ISAIAH 1: 18

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 2nd Tuesday in Lent is, “Isaiah 1:18.”

Every once and a while someone asks us what our favorite Bible text is. If you don’t have one and you’re looking for candidates, Isaiah 1:18 is a good horse to put in the race.

IT BEGINS

Isaiah 1: 18 begins with a great line. “Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord.” That’s the New American Bible [NAB] translation and Mitzi read it so well this morning. I prefer the New Revised Standard Version [NRSV] translation: “Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord” or the New International Version [NIV] translation: “’Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord.”

Scholars say this text has the settling of an argument in a court of law type language.

And what are we to settle with God or argue about with God or set things right with God?

It’s our sins – our stains – the bad stuff in our story – and if I’ve heard anything from people about what they worry about, it’s their past – their past mistakes, their sins, and how they think they stained their lives.

Scars, tatoos and sin last.

BLEACH

Next comes what makes this text, Isaiah 1:18, a favorite and a memorable text for so many people.

God wants to settle the matter with people - to forgive us, even if our sins are scarlet red. God will bleach them out – help them disappear them – forgive them – so that our souls can become as white as snow.

Isn’t that a great message? Isn’t that a great text.

A BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR THE TEXT

I read in a commentary on today's text that the red used for dye was a very rich red dye. It was taken from the dried female body of a worm called the “coccus ilicis”. Isn’t that interesting? Who and when did someone figure that out? The "coccus ilicis" is found on the leaves of oak trees in Spain and various other places. To come up with a rich red garment, the cotton cloth was double dipped, double dyed – a process unique to this color.

So this red color in cloth was more than spaghetti source on a white blouse or shirt – that those Tide sticks can remove.

Next there was an interesting Jewish practice using wool threads. I found this last night when I was going through some Jewish Midrash and Rabbinical comments on this first reading from Isaiah. (1)

To get at the issue of sin – in the community – a leader of the temple would take a woolen thread that was solid red crimson. It would be tied to the Porch or vestibule that leads into the Temple hall. People coming into the temple would see this red thread when they came into the temple.

Now if in time it turned white, the people knew that their sins were forgiven. If it stayed red, then the people still felt sinful and separated from God. If that crimson thread still stayed red over time, it would be cut in two. One part would be still tied to the temple wall – but the other part was tied between a goat’s horns. It would be the scapegoat that was lead out into the desert. Two goats were used for a penitential service. One would be killed; the other goat the priest put his hands over and symbolically load it down with the sins of the people before it was sent into the desert. (2)

If that red thread turned white – then hopefully the thread in the Temple Porch would also turn white – bleached by the sun. It they didn’t, the people remained with a feeling of being sinful and stupid.

CONCLUSION

For the Christian the scapegoat is Christ driven outside the city and hung on the cross. He is beaten blood red and killed and when we see him on the cross we know He is the Son who bleached our sins white as snow. (3)

NOTES

Painting on top, "The Scapegoat" [1854] by Holman Hunt [1827-1910]. Notice the red thread between the horns.

(1) page 181 in The Book of Legends - Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Legends from The Talmud and Midrash, edited by Hayim Nahman Bialik and Yehoshua Hanna Ravnigzky, Translated by William G. Braude

(2) page 69-70 in Dictionary of the Bible, John L. McKenzie.

(3) Read The Rene Girard Reader, by Rene Girard, edited by James G. Williams, especially pages 11-12; pages 97-141; as well as Violence and the Sacred by Rene Girard.

MY  MISS  TAKES

Quote for Today - March 22, 2011


"Use misssteps as stepping stones to deepen understanding and greater achievement."


Susan Taylor

TAPE MEASURE

INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 2nd Monday in Lent is, “Tape Measure.”

MOVIE: HOOSIERS
Now that March Madness is on TV – I’m sure one of the most famous sports movies of all time will also be on: Hoosiers.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie, “Hoosiers” takes place when the Hickory high school basketball team arrives at the big arena in Indianapolis – for the state championship game. This small, small high school team are to play in this enormous arena against a big team from South Bend. The coach, Norman Dale, played by Gene Hackman, is out on the basketball court with his team. They are in street clothes. They just got off the bus. The place is empty. The coach takes a tape measure out of his pocket and asks a few of his players in the presence of the whole team to measure how high the basket is from the floor. One player climbs on the shoulders of another player and they measure it. They give the measurement. The coach then says, “It’s the same as back home in Hickory.” Then he adds – pointing to the size of the court, “It’s the same size court as well.”

HOW WE MEASURE EACH OTHER
Sometimes we wish everyone had the same measuring tape for each other – but we don’t.

Jesus is well aware of that from his comments in today’s gospel.

He takes an example from the marketplace where everything is measured out very carefully.

Jesus must have seen a businessman in the marketplace who broke all the rules when pouring out wheat or what have you into a person’s garment. He then packed it down. Then he poured in some more. Then he shook it and added more till everything was overflowing.

Now that’s the way to measure out kind judgments on others – according to Jesus.

