ASSUMPTION

Babies are born with beautiful baby skin.
Little kids light up and run when they
spot a playground - every time.


Teenagers flirt and dance and yank
each other’s hair and back packs -
and love to laugh and give high 5’s.


Twenty to thirty nine year olders think the
whole wide world is theirs.


Forty to sixty year olders come down
to earth - their knees and backs and
schedules telling them: “There are limits.”


Sixty to seventy year olders start to stop
to look a lot deeper into the things one cannot
see or prove: God?; Meaning?; Is there
an answer to our “Why’s?” and our Cries?;
“Is this all there is?” or worded another way
as the big question: “Is there resurrection after this?”


Seventy to ninety year olders - if they
make it that far - go to more wakes
and funerals and doctors and find
themselves more and more sitting in the stands
of off to the side - some with rich smiles,
some with sad snarls or scars - or because
of hurts that never healed. Assumptions!


These are all assumptions. More or less….
Isn’t this the way it is for everyone?
Faith and hope are assumptions as well as
words - in the first half of life. In the second half
they are decisions. Walls? Doors? Christ!


Sometimes we find Jesus at the seashore
after a night of catching nothing. Sometimes
he’s just standing there and like a little kid
spotting a playground we can run to him.


And then there is Mary - Perpetual Help -
the One who is always on the edge of the wedding
or standing in the crowd or along the way
or under the cross - the Sorrowful Mother.


In life she, like Jesus, was aware of neighbor,
those who ran out of wine or bread.
Life: sometimes it's fullness, sometimes it's emptiness,
and sometimes it's in between ….


In death, Jesus and Mary are pictured for us
on walls of churches as well as in art museums,
two who became more and more aware of the Father
as they came home to His embrace.
At least that’s our assumption.
At least that’s the assumption called “faith”.


And so to sum some of this up: First things first….
We go from baby skin to wrinkles,
from dash and flash to sitting and pondering.


It seems we have to become aware of all
the other things first - before we become aware
of the great assumption: Resurrection - the
stepping not into the grave but into the
Eternal Dance - the full Wedding Feast -
dancing with each other - with Jesus and Mary
with Eternal Bread, Eternal Wine on our Holy Breath.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2011

ASSUMPTION OF MARY 

Quote for Today - Feast of the Assumption - August 15, 2011


"In very deed,
Washed with new fire to their irradiant birth,
Reintegrated are the heavens and earth;
From sky to sod,
The world's unfolded blossom smells of God."

Francis Thompson [1859-1907], An Ode after Easter.

Painting on Top: Assumption of Mary

WOOOF! WOOOF! WOOOF!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Wooof! Wooof! Woooof!”

I’m going to divide my homily into two parts.

PART ONE: THE POSSIBLE “WHY” OF TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel we have an intriguing scene where a strange woman confronts Jesus. She gets Jesus to change his plans. She gets him to think outside his territory - and heal her daughter - who is tormented by some kind of a demon.

At first glance, this is an, “Uh oh, oh no, Gospel!”

Jesus tells the lady, “I’m not here to help you. I’m only here for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

This sounds so foreign to Jesus. Isn’t he here to save - to heal - to help - everyone?

Next, Jesus uses the dog word. He says, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”

Uh oh! Oh no!

This doesn’t sound like Jesus - implying that someone is a dog.

Speaking of sheep and dogs, this woman outfoxes Jesus. She says, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

The gospel doesn’t describe what Jesus’ face looks like at this great comeback. Matthew’s text only has Jesus saying, “O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.” Then our gospel for this Sunday ends, “And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.”

Question: why in the world did Matthew include this story in his text - when it seems to make Jesus look so un-Jesus-like?

Scholars have various takes on why this text is included in the gospel. One comment could be, “It makes the gospel more real because many would delete this text from the Gospel. The fact that it’s here in Matthew and that it makes Jesus seem like sandpaper - rubbing someone the wrong way tells us this is real stuff.” This is put here to bark out a strong message.

Scholars also like to say that a gospel text tells us what’s going on in the community that the text comes out of. Translation: some scholars have the thesis that Matthew comes from a Jewish Christian community - some time between 75-90 AD - somewhere in southern Syria - maybe even Tyre and Sidon - or from Antioch - which is not that far from Tyre and Sidon - the locale of today’s gospel. [1] Was the text designed to challenge the Jewish Christian community in that place to welcome foreigners, strangers, people of Canaanite origin - and women - into the Christian community there? Is the text telling us about a struggle going on in one early Christian community - that didn’t want strangers - especially strange outsider women acting up in the local community?

