THE FOUR
LEGS OF THE CHAIR
CALLED ‘ME’

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “The Four Legs of the Chair Called ‘Me’.”

The chairs here in the sanctuary at St. Mary’s are not all the same. The big chair there – that the priest sits on – has good strong legs. It feels secure. The other chairs sometimes feel “iffy”. I’ve sat on both.

Out at St. John Neumann’s, the chairs are all very sturdy. The benches there are also strong. They also have a nice “cushy” feeling compared to the benches here – which are squeaky, “uncushy”, and sometimes feel “uh ohy”.

We’ve all had the experience of sitting on a chair that didn’t seem that strong.

If we were to describe ourselves as a chair, would I be strong or “uh ohy”?

Answering that question for ourselves would be the gist or theme or point or subject of my homily for today.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses the image of a house. He challenges us to look at the foundation words of our house.

Today’s gospel is the dramatic ending of the Sermon on the Mount: the contrast of being wise or being foolish. However, we might have lost the beauty of the Sermon on the Mount with Lent and then all these recent Sunday feasts that knocked out these Sunday readings from the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew gathered all these quick quotes or key sayings of Jesus about how to do life – like not judging others, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, forgiving and settling grievances, fasting and praying and giving money to be seen by God not others, not being a phony, traveling through the narrow gate, treating others the way you would like to be treated, etc. Then Jesus says, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like the wise person who built his house on rock. The rain feel, the floods came, and the wind blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been built solidly on rock.”

Jesus was a carpenter. He knew how to build a strong house.

I could have used the image of a house for this sermon, but I thought a chair might be more familiar – unless you’re an engineer or a carpenter. Carpenters build chairs as well.

How strong is your house? How strong is the chair called “you”?

BUILT ON WORDS – PRINCIPLES - VALUES
Hopefully, what I said so far is fairly clear. Now let me move towards the more complicated.

Today’s first reading from Deuteronomy 11 talks about the Jewish practice of wearing phylacteries – a small box – or a pouch – with leather straps so one could wear the box around one’s head or around one’s wrist. The box would have 4 small compartments – each containing key words from the Jewish scriptures. The idea was to keep God’s words ever before one’s mind and sight.

Interesting. It might seem strange, yet people today have tattoos, t-shirts, bumper stickers, signs, this and that, with favorite sayings or words on them.

If I asked you to come up with four principles – four sayings – for the four legs of the chair that holds up your life, what would you come up with?

As I began to reflect upon this question, I realized it’s quite a challenge. Secondly, I said to myself, “I can’t ask people to do this, if I don’t do this myself.” And the answers are not out there in some book. They are in here – in my life.

When we die, people will sit there in the funeral parlor or at the church service and pull together for themselves, who we are – what made us tick.

What makes us tick? What moves us? What are we off on?

Why wait till we die, till this be known?

Six years ago I was changed from St. Gerard’s Church in Lima, Ohio to here in Annapolis. After the last mass, on the last Sunday I was there, they had coffee and donuts in the church hall for folks who wanted to say, “Good bye.” There was a microphone and different folks got up and several gave their take on me. It was like being at your own funeral. Thank God no enemies showed up. Sitting there was quite an eye opener.

What is your take on yourself?

Could you list 4 of your life principles?

LIFE PRINCIPLES
What do I mean by life principles?

Let me give two from somewhere else, and then give the 4 legs of the chair called me.

We might remember the scene on TV with Ronald Reagan standing there on the lawn outside the White House. I think it was near the end of his presidency . Nancy is sort of just behind him. Reporters are firing questions about something at him. The microphones pick up something Nancy Reagan says to Ronald. “Tell them, you’re doing the best you can.”

Is that one of life’s principles that people go by each day? Was that one of Nancy Reagan’s life principles? “Try to do the best you can.” Whether you’re president or first lady or parent or an insurance salesperson, you try to do the best each day each day.

That’s an example of what I would call a life principle.

The second I noticed in yesterday’s paper. Now I’m not trying to get into politics in the pulpit. One of my principles is not to go there.

The article in the paper said that some people were angry at Scott McClellan for coming out with his memoirs entitled, What Happened. The writer of the article contrasted two principles: loyalty and honesty. They are not contradictory – but they can cause conflict.

Using them as two contrasts, if you were a president or a boss, if there was a conflict between honesty and loyalty, which would you want?

The author of the article prefers honestly. (1)

Now if you understand what I’m getting at when I use the phrase, “Life Principles,” I can move on to my listing of my 4 principles – or the 4 legs of the chair called me.

Now whether this is really me, cedes to action. Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. I’m sure those who know me, know me better than I know myself.

FIRST PRINCIPLE: HAVE A GOOD TIME

The first principle that makes me tick is: Have a Good Time.

This is not a “churchy” theme. In fact, it feels at first a bit embarrassing. I remember reading a statement by an English priest who said, “When Jesus spoke, they wanted to crucify him. When I speak, they invite me to tea.”

Yet, to be honest, I have to say, “Have a good time” is one of my life principles. Are you having a good time being at Mass right now?

My first assignment was that of being a parish priest on the Lower East side of Manhattan. I had no clue where to begin. So I visited people who were “shut in” – and I did this and that. I wish I knew Spanish better.

Then after two years I got changed to a retreat house in New Jersey. They wanted a young guy to do high school retreats.

Every weekend there were adult retreats – mostly men’s retreats.

I began to hear men say, “I wish I had come here earlier in my life.” When probing the why, I found out that various men said they had made a high school retreat when they were young and it was all prayer – all kneeling – not much fun.

So I tried to make high school retreats an enjoyable experience, with the hope that when they were in college, or married, when they heard someone pushing a Marriage Encounter Weekend or a retreat weekend or an adult ed program, they would say to themselves, “”Hey I did that in high school and it was a good experience. Okay. Sign me up.”

