THE BEGGAR 

AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Easter Wednesday  is, “The Beggar at the Beautiful Gate.”

In the history of the world there have been many beggars – and if beggars are smart – and beggars can be choosey – they often pick beautiful places to beg.

We’ve all see beggars outside stores in the Mall. I just gave a guy a 5 two weeks ago – outside of Office Depot – and lots of folks have seen a lady with kids – begging out in our parking lot on weekends and we said to her to go to our St. Vincent de Paul – because this parish is very, very generous. We say this because they help as well as screen folks well – and a lot of people are truly stuck – and the economy is still “iffy!”

Beggars ….

TODAY’S FIRST READING

I chose to say a few words about the first reading – especially because today’s gospel will be the Sunday Gospel – not this Sunday – but the Sunday after that. It’s the story of the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus – and we’ve all heard many homilies on that key gospel story.

Today’s first reading from Acts is the story of “The Beggar at the Beautiful Gate”.

I heard a homily on this text in 1968 and I still remember it. A priest at Most Holy Redeemer Church in New York City used this story in reverse. He used it to thank a rich donor – a man who didn’t have to beg – a man who had silver and gold – and gave a nice chunk to the church – and they were honoring this man for his many gifts to the church.

Most Holy Redeemer was my first assignment. I had finished my studies. I was now in ministry. I was starting to get my real education. Here was an old priest who taught me that scriptures can be used in surprising ways.

So I gradually learned that all these readings that were talking about people from a long time ago – can also be talking about people here and now in ways I never noticed before.

BEGGING

In this homily I’ll reverse what I heard in 1968 and say that we are the beggars.

We come to church – to this beautiful gate of heaven – to beg.

Question: What are you begging for today?

What did you beg for the last time you came to this beautiful place?

What will you beg for tomorrow?

We are all beggars?

St. Alphonsus – the Founder of the Redemptorists - is labeled as "The Doctor of Prayer"  – because he preached so often on it, He said the # 1 reason for prayer is to ask – to beg.

We come here begging for our children, begging for our world, begging for peace, begging that our leaders will lead and lead us well. We come here to beg for faith, hope and charity.

We come here begging for sight and insight.

St. Aphonsus also stressed action – some action – some movement – some motion on our part. The beggar has to crawl or get to the Beautiful Gate – in order to beg. He or she can’t stay in the shelter, the apartment – the cardboard box.

All have to hear the mantras: “Pray for potatoes, but pick up shovel.” “In a storm, pray - but row to shore!”

We come here to hear God and Peter and John and all the saints and all our wisdom figures say to us, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.”

We come here to beg that we receive the power to rise from where we are and to walk in a new light.

Yes we have problems – family problems, health problems – and we need to beg for help if possible.  We also need to hear: Pick up a shovel. Start rowing.

We also come here to hear that we can help others to rise and walk with a new way of doing life. There might be people in our lives who need a good push to stand up – to get off their butts – out of their beds and move it. It might be a son or a daughter in their 20’s, 30’s or 40’s – or a husband who has become a couch potato. Move it. Rise and walk. Get out of the house and garden. Get out of the house and volunteer. Get into the garage and clean it up. Wake up and make our surroundings a more beautiful place to live.

Use the clicker to turn off the boob tube. Get out of your Lazy Boy chair.  Get into reality.  Rise and walk.

I remember a couple who prayed and prayed for their son – in his early 30’s - who settled in their home and wouldn’t work or move it. So they bought a trailer and headed west and came back a few months later and he was gone – and the door was closed. It worked. I guess the refrigerator and freezer eventually emptied out.

Sometimes solutions are not so beautiful – and the gate to freedom – is escaping or doing something strange  to be a desired action.

CONCLUSION

To be honest, I have trouble putting into words this issue of prayer and action, grace and self-help, how God works, how prayer works, but I would assume that the  bottom line message is: beg – pray – but also rise and walk. Amen.

SELF KNOWLEDGE,

SELF SIN,

SELF SALVATION

Quote for Today - April 27, 2011

"Knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation."

Marcus Annaeus Seneca - ca. 54 BC to ca. 39 AD. He is also known as Seneca the Elder and Seneca the Rherotician.

THE ALLELUIA EGG

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “The Alluluia Egg.”

I was going to say a few words this morning just on the word “Alleulia” – because we use it so many times – especially at Easter Time.

THE ALLELUIA EGG

While doing some research last night about the word, “alleluia” – I came across the mention of the Alleluia Egg. I had never heard of it – nor do I know how wide spread the custom goes. The Alleluia Egg is a Golden Egg that is hidden along with all the other eggs for kids to find at Easter time.

When you find the Golden Egg – you’re the big winner – and you might yell, “Praise God” – the actual meaning of the word, “Alleluia”.

I was up at my niece Patty’s house in Reisterstown for Easter Dinner and before dinner they had the Easter Egg hunt once more – outside – and all over the place. Patty’s kids and some cousins – even though three kids are finished college – a cousin is at the Naval Academy and one kid is a freshman in High School. The kids love the custom and don’t want to ever see it end – especially because there is money in various amounts – all green – to be found inside each plastic egg.