This theme of welcoming outsiders is given even more weight, because of the choice of today’s other two readings. The second reading from Romans continues with Paul’s struggle between Jews and Gentiles. Today’s first reading - a text from Isaiah 56 - is dated around 515 BC - after the temple is rebuilt. It specifically stresses welcoming foreigners into the Jewish community. [2] The first reading ends, “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” [Isaiah 56:7]

Isn’t that the dream we all have? Isn’t that our song: “all are welcome, all are welcome, in this place?” Don’t we feel pride - or a sense that I’m in the right place - when we see at Sunday Mass - a great collection of different looking people? Look around this church right now! Aren’t we an interesting kennel of people? Wooof. Wooof. Wooof! If we all barked at the same time, wouldn’t we sound like a great orchestra of different barks in the dark night? Won’t the kids from this parish who are at World Youth Day or Week that starts tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday in Madrid, Spain, come back with a wider and deeper sense of what the word, “catholic” means. It’s “kata holos” in Greek. We are the whole catalogue of different looking people on this planet - well over a billion of us.

PART 2: DON’T JUST SIT THERE - BARK!

Part 2 is to look at the “why?” we all come to this place - to this church - each Sunday.

This woman in today’s gospel tells us that one reason we come here is because we want God to heal our children - to heal our demons - so we can walk out of this experience better than when we walked in here.

We come here to pray.

To be cute, I’ll add: “We come here to bark at God.”

Woof. Woof. Woof.

The barking dog gets the biscuit.

The hanging around dog spots the piece of meat or bread that falls to the floor.

I was wondering as I read today’s gospel if any priest around the world will spot the question that comes up from time to time in our church - about blocking communion for some people. A man sort of growled at me going out of Mass here at St. Mary’s one Sunday morning when I preached about the great gift of Eucharist. He was moving fast as people were saying, “Good-bye,” “Have a great weekend” I thought he used the word “hypocrite” concerning the issue that not all could go to communion. I didn’t really get a chance to see his face or who he was or what have you. I wanted to say something like, “It kills me at times as well.” Or, “Do you want to talk some time?” I didn’t know if he was Catholic or if he belonged to another communion or what have you.

I know the Catholic Church’s teaching and position and “Guidelines for the Reception of Communion”. It’s on the inside cover of our missalettes. It’s clear and it’s the present teaching. It tells all of us that receiving communion is a very sacred and serious reality for all of us. I know a few years ago we proposed that people who can’t go to communion come up for a blessing - and I think I read somewhere that is a “no no” in some places - so I’ll have to do my homework on that. But I still see people come up for communion and I’ve blessed lots of people - and lots of children who haven’t received their first communion yet - at that moment of communion.

I want to say that, but that’s not the heart of Part Two of this homily.

Part Two would be this: I would hope all of us would come to church with great faith - the faith that this woman in today’s gospel had - and that we come here to bark, bark, wooof, wooof, and ask Jesus to heal us of our demons.

We don’t have to go it alone in this life. We have our demons - our sins - our fatal flaws - our weaknesses - and it’s important to name them - and then scream out to Jesus here at Church - for help.

And if you know God, you know that He seems to be deaf and to ignore us. I say that because I’ve heard in the past 46 years of being a priest, lots of people saying that they have been praying for patience or purity or for humility or for an end to comparisons or jealousy or envy or for their kids and everything seems to remain the same. Nothing happens.

Bark louder - scream for some scraps of help from God’s banquet table.

Receive communion today and say, “Thank You, Lord, and now that I have you by the teeth, I need help.”

And in communion tell Jesus - tell Jesus the Son of God just what you want.

Be like this lady in today’s gospel. Be bold. Be tough. Get Jesus into your grasp and be clever enough to not let him go till he gives you a healing. Amen.

CONCLUSION

As a way of remembering this homily, that is, if you want to remember it - could you all bark, bark, or go, “Woof. Woof. Woof” right now.



NOTES

[1] “The Gospel According to Matthew,” by Benedict T. Viviano, O.P., page 631, in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1990.


[2] “Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah, by Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P. page 344 in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1990.

PRESENT  OR  ABSENT?