I was stationed there for 7 years. Next I was in another retreat house for 7 years. I did the same thing there – trying to make each retreat a life giving, enjoyable experience.

Next, I had the job of novice master for 9 years – for 9 classes of young men hoping to become Redemptorists. It was like 9 weekend retreats – each one taking a year. Well, I had heard many Redemptorists say their novice year was the worst year of their life in becoming a Redemptorist. Well, I didn’t want to hear that for the rest of my life whenever I would meet someone I had as a novice. So I tried to make it a wonderful year – a year when each of us was having the time of our life.

Next, for 8 ½ years I was in Ohio preaching parish missions – as well as priests and nuns retreats in the off season around the country – and I tried to make them a “Having a good time” experience as well.

Then I was stationed here at St. Mary’s. I was back to being a parish priest again – away from it since 1969. It struck me doing funerals and weddings that some of these people were not Catholic – and some of these Catholic folks were not going to Mass, so I tried to make the wedding or funeral personal – and a joyful experience. My goal was basic: that people would say, “That wasn’t too bad.” Better: “That was a good experience. Maybe I ought to get back to church. Maybe I’m missing the time of my life.”

And I have heard several people say that: Praise God.

So that’s my first principle – the first leg of the chair called, “me”.

Have a good time!

SECOND PRINCIPLE: JESUS IS MY LORD AND REDEEMER
My second principle is Jesus is my Redeemer.

These next three life principles will be shorter, otherwise you won’t be having a good time.

At the age of 20, in my novitiate year, the reality of Jesus – and following him – being connected to him – hit me big time. Jesus is the core of my life. Jesus, someone who died 2000 years ago, is someone that I can be in communion with today. So my life is based on Jesus Christ being not only a teacher, a great historical figure, but Jesus being the Son of God. I can relate to him – pray to and with him – and follow him. Now this is quite a gamble with one’s life – my doing it as a Redemptorist. I know Protestants often like to proclaim, "Jesus is Lord!" This was something that I was brought up as a Redemptoristl The founder of the Redemptorists begins his key book, The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, this way: “The whole sanctity and perfection of a soul consists in loving Jesus Christ, our God, our sovereign good, and our Redeemer.” Modern English translation: “The whole story is Jesus.” Or as St. Paul puts it in Philippians 2:5, "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."

So Jesus is the second leg of my chair.

THIRD PRINCIPLE: WE’RE MARBLED

My third principle – the third reality I go by is that we are marbled. We are flawed. We have been broken and repaired many times. If we looked at the legs of the chair of our life, we would see where parts of us have been broken. We have snapped at times and it took good glue to get us back together again.

We make mistakes. Of course, we do good, but each of us as we heard in today’s second reading “have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.” Paul too then says that Jesus Christ is the one who can make us right.

As I look at my life – as priest as I listen to the lives of others – as I live with other priests – it’s very apparent to me – that we human beings are marbled.

This can lead to cynicism, complaining, whining, griping, but it can also lead to conversion, grace, forgiveness, laughter and understanding.

It's easier to see other's faults and foibles - better than our own.

Name your addiction. Name your poison. Name your problem.

"Let him or her without sin cast the first stone." (Cf. John 8:7b.)

Or as Jesus put it in the Sermon on the Mount, "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not see the log in your own eye" (Matthew 7:3)

I was at a funeral recently – and at the dinner afterwards I could see 3 of the children of the person who died, smoking. And I was saying to myself that the person who died could have had a couple more years if she didn’t smoke.

Smoking, overeating, over drinking, over TV or computering, not exercising – the stories of crimes and stupidity – are all part of life. We are marbled.

FOURTH AND LAST PRINCIPLE: WE’RE ALL DIFFERENT

The fourth and last principle is we are all different.

One of the things that drives me crazy – is this thing in the church as well as in many other places that we are all supposed to think the same.

We’re don’t. We’re different.

To me pluralism is not an issue. It’s a reality.

Matthew is different from Mark. Mark is different from Luke. And Matthew, Mark and Luke are different from John. And they are different from Paul and Mary – and on and on and on.

Of course 3 apples plus 2 apples is 5 apples. Of course, we have the Creed in our Church – and we say it in unity. But take a good look at those apples. Listen carefully to the nuances of theology and preaching and understanding – about the different articles of the Creed.

God is a Trinity of persons. We are a billionity of persons.

We are different as Adam is to Eve, Cain is to Abel, Martha is to Mary.

This is so obvious, that it can be oblivious at times.

It provides song lines like, “Why can a woman be more like a man” in My Fair Lady when Professor Higgins asks Pickering that question over and over again in the song, “A Hymn to Him.”

I am often reminded of the saying, “The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of the other person.”

CONCLUSION

There I did it. That’s my chair – as I sit on it on June 1st, 2008.

Sit on a chair this week and come up with the four legs of your chair. If you’re married, have your spouse come up with your four and vice versa, and don’t forget to laugh when you hear the differences in each other’s answers – and make sure you are having the time of your life.



(1) Gail Collins, “What George Forgot,” N. Y. Times, Op-Ed column, May 31, 2008

HOW TO
MAKE
THE ROSARY
MAKE
MORE SENSE

Moving Through the Mysteries
and Moments of Life
We All Go Through


An E-Blog Free Book

By Andy Costello, CSSR

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

The Five Joyful Mysteries
1) The Annunciation
2) The Visitation
3) The Birth
4) The Presentation.
5) The Finding


The Five Luminous Mysteries

1) The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan
2) The Wedding Feast at Cana
3) The Proclamation of the Kingdom
4) The Transfiguration
5) Jesus Gives Us the Eucharist


The Five Sorrowful Mysteries
1) The Agony in the Garden
2) The Scourging at the Pillar
3) The Crowning With Thorns
4) The Carrying of the Cross
5) The Death on the Cross


The Five Glorious Mysteries
1) The Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead
2) The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven
3) The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church
4) The Assumption of Mary into Heaven
5) The Crowning of Mary Queen of Heaven


INTRODUCTION

Rosary beads sometimes break. They get caught on doorknobs or bed posts or on the turning signal of our car. The links in a chain aren’t always that strong.