Jesus says very bluntly:
“Be merciful,
just as your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging
and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning
and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together,
shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure
with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”
CONCLUSION: WHAT DOES YOUR MEASURING TAPE LOOK LIKE?
What would it be like to look at your measuring tape today – this day of Lent – and compare it to Jesus’ measuring stick?

We know what a ruler looks like. We know what a yardstick looks like. We know what tape measures look like.

Is our rule of thumb, ruler, or measuring rod miniscule or maxed big?

Or imagine if our measuring tape was only an inch by a quarter inch and it was like the size of the cross on our rosary or a cross around our neck. That’s a tiny cross. Then imagine if we looked up and saw this gigantic cross, this gigantic measuring stick, hanging up here in this church?

Jesus is standing here today in this court, in this church today. He’s challenging us to compare the difference between the cross and our measuring stick. Can we say what Jesus said on the cross: “Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing?”

Now that’s a wide measurement.

But we might say, “That cross is too heavy – that’s too difficult a way to measure others. Heck, people know what they are doing!”


Try it! You might like it! In fact, once we learn to judge others with much wider judgments, watch how we discover this heavy cross of forgiveness becomes – watch how much inner peace we have – watch how others see in our face – a more understanding heart.

Jesus has the secret of making burdens lighter!

THERE ARE ALWAYS  

TWO  SIDES 

TO EVERY STORY 

AND SOMETIMES MORE  

Quote for Today  March 21,  2011

"He who knows only his side of the case, knows little of that."



John Stuart Mill [1806-1873], On Liberty [1859]. chapter 2.

GO FIGURE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Second Sunday in Lent is, “Go Figure.”

That’s one of those sayings one hears from time to time.

“Go Figure!”

Something strange happens. A person surprises us by doing something we didn’t expect – and we say, “Go figure!” Sometimes we say it with a shrug of the shoulders or a twist of the hand – in an either/or motion or what have you.

“Go Figure!”

It can be a good surprise or a bad surprise. Either way, to say, “Go Figure” usually has an element of intrigue or the unknown or mystery in the situation. So it can be a day when everything goes right and we didn’t expect there would be no traffic and we got all the lights and so we arrive ten minutes ahead of time and the doctor sees us immediately and we’re back on the road a half hour ahead of what we planned and we say, “Go Figure.”

SPENDING TIME – SPENDING LIFE

We spend much of our time and much of life trying to figure out life.

To be more specific: we spend much of our time trying to figure out what we want out of life. We try to figure out work; what would be the right job? We try to figure out how parents figured out life. We try to figure out what others are thinking. Go figure. We might be listening to music or the car radio or a sermon – but we are really listening to ourselves figuring out someone else – or something someone said last week or just yesterday or we’re trying to figure out what kind of car to buy – or house to buy – or house to sell – or what to do when the kids finally move out – or what have you. Will Maryland get a new basketball coach so the Terps can be in March Madness.

Go figure.

God? Is this all real? What’s with earthquakes and tsunamis and war and Islam and terrorism and why didn’t Libya fall just like Tunisia and Egypt? And how does this all work? Does nature hate a vacuum? Is the world uneasy with peace? As soon as the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall and the threat of communism fell – then something new starts up with Islam.

Go figure!

Why do we spend all this money on wars and helping up other nation’s defenses – and the money could be used for education or farming or what have you? How does the world work? Is it all about oil or the economy or greed or control or we’re # 1 and want to be #1 – as in sports? Now that we have TV and Internet News 24/7/365 – do we need to have fighting or killing somewhere – to have news?

Go Figure

TODAY’S GOSPEL – TODAY’S GOOD NEWS

Today’s gospel presents the great story of the Transfiguration.

This second part of the word “transfiguration” triggered the thought, title and theme for this homily. “…..figuration.” Go figure.

Jesus goes up a high mountain with 3 close friends and he is transfigured before them. He goes up there to figure things out.

The disciples can’t figure out what is happening. Jesus’ face shines like the sun and his clothes become white as light. They see Moses and Elijah appearing to Jesus – and he is talking with them.
What’s going on here? Uh oh. This is all new! What’s happening?

Go figure. Imagine being there? We’d be trying to figure it out as well.

Peter, James and John want to stay there. They need more time.

Peter says, “Lord it is good that we are here. We can set up 3 tents: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

Then they see a cloud come over them and they hear a voice from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Often listening is the first part of figuring.

This story is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke – so evidently it was an important moment in the life of Jesus and these disciples.

ISRAEL 2000In January of 2000, I had the trip of a lifetime for a priest – Israel – and it wasn’t just a tour of Israel – it was a retreat with about 25 priests.

It was a chance to go figure full blast – for 10 days.

I told Father Stephen Doyle – a Franciscan priest who was our guide and retreat master – that I had a lot of things I wanted to see.

He asked, “For example?”

I said I wanted to see, a mustard tree, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, sheep and goats, a sycamore tree, Gehenna, the Dead Sea, the Mosque in Jerusalem that is just above the Wailing Wall. I wanted to see the Lake of Galilee, the Jordan River. I wanted to see grapes – and wheat – a wine press and an outdoor oven.

