WAKE UP!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Wake Up!”

In spirituality and in psychology, in prayer and mediation, in various religions, a theme that pops up from time to time is, “Awakening!”

As Catholics we hear about it every year in Advent.

And here it is this morning in today’s first reading. Paul is telling the folks at Thessalonica - as he’ll tell the folks in Rome, “It’s time to wake up.” [1]

Wake up!

QUESTION

What have been the wake up calls in my life?

Was it a teacher or a coach that burst our balloon or ego bubble, who said, “Wake up or you’re going to fail!” or “Unless you show some improvement, you’re going to be sitting on the bench every game!”

Or was it not making the team - or being dumped by someone you fell in love with? Or was it a cancer scare or a death or a loss of a job?

What have been the wake up calls in my life?

Wake up!

BUDDHA

The Buddha found the light - the inner eye opener - the answer - the secret - in the middle way - while sitting under the Bodhi tree. And his life was different from then on - in and out. He had had it all. He gave away it all. He discovered light in the center of the seesaw. He saw riches and he saw poverty. He saw being young and he saw being old and losing it all slowly. He woke up. He saw and he could see through everything - that desire is what kills us. I want my way or it’s the high way - and that’s not the way it works. Remove desire and you remove unhappiness. Aha! Now I see! [2]

TREES

The Christian could sit under the tree of the cross - the Seeing Tree - and discover enlightenment. He or she could say just what the centurion said there on Calvary - the same thing the man with unclean spirits saw and said in today’s gospel. “I know who you are: the Holy One of God.”

The Christian could sit under the tree of the cross - the Seeing Tree - and discover that it doesn’t end the way I thought it was going to end. It took the disciples a bunch of days and a bunch of experiences and a lot of letting go after Good Friday to discover that - to see that.

The Christian could sit under the tree of the cross - the Seeing Tree - and discover that unless I learn to forgive - I’m not going to be okay. Can I see and then say what Jesus saw and said from the cross, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” If I can see that, I am seeing the power of resurrection that is possible in forgiveness - because forgiveness calls for the humble crumble of ego.

Sitting under the tree of the cross - the Seeing Tree - gets us to the roots of reality - and Christ the Risen One - can get us to rise and follow him - and continue to be Christ and his Presence in our world.

Sitting on these hard wooden benches - in this church - wood from cut down a long time ago - sitting under the tree of the cross - the Seeing Tree - we can see a lot - we can have big wake up calls.

A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE FOR TODAY: MAKE A LIST

Make a list of one’s 10 top wake up calls in one’s life so far.

The secret is to list 20, 40, 50 of them - enlightening moments - and then pick one’s top 10 and then rank them in order of impact. This takes work - and prayer - and time - but it’s well worth it.

And share your list with loved ones and hear theirs if possible.

Paul - under his earlier name Saul - had his big wake up call - his awakening moment on the road to Damascus. [3]

Augustine, whose feast was August 28, but we missed it because it was this past Sunday, had his wake up call in a garden in Milan. [4]

CONCLUSION

It’s my experience -  if I do that kind of an exercise - making my list and then listing the 10 top wake up calls or wake up moments, then I’ll start to have more. That’s the way it works. Life can be an eye opening experience. We can wake up every morning - and no longer be a sleep walker.

I know I can preach asleep. I know people sleep during sermons. I know I can be like Rip Van Winkle and be asleep for years and years and years. [5]

As Paul said in today’s first reading, “All of you are children of light and of the day. We belong neither to darkness nor to night; therefore let us not be asleep like the rest, but awake and sober.”

Wake up.

I believe this is one of ten top things Jesus does: he calls people to wake up.

Wake up.