When we break a rosary, we pick up the broken pieces, so we can put them back together again – that is, if we have a small pair of pliers. We place the pieces on a table to see if we have all the parts. Then we arrange the decades in order.

A rosary is like the time line of our life.

When we break, when we fall apart, we need time to pick up the broken pieces.

A rosary is a good way to look at and pray about the mysteries of life.

THE CROSS

Obviously, birth comes first.

Yet the rosary begins with the cross.

A person picks up a rosary, takes the cross in hand and makes the sign of the cross on their body saying, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

The cross is the Christian sign and symbol.

The cross stands there tall, hanging over every town, every church, every life.

For the Christian, the cross is central. Obviously, we don’t notice this – especially when we are young or when everything is going well.

However, when suffering cuts across our life – we see that the hill of Calvary and its cross looms high over every house. There are times in everyone’s life when we’ve been crucified.

The sign of the cross signifies so much:

· the cross is basic to everyday life: we wake up planning things to go one way and someone or something cuts across our plans and we have to go another way or stay stuck in our frustration;
· the cross is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;
· the cross is the tree of life planted in the middle of our garden;
· the cross is a ladder that can help us climb out of the grave of death to resurrection;
· the cross is a STOP sign on the road of life;
· the cross is a sign that points the way to redemption.

If we look at the cross as a tree, it looks very barren. It only has two branches. Yet when we spend time under the cross like Mary, we begin to see it is filled with fruit, filled with life.

Take and eat.

In the first pages of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve are created and placed in an idyllic garden. They are told they can eat from every tree in the garden – except one tree. Every story has a catch, doesn’t it? The one tree they can’t eat from is “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil planted in the middle of the garden.” And if they eat the forbidden fruit, they will surely die.

That’s the crux of the story.

It’s a great story and great stories always have a catch. They have a snake in the grass. They have a snake in the story that slithers around on the slippery grass of our life whispering temptations into our ears. The serpent tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, “Take and eat!”

On the last pages of the Gospels, Mary, the New Eve, stands under the tree of the cross – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was planted at Calvary, and she does what Christ the New Adam tells us to do: “Take and eat.” And on the day you eat of me, you will surely live. (Cf. John 19:25; Luke 22:14-20; John 6:51-58.)

Blessed is the fruit from the tree of the cross.

It doesn’t look as inviting or as enticing as the forbidden fruit on the tree in the Garden of Paradise – but take and eat.

“Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”

The cross is certainly the tree that teaches us the knowledge of good and evil. They killed Jesus on the cross as he spoke words of forgiveness and love before he died.

Don’t we crucify each other? Hopefully we also love and forgive each other.

Sit under the tree of the cross and listen. Sit under the cross and learn. Sit under the cross and eat.

FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY
Then there are four beads. We pray the Our Father on the separate bead and then three Hail Mary’s on the three beads strung together for the gifts and virtues of faith, hope and charity in our life.

If you don’t have time to say the whole rosary or even just one decade of the rosary, just pray these 4 beads.

Who said we have to say all the beads – to pray all the mysteries?

If we go through the day with faith, hope, and charity – we will certainly make a difference that day.

If we walk with faith, hope, and charity – we walk with a clear mission statement – vision – outlook for that day.

If we are a person of faith, hope, and charity – we are being salt and light.

THE DECADES AND THE MYSTERIES
As we continue to look at the pieces of our life, especially when we feel like a broken rosary on a table, we see our life not only has a beginning and an end – it has lots of mysteries in between.

Our life has “decades.” They are there for the remembering and they are there for the praying. We have only glimpses and bits of some of the moments in our first 10 years of life. Our vision improves as we look at the decades that follow: our teens, our twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, and some of us admit to being even older than that.

Life … our life … if the story be told ….

Life … our life … if the secrets be known ….

Life goes fast at times.

Life goes slow at times.

Like saying the Rosary … like praying the rosary … at times.

But life is always interesting – and even more so, if we start looking at and praying the mysteries of our life.

Some people’s story seems to be more joyful and glorious than others. Some people seem to get all the breaks. Some people always seem to be broken. Some people seem to spend more time than others crowned with thorny headaches or carrying a cross.

Unfortunately, we don’t know each other enough. We experience our own rosary. We meditate on our own mysteries. Yet, if we pray and reflect enough, the mysteries of our life can link us with each other. As Cardinal Newman put it, “I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.”

Obviously, if we pray and reflect about life, we will have more light than if we don’t pray.

Is my life filled with darkness with occasional bursts of light? Or is my life filled with light with occasional blots of darkness?

Time sometimes comes like a flood. But most of the time, it drips, drips, drips, like the ticking of a clock. Life is drops – beads – of sweat, perfume, water and wine. It is a rosary of moments, a rosary of mysteries.

Now, of course, our life is not broken up into nice and neat decades. We don’t automatically change every 10 years. Yet our life has its stages and seasons marked off by decisive and dividing moments: its “decades”.

Life changes and we change with the changes. We learn to walk. We learn to talk. We go to school. We graduate. We find ourselves in relationships. We break off relationships or are broken by relationships. We start again. We marry. We take on a job. There are moves. There are births. There are deaths. There are sicknesses, accidents, and surprises. Life! Isn’t it mostly the unexpected?

Life changes. And sometimes the links in the chain of our life aren’t as strong as we thought they were. We have our breaking points. Hopefully, we pick up the pieces, put them on the table, look at them slowly and carefully, and then with help, we put our life back together again and again and again – like fixing a broken rosary – like saying the rosary again and again and again.

Sometimes we can spot the places where we broke. The repair work wasn’t all that good. But it worked at the time; we were healed and we were linked back together once again.