So when we went by any of those things he’d yell out from the front of our bus, “Costello there’s a sycamore tree coming up on our left.”

The only place and the only thing we didn’t get to see was Samaria and hopefully the possible well where Jesus meet the woman – which is the story in next Sunday’s’ gospel.

The trip up to the top of the mountain – Mount Tabor - the so called place of the transfiguration was one of the big surprises of the trip.

We drove by from our hotel on the Lake of Tiberius – also called Galilee – to the base of the mountain. It’s pretty high. We got out of our bus and entered into white Mercedes Benz taxis. They took us – zig zag – up to the top. That was different. We had Mass up there – followed by an hour of quiet prayer after Mass – and the gospel reading at Mass obviously was today’s gospel.

Since it was a retreat we had an hour of silence – time for quiet prayer – up there on the top of that mountain. I found a great spot on the roof of some building up there. I was all by myself – looking out on the vast green fields down below of that part of northern Israel. Great farms. Artificial watering.

It was a time to go figure. I thought about Jesus – whether this was the actual mountain. I figured out that it really didn’t make any difference. I said to myself – “This whole land here was walked by Jesus and I’m following in his footsteps – by foot but mostly by bus.”

I understood Martin Luther King Jr’s famous, “I’ve been to the mountain” speech. When you’re on a mountain, the old saying is so true, “On a clear day you can see forever.”

I thought about life – being a priest – about the people I met – and all the blessings I’ve received so far.

I realized how blessed I was to have backpacked a lot when I was younger – in the Rockies as well as the Presidential range of mountains in New Hampshire – but back then I didn’t see what I was seeing that day. Old eyes can see a lot more than younger eyes.

Then the hour was up and we went down to a Franciscan rectory up there – and had this great Italian dinner. We had a meatball and spaghetti dinner and great bread on the transfiguration mountain. Go figure. It was good to have been there.

Then we took the white Mercedes cabs back to the bus.

CONCLUISION: REFIGURING
To come up with a Lenten type homily and to try to make a helpful point, the word refiguring hit me. I could also use the word, “reconfigure”.

But refigure works.

I would think Lent is a good time to get away from it all.

Lent is a good time to go figure.

Lent is a good time to become quiet – to take walks – to spring – to rise – to resurrect – to listen to God the Father say to us – “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Lent is a good time to plan ahead and look backwards. When were the transfiguration moments in my life – when I saw everything clear and bright and right. More.

Lent is a good time to look at any parts of my life that have become disfigured – and become refigured – reconfigured.

And when this happens in Lent – here in church – or on a nice spring walk – or just sitting in a good quiet place at home – and we realize we’re with Jesus – we say, “Lord it is good to be here.”

Post card on top is entitled, "Springtime In The Galilee Mt. Tabor".

CONVERSION:

HOW DEEP,

HOW WIDE,

HOW REAL?

Quote for Today  - March 20,  2011



"In 1951 Red Skelton and a party of friends flew to Europe, where Skelton was to appear at the London Palladium. As they were flying over the Swiss Alps, three of the airplane's engines failed. The situation looked very grave and the passengers began to pray. Skelton went into one of his best comic routines to distract them from the emergency as the plane lost height, coming closer and closer to the ominous-looking mountains. At the last moment the pilot spied a large field among the precipitous slopes and made a perfect landing. Skelton broke the relieved silence by saying, 'Now, ladies and gentlemen, you may return to all the evil habits you gave up twenty minutes ago.'"






page 511 in The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, General Editor.

JOSEPH:
AN IMAGINARY STORY

It wasn’t the way I planned it. For that matter it wasn’t the way Mary planned it either. So we figured it was God’s plan – and we went from there. Not easy – sometimes it’s never easy with God’s plans and God’s ways – that is, when compared to my plans and my ways.

What we planned was marriage – family – the carpenter’s shop – meals together, love together, life together – a life like any other life.

Then I found out Mary was pregnant – and I knew it wasn’t me – and knowing Mary – I couldn’t fathom any one else but me – so I was left in the dark – and I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t dream of what to do next.

In the beginning I knew I wasn’t going to throw her out to the wolves of gossip and to back of the hand whispered conversations. If you knew how small Nazareth was and how big gossip could be there. If you knew how sweet Mary was – you too would divorce her quietly. You couldn't just expose her to shame – and shame is strong stuff in a small village.

Of course I'm biased. We already were engaged. We already went through that ceremony – the first step in a Jewish wedding – and our wedding date was set.Good thing I’m a dreamer. Good thing I was named the same name as Joseph the Great Dreamer in Jewish history. In dreams he figured out his future. In dreams an angel told me what to do.

In a strange way, we got a break. It was a temporary way out. It was the census – the Roman Census – so we had to go to Bethlehem – where my roots extended back to David - way back. It gave us an opportunity to get away for a while. Sometimes the best thing to do is to hide.