Quote for Today - August 14,  2011

"William James, [the Harvard philosopher and psychologist], was walking along a Cambridge, Massachusetts, street accompanied by a pair of his students, a boy and a girl.  A large, imposing figure, white-bearded, swinging his cane, talking to himself, oblivious to the others, approached them. Remarked the girl: 'Whoever he is, he's the epitome of the absentminded professor.'  'What you really mean,' said James, ' is that he is present-minded somewhere else.'"

Clifton Fadiman, General Editor, The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Toronto, London, 1985, page 305.

Picture on top: William James (1842-1910)

SEEING  IS  MEING!

Quote for Today - August  13,  2011

"As I am,  so I see."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Second Series: Experience

MORNING PRAYER

Do you see each day as a blessing?
Do you have the habit of looking out
your morning window and you smile
when you see the scattering rays
of light that have landed on green leaves
and brown branches of your favorite tree
or you spot a black cat
on a big blue plastic garbage can
watching the birds at one more sun rise?


Or do you almost have to have died,
before you pinch yourself for the gift
of one more day to live to the full?
Thank You God for this new day
of life and light and love.
Surprise me God. Surprise me God
today with great delight.
I promise You, I’ll be waiting,
I’ll be watching like that cat.
Thank You, God. Thank You.

© Andy Costello, Prayers, 2011



NIGHT PRAYER

Lord of long days,
wrong days and right days,
good days and bad days;
Lord of tomorrow, today
and let me throw in yesterday
as well. I pause now
at the end of this day to say,
“Thanks!”, “Sorry!”
and "I need a good sleep
to do another one of these
tomorrow." Enough! Enough!
At the end of the day
I know I was never enough
but that’s your job, O Lord,
that's Your job, O Lord.
Be our Eternal Enough;
be our Eternal Enough.
Amen. Good Night.

© Andy Costello, Prayers, 2011

THE DREAM 

AND  THE  REALITY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 19 Friday in Ordinary Time is, “The Dream and the Reality.”

It could also be entitled, “The Ideal and the Real.”

Either way - it’s life.

We dream impossible dreams and hopefully we pull together some realities.

In the morning we plan on doing 10 things today. Hopefully, we finish at least one of them before we go to bed.

Do we look at what we accomplished or do we look at what didn’t happen?

Do we tend to see and dwell on successes or failures?

Is it a question of being an optimist or a pessimist?

“Two people looked out prison bars: one saw mud, the other saw stars.”

A couple look at their marriage: what does each of them see?

Is it a question of being able to laugh, to forgive, to accept, to understand and still to dream?

If there is no imaginary Kingdom - especially the one Jesus envisioned - we might never get out of our Lazy Boy chairsl

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel which centers on marriage and divorce triggered the topic and theme of this homily.

The marriage vows were crafted from experience: for better and for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do we part.

But sometimes people part - and sometimes for very good reasons: abuse, alcohol, the kids. It just didn’t work. Sorry. We were hurting each other too, too much - but especially we're hurting the kids.

I sit with couples about to be married and we go through this big long questionnaire they take. A few years back they added 4 sections - in an effort to deal with divorce before people enter into marriage. One question is: “Even if a woman or a man thinks their marriage is bad, they should keep trying to save it.” Agree, Disagree, Undecided. Sometimes someone says, “It all depends what bad is.”

THE DREAM AND THE REALITY

Am I realist or a dreamer? Does the ideal get in the way of the real?

I love the saying: “The glances over cocktails that seemed so sweet, don’t seem so sweet over shredded wheat.”

How many men and women whisper to themselves - or to another, “With that pot belly, my spouse doesn’t look as attractive as he or she looked those early years of our marriage.”

How many men and women whisper to each other - “You are looking better and better the more we are together." "Thanks for being you! I love your wrinkles." "I love your love handles!"

And so couples want to dance at their 25th and 35th and 50th wedding anniversary to the song, “Down through the years….”

CONCLUSION

In the meanwhile we need our dreams, our fantasies, our hopes, even when they are impossible, because if we don’t reach for the stars, we might never love being down to earth - with its dirt and crumble - its better and its worse, its richer and its poorer - till death do us part. Amen.

NOT LOSING 

 A  SENSE 

OF  SIN

Quote for Today - August 12,  2011

"There is but one thing more dangerous than sin - the murder of a man's sense of sin."

Pope John Paul II, Quoted in the Observer, April 8, 1979

BITTER  OR  SWEET?