Once a rosary is fixed, it becomes a circle again. Perhaps we repeat the rosary over and over again because the mysteries of life repeat themselves over and over again and again till we get them – maybe.

“Life”, as Yogi Berra gets credited for saying, “is déjà vu over and over again.”

But down deep, who understands the why’s and wherefore’s of life? We are often repeat performances. Yet hopefully we gradually learn something from each experience along the time line of our life.

Life is a circle – but hopefully, it’s a spiraling circle – ever upward – ever outwards towards an elusive God – our Future – our Father – as we attempt to encircle God.

A spiraling circle is a good image, because we can’t lasso God. We can’t tie God up or down. Yet taking time to pray is taking time to be with God. It’s like getting out onto the dance floor and taking a chance – even when we don’t know the dance. We hold onto each other – stepping this way and that – to the music and the beat. We move around in circles – getting to be with each other – knowing we are so, so different from each other – and at the same time, so, so alike – and surprise: the dance and tunes of life keep changing through the years.

Our life then has its decades and its mysteries.

Our decades – years, months, even our days – have their moods. There are times when we find so much joy along our path – but then a horror happens around the corner like a car accident. Hopefully, there is recovery and resurrection and we are glorious once again. And as we reflect upon all these changes we see the light at times – we experience illumination.

Life is simple.

Yet, life is also complex.

Life repeats itself.

Yet, life is always brand new.

Life has walls, but it also has it doors. It’s a desert, but there are also gardens. It’s a feast, but sometimes it’s a beast. It’s a crowd, but sometimes we feel all alone. It’s has a past, but there’s always the future. Yet, we have to deal with life in the here and now.

Isn’t that what makes it so mysterious, so crazy, so worth living?

Isn’t that what makes it so joyful, sorrowful, glorious and hopefully, enlightening.

Just when we think we understand life – or its situations or ourselves or other people or God, surprise, the unexpected happens. Mystery stares us in the face. Suspense surprises us.

We need friction to get sparks of light. A match needs to rub against something rough to light.

Light! More light!

Life! More life!

Life has its mysteries.

“Ay, there’s the rub,” as Shakespeare put it in Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be…” soliloquy.

The rosary gives us some words and labels to understand life’s decades and some of life’s mysteries.
Last year on this blog I did another series of reflections on these mysteries of the rosary.

The following is an attempt to spell some of this out further.

FIVE NEW MYSTERIES
Up until recently, the rosary presented 15 mysteries: the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries of life – the ones Catholics have been familiar with all their lives. In the year 2,002, Pope John Paul II, added to the rosary 5 more mysteries from the life of Jesus and Mary and hopefully every person’s life.

These 5 new mysteries, added to the 15 other mysteries, help round out life’s picture even more – and who knows, perhaps more mysteries will be presented at some future date?

Right now, let’s look at 20 mysteries of life – knowing there are always more and more and more mysteries to life.

As the old song goes, “Ah, sweet mystery of life ….”

THE
JOYFUL MYSTERIES

First of all, life has its joyful mysteries and joyful moments:

Here are five we all go through:

1) Annunciation Moments: those moments in life when we hear calls, hopes, dreams, possibilities, challenges, angels, deep inner voices, when we hear God calling us to new life – new steps – new visions.

2) Visitation Moments: those small moments and sometimes life changing moments, when another or others enter into our life – or we enter theirs – and we are changed forever.

3) Births: those moments when we or a new baby or Christ arrives on the planet – comes into our view – or is born in our stable. We or they are born and we are re-born and we experience the meaning of Christmas and Bethlehem in our midst – and not just on December 25th.

4) Presentation Moments: those moments when we or others step up to the altar, or the podium, or the desk, or walk onto the stage and we present ourselves or others. Down deep what we are hopefully trying to do is the will of God.

5) Finding Moments: those moments in life, those turning points, when we are surprised to discover God, others, ourselves and the so many gifts God has given and surrounded us with.

Joy to the world, the Lord is here – especially in all the joyful mysteries and moments of life.

1) THE ANNUNCIATION

Life is filled with annunciation moments.

What have been your ten top annunciation moments?

The phone rings and a voice announces one of these messages:
“Are you sitting down? I have some great news to tell you. ‘We’re expecting a baby in December.’”
“Mom and dad, I got the job I was trying to get!”
“Patrick got a full scholarship to college for academics!”

The letter arrives. We open it and read one of these messages:
“You’re invited to the wedding of …. RSVP.”
“I love you.”
“I got the promotion.”
“The Sunday School staff met and your name came up as a possible teacher for next year. Would you be interested?”

We meet a friend in the supermarket and the conversation is filled with news:
“He asked me if I wanted to marry him.”
“My son got all A’s.”
“My daughter is doing hospice ministry.”
“Any chance you can help us with Meals-on-Wheels?”

Life has many annunciation moments.

Someone says, “Can you do me a favor?” We say, “Yes” and looking back 30 years later we say with joy, “That moment changed my life.”

Annunciation moments happen all the time. We pick up news at the coffee break, by e-mail, text messaging, by cell phone or old fashioned phones, chatting before and after church, while waiting in the parking lot, all over the place and all the time. Annunciation moments are Key News moments. Since we’re talking about the Joyful Mysteries here, these are mainly Good News moments.

Annunciation moments are often moments of invitation – calls for our time and our energies – calls for us to use skills others see in us that we might not see in us.

Annunciation moments don’t always come by phone or mail. If we just open up our eyes, we’ll see people who can use our time, our help, our love, a good word, in the everyday moments of life.

God makes announcements all the time – through all kinds of people and all kinds of situations.

Angels appear in all sizes, shapes and colors. Sometimes they can’t be seen.

We sometimes hear God speaking to us down deep in prayer.

We all can become pregnant with God.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.”

Mary heard the word of God through an angel. She asked some key questions. She pondered.

Then she said, “Yes! Be it done to me, according to your word.”

And the rest is history. The rest is mystery.