It was fascinating the way events unfolded when we got to Bethlehem. We were just in time for Mary to have her baby. However, what happened was not expected. So I was amazed how things worked out. It helps to be a dreamer.

To be born in a stable – was just one more surprise. Shepherds came out of nowhere and Magi came out of somewhere – bringing their presence and their presents.Then came the nightmare and the night dream to get out of there – the warning that Herod didn’t want competition. Those in power usually erase, abort, get rid of all that will get in the way. An angel, a dream, directed us to Egypt. Sometimes the best thing to do is to hide.

Egypt made sense – because that was the same path my patron, Joseph the Dreamer, took.

However, I didn’t realize most of this till afterwards. Isn't that the way it usually happens?

So here I was another Joseph who landed in Egypt. He got there in as strange a way as we did. His brothers wanted to kill him. Sanity and luck prevailed. Joseph - betrayed by his own brothers - was sold for 20 pieces of silver – and his buyers brought him to Egypt. So here we were because of a dream and the message that here was a special baby.

I added, "One dangerous baby as well."

Mary added, "Well, I can't say I wasn't warned that a sword would pierce my heart."

When we heard that this Herod died – there were a few of those rascals - we headed back to Nazareth – our roots – and my carpenter shop. It needed a lot of work.

In the meanwhile Jesus grew in wisdom, age and grace before all.

It slowly became obvious to me that Jesus was going to be more than a carpenter, Would he be like Joseph the Dreamer who saved the world of his day when they were in famine –and he made Egypt the breadbox of the world? Will our Jesus feed the world – with bread and life? Will he become a great rabbi? Will he become a wisdom figure? Will he become a great healer. Time will tell. Time will tell.

In the meanwhile the three of us became fully settled in Nazareth, We were home.

I often wondered what our Jesus was wondering about when he stopped to watch the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. I saw his face wince and twist several times when he saw the worse use of wood that was possible – people hung on crosses - people crucified to crosses all along the roads we walked in Northern Palestine.

[Painting on top, "The Dream of St. Joseph," [1640] by Georges de La Tour [1593-1652]

This is a first draft of a possible story for a future book I'm working on from time to time on Biblical Characters.

JOHN  XX111

Quote for Today - Feast of St. Joseph - March 19,  2011


"The representative of the highest spiritual authority of the earth is glad, indeed boasts, of being the son of a humble but robust and honest laborer."


Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli [1881-1963], Pope John XXIII. This is a remark he made to the mayor of Fleury-sur-Loire - town in Central France - population 240 in the year 2007. This comment can be found in Wit and Wisdom of Good Pope John, collected by Henri Fesquet [ 1963]

DO IT YOURSELF
STATIONS
OF THE CROSS

[Here are 15 spiritual exercises. You can do them one at a time this Lent or at any time. See where these exercises take you. You can do this with another – or by yourself. Your move!]

1) Walk into any Catholic Church and walk around looking at all 14 Stations of the Cross. Then walk around again and pick one station – just one station – that is you – where you were or where you’re at in your life right now. Then sit in a church bench under that station or where you can see that station and be there with Christ in prayer for 15 minutes.

2) Take a blank piece of paper and write down the year of your birth on the left hand side of the page. Then write down on the far right side of the paper – just opposite the date on the far right – the year of your death. Give it an outside year – make it 2075 if you wish. Then draw a straight line across the page from your birthday to your death year. That’s the proverbial “dash” of life – the line ____________ in between your two key numbers. Next jot down along that time line key moments in your life. After doing that, re-write that straight line between your two numbers, this time with twists and turns, ups and downs, but get across the page to your death day.

3) Name a moment in your life – with details when you were condemned falsely.

4) What was the biggest cross your mom and/or dad had to carry?

5) Get a clean piece of paper or use your computer to jot down three falls you had so far in your life.

6) Picture your mom’s face the first time she saw your face.

7) Who has been the person who has helped you most in this life?

8) Name a moment in your life – tell of an experience – when and where a complete stranger has reached out and did something for you.

9) Name a moment in your life – tell of an experience – when and where you just stood there – as you saw a person in deep hurt – and you cried.

10) Name a moment in your life – when you felt totally stripped of everything – embarrassed – ridiculed – rejected - completely de-personalized.

11) Name a moment in your life – when you felt nailed down – and you were just stuck there – unable to get off your cross?

12) Draw the scene at Calvary when Jesus died. Put in figures of different people in your life standing there that Good Friday. Do a series of pictures – putting yourself or others on the cross – or under the cross. Use stick figures if you can’t draw. One picture can have people saying things – use those cartoon bubbles for words one sees in newspaper cartoons. When you place yourself on the cross, what will be your dying words?

13) Picture yourself in a casket – at a funeral home – and you see different people coming in – standing there looking at you in your casket. What are they saying?

14) Where will your remains or cremains be buried? If you have a saying or a scripture text on your tombstone or marker, what will it be? Sketch the scene of your burial place.

