DON'T EXPECT
THE SAME OLD
SAME OLD!
Quote for Today October 16, 2013
"Never look for this year's birds in last year's nests."
Miguel de Cervantes
Friday, October 18, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
WISDOM AND
WISDOM TEACHERS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Wisdom and Wisdom Teachers.”
Who have been your wisdom teachers? Who has given you your life
wisdom?
Is there any wisdom teacher you’d would like to go to hear -
to listen to her or his wisdom?
I was thinking last night - that those are good questions. It’s good to reflect
upon those who taught us the wisdom that is part of our lives. I think of at
least 3 good teachers I’ve had - a few other people I’ve met along the way. The
key is to not to first name the teacher - but to first name the wisdom - and
then unravel, “Who was the one who taught me that.”
For example, one good specific wisdom learning I picked up
was this: “You’re complaining about him - but give me a specific
complaint.” And sometimes that shuts me
up or another up.” It can be worded with a two word question: “For example?”
Yesterday’s gospel talked about the Queen of the South
coming to hear the wisdom of Solomon. It also talked about the Ninevites
listening to Jonah and they were converted. Jesus made that comment when he saw
the crowds listening to him - but many did not change or convert. Today’s
gospel talks about Jesus at a dinner and Jesus notices the Pharisees once more
concerned about externals - the outside - what you see. It’s not what you get.
Then Jesus gives them the wisdom - that it’s the inside - the within - the
person - one’s motives - the invisible - that counts.
Today’s first reading continues with the Letter of Paul to
the Romans that we began yesterday - and we’ll have it as the first reading at
daily Mass for about the next month. Many
people have listened to Paul - especially in his letter to the Romans and
changed - like Augustine reading Romans 13: 11-14 - and he is changed -
converted - after his long struggle. Notice in today’s first reading, how Paul goes
from the known to the unknown - the seen to the unseen - to see the One who is
behind and underneath - the one who is keeping us and all together.
TODAY’S FEAST OF
ST. TERESA OF AVILA
Down through the years many people have read the writings of
St. Teresa of Avila
to sip her wisdom.
I like her take on prayer. She often uses simple clear
images and pictures that everyone can understand. Who hasn’t understood her 4
stages of prayer?
The first stage is “Going to the well.” Prayer is seeing our soul like a garden and taking water from a well to water ourselves. Beginners in prayer have to start off small - like going to a specific place or prayer or prayer method.
The second stage is to get a garden hose. The person who
sticks to prayer will find easier ways to water one’s garden.
The third stage is to pray near running water. It’s the
message of Psalm 1. Be a live tree as opposed to a dead leaf. Lead a life that
is bearing fruit. Prayer and action - and action and prayer work together. Talk
isn’t enough.
And the fourth state is, “Sometimes it rains. Sometimes, if we take time to just sit in prayer, we’ll grow
and sometimes we’ll experience a downpour of God’s presence and love.
Of if we simply can’t pray, St. Teresa of Avila simply says to pray the Our Father
slowly and with meaning.
We all know her comments about not letting anything disturb
us. Of course it’s easier said than done. Yet listen to her words.
“Let
nothing disturb you,
let nothing cause you fear
All things pass.
God is unchanging.
Patience obtains all:
Whoever has God
needs nothing else.
let nothing cause you fear
All things pass.
God is unchanging.
Patience obtains all:
Whoever has God
needs nothing else.
God alone suffices.”
A short cut is to
say, “Nada” “Nothing!” inwardly - when someone or something is driving us nuts.
You know us priests,
so I always liked her comment about "having a peculiar distrust of holy
men who where stupid." (St Teresa of Avila, Bruce, 1943; TAN, 1987, p 75).
She went through a
lot in her life - not only in her struggles with other nuns to reform the Carmelites
- but also with the so called, “Thought Police”. In her life she was
investigated by the Spanish Inquisition at least 6 times. Her books were
investigated. The papal nuncio thought she was risky and restless and a
disobedient woman. She was accused of heresy. So what else is new?
As you know, this
has happened to lots of folks down through the years. Theologians are waiting
to see how this Pope will be on all this. The wisdom I see in all this is the
so called, “Gamaliel Principle” - which
you can find in the Acts of the Apostles. “If this is of God, in time we’ll know
it. If it ain’t it will flop.” [Cf. Acts of
the Apostles 5:34-39]
CONCLUSION
The title of my
homily is, “Wisdom and Wisdom Teachers.”
Who are they? What
specific wisdom insights have they given us?
Monday, October 14, 2013
THE LETTER
TO THE ROMANS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my thoughts for this 28th Monday in
Ordinary Time is, “The Letter to the
Romans.”