Jesus is near.

Jesus is here.

Listen! You might be in an Annunciation moment.

2) THE VISITATION

Life is filled with visits – people connecting with people – people reaching out to each other.

What have been the 10 top or most prominent visits in your life?

What are your regular visitation moments each week?

A neighbor drops in for a cup of tea every Monday afternoon around three – and one cup of tea is never enough.

Co-workers chat and connect at a coffee break.

Friends sit down in the back yard to have a beer on a hot day.

Families get together when a kid celebrates her first communion.

Families come from far and near when a son or daughter plays in a big game or in a school musical.

Thanksgiving is a great time for families to connect and reconnect.

The pope travels to another country.

We go to the 25th anniversary and reunion of our high school class.

We drop into church to pray.

We drop into a nursing home every Thursday to see our aunt or the person we always sat behind at morning Mass.

We go to the funeral parlor to pay our respects to our next-door neighbor’s mom who died.

We bring communion to five people who are “shut in”.

We baby sit for our two grandkids every Tuesday.

We call up an old friend on the phone 2,000 miles away the first Sunday of the every month and we’ve been doing this for years.

A college kid sends an e-mail to a close high school friend every day – because right now they are different colleges – one in California the other in Virginia.

A parish has a team of folks who visit a local prison on a weekly basis.

Three brothers completely surprise their younger sister on her 50th birthday with a spectacular picnic birthday party.

Five farmers chat outside of church in Leipsic, Ohio every Sunday after Mass and their wives and their kids joyfully let them do it – without sitting in the car or van with their arms folded – looking at their watches every 30 seconds. It’s not just ladies who talk after church in Leipsic, Ohio.

In the gospel of Luke we read about Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth down near Jerusalem after she hears Elizabeth is pregnant.

And Elizabeth greets her with words repeated over and over and over again ever since, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”

Jesus is near.

Jesus is here.

Be aware! This might be a Visitation moment.

3) THE BIRTH

Everybody has a birthday.

What was the most significant birth in your life?

We were once waited for in the dark; and when we were born into the light, we were celebrated!

“It’s a girl!”

“It’s a boy!”

Oh what a beautiful baby!

And our mom and dad knew their story was in for a change.

Babies keep changing, need to be changed often, and they keep changing those who change them – especially when they cry in the middle of the night.

The magic of babies…. We were once a baby. Have we kept our magic?

Are we still a beautiful baby?

“Unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:1).

The baby screams in church. Some people scream inwardly, “Take that kid out of here!” Others smile, wondering, “What was I like when I was a baby?” Some babies’ cries in church are heard as prayers in church and they trigger adult prayers: “Thank you mom and dad for the gift of life.”

Our niece has twins.

Our sister-in-law can’t have kids, so they adopted 3 kids: one from Korea, one from Russia, one from Guatemala.

The girls in the eight grade class in a local Catholic school, baby sit for free every Sunday morning during the 9:00 AM mass. They also baby sat last Thursday evening, so parents could attend a talk in the parish hall on “5 Key Steps for Improving Your Marriage”.

The nurses in the local hospital spread the word, “Pray for a preemie baby that was born this morning. She is only 1 pound 9 ounces and needs all the prayers she can get.”

Each of us knows every year the day that is our birthday.

Even those who can’t sing, and never sing, and don’t like to sing, sing “Happy Birthday”, when they are at a birthday celebration – especially if it’s the birthday of their three year old grandkid.

And Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem and celebrated the first Christmas with Joseph and shepherds and then kings.

The last shall be first.

It’s time to journey to Jesus.

Jesus is here.

Come let us adore him.

4) THE PRESENTATION

What were the ten top moments you were present to in your life?

Life is filled with moments when we have to present ourselves: trying to get into a certain college; writing a resume in hopes of getting a job; giving a talk; going out on the first date with someone; coming into a church.

It’s 4 PM. The church is quiet and 3 people are sitting there in the semi-darkness praying. One person is praying for peace in the world. A second is praying for a daughter who is all “messed up”. The third is sitting there praising God for a lifetime of blessings.

The baptistry in the vestibule of the church is very noisy. Praise God. 6 kids are being baptized.

The church is packed. 114 kids are making their first communion.

The church is packed. 98 kids are making their confirmation.

It’s Holy Saturday night and the Easter Vigil is about to begin. 23 people are coming into the Church after months and months of attending the R.C.I.A. program every Wednesday evening, 7:00 to 8:30.

It’s a kids’ Mass and this little third grader slowly climbs the steps into the sanctuary, heads for the podium, adjusts some portable wooden steps, then grabs and grapples with the microphone, which makes a neck wrenching sound, and then this little third grader announces to the church full of schoolmates and teachers, “A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles” and her mother and father are off to the side crying as if their kid just won an Olympic Gold Medal.

It’s 13 years later and that same kid and that same mother and father are once more in the presence of a big crowd and this time their daughter is graduating from college, summa cum laude – and once more her parents are crying tears of joy.

It’s 2 years later and that same daughter is marching down the aisle of her childhood church, arm and arm with her dad, who lifts her veil, gives her a big hug and kiss and presents his daughter to his future son-in-law. Bride and groom then proceed up the steps into that same church sanctuary of her childhood to make their wedding vows. And “Yes”, once more her parents are crying.

Each morning God the teacher calls out our name. “Is my answer, “Present!”

And Joseph and Mary took their son Jesus and presented him to the Lord in the temple – and yes, they too, like all parents, cried their tears of joy.

Jesus is present.

Jesus is here.

Am I where I am?

Am I present?

Am I aware of the presents in life’s presentation moments?

5) THE FINDING

What was the biggest find in your life?

Is it a person, place or thing?

Have you ever been lost?

Have you ever been found?

Have you ever lost God?

Have you ever found God?

Have you ever looked for God?