15) What will it be like on the other side of your death? Picture the scene. Picture the people waiting for you? Use your imagination. Remember the words of Saint Paul, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has the human heart ever figured out, what God has prepared for those who love Him” [1 Corinthians 2: 9]


[I also have a series of Stations of the Cross I wrote years ago. You can also say and pray them while on your computer. They can be found on this blog – from way back in March 6, 2009. It’s entitled, “Sitting Under the Stations of the Cross.”]

PRAYER - 

PLUS WORK,

PLUS ACTION.

Quote for the Day -- March 18,  2011


"God gives every bird its food but doesn't throw it into its nest."


Danish Proverb

HUNGER:

WHAT DO YOU DESIRE?

Quote for Today - March 17, 2011


"As God is my witness, I will never be hungry again."


Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind

POWER OF LOVE 

OR LOVE OF POWER?

Quote for Today - March 16, 2011


"We look forward to the time when the power of Love will replace the love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of Peace."

William Ewart Gladstone

LENT

Quote for Today - March 15,  2011


"A full stomach praises Lent."


Danish Proverb

CLIMB THAT FENCE,

OPEN THAT DOOR,

KNOCK DOWN THAT WALL!

Quote for Today  - March 14,  2011


"Az me kumt iber di planken, bakumt men andereh gedanken."


Yiddish saying: "If you cross over the fence, you acquire other ideas." page 48, #247, in 1001 Yiddish Proverbs, Fred Kogos, First Carol Publishing Group, 1990.

TEMPTING

INTRODUCTIONThe title of my homily is, “Tempting!”

Today’s readings are great readings to begin Lent with.

Today’s readings get at some good questions and deep issues. (1)Today I’d like to get at the issue of temptation. We’ve all said in our lifetime, “Tempting! Tempting! Tempting!” or “Tempt me! Tempt me! Tempt me!”

We’ve all prayed in ten thousand, “Our Fathers…,” “Lead us not into temptation.”

TODAY’S FIRST READING FROM GENESISWe’ve all been in Eve’s situation. We find ourselves face to face with forbidden fruit. Sometimes we fall. We take the forbidden fruit. And then we taste the aftertaste – the nasty aftertaste of sin. Sin can leave some yucky stuff stuck in between our teeth – and it doesn’t smell right on our breath – and down in our belly we hear a growl.

If we bite into evil – if we chew and digest it – yes, we might discover something rather juicy. For the moment, sin can taste so good. Then we sink a bit. We slink a bit. We want to slide away like a serpent or a snake – wanting to hide in the tall grass. We’ve taken on the image and likeness of the snake. We feel naked, shame, shouldn’t have gone there, shouldn’t have done it, uh oh! Oh no!

We’ve crossed a boundary. We find ourselves outside the gate of where we were. Uh oh. Now what?

And then sometimes we try to bring others into our mess – tempting them. Misery, evil, sin, seems to want company. There is something in us that wants communion with those on the same line as us. We want communion not just with bread.

Today’s first reading from Genesis is great story telling. It has stood the test of time. It’s telling a truth. It’s a mirror. It’s our story too.

These early readings from Genesis are remembered. They were written down for a reason. Of course they took lots of rewrites and variations to finally get into the form we have them today in our Bible.

These early readings from Genesis provide hints of answers to questions: why sin, why forbidden fruit, why death, why loss of innocence, why blame and shame and a dozen other good questions?

This reading gets us in touch with the question of freedom – choice. Life would be boring if we didn’t have freedom – and choice. Marriage would be boring if the other couldn’t say, “No!” March Madness would not be March Madness if there were no possibility of upsets and surprises. The People of Libya and the Middle East want freedom – after years and years of dictatorships – so too – all us children of Eve.

I would also assume that God would be bored with us if we had to worship and show up here on the Sabbath. Choice is key to what makes us human beings.

This reading also gets us in touch with raising children. There they are hopefully in the safety of the womb and then the safety of the home – and they are so cute and so wonderful – till they start to show and sound screams for independence. That high chair or playpen and that same old same old baby food must be so boring for kids. We humans are different from animals. We’re the slowest to get on the road to independence – and parents obviously want to keep kids away from the bad stuff – the forbidden fruit for as long as possible. But every kid comes to the day when they are in the same situation as Eve is in today’s first reading.

Notice the difference between men and women in today’s story. Eve deliberates. There is hesitation. There is dialogue with the devil. There are questions. She wanted to gain wisdom. (2) The guy just takes the fruit without question – immediately. There’s humor here. There’s sex here. There’s insight here. There’s wisdom here. The snake is phallic and those fallen end up with knowledge they didn’t have before – the knowledge of good and evil.

I don’t know Hebrew but I read in preparing this homily that the Hebrew words in this story are punny and funny – and those who heard the stories in that language get even more than we get – but in general, we too get the message – somewhat. Temptation stories are ever old and ever new.

Life has its catches. The devil – the personification of evil – snake or serpent or guy in red tights – lurks in what we think is perfect and paradise.

Find a copy of C.S. Lewis’ classic, The Screwtape Letters and read it this Lent. He writes the devil’s manual on how to tempt people.

