GREEK

In Greek the words for “Hail, full of grace” are “Kaire kekaritomene”.

Obviously, the English is just a translation. This greeting in Luke becomes part of the Hail Mary - as in, “Hail Mary, full of grace.”

“Kaire” means “Hello”. It’s a greeting - a joyful greeting. It’s a connecting. We’re hailing down Mary - and we still use that word “hail” as in “hailing a cab”. It’s a cheerful “hello”. It’s a call to celebrate, rejoice! It’s a “Surprise! I’m here!”

Then it’s followed in Greek by a big long word, “kekaritomene”. Hear the sound in that word of the Greek word “charis” - gift - as in being gifted - receiving charisma.

The angel is saying to Mary that you are God’s favorite. You are favored and loved by God. You’re God’s delight.

To translate these words “charis” and kekaritomene” - is quite a trick - especially because the theology of Grace has a long and heavy and varied history - in theology and in understandings.

A man named Ilion T. Jones said, “The word ‘Grace” is unquestionably the most significant word in the Bible.”

Questionably that’s quite a statement. As I looked up the word “Grace” in two theology dictionaries last night, I caught what he was saying. Grace was presented in long articles - many pages long. [1]

I also quickly went through Section IV of M. Scott Peck's classic book, The Road Less Traveled, pp. 233-312. It's entitled, "Grace!" and well worth going through again and again. [2]

THIS MORNING

For this morning I would simply like to convey that grace is amazing.

Grace overwhelmed John Newton - who wrote the famous hymn, “Amazing Grace”. I’m sure you heard the story about how he was a slave ship captain - who had a tough life - whom God delivered, who saved a wretch like him. In a great storm at sea he thought he was going to die. He didn’t. He converted to Christ. He eventually became a Calvinistic Methodist minister - who was against slavery.

The more we reflect upon our life - that we are alive - that we are in our skin - that we exist - that we are not slaves - we’re free - should have a tremendous impact on us.

For starters we have to reflect upon all that had to happen for us to be here this morning. We are a link in a chain - a long chain - of happenings - our parents meeting each other - getting married - the same with their parents - and their parents - all the way back to the beginning. Amazing. Amazing graces.

Being single - not having children - stares me in the face - on and off through my life. I stopped a line. I broke a chain. Amazing - as well as an “Uh oh!”

I’m also amazed that I have been blessed with a hundred million miracles to be me.

Today’s first reading from Isaiah 7:10-14 talks about asking for a sign - there are dozens of them every day - and thousands in a lifetime.

I have been gifted with faith and hope and love by God and so many.

When I hear the word “grace” I think of the phrase, “But for the grace of God.”

I’m here in church this morning by my own choice. I came with my own legs. I dipped my own hand in the holy water font. I said with my own mind, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

I realize that. Yet, I hesitate. How much of all that is the result of forces and people other than myself. I wonder how much of me is me? I’m amazed when I read some book that I read twenty years ago and I laugh and say to myself, “That’s where I heard that.” When I see a mom or dad walking into church with their kids, I say, “Thank you mom and dad for walking me into church.”

So when I think of others, I say, “Who am I to judge my neighbor - who’s here - who’s not here?” Yet I do it - and we all do it - everyday. Well, not everyday - but some days. Father forgive me for I don’t know what I do at times. But for the grace of God here I am.

I think of e.e. Cummings words, “be of love a little more careful than anything”. I then say, “be of grace, be of faith, be of judging, be of thinking a little more careful than anything.”

Amazing grace….

NOTES

Picture on top: from inside Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, Spain, this past September.

(1) Quentin Quesnell, “Grace,” in The New Dictionary of Theology, editors Joseph A. Komonchak, Mary Collins, Dermot A. Lane, A Michael Glazier Book, Collegeville, Minnesota, pp. 437-450; Robert Haight, S.J., “Grace,” in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, editor, Michael Downey, A Michael Glazier Book, Collegeville, Minnesota, pp. 452 - 464.

[2] M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled, A Touchstone Book, Published by Simon and Schuster, New York, 1978

2011-12-20T07:25:00.001-08:00

December 20, 2011

Quote for Today

"Our latest moment is always our supreme moment. Five minutes delay in dinner now is more important than a great sorrow ten years gone."

Samuel Butler

2011-12-19T12:35:00.001-08:00

OUCH!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for December 19th, is, “Ouch!”