NOTES

[1] I Thessalonians 5: 1-6, 10-16 [Today's First Reading] Check also: Romans 13: 11-14; Ephesians 5: 1-20

[2] Buddhist Scriptures, edited by Edward Conze, Penguin Books, 1959; Lama Surya Das, Awakening The Buddhist Heart, Broadway Books, New, York, 2000, especially Chapter 2, “Awakening to a Deeper Love - A Buddha’s Love” Check The Documents of Vatican II, "Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions," [1965] # 2. Check also The Catechism of the Catholic Faith [1994],  #842 and 843. I was hoping that this particular catechism would give more recognition on the gifts and insights of non-Christian religions to our world. Compare that Churchwide Catechism to  The Dutch Catechism [1967], pages 28 to 30; 271; 284-285. Cf. Zen Catholicism by Dom Aelred Graham, Harcourt, Brace and World, 1963. Looking at the dates of the Vatican II document as well as The Dutch Catechism and Zen Catholicism, I am dating myself. Those were the years when my theological viewpoints were being shaped. Confer also the book by John Allen Jr. Cardinal Ratzinger, The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith,  Continuum, New York, London, [2000], pages 253-255.

[3] Acts of the Apostles 9: 3-19; 22: 1-21

[4] St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 8, Chapter 12.

[5] Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon - has Irving's version of this often told  folktale about someone who sleeps through significant changes in one's surroundings - some for many years. He published his story in 1819.

GRUMBLE, 

GRUMBLE, 

GRUMBLE!

August  30,  2011

Quote for Today

"Grumbling is the death of love."

Marlene Dietrich [ 1901-1992], ABC, Doubleday, 1962

THE SLUDGE OF GRUDGES

INTRODUCTION


The title of my homily is, “The Sludge of Grudges.”

Today is the day we remember the Beheading of John the Baptist.

And there is a line in today’s gospel that jumps off the page every time I read this gospel. Mark says, “Herodias harbored a grudge against him” that is, John the Baptist.

And Herod - as we heard in today’s gospel - made the promise and the boast - at the party - in front of the other men - that he would give Herodias’ daughter anything she wanted - even up to half his kingdom.

It’s great storytelling. It’s great writing. It’s easy to picture this young woman doing a lusty dance - and pulling Herod into her trance - by her dance - and it gives her mother a chance to get rid of John the Baptist for good - by getting her daughter to ask the king for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

Herodias had a grudge against him because he told Herod it was not right for him to be living with your brother’s wife.

The title of my homily is, “The Sludge of Grudges.”

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GRIPES AND GRUDGES

There is a difference between gripes and grudges.

Gripes are annoyances - people not using their blinkers when changing lanes - people sneezing into their hands - instead of the new hope - into one’s shoulder - people having 11 products at the 10 items or less counter at the supermarket.

Grudges are deep seated - can’t stand feelings about another - because of something they said or did 11 years ago. Grudges are underneath and sludge up our arteries - with anger - when we come into that person’s presence or something triggers that memory.

It’s great English translation of the Greek  in today's gospel - when our translation says, “Herodias harbored a grudge.”

We’ve seen docks and harbors on TV where stuff comes in from all over the world. We’ve heard about strikes where nothing moves - and vegetables start to stink. Or garbage that was supposed to be shipped elsewhere is stuck standing still there in the harbor. And fruits and vegetables and garbage start to rot.

We sometimes find out what we’ve been harboring at weddings, wakes and funerals - when we have to meet and greet family members especially. Grudges are often about family situations. Blood is thicker than water and blood is even thicker when it has sludge - the sludge of a grudge - in it.

LETTING GO - FORGIVENESS

The opposite is letting go. The opposite is getting the sludge of grudges flowing - by the clean living water of Jesus.

Letting go of a gripe and forgiving it - is much easier than letting go and letting sludge flush and flow away. That’s much, much more difficult.

It can be done.

Jesus was really aware of grudges - the stuff we hold onto - hence the big, big stress in the gospels about forgiving one another.

If we don’t heads roll.

If we don’t  forgive and let go as best as possible - often only step by step, then that sludge builds up - and when others see us - see our face - and face our spirit - they hear inside their being a, “Heads up! Watch out for this one!”

Too many grudges - too much sludge - and we get what the scriptures call, “Hardness of heart.”