MEMORIES

In doing my reading I found out that eggs – and painting them – and hiding and finding them goes way back into the history of various cultures and religions. Eggs symbolize spring. Eggs symbolize new life. Eggs symbolize the world – the shell the sky – and inside is the floating world – water and earth. Christians painted eggs red to show that Christ redeemed the world through his blood. People must have time on their hands so all the other colors came as well, especially the Golden Egg.

While reading, I noticed a family story told by a Monsignor Hellreigel – I’m assuming he’s the famous theologian on the Mass. He told the story in a sermon – telling everyone about how on one Easter he found the Golden Egg – over his ten brothers and sisters. It was painted gold and had written on its shell, “Alleluia!” But he forgot to tell what the prize for finding it was – till some kid jumped out into the main aisle and started waiving his hands and the priest said, “What happened?” And the kid said, “Please Father, tell us what was the prize?” “Oh,” the priest said, “The prize was a luscious German sweet cake, large enough to last any little boy a week or so. It was covered with cinnamon and sugar and nuts and the center sometimes had a Stollen filling.”

Reading that triggered a family story and memory our family likes to tell. A long time after Easter one of my brother’s daughters – he had 7 of them – no boys – opened up a jar of peanut butter from the very back of the refrigerator and you know that peanut butter doesn’t have to be refrigerated – but after they got into it, there was the Golden Egg. Somewhere along the line somebody came up with the idea of hiding Easter eggs and really hiding the Golden Egg. Nobody had found it that Easter – and in the meanwhile my brother had died of melanoma.

CONCLUSION

I hear churchy people complaining about Easter Eggs at Easter,

Santa Claus at Christmas, Hearts at Valentine’s Day, and Trick or Treat at Halloween. I would suggest we tell about the deep human and spiritual and religious background of many of these celebrations and customs. I would suggest a tiny bit of research.

After all, we’re all hunters and searchers – and sometimes we’re hunting for money or sweets – or the honor of being the top finder - great – but the Easter message is to be a searcher for Christ like Mary and when you find him, don’t let them go. Be a clinger like Mary Magdalene.

AVAILABILITY

Quote for Today - April 26, 2011

"Ability is wonderful, but God is more interested in your availability."

Anonymous

OUR  DAILY  BREAD

Quote for Today - April 25,  2011

"Faith needs  her  daily  bread."

Dinah M. M. Craix, Fortune's Marriage, Chapter 10

HOW DOES ONE

EXPRESS THE INEXPRESSIBLE?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Easter Sunday morning is, “How Does One Express The Inexpressible?”

Like love, like loneliness, like being the one who got the winning hit or goal, like being told a family secret which the teller says we can’t tell anyone, like loss, like rejection, like death, like resurrection: how does one express the inexpressible?

We’ve all had the experience of wanting to tell someone – something that was amazing – something we experienced that was out of the ordinary – an accident – or a double rainbow – or lightning that split a tree just 50 yards away from us – as we were on the way home from work - or an amazing athletic play we saw while at a game – or an amazing coincident – like meeting a high school friend in a bar while on vacation in Berlin – someone we hadn’t seen in 34 years – and the person we’re telling the story to yawns – or cuts us off and starts to tell us about some experience they had – the memory of which – was triggered by hearing the beginning words of the experience we had.

It’s not fair. We were cut off – and so we feel a bit frustrated and feisty – and we don’t know what to say – other than to say to ourselves, “I guess you have to have been there yourself!”

How does one express the inexpressible?

You have to have been there. You have had to had the feeling yourself.

TODAY’S READINGS

In today’s readings the authors are trying to do just that. They are trying to tell those who were not there – what it was like – what they experienced – how they experienced the resurrection.

We were not there either. We didn’t experience the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

However, hopefully it triggers for us – our wonderings about what happens after death. Is this all there is? Are our parents and grandparents – and those who have gone before us – only memories – or fading names on tombstones – or do they live on in God. Is there resurrection?

And what about ourselves? Sometimes after spicy food or two bags of potato chips late at night – potato chips with too much salt - or  we receive a phone call at 10 at night – that told us of a problem in a sister or brother’s family or marriage – and we can’t sleep – and we begin thinking about the big stuff – usually disasters – disappointments and sometimes death – which has the sneaky  habit of knocking on our door at night. No wonder some poets see falling asleep as a small death - a letting go into mystery.

Life? Death? What have I done? What was I supposed to do?

Sometimes when we can't sleep, we start looking at our inner report card and spot the C’s and D’s and some big F – some big Failure.

So we wonder about life and we wonder about death – sometimes when we can’t sleep – sometimes when we’re at a funeral – sometimes on an Easter Sunday morning.

So how does one express the inexpressible?

We’ve read from time to time – popular stories about people who claim to have had a near death experience – and they talk about light – amazement – but they always seem to add the words, “inexpressible” – like “I can’t put what I experienced into words.”