One of the words that I heard my god-child and niece Patty use is, “Ouch!”

When someone says something stupid or offensive or without thinking and it’s something that hurts or is the wrong thing to say, she says, “Ouch!”

I’m glad she does that, because now I find myself saying that to myself a few times - and if the dumb thing has already been flying out of my mouth and into and around the room, I say, “Sorry! That was the wrong thing to say. I apologize.”

But better, I have found myself saying, “Ouch” a bunch of times before I said something stupid. Then I say in-loud, “Thank you Patty. Thank you!”

NO CHILDREN

One of the instances where people do say the wrong thing is about people having or not having children - too many, too few or none. I’ve heard “Ouch” moments around that question from time to time.

We don’t know other people. We don’t know their story. We don’t know their situations. We haven't walked in their moccasins for a mile - or their sins - if that's what we think is going on for that matter.

In today’s readings we have two stories about women who wanted to have children - whom neighbors and perhaps even themselves - described that woman as “barren”. There are enough stories in the scriptures about this question - that we know in the Biblical world if you didn’t bring a child into the world, you were looked down upon - and people even looked down on themselves. [Cf. Judges 13: 2-7, 24-25a; Luke 1: 5-25]

Today’s gospel ends with Elizabeth going into seclusion - before giving birth to her child - in her old age - and she’s thinking and praising God saying, “So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.”

So she felt it was a disgrace not to have had a child.

NOT BEING MARRIED

Or take Mary and Joseph - they weren’t married yet - and Mary was with child. Read these early chapters of Luke and you pick up this issue of comments about others in small town Israel.

Once more, we don’t know another’s story.

The same thing happens today.

Or take people who make “ouch” statements about those who never got married or people who were divorced or what have you - as well as those who are gay or lesbian.

I remember many a Saturday evening Open Forum session on weekend retreats when some guy ranted and raved about gay people - only to have some father speak up and say, “You have no idea what you’re talking about - till you have a son who is gay - and all the pain and struggle that brings about - till one makes peace with one’s son or daughter or family.”

Ouch!

Silence.

CONCLUSION

So this is a short sermon or reflection on the simple but powerful word, “Ouch!"

Before you shoot your shotgun on any issue: from abortion to zebra stealing - pause - take your finger off the trigger.

Before you shoot off your mouth off about other’s motives - pause. This would be include comments about clothes, length and look - or what have you. Haven't we all heard comments like, “Did you see her - what she’s wearing at her age - or her weight?”

“Ouch!”

Haven’t we all heard comments like, “Did you see who was talking to whom?” Or, “Did you see who was having lunch with whom? What’s up with them?” “Did you see who went to communion?” Or, “She never goes to communion. I wonder why?”

“Ouch!”

Pause! Sometimes guns backfire.

Pause! Otherwise you might cause yourself shame - or hurt - or both - as well as for the other - and when we hurt or are hurt we all feel, “Ouch!”

2011-12-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

December 19, 2011

Quote for Today

"The five most important questions a kindergarten child asks are:

             1) Why?
             2) Why?
             3) Why?
             4) Why?
             5) Why?"

Anonymous

2011-12-18T07:12:00.000-08:00

SURPRISE! GOD IS

A GOD OF SURPRISES!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 4th Sunday of Advent, B, is, “Surprise! God Is A God of Surprises!”

Life would be very boring - if there were no surprises.

Life would be very boring - if we wrote the script - and that’s the way our life went.

Life would be very boring - if we could see around the corner, if we could see tomorrow and next year - and the rest of our lives.

Life could also be very nerve wracking, dangerous, depressive, if we knew how our marriages, jobs, our family, our future were going to happen.

Surprise!

God is a God of surprises.

Life is the surprises.

That’s why we put wrapping on the gift!

Question: How well do we do with surprises?

Question: How well do we do - when things don’t go our way?

Same question but phrased slightly different: What do I do when I want what I want and I don’t get what I want or get?

IF WE WERE GOD

If we were God, how would we create the world, the universe, life, death, change, that is, if we could create things any way we wanted things to be?

After all - we are made in the image and likeness of God and we are called to magnify the Lord.

Could we come up with a better plan than the present plan?

Would we make anything different from the way things are happening now?

How would we plan today? Would we plan it differently than what’s going to happen today? Who’s going to win today’s games? What happens if someone else was also God and they planned the other team to beat our team?

