“The worst thing in the world is not sin; it is the denial of sin by a false conscience - for that attitude makes forgiveness impossible.”
Fulton Sheen
7 LEARNINGS ON FORGIVENESS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 3rd Tuesday in Lent is, “7 Learnings on Forgiveness.”
Lenten homework:Get
a clean piece of paper or a blank
computer screen and come up with 7 learnings on forgiveness.
I picked the number 7, because 7 is the number in today’s
gospel.
I did my 7 last night - to practice what I’m preaching. If
you do this, it’s not like writing on sidewalk cement. Nope. It’s an ongoing process, but come with 7 and
then revisit your 7 every Lent or whenever you have time or you have trouble
with forgiving someone.
# 1: Everyone has to deal with the issue of forgiveness.
Everyone has been hurt by someone out there: neighbor, family member co-worker.
Someone gipped us, stole from us, talked about us behind our back. So number
one: everyone has to learn to deal with forgiveness.It can me major. It can be minor. It can be
abuse.It could be forgiving another. It
could be forgiving oneself. Name your poison. Name your hurt. Name your daily,
“bummer”. Everyone has to deal with the issue of forgiveness.
# 2: Forgiveness takes time - sometimes a long, long
time. That’s number two.Walk. Talk.
Vent. Give yourself time to get over a mistake or a hurt or a cut - so that you
can heal.
# 3: Everyone has hurts in their way back when - hurts that
still affect us all these years. Like our dad wasn’t a hugger and his dad
wasn’t a hugger and his dad wasn’t a hugger, so we got no hugs. I hear that one
at times. Or we allow envy to eat us up - envy that se use comparisons to hurt
ourselves - envy because we weren’t the
favorite. For some, we feel we’re still treated that way today.Or some family member or classmate did much
better than we did - and that reality and issue shows up in ways that still
bother us.
#4: Sometimes we’re not fair - like the guy in today’s
gospel. Some boss forgave us - even though we were as guilty as sin. Then we
don’t catch forgiveness, and we don’t forgive others.We might even say the words of the Our Father,
10,000 times, “Forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass or hurt us” - but we don’ttrespass into that way of doing life.
# 5:Sometimes we
won’t forgive another as a way ofpaying
them back. Somehow we think we’re hurting them by ongoing anger or resentment
and we hope they sense it or see it. Many times they have no clue this is going
on.
# 6: Learn to say
what Jesus said from the cross, ‘Father forgive them because they don’t know
what they are doing.’ People are dumb. We’re dumb. In one split second we can
ruin something that took 20 years to build. In one short second we can mess
ourselves up.
# 7:Be
creative in your pay backs.Silence
sometimes is a great weapon.Or there is
the Chinese Proverb: “If your enemy wrongs you, buy
each of his children a drum.”Orsometimes our motive is: “This person is not
going to learn, so my being screamfulisn’t going to work. Forgiveness might and that might hit them into
feeling small, since you are being big with the way you’re forgiving that
person.
CONCLUSION
That’s my homily. That’s my homework for you. Come up
with 7 learnings about forgiveness.
The bottom line is that we all catch this main message of
Jesus.
Let me close with a wonderful little story.
In a far corner of a New York Cemetery there is a small
gravestone polished smooth by the wind and the weather.The stone has no name on it - no date -
butit has one word on it -“forgiven”
May that be all of us.
Monday, March 25, 2019
March 25, 2019
Homily
March 25, 2019
Thought for today:
“A painting about which we were unable to separate fact from fiction was the ‘Virgin and child’ in the Paulin monastery at Czestochowa,
in Southern Poland.A Polish reader
living in Leicestershire asked us to confirm the following story about the
painting, knows as the ‘Protector of Poland’, and said to have been painted by
one of Christ’s apostles.
“When Sweden invaded Poland in 1655, the Swedes tried to
remove the painting in a horse-drawn wagon, but could not budge it an inch.