Warning: if people nickname us, "Grudge" or "Grumble!" or "Growl" then it's time for a change of heart - attitude - way of living and interacting with others. If they nickname you, "Gripe", you're a bit off the hook. Smile.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “The Sludge of Grudges.”

The topic is timely - because today is the Memorial of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist.

The topic is timely - because many people in the east came back to basements filled with sludge.

Much worse is coming to the realization I’m carrying a certain grudge about a certain person too long now - too many years now - and I have to cut that out of my head. Tough stuff. Tough work. Tough task. Amen.

GRUDGE

Quote for Today  August 29, 2011

"When Callas carried a grudge, she planted it, nursed it, fostered it, watered it and watched it grow to sequoia size."

Harold C. Schonberg, On Maria Callaas, The Glorious Ones, Times Books, 1985, quoted in The New York Times, August 21, 1985

LIKE FIRE BURNING 

IN MY HEART

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22 Sunday in Ordinary Time A is, “Like Fire Burning In My Heart.”

Isn’t that a great image -“Like Fire Burning In My Heart.” It’s from Jeremiah the prophet - Jeremiah Chapter 20, verse 9.

I wonder if anyone has that as a tattoo: “Jeremiah 20: 9.”

Here’s the full text again from today’s first reading: “I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.”

Hot stuff.

SEVERAL WONDERINGS

As that text hit me I began to have some wonderings. Here are 7:

1) There has to be some great sermons down through the years on this text in Jeremiah. It certainly is a preacher’s text. Who preached those sermons and where can I find them?

2) How come I don’t have the passion that Jeremiah had - in preaching on the Lord? Silence. That was a very humbling realization. That hit me on Friday evening when I began reflecting on this text. I also realized again that I never used a script for preaching till I got to Annapolis. That’s at least 35 years of preaching without using paper. I figured out the sermon beforehand - jotted down notes - and often wrote the sermon after I gave it. A sermon has more energy that way. But when I got here to Annapolis, I found myself putting words together beforehand on paper. That reality sometimes triggers what I once read - some words by Charles Peguy - the poet/essayist (1873-1914). He wrote, “A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his coat pocket.” For weekday sermons I reaching into my pocket and pull out two pieces of paper. For Sunday sermons I have a folder - with 5 pieces of paper. So that question about how much fire and passion I have in preaching hits me. That’s a self centered question. How about you? Do you have enough fire and passion?

3) What is my passion? What have been my passions? Does anyone have the passion for the Lord, our God, that Jeremiah had?

4) Listening to what Jesus says in today’s gospel, would I go to my Jerusalem knowing they wanted to kill me there?

5) Would I be like Peter who said to Jesus: “Don’t do it! Are you crazy?”

6) Would Jesus then say to me what he said to Peter, “Get behind me Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as humans do.”

7) As we heard in today’s gospel, as well as from Paul in today’s second reading from Romans: Is there any cause - any reason - I would lay down my life for - to follow Jesus - to offer my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God?

SOME PONDERINGS ON THESE 7 WONDERINGS

Certainly Paul - Saint Paul - had that fire - that passion - that desire - that dream - as we see in his letters. He was burnt by Jesus - on the road to Damascus. It was a wake up call - and he woke up - switching his passion for crucifying Christians to reaching out to make Christians. That’s a complete pendulum swing and switch. I’ve often given new converts - plenty of space - and time - when they make a conversion switch - because they are often in high energy mode.

Certainly Saint Augustine had that fire - that passion - as one discovers in his great book, Confessions - which everyone better read at least 2 times in one’s life. The first time is to know the book and get its grabs - its great words like, “You have made us for yourself O God and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” (Book 1, Chapter 1) And, “Too late have I loved you, O Beauty, so ancient and so new, too late have I loved you! (Book 10 - Chapter 27) Then one has to read his Confessions many years later - well into the Christian Life - and during this second or third time reading and pondering and praying, one realizes - how Jesus can be a fire burning in one’s heart.