I remember thinking something like that while we just about to begin a high school basketball game. We were standing in a circle praying. I looked up from the prayerful head bowed down look and noticed the other team was also praying - and I thought, “God how does this work?”

If we were God, would there be life on other planets - besides earth? Maybe there is, but as of now, we don’t know if there is.

Would people get cancer, heart problems? Would there be deaths at 15 or 5 or 35 or 95?

Does God zap people? Does God know what our choices are going to be? Do our choices get God to change His plans? How does all this work?

If we were the Creator, would we have come up dinosaurs and Dalmatians? How come the dinosaurs disappeared and the Dalmatians still run through our fields? How about hippos and horses, mosquitoes and monkeys? Why did God create what God created?

Does God laugh at anything he created?

Was God in on how Danny De Vito, Lady Gaga and George Clooney look?

Does God laugh only at us humans?

We’ve all have heard the words: “Want to make God laugh, tell God your plans?”

We’ve all heard John Lennon’s words, “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.”

We’ve all heard the Portuguese proverb: “God writes straight with crooked lines.”

We’ve all heard Garth Brooks song, “Unanswered prayers” - how he goes to a hometown football game with his wife and how he meets his old flame - and he reflects on how he prayed to God every night that this high school sweetheart would be the one he’d spend his life with - and as he turns to his wife he sings, “Thank God for unanswered prayers.”

People think and have thought about this stuff “all through the years.”

If we were God, would we have picked Israel for the country to come up with One God? Would we have picked Mary? If we were God, say God the Father, would we have sent our Son at the time in history Jesus was sent? Some guy named, William Norman Ewer (1885-1976) wrote “How odd of God to choose the Jews.”

Was it odd that God chose the Jews?

Whom would we choose, if we were to choose some group to start the plan called “Salvation History”? The Navahos, the Eskimos, the people on the island of Crete?

Whom would we choose to be the Mother of his Son - if that’s the way we were going to do this?

PEACE

Do those who trust in God have more inner peace than those who want life to work differently than it’s working now?

What does it take for someone to be at peace with God - with oneself - with others?

What are the implications of our having freedom and free will?

TODAY’S READINGS

In today’s first reading references are made to David being chosen to lead Israel by God and God had expectations of David. It’s payback time. It’s calling in favors time. God is expecting David to build a temple. David is living in a nice big house made of cedar and the ark of the covenant is living in a tent. God is saying, “What’s wrong with this picture? Hello!” [Cf. 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16]

As we know from the First Book of Samuel, Chapter 16, God tells Samuel to go to Jesse - who has lots of sons - to find the one whom God has chosen. Samuel sees 7 sons of Jesse - thinking surely the one the Lord wants is here. Nope. So he asks Jesse, “Do you have any other son?” I wonder if the 7 heard that question. Did one of them say, “Hey Jesse, are we chopped liver?” Jesse says to Samuel, “There is still one more, the youngest, he is out taking care of the sheep.” Samuel says, “Send for him. We won’t eat till he comes. The boy appears and God says, to Samuel, ‘Come, anoint him, for this is the one.”

Surprise! You never know whom God calls.

In today’s gospel God chooses Mary - a young maiden girl living in a small village far from the big cities. Surprise God chooses Mary. And like Eve - like us - she has the power of choice. She asks questions - then she makes the choice to choose to give us the fruit of the tree - the tree of life - the cross - Jesus. [Cf. Luke 1:26-38]

And we are given the choice every day to choose Christ: “Take and eat!”

In today’s second reading from Romans 16 Paul tells us about surprise. He calls it mystery. He calls it “secret”. Then Paul talks about listening - the call to listen - to listen for revealings, manifestations - from God. That’s the basic meaning of the word “obedience”. It’s to listen. It’s to hear the Word of the Lord in scripture. It’s to embrace Jesus - the word made flesh - who dwelt amongst us. [Cf. Romans 16: 25-27]

Mary - whenever an artist paints today’s gospel - pictures Mary listening - listening for annunciations.

Prayer is annunciation - but too often - our mouth is mouthing prayers - and we don’t hear.

Jesus calls that babbling - babbling prayer - be careful of that. [Cf. Matthew 6: 7]

As they say, we have two ears and one mouth - but that is applied more to everyday conversations. Jesus - watching people praying in his time - warned us and the Pharisees about babbling prayer.

CONCLUSION: CHRISTMAS

Christmas is a time for deep prayer.