Starting today we’ll be hearing The Letter to the Romans as our first reading in weekday Masses for
almost a month I thought that a few
comments might be helpful. At least that’s the way I think and operate. I need the big picture before I start looking
at the small picture.
DATE
Scholars like John L. McKenzie and Joseph Fitzmyer say,
“Paul probably wrote Romans in Corinth
or in Cenchreae sometime in the winter of AD 57-58….” I’ve also seen the year
61. Either date gives us an idea when it
was written. Note: it’s still ahead of the date of the gospels as we have them.
AUDIENCE
Some scholars say it was written to a Gentile Christian
community in Rome while others say it was
written to a Jewish Christian community in Rome .
Scholars point out that Paul had not visited Rome yet - but he would
know some of its members - or know of
them. There is no New Testament evidence who started the Christian Community in
Rome .
Paul was planning on visiting them - on his way to Spain . That was
his dream.
In the meanwhile Paul goes back to Jerusalem with money he received as a collection
for the church there. Some think he
wanted to use as a stress to the Jewish Christian community there - that the
Gentiles are in solidarity with us. In the meanwhile he is arrested in Jerusalem and that is what will bring him to Rome . When he gets to Rome he is under house arrest there for 2
years and then he is martyred around 67-68.
CONTENTS
It does not contain all of the Christian teachings - for
example there is nothing about the Eucharist.
Yet what it gives is powerful thoughts and significant
theology. If you do any research on Romans, you’ll read comments like it having
the most impact of any New Testament document on Christian theology down
through the centuries.
For starters it has influence on other New Testament
documents. It certainly shows up many times in the writings of the Early Church
- for example St. Augustine .
We’ll also see how it impacted Thomas Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Karl Barth and
so many others.
His theology of faith and works, salvation, justification,
redemption, grace, sin, righteousness, are big time issues at the time of the
Reformation - as well as today.
Christ is our power - and we are powerless - but how
powerless are we? I’m sure it depends upon what the struggle is. So Paul deals
with these issues in this his most important letter: The Letter to the Romans.
CONCLUSION
So that’s a quick thumb nail commentary on this Letter to the Romans that we who go to daily Mass will be hearing in the next month. Listen carefully. Amen.
O O O O O O O O O O
Picture on top: Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Rome, Italy, consecrated in the 4th Century
Sunday, October 13, 2013
TWINS
[The following is a story for this 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time C - which I wrote after reflecting on today's first reading about Naaman the Syrian in the 2nd Book of Kings - Chapter 5 - who had a skin disease - and the 10 people in the gospel of Luke - Chapter 17 - who had skin diseases as well - and all are healed - and then the theme of thankfulness erupts.]
You wouldn’t know they were brothers.
You wouldn’t know they were twins.
But they were - they were brothers and they were twins.
But as I am about to
indicate in this story, they were different - as different as night and
day - as different as blue and yellow - as different as sugar and pepper. They
were different.
And their nicknames were “Think” and “Thank”. They picked
them up - somewhere along the line - while traveling the time line of their
lives. Interesting nicknames to say the least - Think and Thank - but like some
nicknames they contained a deep truth.
So their nicknames fit each other, fit each brother, to the
T.
But oops! I’m getting ahead of the story - the story of why they picked up their nick names - and what kind of personality each was - in the first place.
In college - Tom - who became “Thank” - was tall and thin -
6 foot 2 - only 173 pounds - skin and bones. And to be honest - not that good
looking. He could be gawky. He had a big
nose and big ears.
In college - Terrence
- who became “Think” - was the good looking one - 6 foot tall - 210 pounds - smooth and savvy - who excelled in math. He
was also an excellent running back - both in high school and now in playing college
football.
You wouldn’t know they were brothers.
You wouldn’t know they were twins.
But they were: Terrence and Thomas - Think and Thank.
Tom’s face skin was quite scared - from a long serious
season of teenage acne. At times in his teenage years, classmates called him, “Leper!”
But aren’t we - really - who we really are - inside our skin?
Yet our face - our skin - our look - can
define us - who we are - for a time. So it took time for Tom to become Tom - the
thankful one.
But it really wasn’t till he spent time in college - that he
realized - nicknames like “Leper” or “Ears” or “Nose” - really didn’t bug him
that big. In fact Tom began to flourish in college. This happened somewhere
along his Junior or Senior year at the same state college he and Terrence went
to together. He learned that big groups really didn’t matter. Close friends did.
He knew that those who knew him - loved and appreciated him whenever he walked
into a room or a situation. He became Tom simply becoming Tom.