Certainly Francis Thomson, the poet and the drug addict, had it - as discovered in his great poem, “The Hound of Heaven” - when he too confesses what Paul and Augustine confessed “I fled you down the nights and down the days…. I fled you down the labyrinthine ways…" but you found me. Like a hound, God, You found me. God sniffs us out.

We can run - but we can’t outrun God. We can hide, but God finds us.

GENTLE BREEZE OR BURNING FIRE?

Three weeks back - August 7th - on the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - we had a reading from 1st Kings - where Elijah - who is running from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel as well as from God - discovers God as a gentle breeze.

Question: Reflecting on our experiences of God - has that been our experience - experiencing God like a whisper - compared to a fire or an earthquake or heavy winds - very close to what we experienced last night as well as last Tuesday?

Certainly last night’s storm - got many people to pray - as well as say to God - “Why can’t You just move this storm 300 miles east of us?” Certainly last night’s storm got us to ponder how God works, how nature works, how life works?

Amongst other words, I’m sure many people last Tuesday when they felt the earth quaking, said, “Oh my God….” That’s one of the most basic prayers there is. We say God’s name in shock, anger, fire, storm, surprise - usually in the unexpected - in the uncontrollable.

The storm is over for us. Once more do we speak to God - do we wonder and ponder with God - in the aftermath? Do we pray to God, the Gentle Whisper, in our mind and heart? Do we see, connect with God, bringing God into the inner conversations we all have with ourselves? Do we feel God when we are holding a baby or seeing a baby sleeping on a father’s shoulder? Do we connect with God in the gentle quiet - like on the back porch by ourselves - or watching a wedding - or the moments after communion - or while the bread and wine hear the words, “This is my body…. This is my blood…. given for you … given for all?”

Or have our God experiences only been when fire and storm and tragedy hit?

This morning Jeremiah and Jesus take us to another level.

This morning Jeremiah and Jesus challenge us with another question.

Take a moment. Close one’s eyes. Go into one’s heart. Can you spot a fire place there? Is it lit? Is it burning? Has it gone out? Have we given up? Are we sleep walking? Are we on hold? Have we pushed the mute button on God?

When was the last time I was on fire - firing on all pistons as they say? When was the last time I took stock of my lifetime dreams? Did I ever have a passion - something I couldn’t wait to finish other things to get back to it?

Just as God called Jeremiah and Jesus to give their lives to his will - his hope for what to do with the gift of one’s life, God calls us. The readings are read so we can hear the same wake up call.

God calls all of us to lay down our lives - to give of ourselves.

That’s God’s passion. That’s God’s will. That’s what we pray for in every Our Father, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” That’s the fire God has placed in every human being. That’s God’s fire and desire.

So the question for today is: What am I using my passions, my energy, my fire for? And: is that fire burning or has it gone out?

The fire that Jeremiah felt when he said, it’s “like fire burning in my heart” it’s in my bones challenges us to go inside. That fire is there or can be there. It’s underneath. It’s more like those fires in them their hills in Pennsylvania - ongoing mine fires deep in the heart of the earth.

The fire that Jeremiah felt in his words, “like fire burning in my heart” is like what Joseph Campbell reflected out loud about in Bill Moyer’s TV series from years ago. Remember when he Joseph Campbell said the secret of life is to, “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”

He said that one’s bliss is when one is full alive - fully alert.

I remember when I had a job called Novice Master up in Oconomowoc Wisconsin. Monday to Friday the novices would be half asleep at morning prayer and my morning conference or talk - but come Saturday morning - if they were going on a trip - say to Chicago - they were alive and alert - ready to roll. I prayed that they would have that same passion for Christ - and for the ministry - for the people they said they joined the Redemptorists in order to serve.

It’s my discovery that the key fire - the dream fire - is about a person or persons.

When we’re young or if we never grow up - or if we’re a narcissist - or selfish or self-centered that person is me. That’s my fire: me, me, me. What’s in it for me?

As Jesus says loud and clear in today’s gospel, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Then he adds, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”

When we discover the fire is not about me, we can be furious. We can scream with Jeremiah as he begins the first reading, “You duped me, O Lord…. You tricked me O Lord.” It might get us to say, “God, You mean after all that I have done to get to where I’ve gotten, it’s not for me or about me?”