Quote for Today - August 11, 2011

"Let us be patient, tender, wise, forgiving,
In this strange task of living;
For if we fail each other, each will be
Grey driftwood lapsing to the bitter sea."

Martin Armstrong, Body and Spirit.

TRICKY AND SNEAKY 

IS THE MIND 

Quote for Today - August 10, 2011

"O, full of scorpions is my mind."

Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act ii, scene 1, line 56

UNCONTROLLABLE: WORDS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 19th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Uncontrollable: Words.”

I’m preaching this homily to myself this morning, because I want to get a handle on something that I find very difficult to control: words.

One of life’s lessons is the reality that once words are out there, out of our mouth, we can’t control them. I don’t golf or bowl, but I’ve tried both a few times way back when. I learned that once the ball is off the tee and into the air, it’s out of my control, so too a bowling ball. I can try to give them a good send off, but once they are gone - they are gone - out of my control. That’s obvious.

This is obviously obvious about words. Once they are out there - what we said can be interpreted in a way we didn’t intend - or words can be twisted intentionally or unintentionally - misunderstood or understood.

So my first thought is: "One of life’s lessons is the reality that words are uncontrollable. They are slippery eels."

OTHER PEOPLE ALSO HAVE MOUTHS

That's us. What about others? We can’t control the words of others - what comes out of their mouths.

That is also very obvious and it can be a bummer.

Remember Art Linkletter’s old line, “Kids say the darndest things.” So too priests, so too husbands, so too wives, so too parents, uncles, aunts, the other person. You never know what the other might say.

How many times in a week, do we say, “I wish he didn’t say that!”?

HERE AT ST. MARY’S

If we say something in the pulpit that someone doesn’t like, sometimes they put their objection into words. Sometimes the pastor receives an e-mail or a letter or a phone call from the listener. It was Father Jack Kingsbury’s policy to forward the e-mail or letter to the priest with the complaint.
I don’t know what the new pastor, Father John Tizio, will have as his policy, but I assume it will be roughly the same. I’ve received a few of them. I didn’t like them, but it’s good that people have a chance to comment or voice their complaint to the priest in person and articulate what bugged them.

Not everyone likes the words that fly through the air. We all remember the proverbial, “I shot an arrow into the air ….”

However, words are what make us human - and communication is all about human words - as well as about the person on the other side of the tongue and ear.

QUESTION - TODAY’S FIRST READING

Maybe you're wondering: What triggered this question and topic about "Uncontrollable: words?"

I assume that people who come to daily mass have the assumption that the priest will say a few words about the readings or a reading.

Well when I read today’s first reading, I said to myself, “Oh no! No! No. No. Not again!”

Today’s first reading - Deuteronomy 31: 1-8 - is one more reading where it has God zapping and destroying people.

I remember a rabbi saying to me that I have to read the Koran - if I am going to be a priest in today’s world. So I bought a Koran and read it. I began to notice example after example of God burning and destroying people and the call to exterminate people.

I began wondering: Is this Islam? Is this why there was September 11th or what have you? Then I began noticing that our scriptures have some of the same violence - God destroying people.

Another two questions popped up: Should we avoid all these texts? Should we only use texts that say just the opposite?

Thinking about all this: I couldn’t come up with a good reason for us to proclaim this violence in church. Should there be censorship? Should we avoid these R Rated readings - R for Violence.

Who would be the censor? Is the plan to put it all out on the table?

Nope. I assume the reason is because the Catholic Church decided to give the People the whole Bible over 2 and 3 year periods. Once you decide that, then there are some readings some people will like and there are some readings people won’t like.

Of course, at weddings and funerals people get to pick - sometimes or most of the time - in some places.

In the meanwhile we get all these readings from Jesus telling folks to put down the rocks and the swords  along with texts about hellfire and the grinding of teeth and people being wiped out.

UNCONTROLLABLE

Then once more it hit me loud and clear, I have no control over any of this.

And the more I learn that I have no control over the readings at Mass - plus how people hear the readings at Mass - the more peaceful I can be.

The message is loud and clear: I can’t get my way.  This is the way life works.

As priest I still hear people complaining about what some nun taught them in catechism as a kid and it drove them away from church - or made them scrupulous - that everything is sinful. Why do they keep on picking on nuns? What about all the good they did?

They pick on priests as well. There is always the someone who was hurt by something a priest said to them in confession. Or someone mentions how their outlook on God is a hell and damnation God - because of words they heard years ago from the pulpit.