Exasperated, two Swedish soldiers drew their swords and slashed the virgins
cheek.As soon as their swords touched
the canvas, the soldiers fell dead. And nobody has since been able to cover up
the scars.
“Although unable to confirm it to the letter, we were
happy to find out that such a good story certainly was based on some fact.Admittedly Our Lady of Czestochowa, first
said to have been painted by St. Luke,
is now believed to be the work of an unknown Italian artist in 1383.But the painting certainly took on a special
significance after the heroic defense of the monastery in 1655, when the
invadingSwedes were defeated after a
70-day siege.
“Following this miraculous victory, King Casimir of
Poland proclaimed: ‘To touch Our Lady of Czestochowa is to touch the very soul
of Poland.’ Whether by Swedish swords or not, the Virgin’s cheek remains
scarred, and every year thousands of pilgrims go to see it.”
Old
Codgers’
MOST
VALUABLE PLAYER
M V P:now that’s a very tricky award!
M V P:now that could be very subjective.
M V P: now is that just for teachers or
athletes, or necessary people?
M V P: how about down syndrome folks?
M V P: how about the handicapped?
M V P: the blind, the deaf, and the lame? M V P: everyone has value. M V P: everyone is unique. M V P: everyone deserves notice.
[Instead of a homily
for this 3rd Sunday in Lent [C] I wrote this story yesterday. I used
it for the Kids’ Mass this morning and the 11 AM Mass.]
The title of my story for today is, “Second Chance Fig Trees.”
Once upon a time there was a farmer whose only fruit
trees were fig trees.
And he had lots and lots and lots of fig trees in his
orchard - thousands and thousands and thousands of them.
Now when he first started to grow fruit trees, he had
orange trees,apple trees, pear trees, but
he had his best luck with fig trees. So
that’s what he settled on: fig trees.
He soldhis figs
to Nabisco - for their fig newton bars - to Keebler and to Kellogg’s - for
their fig newton bars - and his figs were the best in California - where he had
his many, many fig trees.
His trucks brought his figs to bakeries all around the
country and then ships brought them to countries all around the world.
He sold his figs to Costco, Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Amazon.
Vegans loved his fig bars. They were perfect for snacks
and power bars. In time creative bakers put in chocolate chips, blueberries and raspberries.Then they came up with new products. The
latest is organic dark chocolate fig truffle bites - brand new March 2019.
“Uuuum delicious.”
Now to the story about the day that changed everything for
him and his fig trees.If a fig tree wasn’t producing figs, he had his workers chop
that tree down - almost immediately.
“No use ….”he would say,“No use wasting time and space,
land and fertilizer on lazy fig trees.”
“Cut em down!”
Then one day, believe
it or not, he gave the order to cut down this one little fig tree- but something stopped him. He couldn’t
believe his eyes, but this one little fig tree - seemed to be crying. He
couldn’t believe his ears, but he seemed to hear this little fig tree saying,
“Give me a second chance.”
He told his workers, “Give this tree here extra water. Give
it extra fertilizer - and if by this time next year, it doesn’t start
producing, more and better figs, then cut it down. Why should we let it do nothing?”
Sure enough,it started
producing great figs - the best he ever tasted.
Sure enough, something else happened, not just to his fig
trees, but to his personality.
He was known to be a really tough boss - always grouchy -
always yelling at his workers.
He was also - always
yelling athis kids - never, ever, ever,
giving them or their teachers of their coaches or anyone a second chance.
Well after giving that fig tree a second chance, he didn’t
notice this about himself, but he started to be nicer to drivers on the highway
- to people on line - in the supermarket - to neighbor and family members who
just wanted to talk about nothings.
Surprise his kids saw this change in their dad and they gave
him a second chance.
And this is not the end of the story. A twist turned things
around a bit more.
His dad died - his dad who had started their fruit tree
business - way, way back, and a long time ago.