In the first reading for today from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter tries to speak out about Jesus – about his life, death and especially about his resurrection. It’s funny – Peter the one who denied Jesus 3 times – Peter one of the disciples who was hiding out in the Upper Room for fear that he too might be arrested, beaten and killed, - this Peter is now speaking out – proclaiming Jesus.

How does one express the inexpressible?

We have two possible short second readings. The first one from Colossians says there are things that are hidden. The other possible reading – it’s from 1st Corinthians– has Paul reflecting on bread. The poet in him must have watched leavened bread rising. A clump of dough with a tiny bit of yeast – mixed and knuckled  – put in the oven – and in time it becomes a delicious loaf of bread. It’s a miracle.

A community of people are introduced and told about Christ. They become a community of Christians and are then called the Body of Christ. A miracle – as much a miracle as bread becoming the Body of Christ – as much as last night – when lots of people all around our world – came into our Body. Here in our parish, we had over 40  coming into our parish last night. A miracle.

I sat there in the dark – last night – at St. John Neumann - a church filled with people holding lighted candles in the night. I just watched. The experience can’t be put into words. It’s inexpressible – other than saying it was something that makes it all worth it being a Christian – even thought the Easter Vigil is was very long: 2 hours and 45 minutes long - last night.

Dark .... light .... people .... water .... ceremony.... a people becoming one.

Bread…. people …. food …. a meal….becoming one.

Food … people …. getting together ....  becoming .... what people do and can do – amazing. It’s a miracle.

Do little kids ever sit there or stand there in a kitchen and become amazed at a mom or dad making bread or a cake or sizzling steaks or what have you – and their mouth is open in amazement?

When do we lose the wonder of simple everyday miracles? Babies come out perfect most of the time. Farmers plant  seeds for watermelons and cantaloupes and potatoes and wheat – and a few months later, there you have fields of melons and potatoes and wheat – why can’t that be labeled a miracle?

What about planting someone in the ground – in a casket or in a container of ashes – why can’t they rise from the dead? How does it all work?

How does one express the inexpressible?

In today’s gospel from John 20, Mary of Magdala – came to the tomb – and found it empty. The stone had been rolled back. She ran back to yell to Jesus’ disciples that they have taken the Lord from the tomb.

How does one express the inexpressible?

Peter and the other disciple run – run – run – to the tomb.

We assume the other disciple is John – but we can’t be sure for sure.

The other disciple got there first, but let Peter go into the empty tomb first. That’s a significant little piece of information being expressed there.

They see the cloths – especially the burial cloth rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple went in and the text simple says, “He saw and believed.”

How does one express the inexpressible?

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “How Does One Express the Inexpressible?”

Maybe 10 minutes of silence would be better than 10 minutes of babble or blab  - from the pulpit.

Maybe a priest up in New Jersey who used to preach 3 minute homilies every Sunday had it right - but unfortunately I don't have his DNA.

I say that – because homilies – especially on Easter should bring on silence - and  pause - as they deal with the big, big issues – like life and death – and the hope of resurrection.

How does one put into words the mystery of oneself?

I like the world’s shortest poem:

I
Why?

I don’t know who wrote that poem. Our professor in the first year of philosophy put it on the board with chalk and smiled – and then said, “This is a famous Existential poem.”

I heard that back in 1961 - and remembered it again today as I was putting together this homily. It's a poem that is so easy to memorize – so basic to think about.

Years later I wrote a poem – almost as short – also two words – and it rhymes as well.

You
Who

There you have it – two basic inexpressive realities – you and me.

And on Easter Sunday we express deep gratitude  for the gift of life - for family and faith.

And as we ponder we are thankful that there is a  YOU  who rose from the dead – God – whom we often forget – neglect – kill – and then bury inside some cave in our brain or memory. Then on Christmas or Ash Wednesday, and  then Lent, then Good Friday, then Easter Sunday appears on our calendar – and there’s Jesus.

There's Jesus and he stirs and rises from the tomb we put him in – the tomb inside our mind and memory.

There's Jesus, the Lord, Jesus the Risen One who expresses Himself to us – a Word becoming flesh – living amongst us again – and let's be honest - I know I do this - we’ll kill him again – but that Word keeps rising, returning – and is here – again this Easter Sunday morning – and hopefully what today’s gospels says of the other disciple will be said of us, “The other disciple saw and believed.”

Faith is faith because it’s inexpressible – but this God of ours keeps expressing Himself to us.

Today run to  that tomb inside us. See. Listen. Hear him say to us, “I Why”  or “You Who.”

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

Painting on  Top: The Two Disciples at the Tomb (c. 1906) by Henry Ossawa Tanner [1859-1937]

RISEN CHRIST 

Quote for Today - Easter Sunday - April 24, 2011

"The risen Christ, when he shows himself to his friends, takes on the countenance of all races and each can hear him in his own tongue."

Henri de Lubac, Catholicism, 1927

HOLY  SATURDAY

How about changing Holy Saturday
to Silent Saturday or Empty Saturday?