One of my favorite string of words is from the Talmud: "Teach thy tongue to say, 'I do not know!'"

Maybe I ought to follow: "Teach thy mind to say: 'It's out of your control.'"

Control. Uncontrollable. It’s life.

Who can control the wind? Who can control the words? Who can control the reactions?

Okay we can turn off the TV or turn off some of what we’re taking in - but I’m saying here, to be human is to enter into the world of thoughts and words.

So sometimes I can’t even control my own mouth - let alone my thoughts and judgments and distractions.

And obviously, I can’t control what comes out of other people’s mouth.

Someone just mentioned yesterday that he heard on EWTN that a priest said that getting a tattoo is sinful - because it’s destroying one’s body. “Is that true?”

I said, “I disagree.”

I wasn’t going to get into that one.

Afterwards I said to myself, “Good move keeping your mouth shut - except for 2 words!” Then I laughed to myself, “If that’s what the guy heard the priest say on TV, I’m sure I’ll hear that question or comment again.”

Well, if anything, that comment will get people to think. It will get people to say to themselves, “You don't have to believe everything you hear on TV or from the pulpit.”

Think. Process. Go figure. Talk. Communicate. Read. Study. Google. Learn.

No kidding.

I can also hear people thinking:  “What are they going to say next: pierced ears are wrong too? Try that one and see if the fund raising goes down. As to the tattoos, it will be a conversation starter for the next 50 years. Mommy what were you thinking when you got that tattoo on your back?”

CONCLUSION

So I have no control over what others say - only what I say or don’t say - and only sometimes.

That would be the message I am talking out loud about today.

Driving back today I might say to myself, “Dumb move with that sermon. It was too, too wordy. You could have said what you said in 25 words or less - or talked about the Gospel and the Kids or Lost Sheep." 
Yet I think it’s something worth addressing - and talking about - because when we forget this reality about, “Uncontrollable: Words” - we get ourselves upset from time to time - and sometimes big time.

Then I laughed again, because I then said to myself, “Actually, after we get over being the little children Jesus talks about in today’s gospel. [Matthew 18: 1-5] we are all called to grow up and become adults who know that much of life is all our of our control. It’s uncontrollable. Amen.”

THE ROSARY 

OF COOKING

Quote for Today - August 9,  2011

"The most indispensable ingredient of all good home cooking: love for those you are cooking for."

Sophia Loren

OUT OF THE DEPTHS 

I CRY FOR YOU 

O GOD!

Quote for the Day - August 8, 2011

"Desire and longing are the whips of God."

Anna Wickham [1884-1947], Sehnsucht. This the name of a poem by Anna Wickham. Sehnsucht is the German word for "longing". "Sehnen" means "to long for" and "sucht" means addiction. So the word connotes a deep intensive addiction to longing. May we all have a deep longing and hunger and thirst for God. May we see in all our hungers and thirsts the hunger and thirst for the ALL - GOD.

A  TINY  

WHISPERING SOUND

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “A Tiny Whispering Sound.”

Those are words we heard in today’s first reading: “A Tiny Whispering Sound.” 1 Kings 19:12.

Elijah the prophet is running for his life from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel - two infamous characters in the Jewish Scriptures and Jewish history.

We know and have heard of these names: Ahab and Jezebel. Ahab is the name chosen by Herman Melville for the self-destructive mad sea captain in Moby Dick and Jezebel is the name and title of one of Frankie Lane’s songs about a devil of a woman. Listen to the first few verses of his song entitled “Jezebel”:

                 Jezebel.
                 Jezebel.


                 If ever the devil was born,
                 Without a pair of horns
                 It was you,
                 Jezebel, it was you.


                If ever an angel fell,
                Jezebel,
                It was you.
                Jezebel, it was you.


                If ever a pair of eyes,
                Promised paradise.
                Deceiving me, grieving me,
                Leavin' me blue.
               Jezebel, it was you.

So Elijah the prophet is running for his life from Ahab and Jezebel. He hides in the desert. He hides in the mountains. He hides in a cave.

He feels all alone and the only one left is God.

And he hears the Lord say, “I am going to be passing by.”

1 KINGS 19

And we have heard this famous story from 1st Kings 19 - today’s first reading - in our past - but did we hear it? It ought to be part of our spiritual repertoire - one of our inner spiritual stories that help us in our inner life. So we ought to know this scripture story in 1st Kings 19.