A tourist walks into a famous cathedral in a foreign country as part of a guided tour of mostly retired folks. A ray of light from one of the stained glass windows is hitting a crucifix hanging by chains above the sanctuary. At that moment the tourist realizes he has lost his faith and now he has to begin to find it after all these years.

A junior at a state university sees a sign on a bulletin board about a weekend retreat sponsored by the Newman Club at the college – checks it out – attends the retreat – and comes back to church for the first time since his confirmation.

A woman is on vacation – playing miniature golf with her grandkids. And she realizes after 35 years of anger that she is only hurting herself by not going to church. When she drove to the parish office to see a priest after her husband died – 35 years ago, she saw the priest putting his golf bag and luggage into the trunk of his car. He said he was running late and heading to the airport. She hadn’t called. He said he was sorry he had to run. He gave her the name of the priest who was coming in that afternoon to cover for him while he was taking a week’s vacation. For 35 years she thought he should have dropped everything to listen to her. She now laughed at herself as she got a hole in one and her grandkids said, “Way to go granny.” She came back to church finally.

For Augustine it was listening to the sermons of St. Ambrose and in God’s good time picking up and reading Paul’s Letter to the Romans.

For Thomas Merton it was many experiences, but especially picking up and reading The Confessions of St. Augustine.

A woman finds a lost coin ….

A shepherd finds a lost sheep ….

A father spots a lost son from a distance on the road back home ….

And Mary and Joseph discovered they lost son, Jesus. They had left him back in Jerusalem. Each thought he was with the other. Such are the things that can happen when men travel with men and women travel with women – and their kids travel with either parent – as is the custom in Mediterranean cultures. And Mary and Joseph turned around, went back to Jerusalem together and found Jesus in the temple.

Jesus is everywhere.

Start looking! You just might find him.

Start looking. God might be looking for you?

Get found.

THE
MYSTERIES OF LIGHT

Life also has its mysteries of light – moments when we see the light – breakthrough moments – moments when things dawn on us – finally.

Here are 5 mysteries and moments of light from the life of Jesus, the Light of the world, mysteries and moments we all go through as well:

1) The Baptism of Jesus: those moments when we realize we are a child of God – that we are beloved – as well as all those surrounding us in human family – called to be washed in the waters of life.

2) The Wedding at Cana: those moments when we felt empty – in our marriages – in our family – in our life – and we finally understand Mary’s words, “Do whatever he tells you!” and we do what Jesus asks us to do as good stewards and our life is filled to the brim again – sparkling with the new wine of life.

3) The Proclamation of the Kingdom: those moments in life when this earth’s boundaries disappear – and we glimpse what Jesus was about – the Kingdom now, the Kingdom within, the Kingdom that has no boundaries, the kingdom that is forever.

4) The Transfiguration: those mountain moments in life when we see through everything and all is light – and we see Christ the Light of the world in every sparkling moment – but we know these moments don’t last and we have to go back down into the everyday valleys of life.

5) Jesus Gives Us the Eucharist: those moments in life when we are eating at the family table as well as in church and we have the experience of being in communion and covenant with each other.

1) THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

What are the baptisms you remember?

We walk towards a church. We open the door. We walk into the vestibule. We open a second door. We stop. We pause for a moment at the doorway of this sacred place, this sacred space. We dip the tip of our finger into the holy water font. We say the words that were poured over us with water at our baptism, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

And every parent at the birth and hopefully the baptism of every one of their children says from the sky of their minds, “This is my beloved daughter…. This is my beloved son. This child is a gift from God. I’m going to try to listen to her.”

And every parent at the baptism of every one of their children hopes that this child will be someone who will make this world a better place to live in – that this child will be a fifth gospel, the Good News according to (Name of the Child), that this child will be listened to, because this child and every child is New News, Good News from God.

Water. Water. Everywhere. Look at a globe. 75% of the world is water.

And every person knows the restorative power of a good shower or a slow bath – water bouncing or embracing our skin, relaxing our muscles, cleansing us, healing us, and putting a smile on our body and on our soul.

And every person knows the curing power of rivers and lakes, oceans and waterfalls: sacred places, sacred presences of the mystery of water and of God.

Not everyone can make a pilgrimage sometime in their life to the Jordan River in the Holy Land, but every person can close their eyes and be in the presence of the River called Jesus – and let his Holy Spirit descend upon him or her – and hear the sacred words, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river, he was joining in the call to repentance, the call to start again, to cross the Jordan river again – entering into the Promised Land and bringing about the dream of God – the reason why God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to freedom and a new life in the first place.

Baptism is a call to “Come to the waters.”

Baptism is a call to “Repent!”

Baptism is a call to enter into a new way of life with and in and through Jesus.

Jesus is here.

2) THE WEDDING FEAST AT CANA

What were the weddings you remember?

And Jesus was invited with his disciples to a wedding feast in the city of Cana, in Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there.

Weddings are moments of new life. Weddings challenge the couple getting married to make great vows to each other – and to keep them till death do they part.

Weddings also trigger a cascade of marriage thoughts and memories in the minds and hearts and tears of those attending the wedding.

Wedding invitations get us to look at our calendars and our schedules. The couple who sent us an invitation hope we will say, “Yes we’ll be there.”

Weddings are moments of music and dance, prayers and hopes, food and drink, toasts and blessings.

Weddings bring about not only the marriage of a man and a woman, but also the marriage of families and traditions, stories and dreams.

And Jesus went to a wedding at Cana. His disciples went with him – as well as his mother. It must have been some celebration because they ran out of wine. Mary, a Jewish mother, stepped in and did what she did best. She asked her son, Jesus, to help. He said, “It wasn’t his time, yet.” Mary, knowing her son, said to the waiters, “Do whatever he tells you.” And Jesus did something. He gave this couple and every married couple – the possibility of the never ending wine of love – a never ending celebration of life – a never ending marriage of helping one another.