Why?

Well, I stopped into church this morning
and it felt so silent and so, so empty.
I saw the empty tabernacle with its doors
left wide open. That was different.
Next I looked at the empty cross
from last night’s Good Friday service.
Next I sat down in the empty benches
all alone, realizing there will be no singing
or public praying till tonight’s Easter Vigil.

Silent Saturday. It seems like
a good idea to shut down the prayers
and the public gatherings and just be.
Churches can be too noisy,
too much of the time – people
and priests unable to pray without
words – having to stuff “Hail Mary’s”
and “O my Jesus” into every second.
Today I just feel the need for a day
like today to just take some time
and walk around in nature’s church,
and see spring beginning, spring springing,
or to take some time to just sit
in the silence of an empty church –
especially on this Holy Saturday morn.

Okay!
Maybe “Holy” is better for this Saturday.

“Where have they taken my Lord!”
Where did you go Lord Jesus – after
they took you down from the cross,
after they took you out of your mother’s arms,
especially when she wouldn’t let go –
after they put you in the brand new
empty tomb – where did you go?

Scriptures and creeds and knowers,
say you rose again the third day
after you suffered death and were buried.
Icon makers and visionaries with great
imaginations have you wandering around
in the clumpy complicated underworld
of death – reaching for Adam and Eve
and meeting patriarchs and prophets –
and all those who have gone before you.

Okay. But I don’t wonder about this
on this Saturday morning. I want silence.
And tomorrow I want Easter Faith
and the hope of waking up after I die
and meeting you, Lord Jesus, and all
those I have met not enough in this life.
How this happens I really don’t care.
When I die, I just want to hear you Jesus
standing at my grave, screaming out my name –
and if you do this the very second
after I die, all the better. Amen.

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

Icon on top: Harrowing of Hades  - by Dionisus (15th Century) - in the Ferapontov Monastery - which flourished from the 15th to the 17th centuries. It is located in the Vologda region of northern Russia.

FASTING,  PRAYER

AND COMING TOGETHER

Quote for Today - Holy Saturday  - April 23,  2011

"You shall come together and watch and keep vigil all the night with prayers and intercessions, and with reading of the prophets, and with the Gospel and with psalms, with fear and trembling and with earnest supplication, until the third hour in the night after the Sabbath; and then break your fasts."

Anonymous: Didascalia Apostolorum, 21. (3rd Century)

SIMPATICO

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Good Friday is, “Simpatico!”

I’m taking this theme from the second reading we heard tonight. [Cf. Hebrews 4: 14-16; 5: 7-9]

The author of the Letter to the Hebrew is describing Jesus – as a great high priest. He writes, “Brothers and sisters: Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.”

Then he writes, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses….”

Then he says that Jesus is approachable.

That’s my basic message in this Good Friday homily. Jesus is approachable, because he can sympathize with us. Jesus is “simpatico.”

OUR EULOGY

Wouldn’t “simpatico” be the one word we all would want in our eulogy? Wouldn’t we want our kids to describe us as approachable – understanding, sympathetic, empathetic – in a word, “simpatico”?

I’ve told at least 2 dozen people over the phone in my life – who live at a distance – and they are looking for a priest to talk to about a problem, “Go to churches in your area for Sunday Mass – and sit there and listen to the priest and watch him – and then ask and listen to your gut, “Could I talk to this guy? Is he approachable? If not, go to the next church?”

Looking back at our life, what principal, what coach, what boss, what teacher, was our favorite?

Of course we would want people that challenged us, people whom we learned from, but I’m willing to bet that one of their key ingredients – if not their best quality – was their ability to sympathize – to understand.

As the State Trooper on the highway approaches us with ticket pad in hand and we were going only 10, ten measly miles, over the speed limit, don’t we hope he or she has simpatico?

Don’t we hope the judge we approach – when we’re trying to get out of jury duty – has 10,000 ounces of simpatico? We gotta get out of this. We have take care of our Aunt Lizzy on Monday, baby sit for our daughters kids on Tuesday, etc. etc. etc.?

I remember I was on Jury Duty in New Jersey and I was in Jury Pool G and they were selecting jurors. We were standing in the back waiting to be called one by one to be one of possible 14 jurors in a case. Members of our pool would go to a seat, sit down, be asked a few questions, and then selected or rejected by the prosecution or the defense. Our occupations were listed next to our name. My name was called. I got to the seat – sat down – and no sooner had my butt touched the chair – did I hear the words, “Rejected” or whatever the word was. When those of us who were dismissed got back to the big holding room, we rejects were talking and someone said of me to our group. “Priest. Automatic reject Father. Automatic. You heard the case. Two guys raped another guy in prison. The prosecution would expect you to obviously be sympathetic.”

That hit me. Of course. That’s what people would hope in confession or whatever from a priest. Smile.

JESUS – SIMPATICO – BIG TIME

If we read the scriptures with this idea in mind, it’s obvious that Jesus was big time simpatico. This is what the Letter to the Hebrews we heard tonight pointed out.