And God laughs at that. Hopefully we arrive at that day and then say with Jeremiah, “I let myself be duped by you.”

That’s Step One - the realization that my life is not about me.

Step Two is the rest of our life - giving our life for a person or persons - other than myself.

Hello! That’s the message Jesus gives at every Mass. This is my Body. This is my blood, I’m giving it to you.

This is the fire than can fire us up every day, inspire us every day.

This is the “why” people get out of bed each day. It’s love. It’s one’s spouse. It’s one’s kids. I’m in this for you!

And then - as life goes on - hopefully - people wake up to an even bigger picture. The call is to love all kids - love all spouses - love all people - of all skins and creeds and languages.

When we get to that stage, we then have the passion to spend time with our kids friends and other kids. We find ourselves volunteering to coach or teach other people’s kids remedial reading. We find ourselves visiting neighbors in nursing homes or next door. It’s then we turn off the computer or TV and turn and see that there are a lot of people all around us. It’s then that the father says to his two little kids, “Let’s go next door and play rummy with Mr. X. He’s all alone and loves to play cards - especially now that his wife has died. Remember how Mrs. X always stopped to talk to you kids.”

Seeing and being that way is the fire of love. It’s loving one another.

Take Martin Luther King Jr. His fire, his passion was for people. Read his great speeches and sermons - like the “I Have A Dream” speech. You’ll hear fire in his words. You’ll hear his concern for all children -white and black - civil and human rights for all. He had a fire in his belly for justice.

Speakers and preachers like that get shot.

Take Jesus - at 30 he left his home and began teaching and preaching - about treating people right - to get religion right - to give one’s life for the world as we heard in today gospel.

People like that get crucified.

CONCLUSION

Message: That fire is down there in our heart. Stir it up today. Stir it up this week and watch what happens.

JUSTIFICATION 

CALLS  FOR  COOPERATION

Quote for Today - Feast of St. Augustine - August 28,  2011

"He who created you without you will not justify you without you."

St. Augustine [354-430], Sermons

CRITICS

August  27,  2011

Quote for Today

"Criticism comes easier than craftsmanship."

Zeukis (c. 400 B.C.)

CRITIC

Quote for Today  August 26,  2011

"A critic is a legless man who teaches running."

Channing Pollock

PRIORITIES AND PERSPECTIVES

August  25,  2011

Quote for Today

"Besser a krummer fust aider a krumer kop."

"Better a crooked foot than a crooked mind."


Yiddish Proverb from 1001 Yiddish Proverbs, Fred Kogos, A Citadel Press Book, Published by Carol Publishing Group, Secaucus, N.J., 1970, 1990

WHERE WERE YOU

WHEN THE EARTHQUAKE HIT?

It’s the morning after the earthquake:  August 24, 2011.

The question last night and this morning was: “Where were you when the earthquake hit?”

Here in Annapolis we felt it - and so far I only heard of one person being hurt: a kid breaking his leg in a local school. People talked about knickknacks falling off shelves - and pictures shaking. The television showed pictures of chimneys that had broken apart - and red bricks that fell and hit the sidewalk - and homes and churches that were damaged - but not too badly.

Annapolis is a city of red bricks. Our church, schools, Carroll House, rectory, are red bricks. I was scared about all those red bricks crumbling and falling  - like a house of cards. I stood there in our parking lot - looking up at our tall, tall, church steeple - praying, "Stay firm! Don't fall!"

Where were you when the earthquake hit?

I was talking with someone in our living room - and at first I thought the building was about to fall. Some birds - the minute before the quake - were flying very strangely and shrieking. Then the earthquake. First it was the floor and then the whole room. We thought it was just this room. I was about to go to the picture window to look outside to see if a bulldozer  or a truck had hit the house. Then shake, rattle and roll.