The Gospel of John tells us, “This was the first of the signs given by Jesus. It happened at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen and his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11)

A wedding is only a beginning. Hopefully, for the Christian, if it begins with Jesus, hopefully it will continue with Jesus. If it does the couple will see many more signs of life.
In time, the ordinary will become extraordinary. Couples see this with the birth of a child, especially the first child, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, and family celebrations.

In time, water can become bread and wine. The rain, the sun, the earth, bring forth grapes on the vine and wheat in our fields. They come to our table as bread and wine – and then they become us – the body and blood of each other around the table.

All is connected. All is covenant. All is Eucharist. All is the great wedding banquet of life – that started at Cana – that started at creation – that continues with the daily mass of life.

Jesus is waiting to be invited into the marriage of your life.

3) THE PROCLAMATION 
OF THE KINGDOM

“Thy Kingdom come.”

When you say the Our Father, what comes to mind when you say, “Thy Kingdom come.”

People dream of making it in this life – to finally come into their kingdom: a kingdom of good health, a good education, a good job, a good car, a home of their own, a good backyard with a tree, a swing, and some tomato plants, money in the bank, a good vacation every year, a family enjoying life and food around the dinner table, seeing their children’s children at least to the fifth generation – and everyone doing well.

Everyone has dreams.

It’s their magical kingdom in the deep woods of their mind.

May our dreams come true.

Thy Kingdom come.

Jesus came with dreams from the Father.

Thy Kingdom come.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

Blessed are you who cry – because that means you’ve tasted what makes you laugh.

Blessed are you who laugh, because that means you can see both sides of the kingdom – what’s right and what’s wrong; what’s fair and what’s unfair; what’s rich and what’s poor; what’s enough and what’s not enough; what divides and what unites.

Blessed are you who are willing to be hurt and laughed at because you’re willing to work for justice, for fairness, for what is right for all.

Blessed are you who have a glimpse of what Jesus was trying to plant and to start growing: the kingdom.
Thy kingdom come.

Make your way through towns and villages living and preaching and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

Go into the whole world and live and proclaim the Kingdom of God….

Proclaim Good News – the good news of forgiveness, peace, trust, enough food and drink, bread and fish, bread and wine for all.

Proclaim the call to conversion, newness of life, healing, walking the narrow way to the mansion built on rock, with the new garden, the kingdom of heaven – starting here and now and going on forever and ever and ever.

The Kingdom of God is within.

The Kingdom of God is at hand.

The Kingdom of God is like yeast or leaven ….
The Kingdom of God is like a banquet ….

Blessed is he or she who eats bread in the Kingdom of God.

Watch the flowers of the field, the wheat rising, the grapes growing and glistening, the lost sheep being found and you’ll see glimpses of the Kingdom.

Stop judging. Stop throwing rocks. Start forgiving and you’ll be a glimpse of the kingdom.

Watch children and you’ll get glimpses of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these

Come with me and proclaim the kingdom of God.

Blessed is he and she and all who eat bread in the kingdom of God (Luke 14:15)

The kingdom of heaven is like a woman who has ten coins and losing one, lights a lamp and sweeps our her house completely till she has found it. And then when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, “Rejoice with me. I have found my lost coin.”

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone finds, hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything she or he has and then buys the field.

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.

The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds. When it is full, the fisherman haul it ashore, then sitting down, they collect the good stuff in a basket and throw away what is of no use.

The kingdom of heaven is like a sharp person who can bring out of their storeroom both the new and the old.

No one can enter into God’s kingdom without being born again from above…. though water and the Spirit …..

Jesus is the king of this kingdom.

Jesus is a king who feeds folks and washes feet.

Jesus is a king who walks the roads of everywhere and once rode a donkey into Jerusalem.

Jesus is a king who has no home or palace – a king who wore a crown only once – at the end of his life and it was made not of gold, but of thorns.

Yet Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Come let us adore him.

Come with him and proclaim the kingdom.

Thy kingdom come.

Jesus makes the Kingdom possible.

4) THE TRANSFIGURATION

Looking at the story of your life, when did you experience “Transfiguration Moments” when someone or some place or something or God was seen in a totally new light?

Too many times as we speed down the highway of life we don’t stop when we see the sign, “Scenic overview.”

Too many people have never climbed a mountain. As a result they don’t appreciate life in the valley as much as they could – if they “have been to the mountain.”

Few people climb Mount Everest – but lots of people climb smaller mountains as part of the story of their life.

Good shoes, good guides, good friends, good food, make climbing a mountain that much easier.

From the top of a mountain, “On a clear day, you can almost see forever”.

It’s important to climb mountains – to go to the peak and stop and see one’s life – to look up to the sky and know that God is above us and that we are not God – to look down and see where we’ve come from – and to know we can’t stay on top forever.

But it’s good to have been there – on top for a while.

Mountains are for peak experiences; valleys are for everyday life.

Jesus knew the importance of going to the mountain – to be with his Father in prayer and vision.

Jesus knew the importance of taking time off to climb a mountain with close friends.

And on that mountain Jesus was transfigured – in bright white light – and his clothes became whiter than any bleacher could bleach them – and his disciples were mesmerized and transformed by that vision –and they heard again the voice from the clouds that Jesus heard at his baptism. “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

On her wedding day, a bride comes down the aisle all dressed in white and her about-to-be husband wasn’t allowed to see her transfigured this way as a queen till that moment – and he sees her in the light of that moment on the most beautiful day of her life – and he vows to honor her and cherish her all the days of their life together. And then they come down the aisle and down from their honeymoon together and hopefully the wedding vision of his beloved never fades.

In the baseball movie, The Natural, Roy Hobbs is in the middle of a batting slump. He’s in the middle of going the wrong way with the wrong woman in his life. It’s a road game. He’s not at home. He stops before coming to home plate. He senses something is different. Someone is high in the stands rooting for him. She’s standing up while everyone else is seated. It’s a woman in white – in a bright white dress - the right woman in his life – the woman he forgot when left home for a baseball career. And everything went wrong when he went to see the woman in the black dress who shot him. And he hits a home run and breaks out of his batting slump. And after the game he meets the woman in white – his childhood sweetheart – and they talk and he tells her everything that happened to him – how things went wrong and how he didn’t see it coming – and everything slowly starts turning for the better.