He was born in a stable with animals. He came from a poor village. He reached out to people others were avoiding. He said, “Let the person here without sin, cast the first stone!” when the Scribes and the Pharisees wanted to trap him by bringing to him a woman caught in adultery. [ Cf. John 8:1-11]

That Jesus was filled with sympathy for others hit me as I was putting together this sermon today for Good Friday. That Jesus was filled with sympathy is the heart of the matter.

The word “simpatico” – originally coming from the same spelling word in Italian – then becomes the same word in Spanish, “simpatico,” and “sympathique” in French, and “sympatisch” in German. All have in the word, the original Greek and Latin words “pathos” and “pathia” meaning feelings, emotions, experience.

Good Friday is all about “The Passion of the Christ.”

Jesus cried, screamed, almost despaired, was lonely, felt all alone, needed companionship, these days, these nights, during this week of Passion – when he was celebrated on Palm Sunday, when he celebrated a big meal with his disciples, one of whom betrays him, when Peter, James and John, his 3 best friends, slept when he asked them to stay awake because he need them, when they all run away when he’s arrested, when he imprisoned, beaten, bloodied, crowned with thorns and beaten again and made fun of.

This Good Friday afternoon when he was judged and condemned to death, he didn’t get any sympathy from Pilate or the crowd, who chose a thief over him, screaming, “We want Barabbas!” and then they screamed, “Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!”

As priest I’ve gone through this Good Friday service a good 46 times. Now I’m not sure about this, but I sense, the younger the crowd, the louder the rejection – the older the crowd the more hard it is to say, “Take him away, taken him away! Crucify him.” and to yell, “We have no king but Caesar.”

SUFFERING AND SINS – MISTAKES AND MESS

Suffering and sins, mistakes and mess, make us more sympathetic – or can make us more sympathetic.

I often reflect on the quote I heard 40 years or so ago, “Suffering enters the human heart to create there places that never existed before.”

I always remember Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story where one woman says to another woman – a woman who is very proper and very priggish, “You know you ought to go out and commit a really good sin and then you might understand the rest of us.”

How many women have told me they have much more sympathy towards those who had an abortion after their moms or daughters told them that they had an abortion?

I remember hearing a priest give his A.A. talk and in it he told about all the mistakes he made in his life and I said to myself, “If I ever got messed up, here is the first priest in the United States I would call up and head to see.”

How many dads have told me that they became much more understanding of men who are gay, after their sons came to them and told them they were homosexual?

The Letter to the Hebrews says Jesus our High Priest went through it all – all except sin – but he can sympathize with our weaknesses – so let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

TONIGHT – THIS GOOD FRIDAY

Tonight – this Good Friday evening – stand under this gigantic cross and understand why well over a billion people in our world – still hang with him.

Tonight as you come from all parts of this church to kiss the cross of Jesus – know it’s the person who died on this cross – we’re centering in on – the one who died in excruciating pain. This is the Christ – this is the one whom we can always go to for sympathy – simpatico – love – passion – the one who knows our feelings – our passion – our passions.

Tonight, let us realize the more we unite with Christ, the more we will leave this church – and become simpatico with all the rest of us poor slobs and sinners in this world of ours. Amen.

SPEECHLESS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for Good Friday Morning Prayer is, “Speechless.”

That’s a strange title for a sermon which hopefully is “sacred speech”.

“Speechless in Annapolis.”

My main point will be: “Good Friday evokes awe – oooh – and – silence.

READING FROM ISAIAH 52: 13-15

“See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him – so marred was his look beyond that of man, and his appearance that of mortals. So shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless; For those who have not been told shall see, those who have heard shall ponder it.”

Speechless is the word that jumped out of the reading in today’s morning prayer for Good Friday. In Isaiah 52: 15 the writer says when people see the servant – the so called “Suffering Servant” – people will be startled and kings will stand speechless.

I stopped and thought about that. I asked when have I stopped and found myself speechless in the presence of another person.

A FEW EXAMPLES

A few years back I received a call from Anne Arundel Medical Center. We love Father Pat Flynn and now Father Joe Krastel, because they both love going up to the hospital and seeing lots and lots of people. I was on duty and got to the hospital and a nurse escorted me into an area I never was in before. It was an operating room. I said to myself, “Uh oh. Oh no!” A whole team were in the middle of an operation. The key doctor said, “Father we couldn’t wait – so we started without you. Could you anoint this man and say some prayers over him. We need all the help we can get.”

I was speechless. I was stunned. Then I anointed his forehead only –not the palms of his hands. There were tubes everywhere. I then spoke some prayers and walked out and the team said, “Thank you!”

Afterwards – as I was taking the surgical mask off, I stood there speechless – thinking, “Did this just happen?” It was a first for me – but I did hear that surgeons can be talkative at times. I’d guess it could be nerves – or the first time they did a big operation they were speechless.

I once was sitting with a couple who were to be married here at St. Mary’s. At the first preliminary meeting I noticed the guy had a metal leg. It was badly wounded in Iraq. As I heard his story, I became speechless. Being an officer, he was picked out for sniper fire – and they got him. Messy. Messy.