People deny the devil and people deny God. I assume what they really are denying are images of the devil and images of God.

When getting into denial, I would think sin would be the place to begin. Does anyone deny the existence of sin and stupidity – hurt and dumb behavior – self destruction and people hurting people. If someone deny sin, tell them to turn on the TV!

We’re here in church today because we believe in one God.

We’re here in church today because we choose to believe that God is in our story – our memoirs – our autobiography – as indicated with these stories in the readings we hear at Mass.

We’re here in church because we believe God is in the mix of who we are and why we are.

We are here in church because we believe that we choose God so as to grasp grace and eternity – meaning and the mystery of life – and how to deal with temptations.

We are not God.

We are not angels.

We are not animals. They are naked. We are not.

We are different from animals – and males and females are different from each other. Thank God. "Viva la differance" as the French put it.

Genesis is telling us these obvious messages.

Take the end of today’s first reading when Adam and Eve have an eye opener. The first reading ends this way, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.”
Why do we wear clothes?

Don’t clothes make life so, so interesting and intriguing? T-shirts, Redskins jackets, Nike shoes.

Clothes…. It’s a whole industry – jobs, jobs, jobs.

It’s a whole way of life – style, fashion, starting with designer fig leaves.

Today’s story about Eve and Adam is filled with humor. Life is filled with humor. Check out the bathing suits in 1911 compared to 2011. Check out People’s Magazine to see what women wore at the recent Academy Awards and then remember in other parts of the world men are demanding that women wear burkas.

Today’s Adam and Eve story is every human being’s story. When was the first time you ate forbidden fruit?

Next time you’re in a situation with teenage girls and boys together – have a copy of today’s first reading in hand and say, “Oh my God it’s the same story. Oh my God, the author of Genesis must have chaperoned teen age dances.”

And once kids lose their innocence – parents like God in today’s first reading say, “I told them not to – but now they know good and evil. They’ve discovered love, lust, romances, breakups, being used, all the angst of youth and growing up – the seeds of future problems with men, women, lust, affairs, breakups, divorces, disasters.

Forbidden fruit is loaded with learning – especially that our decisions and our behavior that follows – has consequences.

Today’s first reading also announces that we are mortal. We are not God. We are going to die. When was the first time we discovered that piece of knowledge?

On Friday afternoon I was at a wake at Kallas’ funeral home. I went up to the casket to say a private prayer before getting back home. Standing there in front of the casket were three little girls. They were looking at death – in the form of a dead 52 year old woman. What were these 3 kids thinking and feeling and wondering about?

On Friday night we were watching on TV – Turner Classics – the 1930’s movie, “All Quiet On the Western Front”. It featured a whole generation of young men experiencing World War I first hand. Till they actually go into battle – when thousands are killed, war is romance. Then they see death, limbs blown off, and horror. They are exposed to the meaning of life and death. Bombs are bursting. Machine guns are spraying bullets. Bodies are falling and screaming. War is stripped naked in front of them and they are forced to eat its bitter fruit.

TODAY’S SECOND READING

Today’s second reading from Romans – gets immediately into the question of sin. Who and where and how did it start? Answer: Adam. One started it – Adam – and then there are the consequences. We too experience the consequences of other’s sins. Everybody does.

I can still hear two men screaming loud curses at each other. I was perhaps 7 years old. It was the first time I ever heard those words – and that much violence in my life. It was 4th Avenue – Brooklyn, New York. Screaming out from inside a big open door of a service station bay – I could see and hear two men fighting each other and trying to punch each other and throwing things at each other. I can still hear the ping on macadam of one of those 4 way tire irons used for removing lug nuts from tires – in the form of a plus sign or a cross - that came out and just missed me.

Bad example impacts us. Sin singes us. We have a memory.

We are Adam – and Eve – and can ruin it for those who follow us – but we can also be Christ – and become like him – and make it right for those who follow us.

As priest we all get whacked in the head every time a scandal hits the news

TODAY’S GOSPELToday’s gospel from Matthew has Jesus placed in just the opposite of a garden – the story teller places Jesus in a desert.

And just like the first reading Jesus the New Adam is given a choice – this time 3 choices – and all three times Jesus chooses good over evil.

This too is our story.

Life has it’s temptations. Every day has its temptations.

There is more to life than bread and food.

There are more hungers than hungers of the stomach – fasting in Lent – is there for a reason.

There’s more to life than crazy risks of not taking care of our health and then blaming God for consequences of poor life habits.

There’s more to life than thinking money and the power of stuff – are the stuff to pursue and make our gods.

CONCLUSIONLent is a good time to abstain from too much TV and computer and phone and what have you – and get in touch with the big questions.

We come to Mass – especially during Lent and we hear pointed out to us that the cross – the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – is right in the center of our everyday.

We come to Mass – and we hear Jesus say, “Take and eat. Take and drink. This is my body – from the wheat of the fields – this is my blood – from the grapes of the vine – given for you.”