We got out of there. Then as soon as we got outside into the corridor - we saw everyone moving. Was it the whole building? Then when we got outside into the parking lot we saw that the folks next door in the Carroll House as well as our schools were evacuating.

“Uh oh!” What was it? Was it an explosion?

People were on their cell phones and Droids or what have you. They seemed to be having trouble making connections. Later on we were to hear that everyone was on their gadgets - trying to find information. Someone finally said, “Washington Post: It’s an earthquake - 5.6 - Virginia.”

Later on we were to find out it was 5.8.

Then came the question over the phone, e-mail, text and twitter: "Where were you when the earthquake hit?”

Then came the pondering. Then came the wondering.

Someone asked, “Are you going to put something on your blog?”

Answer: “Didn’t plan to?”

Afterthought to myself, “Yes!”

My first thought was: In a crisis - how self-centered I was.

I thought it was only happening in the room I was in.

Then I began to think of others. Hope nobody is hurt. Hope bridges and roads are not damaged. Hope those near the epicenter are okay.

To look for a possible quote about earthquakes, I reached for my Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations - which was on my floor. A bunch of books had fallen to the floor. I jokingly thought when I had gotten back to my room yesterday: “Looks like an earthquake hit this room.” It’s usually a mess. Smile.

I found a quote with the word, "earthquake" in it. It was from Arthur Miller’s play, Death of A Salesman [1949]. Here’s the quote:

“Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don’t put a bolt to a nut, he don’t tell you the law or give you medicine. He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back - that’s an earthquake. And then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.”

Woo - yesterday I was given the reality of what an earthquake feels like. It’s good to experience what has become a metaphor.

Now I know a tiny bit of what it’s like to lose a child - or a spouse - or one’s job. Now I know what’s it like to have the rug pulled out from under one’s feet - better:  to have one’s whole foundation shaking.

Now I know one solution. Talk to each other. Isn't that what everyone did: they had to call those they know and love and say, "I'm okay!" or to tell others where they were and what they were doing when the earth quaked. We in St. Mary's Parking Lot found ourselves standing there together  talking about not just the earthquake - but about life. And this morning several people got calls or made calls - and the one question that was constant was, “Where were you when the earthquake hit.”

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

Picture on top: I was in the room in the bottom left of this picture - the one with the only large picture window. Put your cursor or arrow on the picture above and tap, tap with your left clicker and you'll get an even bigger picture.  Put that picture in the context of the picture of St. Mary's on the masthead of this blog.

LOST SOULS

Quote for the Day - August 23, 2011

"The real lost souls don't wear their hair long and play guitars. They have crew cuts, trained minds, sign on for research in biological warfare, and don't give their parents a moment's worry."

J.B. Priestley [1894-1984]

CAN'T  HAVE  IT  ALL 

Quote for Today - August 22, 2011

"To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness."

Bertrand Russell [1872-1970]

SEEING  THE  PROBLEM

Quote for Today - August 22, 2011

"It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem."

G. K. Chesterton [1874-1936]

THE POPE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily or talk for this 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time A is, “The Pope.”

What’s your take on the Pope?

Today’s gospel can challenge us to ask, “Who do you say that I am?” to two people: Jesus and Peter.

It hit me that I would like to ask that question not to Christ, not to Peter,  but to those who followed Peter: The Popes.

“Who do you say that I am?”

CATHOLICS

In general Catholics and Protestants differ significantly on the following interpretation or use of today’s gospel story. Some Protestant groups would say that yes Jesus is singling out Peter for a special role and title here in the early church - that he is the head, the rock, the leader. Then they would disagree that this role moves on to the successor of Peter: who was Linus who was followed by Cletus. then Clement, all the way to the 265th pope: Benedict XVI.

There were bumps in the road, but this is what we Catholics call, “Apostolic Succession.”

BORN CATHOLIC - SOME WONDERINGS

I was born Catholic - with Pope Pius XII as pope all through my young years. He was pope from 1939 to 1958.

A wondering came up as I was thinking about all this: “It must be different being a Christian Catholic to have a pope in one’s way of seeing and thinking - than being a Christian Protestant and not having a Pope in one’s way of thinking. What’s that like?