Christmas is a time for deep pondering prayer.

Did you notice that verb - ponder - in today's gospel?

Christmas is a time for great listening prayer.

When the Christmas Stable is set up, watch the stable. Listen to the Christmas story. The shepherds are out there in the fields - caring for the sheep - and like David they are called to come to the meet the Lord - in a stable. Look at the animals, they are listening. Watch the Magi - they are searching and come in from the cold into the stable.

Listen to the songs, “Silent night, holy night!” “O come all you faithful….”

Christmas is a time to change your tent into a temple for the Lord.

In the meanwhile, laugh, because Christ comes to this world in a stable, which is filled with you know what - as a baby and welcomes us.

Surprise.

God is a God of Surprises.

Surprise! God came as a baby.

Who of us would have thunked up that one? Amen.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Painting: 1898 Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Turner [1959-1947]

2011-12-18T07:06:00.001-08:00

December 18, 2011

Quote for the Day

"One day in an English class a boy was asked, 'What parts of speech are "my" and "mine"?'

"Quickly he replied, 'Agressive pronouns'."

Ruth Rosenberry

2011-12-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

December 17, 2011

Quote for Today

"One of the most influential handclasps is that of a grandchild around the finger of a grandparent."

Herald, Azusa, California

2011-12-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Friday in the 3rd Week of Advent is, “What’s The Bottom Line?”

One of the habits in Jewish religious tradition was to ask a Rabbi to present the bottom line - to sum up the whole of Judaism in one word or one sentence or with one basic message. “What’s the bottom line?”

One added thing was to keep their answer short - so sometimes a Rabbi was asked to do this while standing on one foot. How about that for homilies?

As you’ve heard in various homilies there were 613 commandments revealed to Moses. I have not done it myself, but if you comb through the Pentateuch - the first 5 books of the Bible - that’s how many laws you find.

365 were negative commands: thou shall nots - some say it’s 365 so there can be a law for every day of the year.

And there were 248 positive commandments: some say that corresponds to 248 parts of the body. I don’t understand how that works. I have 10 fingers and toes - 2 eyes, one nose, etc..

Now, all those 615 laws didn’t have the same importance - so over and over again people asked in various ways, “What’s the Bottom Line?”

ANSWERS

Rabbis answered that question in various ways. Let me give a few.

Some rabbis said David summed up the 613 laws with the following 11 principles. I found this in a Jewish book. I couldn’t figure out if these 11 principles were gleaned from the Psalms.

               1) Walk uprightly.
               2) Work with righteousness.
               3) Speak the truth from your heart.
               4) Practice no deceit with your tongue.
               5) Don’t do evil to your neighbor.
               6) Don’t do anything that your neighbor can reproach you for.
               7) Don’t be a vile person.
               8) Honor the person who fears the law.
               9) Don’t be like those who swear they are not hurting themselves, but won’t change.
             10) Don’t lend money to others out of usury.
             11) Don’t take a reward against someone who is innocent.

Some went through Isaiah and said he summed up the 613 with 6 principles:

               1) Walk in righteousness.
               2) Speak peacefully.
               3) Don’t make money by making fraudulent deals.
               4) Don’t take bribes when they are waved at you.
               5) Put your hands to your ears when people talk about people.
               6) Shut your eyes when you start to see evil.

Some said Micah the prophet summed up the 613 with 3 principles: Do justly, love mercy and walk modestly with your God

Others summed up Isaiah in a different way than above, so upon further examination Isaiah has 2 commandments. We heard them in the first sentence of today’s first reading:

               1) Keep justice;
               2) do righteousness.

Habbakkuk summed it up the whole 613 laws with 1 principle: The righteous shall live by faith.

CONCLUSION

How do you sum up life? What do you think life is all about? What would be your bottom line?

We know Jesus was asked that question several times and in Matthew 22: 34-40 he sums it all up with two quotes from the Old Testament. He quotes part of the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:5 - which every Jewish service begins with - and then something from Leviticus 19:18. He says that the Greatest commandment is, “You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and your whole soul, and your whole mind.” Then he says that the second commandment is like it: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

That’s his bottom line. And when we see Jesus’ life we know he practiced what he preached.

So the title, the theme, the point of my homily today is to ask, “What’s your bottom line?”

Speak up! Try answering that standing on one foot or in 25 words or less or what have you.