Haven’t we all seen someone who had been severely burnt – or what have you – and we’re speechless – especially because we didn’t want to say the wrong thing – or even let our face or body language say the wrong thing?

Well, in this reading, the author is telling about the Suffering Servant who will be raised high and will be greatly exalted. However, he’s also going to have a horrible looking face and body.

After the word, “speechless” the next key word for me was “marred”. I looked it up in my 7 different translations of the Bible. Most of the translations used the word “marred”. Next I wondered what the Hebrew word was – not that I know Hebrew – but I always find this sort of investigation interesting and informative. The Hebrew word is “MISHCHAT” and the English words that are used to translate it are meaning “marred”, “defaced”, “deformed”, “distorted”.

CHRIST

Is it any wonder that the text from Isaiah was used by Christians to describe Christ – who also was marred, defaced, deformed and distorted.

I’m sure you’ve all seen really bloody images of Christ on the cross – or you saw the movie, “The Passion of the Christ” and I’m sure you were speechless – as you sat there or stood there.

I started working on this homily yesterday afternoon and then we were out at St. John Neumann’s last night – and as I sat there looking at the gigantic cross – I continued wondering about this theme of “speechless” and “marred”. Of course I wasn’t doing this during Father Jack Kingsbury’s homily. I was wondering if the question came up when the team and I understand the parish was asked about that crucifix. “How bloody!” “How disfigured?” “How marred?”

I’m sure they and the artist who made that gigantic body for that cross thought about impact – feelings – prayers – that this work of art would evoke.

I wonder what folks who come to St. John Neumann think and feel when they see that gigantic crucifix. I have to come up with a sermon for this evening for the Good Friday service.

CONCLUSION

I’m sure all of us – the more we go through this day – the more Good Fridays we go through in our life – that we all become more and more speechless – in the presence of a God – who was willing to come to us – who was willing to take taunts and spit – and rejections – and beatings – and a crowning with thorns – and then die for us.

Today – listen – watch – notice – Good Friday – this day – around our world is quieter than any other day of the year.

What will be your few words today – if any. A lady was telling me recently that the last two words her husband said to her – as he was dying were, “Thank you!”

That left me speechless.

THE CRUX - THE CROSS -

OF THE MATTER

Quote for Today - Good Friday - April 22, 2011

"It is true, and even tautological, to say that the Cross is the crux of the matter."

G.K, Chesterton [1874-1936], The Everlasting Man, (1925)

Photo on top - a scene along a farm road in Croatia

POETS

Poets throw words into the air.

And some fall into ears and

work their way down

that brown wax channel

into the garden of the brain.

And like a steel spade

the poet’s words and images

wiggle and ease and shake

loose a root of a memory. And

water trickles or rushes up

from that forgotten moment.

And tears flow out of eyes.

And a smile shows up

on a face or two. And sometimes,

sorry, just the opposite happens:

a scowl – the wanting to hide

from a distant deep rooted hurt

which appears as a wince

on a wrinkled face.

O my God, there is so much tilling

and so much telling to tell – and

so much to forget, so much to bury,

or sometimes better, so many roots to cut.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2011

A TASTE

OF SUFFERING

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Holy Thursday morning prayer is, “A Taste of Suffering.”

I picked the topic of suffering because that’s the topic in the following scripture reading we just heard from the 2nd chapter of Hebrews, verses 9 and 10.

“We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, that through God’s gracious will he might taste death for the sake of all. Indeed, it was fitting that when bringing many to glory, God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make their leader in the work of salvation perfect through suffering.”

What’s your take on suffering? What suffering have you tasted in your life so far?

MAKE A LIST – TAKE A LIST TO PRAYER AND TO REFLECTION

If someone asked you to make a list of the top 10 sufferings you have tasted in your life – what would your list look like – what would your list taste like?

The death of a child. The death of a spouse. The sudden death of someone very close to you.

Divorce. Betrayal. Being rejected. Being ignored. A family split apart.

Cancer. Strokes. Alzheimer’s. Parkinson’s. Mental sickness. Retardation.

Abuse. Cover ups. Denial of abuse – allowing for more abuse. False accusations.

Cries in the night. Can’t sleep. No way out. No relief. Enough already.

What did our childhood sound like? When we see and hear little kids screaming in church – do they echo in our screams in the night when we were in the dark and mommy and daddy were elsewhere and we felt all alone? Did we have a happy childhood? How about our teen years? Acne or aches or being made fun of – or thinking teachers had favorites and we weren’t one of them?

We know what it is to think milk or wine or a piece of fruit looks great and we drink it or bite into it and it’s sour or bitter? What sufferings did we taste in our 20’s and 30’s and beyond?

What sufferings do we taste daily? How come everything seems better in the other person’s house or family? Am I plagued by comparisons – and as we know: comparisons can crush. How do optimists become optimists and pessimists become pessimists? Is it a matter of luck or a matter of attitude or grace?