Nowhe was always
tough on his dad - for not being busy enough - for not doing enough - for not
figuring out - fig trees were the way to go.
Now the priest who was doing his father’s funeral didn’t
know any of this. He was just trying to come up with a homily for the funeral.
He did know that the family was famous for their figs.So he looked up in the bible the two stories
about Jesus and fig trees,
In one story, the figs were not given a second chance.In the story we heard this morning, the fig
tree got a second chance.
Well, the priest who
preached at the funeral of the father of the man who gave that fig tree a
second chance - used that second story of Jesus for his homily and he said our
God is a God of second chances.
He really didn’t know anything about that farmer - and his
father - but when that farmer heard that
story that Jesus gave, he was hearing
about himself.
He started coming back to church - giving church and Jesus a
second chance. He gave himself a second chance. He really didn’t like himself.
But most importantly - his whole life changed -giving
lots of people - lots of chances - second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and
seven times seven chances.Amen.
Thought for today: “We must reserve a little back shop, all our own, entirely free, wherein to establish our true liberty and principle retreat and solitude.”
“I trust everyone. It’s the devil inside them I don’t trust.”
John Bridger in the 2003
version of the movie,
The Italian Job.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
March 20, 2019
THE CHALICE
INTRODUCTION The title of my homily and thoughts for this 2nd Wednesday in Lent is, "The Chalice." PROPS [Holding a chalice] As you know Father Tizio and now Father Luyen Dau like to use props to help their sermons be more clear. A prop is something visible - to help us to see the invisible. So here is a golden chalice. What do you see when you see a chalice? What do you see when a best man and a maid of honor or the father or mother of the bride or bridegroom hold up a glass chalice or goblet at a wedding or any occasion and they toast someone? They are trying to make the invisible - their inner hopes for the future - visible. A STORY [Holding a chalice] I was once giving a retreat to some priests - perhaps in Richmond, Virginia. For a evening prayer I held a gold chalice like this one in my hand and said, "Here is a chalice. We see the outside of the cup, but we can't see what's inside." Inside of each of us is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Inside of us is our story. Our life. Our inner stuff.
I suggest you sit here in this chapel after this night prayer is over. Just sit here and look into the chalice called you - and see everything. See the mistakes and the moments of ecstasy. See everything. Then when you have some time this evening go up the chalice on the altar and stand where you stand for Mass and the consecration. Lift up the chalice. Look into the cup - then offer your whole life up to God Our Father with Christ. Well I did that and left the priests in that chapel to do what they wanted to do next. I went to bed. Around 1 PM I heard a knock on my door that woke me up. It was one of the priests on the retreat. For the next hour and a half - he told me what was in his chalice - in his life - and how profound a moment it was this evening when he lifted up his chalice - and lifted his life - the Good. the Bad and the Ugly. WHAT'S IN YOUR WALLET? CHALICE? We all know the Capital One slogan? What's in your wallet?
In today's gospel from Matthew 20: 17-28 -we have the story about what was in the chalice of the mother of the two sons of Zebedee. She wanted her boys to be # 1 and # 2 in Jesus' Kingdom. Can you hear those boys saying, "Mom!" We can hear the anger in the other disciple's chalices/ Jesus says to them, "Can you drink of my chalice?" They boldly answer, "We can!" Then Jesus tells them what's going to be in their chalices and what ought to be in them: service. And there also will be blood. CONCLUSION One more prop. Whenever I do baptisms here or at St. John Neumann I ask the mom and dad to take their baby and stand as priest at the altar. I have had well over 1000 babies on this altar. I ask them to put their hand on their baby and to say after me, holding - the chalice of their child. "This is my body. This is my blood. We're giving our life to you. I conclude: "This is the sacrifice of the Mass."