Elijah is all alone and he hears God say, “I’m going to be passing by.”

Then he has 4 experiences:

• First, there is a great and mighty wind that splits the mountains and shatters the rocks - but God is not in the wind.

• Next there is an earthquake - but God is not in the earthquake.

• Next comes fire - but God is not in the fire.

• Lastly comes a tiny whispering sound - and Elijah hides his face in his cloak as he stands there at the entrance of a cave. He has just had a God experience - a theophany.

Our text stops ends there.

Dumb. The next line has God speaking to Elijah. The text says, “Then a voice addressed him; ‘Why are you here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I am moved by zeal for the Lord, the God of Hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and have put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life.’”

In this experience, this encounter, with a very quiet God, Elijah is turned around and God sends him back into the action - to be a prophet - someone who challenges the mighty - the powerful - those who are not listening to the Word of God.

In 1st Kings 22 - a few chapters later - Ahab is killed in battle - hit by a random arrow - and the blood from his wound ran down into the hollow of his chariot. Then the dead body of the king was brought to Samaria and they flushed out his chariot in the pool at Samaria. It sounds like a car wash - a chariot wash - and then the author of this text from 1st Kings says the dogs lapped up his blood in that water.

In 2nd Kings 9 we learn the fate of Jezebel. She was thrown out a window and tramped to death by horses down below. Then she is dropped in a field in Jezreel and dogs devoured her flesh and all that is left is her skull.

The description of both their deaths are R rated - so I’ll only say that much - and that’s a lot.

And Elijah goes forward to proclaim the Lord. He passes on his powers and mantle to his successor - Elisha the prophet - and then he flies off into the sky in a fiery chariot as is told in a legendary story. And we hear his name told over and over again with reverence throughout both the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. I like the tradition of the empty chair left for Elijah in some Jewish ceremonies.

LISTENING TO THE TINY WHISPERINGS OF GOD

Now to be practical as well as poetic - here would be my homily point for today.

Listen to the tiny whisperings of God.

Take time to listen to the tiny whisperings of God.

It’s called prayer.

Survey after survey of what people want from homilies is for us to teach people how to pray - how to deepen our relationship with God.

In this homily I’m saying: Stop and listen to the tiny whisperings of God. As Psalm 46:10 puts it: “Be still and know that I am God.”

People pray and scream to God in tornadoes and hurricanes. People pray and scream to God in earthquakes and fires, but today’s first reading challenges us to hear the tiny whisperings of God.

The scriptures say over and over and over again: “Hear the word of the Lord.” “Listen… listen … listen to God’s voice!” “Harden not your hearts!” “People have ears but they don’t hear.” “Listen….”

CROWDED ROOM

Have you ever been in a crowded room - and everybody is talking, talking, talking - so many voices - that you can’t hear well?

In the last 25 years we’ve seen a dramatic change in society: everyone seems to be listening to these tiny whisperings in their ear. We see people driving, walking, talking, listening, smiling, making gestures with their hands - as they walk. We see them doing this at ballgames, at the Mall, and they are all alone - that is till we see that thing in their ear - or next to their ear. Ye gads! The gadgets….

That’s just one series of things people are listening to.

There is another one even deeper. I’ve been saying in sermons for years now that the number one conversation we’re all having - all the time - is inside our heads. We’re always talking and listening to ourselves - inner chatter, chatter, chatter, talking, talking, talking, inner yak, yak, yak, yak, yak, yak, yak. Tell me what you’re talking to yourself about and I’ll tell you who you are.

Some 30 or so years ago I was listening to an audio tape of a talk by Alan Watts. He was saying Eastern meditation teachers ask their students to quiet their tongues. He said the human tongue is forever moving - always ever slightly - when talking out loud or in loud. I don’t know now and didn’t know then if that is true about the tongue ever moving. It impressed me. It helped me realize I’m always thinking - talking inwardly.

Become conscious of your tongue right now. Move your tongue around in your mouth. Listen to your tongue. Notice it. Is it moving?

I also am aware that everyone here in church is talking and thinking inwardly all through this Mass about all kinds of things.

My fantasy about preaching is that nobody in church is hearing a word that I’m saying or even noticing me. My hope is that people become aware of their inner talk - inner issues - the me that’s me - and then they bring into consciousness something the readings or the preacher triggered - and it challenges them - sometimes something said in a whisper - a tiny whisper and they didn’t even hear it coming.