And we don't like to eat alone. We love company – so we get on line together to receive the Lord in communion with each other. Amen.




NOTES:
Painting on top is entitled "Adam and Eve" [1529] by Lucas Cranach the Elder [1472-1553]

(1) If you want to know the sources I re-read for this homily here they are: Elizabeth Boyden Howes and Sheila Moon, Man The Choicemaker (The Westmnister Press, Philadelphia, 1973, pp. 17-49; Naomi H. Rosenblatt and Joshua Horwitz, Wrestling With Angels - What Genesis Teaches Us About Our Spiritual Identity, Sexuality, and Personal Relationships, Delta Trade Paperbacks, 1996, pp. 23-51; Bill Moyers, Genesis - A Living Conversation, Doubleday, New York, 1996, pp. 39-69; Arthur Miller, "The Story of Adam and Eve," pages 35-41 in Genesis, As It Is Written, David Rosenberg Editor, Harper SanFrancisco, 1996; Karen Armstrong, In The Beginning, A New Interpretation of Genesis, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1996, pp. 18-33; Norman J. Cohen, Self, Struggle & Change, Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, Vermon, 1995, pp. 17-33.

(2) Check out Luke 1: 26-45

SIN:

CHECK OUT THE  

CONSEQUENCES

Quote for Today - March 13, 2011


"I had a little sorrow,
Born of a little sin."


Edna St. Vincent Millay [1892-1950] The Penitent, stanza 1, in A Few Figs from Thistles [1920]


Photo of Edna St. Vincent Millay

IN REALITY 

NOT  JUST ON  PAPER

Quote for Today - March 12,  2011


"What one has not experienced
one will never understand in print."

Isadora Duncan [1877-1927] My Life, 1927


Photo on top: Isadora Duncan - the famous Dancer - check out her life and work and legacy on Google.

FROZEN  COLD

Quote for Today  - March 11,  2011


"I have, in my seventy-three years of life, rubbed elbows with a great many celebrities, both in politics and in the arts. I have seen many players become hot and then stop being hot. To those who, overnight, become white-hot, as Peter did, any cooling is unwelcome. Indeed, so powerful is the rush of being white-hot that those who are enjoying that status lose all sense that they might someday be cool. Or worse, cold; or, worse still, frozen."

Larry McMurtry in his book, Hollywood, page 40. He's talking about Peter Bogdanovich whom he worked it - for example, in the movie, The Last Picture Show. The book is a good read if you like movies and what goes into them - especially script writing. This comment begins Chapter 14. Confer, Hollywood, A Third Memoir, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2010.

AVOIDING 

THE EYE 

OF GOD

Quote for Today - March 10, 2011


"By and by
God caught his eye."


David McCord [1897-1987], Epitaphs: The Waiter

ASH WEDNESDAY – 2011

Ash Wednesday – 2011.

Lent – the season of Lent – the 40 Days of Lent – this year later than usual. Hopefully this means - Easter – April 24th – will be warm – very Spring like – with flowers – gardens – Annapolis in full bloom – ladies with big Easter bonnets – our lives better that day than this day.

Ash Wednesday – 2011.

Lent – the season of Lent – 40 Days to become a bit – a good bit more serious – to see where we have to spring – to walk into the garden of our soul – to walk around inside ourselves and see the earth we come from calling for cultivation – digging – raking and planting – and watering – so by Easter – April 24th – we’ll look like a garden of paradise – filled with new life – Resurrection for all.

Ash Wednesday – 2011.


Lent – the season that starts with ashes rubbed into our thick skulls. “Remember you are dust and into dust you shall return.” The reminder that all stuff gets old – ages – cracks and crumbles. Colors fade. Flowers wilt. Cars get scratched and dented. Tires wear. The odometer numbers increase. We age. Our skins wrinkle or as old lady told me the other day, “My wrinkles now have wrinkles.” The reminder that there is end date on our tombstone. We have a shelf life.

Ash Wednesday – 2011.

Lent – the season of Lent – the reminder as we heard in today’s gospel that there is more to us than meets the eye. There is an inner space, an inner room, inside us – behind the door of our forehead - where the ashes are about to be put. There’s an inner room inside us. Today Christians are asked to stop at that inner door. What does the door look like? Have we lost the key? When was the last time we were on the other side of that door? When was the last time we cleaned our inner room? Are the two chairs in there dusty – or clean? When was the last time we sat in there by ourselves? When was the last time we heard Jesus knock on that door? When was the last time we prayed to Our Father inside? I have a theory: “Show me the trunk of your car and I’ll tell you who you are.” It’s the same with our inner room, “Show me your inner room and I’ll tell you who you are.” We come inside the doors of this church as a reminder to come inside the doors of our inner room. In Lent people clean that inner room. They go to confession. Check our bulletin for our regular times of confession or the special Confessions for Lent – the Wednesday evening, “The Light is On Program” – all through this Lent.

Ash Wednesday – 2011.