As in a Chinese restaurant, so in life, there is the sweet and the sour,

What sufferings have we tasted?

What do we choose for our outer conversations with each other and our inner conversations with ourselves: Good News or Bad?

As Jesus says in the garden this very night – after the Last Supper, “Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done.” [Luke 22: 42]

Obviously, the reality of suffering, the cross, death, denial, betrayal, are major themes and scenes we ponder and reflect upon and bring them to our prayers, this week – this Holy Week – but also when we have to make our own personal Way of the Cross some other week, some other moment this year or some other year.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM TASTING SUFFERING?

We can make our list on that as well.

We might have learned that suffering can help us grow in understanding and patience – because now we know what others have had to go through.

We might have learned that some people think God zaps and punishes people – and some people don’t lay that on God. Some people know that suffering sometimes comes from the results of our poor eating habits or smoking or drinking or laziness or lake of exercise and sometimes suffering comes with a random knock on our door.

We might have learned that God is powerless when it comes to suffering – so powerless that God became one of us and went through horrible suffering, rejection, jeering, beating, stripped naked and then nailed to a cross and made to die on the cross, to redeem us as well as to help us deal with crosses – to tell and show us we’re not alone when it comes to suffering. We can realize that Christ is with us all days even to the end of the world. Yes, Jesus said he could call on his Father and 12 legions of angels could be there faster than any 911 call. But no, these days we experience once again, what Jesus went through in all these Stations of the Cross – especially the 12th Station – when Jesus dies on the Cross.

What have we learned from tasting suffering?



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

Picture on top: Garden of Gethsemani Copyright Kichura

HOLY THURSDAY

Quote for Today - Holy Thursday Prayer - April 21, 2011

"O God,
from whom Judas
received the punishment of his guilt,
and the thief the reward of his confession,
grant us the effect of Your clemency;
that as our Lord Jesus in his passion
gave to each a different recompense
according to his merits,
so may He deliver us from our old sins
and grant us the grace of His resurrection."


This is an English translation of the Collect prayer for Holy  Thursday and Good Friday - the Latin of which is found in the Gelasian Sacramentary dating back to  5th to the 7th century. The Gelasian Sacramentary is the second oldest Roman Catholic liturgigal book. The oldest is the Verona Sacramentary.

Picture on top: Garden of Gethsemani in 1893.

COMMITMENT:

JESUS AND JUDAS

INTRODUCTION

Today, Spy Wednesday, I’d like to talk about commitment.

And after making some preliminary comments about commitment, I’d like to make two points about commitment.

PART ONE: COMMITMENT—

SOME PRELIMINARY COMMENTS

THE QUESTION

I believe that when it comes to commitment, the question isn’t whether I’m committed or not, the question rather is: What am I committed to?

That is the question!

A few weeks ago when I spoke about St. Patrick, I got into this whole issue of where my heart is—where my core is—what am I committed to?

The people we say or think are not committed, might be quite committed to just that: to not being committed—to not being nailed down—to not being tied to anything.

And that very posture is a commitment.

So everyone is committed (in my opinion). So the question once more is: what am I committed to?

AN ASIDE

And as an aside, if a person has a clear commitment and we approve of their commitment and the way its going,  we call them dedicated, zealous, and committed.

If we don’t like them and / or their commitment, we call them fanatics, hardhats, hard heads, liberals, conservatives, nuts, what have you.

LIKE FLINT

In today’s first reading, Isaiah uses the image or symbol of flint. He says, “I have set my face like flint....” [Cf. Isaiah 50: 4-9a]

Flint is basic. It’s stone. It’s hard and well defined.

Isaiah sees that once he becomes a prophet he has to be: dedicated, a rock, stable, sharp, clear, well defined, strong.

We make primitive axes and homes out of rock.

So no wonder it’s a good image or symbol of stability and strength. It’s an image of commitment.

When we are committed, we are willing to fight for our cause. We pick up stone axes or we  tighten our fists.

When we are committed to putting up a house — we start by searching for stones to build solid walls. Picking the spot, starting to build, is a statement to ourselves that we are planning to stay here, to settle here in that place. We’re settling in. We’re committed.

If we’re not, then we hit the road and keep on searching. If not, a tent is our symbol!

EZECHIEL

There is a passage in Ezechiel where we find the same image that we see here in Isaiah.

It’s from Ezechiel 3: 8 - 9:

“The whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate.
But now, I will make you as defiant as they are,
and as obstinate as they are;
I am going to make your resolution as hard as a diamond
and diamond is harder than flint.
So do not be afraid of them,
do not be overawed by them
for they are a set of rebels.”

Then Ezechiel hears the words, “Listen closely....”

LUKE – JESUS FACE IS SET LIKE FLINT

In the gospel of Luke, we find this same message in 9:51. Jesus aimed his face at Jerusalem. Jesus took the road that leads to Jerusalem resolutely.

The people in the north would take a route around Samaria to get to Jerusalem in the south. Jesus went straight through Samaria. His face was set like an arrow towards Jerusalem. He traveled like the crow flies.