March 20, 2019
EDGES
Standing at the edge of rooms,
and the backs of churches,
sort of nervous at Your margins,
Oh God - not willing to sit down yet
and say, “Amen!” to You as Word,
hesitant to take and taste You, the
bread and the wine - to chew on, to
digest Your calls to be in communion with You. Not sure yet …. Not sure yet …. but I'm noticing You edging closer and closer ….
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph. We see statues
of him on pedestals— or pictures of him on walls - in churches and homes and on
memorial cards. We see images of him with the tools of his trade in his
hand—Joseph the Carpenter—or with a flower, a symbol of his purity—as husband
of Mary - or holding the Christ child or teaching him a trade.
QUESTION—WONDERING
When it comes to saints, I often wonder why it is or what it
is that makes this particular saint, this particular person stand out from the
rest of people. To stand out enough to be put up on a pedestal!
What is the energy! What part of us does the life of this
saint touch that we want to accentuate!
That’s what hits me about saints. Or in other words, “Patron
Saint of What?” and “Why?”
ST. JOSEPH
We know so little about St. Joseph. Yet the name “Joseph”, “Saint Joseph” hits
certain cords in people’s hearts.
What is it?
What is it about St.
Joseph?
What is it that makes him a big name among the Italians—a
Jewish boy—famous among the Italians. Giuseppe! Today is a big feast day. There
are lots of pastry and special ones just for this day.
What is that makes him a special saint among the Poles?
What is it that makes him so popular that so many orders of
religious women chose to be named after him: “Sisters of St. Joseph!”
Today, this has lessened, with less kids being named Joseph.
But still, what about Joseph? Why Joseph? Why the fame? What
myth, archetype does he touch? What does he touch in our life that makes him
famous?
OTHER JOSEPH’S
In the scriptures we know more about Joseph of Arimathea
than about Joseph of Nazareth. We know even more about Joseph of the OT. So
what is it about St. Joseph
that makes him so popular?
ANSWER
I think the answer is the reality that 99 % of the people on
our planet are what we call: THE NECESSARY PEOPLE BEHIND THE SCENES OF LIFE.
That is the universal vocation of all: to keep all moving—to
keep life going—to keep the planet going.
And I think Joseph is the patron saint of the anonymous
people—all those people behind the scenes—while the main characters and actors
on stage get the credit.
EXAMPLES
Take our everyday life.
Somebody puts the bread out and cereal out and someone fills
the juice machine. We only know those things exist till they are missing and we
have to go to the back box to get milk or the big plastic racks for bread. We
only know the juice needs replenishing when its light is blinking.
Today’s papers. Who are the people who put the paper on the print
presses? Who are the copy people? Who drives the newspapers to small and big
stores,so the store has them at 7:00 or
8:00 AM?
Who drives the bus? Who are the truck drivers?
Who does the dishes in the diner or the restaurant? Who put
the cable down or cable up for our telephones or TV?
We watch the evening news and there is anchor woman or man. We don’t see the camera crew. We don’t see the
people who drove Martha Raditzto
Capital Hill and set everything up. Their name might be at the end of the news
in small print, but we don’t stop to see it.
ST. JOSEPH
So I see St. Joseph
as the example, the model, the archetype, of the person behind the scenes.
He represents Parents, Teachers.Doctors, Truck Drivers, etc.
And what about telephone operators and air traffic
controllers. What about FDA researchers who look at drugs. And what about those
who put the weather together?
We only see the stars.
We really don’t see the dad after he walks his daughter down
the aisle.
THE ENERGY
That’s where I see the energy when it comes to St. Joseph. We need a bit
of encouragement every once and a while and on the feast of St. Joseph, the message is that everyone
counts. Everyone is needed. We are the little people on the planet, but every
little one counts. Today we celebrate Joseph. One of ours has made it. _____________________________________ Picture on top: Holding Heaven - Dicianne
Monday, March 18, 2019
March18, 2019
Thought for today:
“Waiting sometimes is the only thing left to do.You learn to wait, or your forfeit the lesson you were supposed to learn.”