Lent – the season of Lent – the reminder that Lent is connected to the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert – before he sprang into action with his new life. The 40 days when we go within and ask ourselves, “What is my biggest temptation?” Or, “What are my three temptations?” – as we’ll hear about this Sunday. What are my inner sounds? When alone in the desert, or my inner room, or alone in my car, or in my moments in the night when alone when I have trouble sleeping – what are my voices – gossip, anger, regrets, resentments, regurgitations from the past? What are my sounds? Do I ever listen to myself? Do I ever sit alone with a good book – or some good music – or the scriptures – or a prayer book – perhaps the prayer book of a parent long gone – a prayer book that gets me in touch with them and myself and 3 great issues like faith, hope and charity.

Ash Wednesday – 2011.

Lent – the season of Lent – the time to get in touch with some of this – to ponder the call and the challenge of the next 40 days: to fast not just from food – but from envy and anger, laziness and being just a lump – to pray – not just babble, babble words, but to have real conversations with God and each other – to be kind and charitable to each other – especially with those who drive us crazy.

Ash Wednesday – 2011

Lent – the season of Lent – a time to hear the words from today’s second reading: "Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Amen. Amen. Amen.

ASH  WEDNESDAY 

Quote for Ash Wednesday - March 9, 2011


"I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes."

Carl Sandburg [1878-1967] in "Prairie" [1918]

WHEN DOES OUR TRUE

CHARACTER SHOW ITSELF?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “When Does Our True Character Show Itself?”

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s readings are very interesting – containing very detailed down to earth incidents. I’ll leave the gospel story about Caesar and coins to Father Jack Kingsbury – who has made it his specialty and interest to concentrate on Biblical Coins.

The last line in today’s first reading from Tobit hit me: “See! Your true character is finally showing itself!”

Tobit goes blind and when Anna his wife brings home a goat that someone gave her – it gets Tobit’s goat. Tobit gets testy and gets nervous. He thinks it was stolen. Anna says it was a bonus – an extra – from those who paid her wages for work she did with cloth for them. Tobit doesn’t believe her. He gets angry with her. So Anna fires back, “Where are your charitable deeds now? Where are your virtuous acts? See! Your true character is finally showing itself!”

As I read that I asked myself, “How many times in the history of the world has this kind of an exchange taken place between husbands and wives – family members – fellow workers – church members?

It sounds so real – people being feisty and testy with each other – people challenging each other on the truth of some matter – one person not believing the other person – and who’s your true self?

Who am I when I’m alone? Does everyone have a real self and a public self? When am I in character? When am I out of character? Do we all put an act on at times? Have we ever been sick or out of sorts and we say the wrong thing – and those who know us say of us, “Relax. Don’t worry. He’s just not himself today.” Or, “She’s been a different person lately, but she’ll be back to her old self soon.” At our funeral will someone say of us, “Whom you saw is whom you got?” Or will someone not say: “You never knew who would show up when he showed up.”

CHARACTER

Then last night as I was putting together these thoughts I began wondering about that word “character” in today’s first reading. I asked myself, “What is character?” This English word is used in several ways. “She’s out of character.” or “He’s quite a character.”

So when the translators used this word “character” at the end of today’s first reading, I was wondering about it. In fact it seems to me that it’s a word and a concept that is out of character for our Bible.
That was my first reaction to this word. I also wondered about “cataracts” from bird droppings and could they have chosen a different English world – like eye problems.

Back to “character”. It’s probably grabbed me because it sounds Greek to me – something that would come out of Greek Philosophy – and not Hebrew thought. And sure enough the book of Tobit goes back to around 200 B.C. when there was heavy influence of Greek thought in Israel. Next I found out that some scholars say this book of Tobit was written in Aramaic – and translated into Greek and Hebrew. Up to modern times we didn’t have a Hebrew text for Tobit. It’s not part of the Jewish Bible. With the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries they now have Hebrew and Aramaic fragments of Tobit – which then brings me back to one of my original questions: what is the Hebrew context of this text? And after a tiny bit of research it seems that the New American Bible has a decent translation of the text – using the word “character”. It simply means who a person really is. (1)

It seems that Tobit got antsy when Anna brings home a goat – and into the house – and the new – the new sounds “baah” or “eeeh” or whatever goats sound like, caused conflict. Then his wife got in there under his skin – when she said, “You walk around with this pious look – and you’re so nice to others – but here you are not being nice and charitable to me – your own wife.”

CONCLUSION

So I would assume the challenge for all of us here – especially when we get older – and our sight goes or whatever goes – is that we better be nice to each other – especially if we know how to be nice to others – avoiding fitting the description of being a lamb abroad and an old angry goat at home. Amen.

Painting on top: Tobit Sees a Flock of Birds by Robert Lenkiewicz, from Paintings Painted Blind - on the Theme of Tobit - year 2000. He painted this series - called, "Project 21".



(1) “Tobit, Book of” John L. McKenzie, Dictionary of the Bible, McMillan Publishing Company, New York, 1965, page 895; “Tobit” Irene Norwell, O.S.B. in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1990, p. 568