That’s commitment.

That’s having a clarity of goal, target, destiny.

COMMITMENT

So commitment is sticking to one’s goal, no matter what.

Isn’t that what Jesus did?

Isn’t that what Judas also did - as we notice in today's gospel? [Cf.  Matthew 26:14-25]

Judas had a clear goal.

He thought Jesus was his way to reach it.

When he saw that Jesus was not fitting his goal, his plans, his expectations, then Judas betrayed him.

That’s commitment.

ANDREW GREELEY

When I read Andrew Greeley’s autobiography, “Confessions of a Parish Priest”, I jotted down several comments about commitment that grabbed me.

On page 32 he writes, “I decided I wanted to be a priest in the second grade, have never changed my mind and never had any doubts.”

On page 95: he spells it out, “So when did I decide to be a priest? In Sister Alma Frances’ classroom, in second grade, in the late autumn of 1935 when she asked how many boys wanted to be priests. About half of us raised our hands, and Sister, God be good to her, said that perhaps one of us would make it. Actually two of us did, my close friend Lawrence McNamara, now bishop of Grand Island, Nebraska, being the other.”

On page 121 he says that when he was in the major seminary and experienced what he thought was nonsense, I “kept my own counsel, honored all the rules ... and gave the proper responses to the prefect of discipline and the spiritual director and the rector when they asked me about my fitness for the priesthood.”

On page 136 he asks, and why? Why did he put the best possible face on it? His answer, because “I wanted to be a priest. My instincts told me there was more to the Church than the seminary.”

And on page 71 we hear Greeley say that his commitment is till death. He is talking about being told to stop writing novels. He is often asked that question.

He explains, “Freedom of expression is not a right the Church can bestow and take away. It’s an inalienable right with which we are born. The Church does not grant it, the Church cannot revoke it, I cannot even in good conscience give it up because Church leaders demand it. It is conceivable, though I think unlikely, that I could lose the canonical standing which I now claim. If that happens, so be it. It is also possible, though unlikely, that ecclesiastical authority could laicize me. Both the cardinal and his Roman friends realize, however, that if they attempted to throw me out of the priesthood, I would simply not leave. I would continue to claim to be a priest theologically if no longer in canonical good standing and continue to do exactly the same work as I am presently doing.” (p. 71)

So that’s commitment. Greeley wanted to be a priest since he was a kid and he still wants to be one.

As priest it was helpful for me to read all this – since my story is somewhat similar in wanting to be a priest ever since grammar school.

Here is one last comment from page 96. “Why did you want to be a priest? That question is a lot harder to answer. I can remember the day I decided, but I can no more articulate the reason for the decision today than I could then. I liked the priests, I respected them, I admired what they seemed to do—intervening somehow between God and humans—and I wanted to do the same thing. The impetus and the drive to the priesthood came not from the family, but from me, not exactly against their better judgment, but against some gently spoken reservations.”

“My response to the reservations was typical of the little boy who had run down the hill at Twin Lakes. Why experiment with something else when you’ve made up your mind what you want to do? Why put off ordination for one more year? Why make the course thirteen years instead of twelve?” (p. 96)

Enough of Greeley. I state all that to stress what commitment is—whether it’s Greeley, or Isaiah, or Ezechiel or Jesus.

Now two points about commitment.

PART TWO:

TWO POINTS ABOUT COMMITMENT

FIRST POINT

The question then is not whether we are committed, but what we are committed to.

Now I would make the point that we’ll never really be happy or joyful, until we are committed to what God made us for.

If we chase the wrong star, it’s disaster.

And the line from today’s gospel, jumps off the page. “It would have been better if we had not been born.”

We are born to do God’s plan for us.

God is not an idiot. God made us for a reason. God has plans for us. He has dreams for us and about us.

So that would be my first point. The secret of happiness is to do God’s will, God’s dream for us.

Thy will be done.

When we don’t, we are in living in “Disasterville.”

POINT TWO

And the second point is to come up with answers to this question: “Well then, how do I know God’s will, God’s plan, God’s dream for me?”

And the answer is to ask him. Stop and listen to him.

I mentioned above some words from Ezechiel. Listen closely to them.

We heard in today’s first reading that we should pray each morning that God’s pours his word into our ears.

EMPTY CUP OR GLASS

Each morning when we fill our glass with orange juice or our cup with coffee, simply say, “Here I am, Lord. Pour your words into my ear.”

Or as Ezechiel says elsewhere, “Eat God’s words.”

So how do we know God’s will. Ask him.

This is holy week. Listen to him.

Hear the word of the Lord.

Chew on that word. God’s word will become you.

CONCLUSION

Maybe that’s what Judas stopped doing! Maybe he stopped listening to Jesus somewhere along the line.




Picture on Top - Judas in a study on the Last Supper by Michaelangelo.

NOW

Quote for Today  - April 20, 2011

"Why always, 'Not yet'? Do flowers in spring say, 'not yet'?"

Norman Douglas