I’m hoping that something I said or the readings said or the stained glass windows trigger - changes people’s inner conversation from something that happened yesterday or last night or something they are thinking about for this afternoon - and then they hear a tiny God whisper - and they say, “What?” or “Wait a minute!” Or, “God what are whispering to me? Woooo!”

So I’m assuming that a zillion phone conversations and radio and TV sounds are flying through this space here in this church right now. We don’t hear them - unless we access a few of them with a gadget.

But I’m also assuming that there a zillion sounds and voices inside each human skull - inside each human auditorium on our shoulders - inside each church above our neck. They're stored in there - and we’ve processed them - most of them being the zillion whispers - we’ve collected in our lives so far.

I’m assuming this is part of how we become who we are. We’ve heard all these million voices of our mom and dad - and teachers - TV - radio - songs, sounds, and they’re there inside the memory banks in our brains.

I would hope that one type of prayer would be to isolate the tiny whispering sounds of God - in the mix of all these voices and really hear and consider them. I would hope that this happens more and more in life - and these theophanies, these whisperings of God become our spiritual life more and more.

I hope a tiny bit of this got into your jet stream this morning.

I also hope some of this sounds interesting - and you say, “I’m going to think about all this.”

I hope that this grabs you: that God is whispering all the time. Not just our conscience which is sometimes called that still soft voice inside us - but God's voice is a deep whisper you hear.

I’m also saying there is competition for air time - with all these phone calls, texts, twitterings, etc. Someone just told me the other day she dropped her Facebook deal - and she felt so empty at first - but then came this great big sound of relief. She heard a whispered, “Phew!”

R  RATED  VOICES

And I better also say, I would hope all of us would realize there are alien sounds - dangerous inner whisperings - dangerous surround sounds around us. Some of our whisperings as well as inner songs and sounds are Ahab like sounds of self destruction or Jezebel like sounds of greed and intrigue that end up having us hurting others by our gossip or our nastiness or what have you - and in the process we destroy ourselves.

I would hope today all of us would think outside the boat, the bed, the box, the chariot, the car, the brain, the mind called me. We are in an ocean of words. We can be drowning in words. This could be overwhelming and scary - like Peter thinking outside the boat in today’s gospel and he steps out into the water and flounders and almost drowns for lack of faith - and Jesus saves him.

I would hope we all have both the experience of Peter and the experience of Elijah - and we sit down in quiet places - like church or in the backyard or a walk - or on a boat - or on the shore - after life’s experiences - and we listen to the whisperings sounds of God within. They are there.

Every night before going to bed - I found it practical to ask myself - "What happened today?" Then I make sort of a shopping list with a word or two describing the different things I experienced that day. I usually come up with about 15 items on that list - one  word or one liners. Then I put a circle around the most significant moment or experience. Then I bring it into communion with God.

Then I might say, “Thanks God” or “Sorry God” or “Better tomorrow, God.” And then it's time to get to bed.

CONCLUSION

Remember the old joke: If you talk to God, it’s called prayer; but if you hear God talking to you, it’s schizophrenia.

Disagree - most of the time.

In this homily I’m saying both are prayer - and like Elijah, it’s smart to take the time to run away from it all from time to time, and listen to the tiny whisperings of God in our ear.

And the more we listen - calmly and quietly - surprise - the more we discover God is there in all the moments of life - and we Christians will discover what the disciples of Jesus discovered: Jesus, the Son of God, is walking beside us every moment - in the water - on land - in the day - and in the night.

Just listen - and we’ll hear the tiny whispering sounds of God.

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

BECOMING  QUIET, 

BECOMING  STILL 

BEKNOWING GOD! 

Quote for Today - August 7, 2011

"To my mind the most poignant mystical  exhortation ever written is 'Be still and know that I am God.'"

Arnold Bennett, Journals, December 1929

Picture on top: Solitude Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado - photo by Erik Stensland

RECOGNIZING  HAPPINESS

Quote for Today - August 6, 2011

"It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy."
 
Lucille Ball - Today August 6, 2011 is her 100 birthday

SEE THE MIRACLES 

SURROUNDING YOU

Quote for Today - August 5, 2011

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."

Siddhartha Gautama ca. 563 to ca. 483 B.C. The Buddha -

Flower on top - taken in Vienna, Austia, August 8, 2010