2011-12-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

December 16, 2011

Quote for Today

The following is a letter of C. G. Jung to a Mister N.

1 November 1951

Dear Herr N.,

I am sorry to be late with my answer. I was away on holiday and your letter was lying around for some time.

You have experienced in your marriage what is an almost universal fact - that individuals are different from one another. Basically, each remains for the other an unfathomable enigma. There is never complete concord. If you have committed a mistake at all, it consisted in your having striven too hard to understand your wife completely and not reckoning with the fact that in the end people don't want to know what secrets are slumbering in their souls. If you struggle too much to penetrate into another person, you find that you have thrust him into a defensive position, and resistances develop because, through your efforts to penetrate and understand, he feels forced to examine those things in himself which he doesn't want to examine. Everybody has his dark side which - so long as all goes well - he had better not know about. This is no fault of yours. It is a universal human truth which is nevertheless true, even though there are plenty of people who will assure you that they'd be only too glad to know everything about themselves. It is as good as certain that your wife had many thoughts and feelings which made her uneasy and which she wanted to hide even from herself. That is simply human. It is also the reason why so many elderly people withdraw into their own solitude where they won't be disturbed. And it is always about things they would rather not be too clearly conscious of. Certainly you are not responsible for the existence of these psychic contents.. If nevertheless you are still tormented by guilty feelings, then considere for once what sins you have not committed which you would have liked to commit. This might perhaps cure you of your guilt feelings towards your wife. With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,
C.G. Jung

C.G. Jung Letters.

I found this quoted letter on pages 175 and 176 of The Education of the Heart, edited by Thomas Moore, Readings and Sources for Care of the Soul, Soul Mates, and The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life. Harper Perennial, 1996

2011-12-15T09:54:00.000-08:00

December 15, 2011

Quote for Today - the day the United States forces declared in Bagdad an end to their operations in Iraq.

"Imagine two generals, each having to decide whether or not to commit a division of ten thousand men to battle.

To one the division is but a thing, a unit of personnel, an instrument of strategy and nothing more.

To the other it is these things, but he is also aware of each and every one of the ten thousand lives and the lives of the families of each of the ten thousand.

For whom is the decision easier?

It is easier for the general who has blunted his awareness precisely because he cannot tolerate the pain of a more nearly complete awareness.

It may be tempting to say, 'Ah, but a spiritually evolved man would never become a general in the first place.'

But the same issue is involved in being a corporate president, a physician, a teacher, a parent.

Decisions affecting the lives of others must always be made.

The best decision-makers are those who are willing to suffer the most over their decisions but still retain the ability to be decisive.

One measure - and perhaps the best measure - of a person's greatness is the capacity for suffering.

Yet the great are also joyful.

This, then, is the paradox.

Buddhists tend to ignore the Buddha's suffering and Christians forget Christ's joy.

Buddha and Christ were not different men.

The suffering of Christ letting go on the cross and the joy of Buddha letting go under the bo tree are one."

M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled, pages 75-76.

The above quote was one paragraph. I broke it down by sentences - because I and others don't read something that is long - like a long paragraph.

Painting on top: 1887 Civil War Battle Scene by William Trego [1858-1909]

2011-12-14T17:52:00.000-08:00

IN THE DARK

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “In The Dark.”

Sometimes we are in the dark; sometimes we feel like we’re in the dark.

Life is both light and darkness. No kidding!

We’ve seen the Chinese philosophy symbol of the ying-yang black and white circles - complementary opposites - each having the opposite within - both sides part of the whole. If it’s daylight here, it’s night darkness there - changing over and over again as the earth revolves around the sun.

Light needs dark and dark needs light. We appreciate Caravaggio and Rembrandt's paintings - many of which have light in faces - and light that glows especially because there are shadows and dark areas in the rooms the characters are featured in.

The Calling of Saint Matthew [1599-1600] Caravaggio [1571-1610]

The Night Watch [1640-1642] by Rembrandt [1606-1669]

The title of my homily is, “In The Dark.”

Hopefully, a homily sheds some light. I’m not so sure about this one - because this topic has a lot of stuff in it which - I’m very much in the dark about.

Perhaps that’s the reason I find myself repeating over and over again what the Talmud says, ‘”Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I do not know.’”