His friends discovered that Tom had this great gift of being
thankful. Once you caught that - you
caught his personality. The big sparkle in his eyes - was bigger than his ears
and his nose and the pockmarks on his cheeks and forehead from his acne. The fun - the delight - the joy - the quick
or cute comments he made about life and the passing scene - brought joy to the
conversations he was part of. You might say the words he spoke or used were
covered with a smooth skin.
So it was somewhere in the midst of the mix of many moments
that his basic attitude towards life earned him the nickname, “Thank.”
Every meal - every cup of coffee - every trip - every game - was always “a great time” -
and he would always say, “Thank you.”
In fact, he was always the last one out of every restaurant
- or pub - because he would track down the waiter or waitress - who served them
and he would look them in the eye and say, “Thank you!” And that “Thank you” was better than any tip left on a restaurant
table.
That was - and kept on getting stronger - the essence of
this guy named “Tom” that I’m trying to describe for you today.
Terrence was different. It took time for him to acquire his
nickname of “Think”. He sort of had an itch and edge in him.
So Terrence was just the opposite. He wasn’t the type to put
butter on the bread of human relationships. The waiter or waitress, the coach -
the musician, the teacher - better be the best - if they were to get a basic
“Thank you!” from Terrence.
Terrence never became Terry. Thomas became Tom or Tommy by his
very close friends - as well as “Thank” - in God’s good time.
If time is of the essence in all this, it took time for Terrence
to become Think - but I better tell you now - it was never to his face. It was
always just behind his back - in contrast to his twin brother “Thank” - who
heard people call him that - out loud and to his face.
Terrence was the logical one. He had to figure everything out - especially motive. He could be suspicious - or “standbackish” at times.
If you’re not a twin - and I’m not one - so I’m not that
sure about all this - but Think or Terrence - spent a lot of time trying to
think just why his brother Tom was so different from him. Maybe it was because
Tom was 7 minutes older than him - but come to think about that - it couldn’t
be that. It had to be something else - so he kept on thinking about that one -
on and off - much of his life. And much of his life comparing himself to his
brother - made him feel uneasy - and uncomfortable. Something seemed unfair.
Tom - in contrast - never thought that much about their
differences - just the joy - the comments that came up - whenever others found
out he was a Terrence’s twin . “You guys are brothers! You guys are twins! You’re kidding!”
[PAUSE - LONG PAUSE]
Life went on….
Terrence got married three times - and he was divorced three
times. His wives couldn’t live up to his standards of perfection. He thought it
was vice versa - but they knew it was vice versa - when they finally broke away
from him and got the divorce.
In fact, this is something - luckily - Terrence never
found out about - but all three ex-wives - got together for lunch once - and
then dinner - and then lunch again - and what they put together - were
learnings for their own lives - that no college could teach. Each said they were
relieved when the deal called “marriage” finally fell through - and when they
finally figured some things out about their life choices.
And also - quietly behind Terrence’s back - his parents -
Tom and Terrence’s parents - finally said to each other, “It’s sad - but Thank
God our daughter-in-law’s got smart and got out from under Terrence.” This happened
somewhere there - when their sons were in their mid 30’s. And they added,
“Thank God Terrence had no kids.”
But they added, “Thank God Tommy had 3 kids” - their 3
grandkids who were a delight - and a joy - and gave them great meaning as they
moved into the autumn and winter seasons
of their lives.
Sad to say Terrence’s face become somewhat sullen - even
though he was always the handsome one.
But at family weddings or what have you - everyone without being
conscious of it - knew Tommy or Thank or Tom was the happy one.
But sometimes good news - happens - healings start to
happen. Hey, aren’t we all people of hope? Who wants to hear a story with a
unhappy ending? So here’s the good news that began to happen.
Terrence accidently overheard someone describing him and his
brother as “Think” and “Thank” - and he knew immediately who was who.
The more he thought about that - the more he realized his twin brother was his gift to him.
So they would go out to dinner from time to time - actually at least once a month.
They were now in their early fifties.
Think slowly began to become more and more like Thank.
And so he would thank his brother Tom for being such a great twin brother and a great gift to him.
Ooops, in fact, both would stop to find the waiter and waitress - after a long meal together - and say together, “Thank you!”
The more he thought about that - the more he realized his twin brother was his gift to him.
So they would go out to dinner from time to time - actually at least once a month.
They were now in their early fifties.
Think slowly began to become more and more like Thank.
And so he would thank his brother Tom for being such a great twin brother and a great gift to him.
Ooops, in fact, both would stop to find the waiter and waitress - after a long meal together - and say together, “Thank you!”
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