In the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. he loved to preach, “I’ve been to the mountain.” He had been. And once you’ve been there, once you have your life’s vision, all other visions are blackened and blocked out in the light of that vision – that life calling – and you can go on, no matter what happens – no matter who tries to shoot you down.

Transfiguration moments are mountain moments in our life. We need them. We need vacations and weekends: when we can stop to see the dawn in the morning or the stars at night – when we can slow down and smell the roses – when we play catch or read with one of the kids – when we be in church and be in communion and in prayer with Jesus and hear the words of the Father, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

Jesus invites everyone as a personal friend to climb the mountain.

5) JESUS GIVES US

THE EUCHARIST

What were the great Masses you were at?

We all eat.

We all need food to survive.

We all need to enjoy meals together to thrive.

It’s not good to eat alone.

We long for union.

We need communion.

We need to sit down together at the family table.

We all need signs of peace.

We need to be held.

Babies die if they are not held and hugged.

Marriages die if there isn’t love.

People become strange if they are not in relationships.

As the first book of the Bible, Genesis, puts it, “It’s not good to be alone.”

Hell is cold.

Hunger is hell.

We starve to death, if we don’t eat.

It’s heaven, when we enjoy a good meal together.

It’s hell, when we are stuck at a table with someone we don’t like.

When we don’t like each other, we don’t like to eat with each other.

Weddings have separate tables.

Marriages that are breaking up have separate beds.

Okay, sometimes it’s because the other snores – or is on a different time schedule – or one wants the window open and the other wants it close. Not everyone likes it hot.

When we celebrate, we celebrate with food. We can’t picture a picnic, a tailgate party, a 50th anniversary, a funeral, without food.

We can’t picture a wedding without the wedding cake and the best man making a toast holding a glass of champagne.

The Israelites celebrated the Passover with unleavened bread and the 4 glasses of wine.

Jesus celebrated his last free night with his disciples at a meal. He said some great things at his Last Supper. “Love one another.” “Wash each other’s feet.” “Greater love than this no one has than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

At that meal he took bread and wine and said, “This is my body. I am giving it to you. Take and eat.” “This is my blood. I am pouring it out for you. Take and drink.”

And we have been doing this in memory of him ever since.

THE
SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

Life obviously has its sorrowful mysteries and its sorrowful moments. Everyone has to deal with them. We see these mysteries and moments of suffering in the life of Christ and in our life. We meditate on these moments when we pray the Rosary. Here are 5 we all go through:

1) Agonies in the Garden: those moments when we agonize over upcoming decisions. How and when do I tell the kids that we are being transferred? Doctors have to tell people about tests which indicate, “It looks like cancer.” A manager is called into the boss’ office and he is told he has to tell 12 workers they are being cut. A school principal has to make a decision about dismissing a kid – knowing it’s going to be a messy battle with the kid’s parents – but the kid has been warned about ongoing disciplinary problems for months.

2) The Beatings at the Pillar: those moments when we feel tied up and beaten down by life. We feel we are totally misunderstood and people are gossiping about us all over the neighborhood or in the work place. We don’t just have one health problem; we have four of them. The competition keeps beating us and we can’t seem to generate enough sales. Another store opens up across the street. Our kids keep comparing us to parents who are “much more understanding”. Our spouse doesn’t side with us in our attempts to discipline one of our kids.

3) The Crowning with Thorns: those moments when we have a splitting headache because we can’t manage our time or our money or our lives. It’s just not a good time right now – and we can’t escape the crush of life. The phone keeps ringing and we can’t seem to hide.

4) The Carrying of the Cross: those moments in life when a cross is placed on our shoulder. A parent or parents can’t take care of themselves any more. A child gets hooked on alcohol or drugs. We lose a job.

5) The Death on the Cross: those moments in life when we have to face our own death or the death of a loved one.

1) AGONY IN THE GARDEN

When have you experience an agony in the garden?

It’s important to have places where we can hide: gardens, backyards, parks, churches, cellars, backrooms, bathrooms, inner rooms.

It’s important to have places where we can cry.

It’s a blessing to have our own garden – a place where we can grow green things – and red things – zucchini and tomatoes – tulips and roses – a place where we can cut and snip, weed and plant – a place where we can get away from it all – a place where what we are doing outwardly, is happening inwardly – cutting and snipping, weeding and planting – in the secret garden of our soul.

Rev. Robert Tristen Coffin was once asked if he enjoyed being a minister. He thought for a moment and then said something like, “I love it. Being a minister is an amazing life – especially when someone invites you into the secret garden of their soul and they tell you who they really are.”

And if we could enter into the secret garden of another, wouldn’t we see both a garden of delights as well as a garden of sorrows?

For many, the agonies in life stand out like broken branches on the grass after a storm. Family stories might sound like a novel, but they are not novel. Every family has rejections, crushing comments, broken vows, people who walked away from us, failures, alcoholism and drug addiction, loss of a job, or kids who don’t seem to care.

Jesus often felt the need to escape. He loved to slip away in the night to enter into the dark garden of God – and discover that God is a never ending garden of Delight.

On the night before he died, Jesus walked into a garden to pray. He needed space. He needed strength. He needed friends. So he asked his closest friends – the ones he climbed the mount of the transfiguration with – to stay awake and pray with him. And he prayed and cried and they slept.

And all alone, feeling rejected by both God and friends, he cried out, “Father, if it is possible take this cup of suffering away from me, but not my will, but your will be done.”

We too, whenever we feel like we’re stuck, need to escape to a garden – and when life feels like we’re in a garden of agony, if we look around, Jesus is there too – and he’s not sleeping.