TODAY’S READINGS

We heard in today’s first reading: “I form the light, and create the darkness….” [Cf. Isaiah 45: 6-8, 18, 21-25]

Don’t we love the opening words of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God’s spirit hovered over the water. God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light. God called light ‘day’ and darkness he called ‘night’. Evening came and morning came: the first day.” [Genesis 1: 1-5]

“Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to begin….”

Sometimes we see - we have answers - and sometimes we feel like we’re in the dark and so we go to Jesus with questions - as we heard John the Baptist do in today’s gospel. [Cf. Luke 7: 18-23]

THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Today - December 14 - is the feast of St. John of the Cross - and one of his major themes is the dark - as in the Dark Night of the Soul.

In this homily, let me present a few fragments of what I hear Saint John of the Cross saying - especially his ideas about darkness.

It’s not original with him - it’s a theme that we find in Christian Spirituality - down through the years.

If we pray, hopefully we pray, “Let there be light!”

But sometimes the light doesn’t go on at our command!

So if we pray, we know about the darkness of God in prayer.

“Where are you, God? Where are you? I feel like you’re keeping me in the dark.”

I pray and my prayer is filled with distractions. I pray and I feel like I’m talking to myself. I pray - but it seems like mumblings - or whistling in the dark - and I’m the only one in a dark alley - or a dark valley - or in a dark night - or in a very dark universe.

If you know about all this, you know the Psalms. They are filled with screams and yells to God - they are the history of people down through the years praying to know where God is - especially when the valley we’re traveling though is dark - and we’re wondering and wandering like lost sheep without a Good Shepherd.

Having conducted lots and lots of retreats for 14 years in two different retreat houses - also having taught Spirituality for 9 years to men who were hoping to become Redemptorists - 9 classes - each of which took a year and a day - as a Novice Master - one task was to teach others how to pray - so I know about this theme of Darkness when it comes to prayer.

So once more, , “Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I do not know.’”

The beginner of prayer - if he or she is just saying prayers - doesn’t come to the Night - the Darkness - issue right away.

At first - all is bright - light - “honeymoonish” - the stuff of beginning - excitement - as in marriage - as in any new job - as in having a new car - the first week at college, moving into a new home - or what have you.

As Blaise Pascal put it, “Things are always at their best in the beginning.”

Then time takes away the newness…. and the newness becomes oldness. The light of day hits noon - and the so called, “Noonday Devil” starts walking with us on the long journey.

An as we continue the shadows of afternoon move into the dark of evening and night.

In time dryness - boredom - emptiness - aloneness - arrives.

It’s night.

The beginner feels at first the Dark Night of the Senses - then the middler feels the Dark Night of the Soul.

The Dark Night of the Senses has to do with the Spiritual that hits us through our 5 senses. The Dark Night of the Soul - now that’s the down deep inner Black of God - the Black Hole of God - whom some atheists - don’t realize they are at black door of God - and miss his knock (Oops that’s an ear metaphor - hearing - something that goes with the Dark Night of the Senses).

Flashes of light appear from time to time - moments of consolation arrive at times - insights - inner lights go on - but from what I learned from 51 years of Religious life - and prayer - most of the life of prayer is darkness.

Sorry - if you don’t know that yet.

Beginners - as in marriage need consolation. They need rich rewarding experiences of light. Then when they are long on the journey - they get to know and experience that they don’t know what’s around the corner. Then they discover that walking in the dark - is how God operates - that God is so often a Night God.

In the meanwhile we have statues and stained glass windows - candles and music - spoken prayers - but in time, the honeymoon is over and we enter the life of faith.

In due time we understand the words of St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 2: 5, “We walk by faith and not by sight.”

In due time we can understand and learn why the Muslims didn’t want images in their mosques. It’s the same reason we have iconoclasts - those who break and destroy religious images - or their use in veneration. It’s the same reason the Jewish people were opposed to the use of God’s name - and proclaimed the first two commandments:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.”

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.”

Make an object a God - and you’ll always have iconoclasts. Luther thought that statements by preachers like Johann Tetzel about Indulgences went too far - as if we humans could dictate how God is. Raising money to renovate Saint Peter’s in Rome with statements about what you’ll get for your money was too much for some Reformers.

Make the Bible more than it is - and you’ll also have iconoclasts.

Don't we get angry or frustrated or what have you, when someone says what we think or who we are - and we know they are totally in the dark about us?

Life is tricky. Relationshiop are tricky. People are tricky.
Religion is also tricky stuff - because religion is not about stuff - as it's about relationships.

Spiritual teachers - like John of the Cross - teach that when you think you have God - you probably don’t - and when you feel like you’re in the Dark - you might very well be in God.

Hey we don’t see all the stars up there - in the light - only in the night. They are always there, but we don’t always see them. We can be blinded by the light.

So keep praying. Keep walking by faith - and every once and a while the light goes on - and when we get to heaven - who knows what we’ll see?

The scriptures say there will no longer be any night. We’ll see.

CONCLUSION

This sermon is a first draft and I’m dabbling in the dark a bit - but on purpose. I like the night for praying more than the day - always have - but others are just the opposite.

Moreover in spirituality, there is not only the so called “kataphatic” “with images” - “the via positiva” approach to mysticism and prayer - but there is also the “apophatic” - without images - “the via negativa” - to empty oneself of images - and in doing so one can also move into God.

Eastern mysticism - and Oriental mysticism - and meditation techniques have a voice here - along with Neo-Platonist writers like Pseudo-Dionysius - who stressed emptying oneself to meet God.

Let me close with two quotes of John of the cross:

“Desolation is a file, and the endurance of darkness is preparation for great light.”

“If someone wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.”

2011-12-14T06:59:00.001-08:00

December 14, 2011

Quote for Today - feast of St. John of the Cross

"The Lord measures our perfection neither by the multitude nor the magnitude of our deeds, but by the manner in which we perform them."

St. John of the Cross [1542-1591]

2011-12-14T06:58:00.000-08:00

LORD, THAT I MIGHT SEE!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of St. Lucy, December 13th, is, “Lord, That I Might See.”

It's the prayer and the cry of the blind man of Jericho in Luke 18: 35-43.

Today is the feast of St. Lucy - an Early Church martyr who died for being a Christian - around 300.

She is one of the 4 great women martyrs of the 4 months of the cold weather months in the northern hemisphere: Cecilia, Lucy, Agnes and Agatha - November, December, January and February.

She is sometimes pictured with a plate with her eyes on it - because that was one of the legends or stories about her: that her eyes were gauged out by her torturers.

She is especially venerated in Sicily - and Italy. When I lived in Long Branch, New Jersey, I noticed in the various Italian homes I visited that they all had a picture of statue of Lucy with the eyes.

But she’s also venerated and celebrated in Sweden and in the Scandinavian countries - as well as in various other places - for example, Omaha, Nebraska.

So St. Lucy has always been popular. Lucy is a neat name. Everyone has eyes. Everyone has eye problems now and then. So pray to St. Lucy.

DECEMBER - THE SEASON OF LIGHT

At this time, if you drive around Annapolis you’ll see people on their front lawn or at the front of their house setting up lights. December is the month of light - obviously because of Christmas - and obviously because December 21 is the darkest day of the year - and then we move towards the light.

Every year, when I come to this feast of St. Lucy - I always remember standing in the back of some church on some parish mission - around All Saints Day - and all the kids are dressed up in Saint costumes. Sheets are the secret. Well there was this one girl with a sheet around her and electric lights flashing around her head - battery powered. Pointing towards her, I asked someone, “Who is that?” And the lady, probably an Italian, looked at me as if I were blind, “Saint Lucy dummy!”

Let there be light.

CONCLUSION

So as you know I push the rosary for more than Hail Mary’s. Simply take the beads and say 59 times the prayer of the Blind Man, “Lord, that I might see.” That’s what he said he wanted when Jesus asked him why the yelling. “What do you want?” He said, “Lord, that I might see.

Or even shorter, use your rosary beads to say 59 times, the death bed words of Goethe, “More light.”

Goethe had said earlier in his writings, “Someday perhaps the inner light will shine forth from us, and then we shall need no other light.”

That would be nice.

Or simply use your beads to pray 59 times, “Light.”

=================================

Painting on top: St. Lucy [1521] by Domenico di Pace Beccafumi [1486-1521]. It can be found in the Pinacteca Nazionale, Siena, Italy

2011-12-13T07:45:00.000-08:00

December 13, 2011

Quote for Today

"A secret is something you tell only one person at a time."

Anonymous

Picture: two people walking along and talking in Florence, Italy - September 2011

2011-12-12T06:09:00.000-08:00

December 12, 2011

Quote for Today

"There is plenty of courage among us for the abstract, but not for the concrete."

Helen Keller [1880-1968]