Next I wondered: what is it like for someone who becomes a Catholic as an adult - and the reality of the Pope enters into one’s religious thinking. What’s that like? I don’t remember ever talking to anyone about this.

I also wondered if a priest is more conscious and more aware of the pope in one’s life than those Catholics who are not priests. I would assume the answer to that is: “It all depends.”

Another wondering that came up: “Is there a different outlook and attitude about the Pope in one’s life as Catholic in 2011 compared to say, 1960?”

Did the Vatican Council I [1869-1870] and then Vatican Council II [1962-1965] change people’s attitude about the Pope in one’s life as Catholic?

THE PERSON AND THE OFFICE

There is a difference between the person and the office.

It’s obvious that different bosses have different personalities.

We see this at work. We see this in parishes. We see this with popes and presidents. Kids see this in step parents in second marriages. Kids see this every new school year with a new teacher.

Pope John XXIII - Angelo Roncalli - was certainly different than the trim, slim, Pope Pius XII. Benedict XVI is different from John Paul II. Paul VI was different than Pope John Paul I - who was only pope for about a month.

I would assume for Catholics that the key thing is not the person - but the office. He’s the Pope. And if the pope came to Annapolis and said Mass at the Navy Football Stadium - we’d all be there - regardless of our take on this pope compared to other popes. We would be going to see the Pope.

I would assume that we Catholics are embarrassed by various popes in the 15th and 16th centuries: the Borgia’s, the Della Rovere's, the Medici’s. There have been popes who have been saints and popes who have been scholars, popes who were quiet as a church mouse and popes we rather not talk about. We can be proud of the popes of past few centuries - aware that no one was perfect. I rather hear the take of scholars and historians - who do their research and then put it all out on the table - in a book - that tells us the good, the bad and the ugly - than seeing the pope as in a popularity contest.

The old saying that an old lady from Jersey City said about the clergy can be said of the popes, “The five marks of the Church are: It’s one, holy, catholic, apostolic and survives its clergy.”

I’ve heard Christians - who are not Catholics - imply that we Catholics are centered on the pope and they are centered on Christ. Some Catholics might be that way - but we know the role of the pope - as well as the role for all of us - is to get out of the way and let Christ shine forth. And some Protestants might be centered on their founder more than Christ. Without calling him or her a pope, in a way, that’s what they might be - depending on the role that person played in the life of that community. But I hope we’re past the Catholic - Protestant fights.

The Pope helps. He’s called the Servant of the Servants of God - to challenge us to discover God and our neighbor in our midst when they need our love.

The Pope teaches. In Spain this weekend he’s talking to Young Catholics from all over the world. Yesterday’s Capital had a short piece that he said to our youth that too many people have amnesia when it comes to God - and too many people have made things their god. The Pope is a teacher and a preacher. We have had great encyclical letters from our popes down through the years - on Faith, Hope and Charity, on war and peace, work, labor unions, the economy, the poor amongst us, society, the environment, etc. etc. etc. . Being a poet, I have often wished that they had more imagery and examples and stories in these letters - but that’s the pain a dreamer has to deal with.

The Pope is our chief shepherd. I am happy Pope John Paul II made all those pilgrimages reaching out to youth and to so many people. We’ll never know how many people he kept in the fold - how many people he got thinking - how many people had a conversion of heart and manner. Then there are those who think this pope and the last pope should have as pope done more about stopping the abuse of young people by priests.

That’s one point: the difference between the person and the office.

IF I WERE POPE

Here’s a question for the dinner table - or when you’re sitting around with a few Catholics - on the back porch: “If you were pope, what would be 3 things you would do as pope?”

I like to joke at time and say, “If I were pope, I have my top 10 changes. I’d announce them in the first week.” Then I add that I would probably be shot or poisoned the next day.

I’d definitely call for Vatican III. To prepare for that I’d first call for country Vatican III’s. To prepare for them, I would call for local parish and diocesan Vatican III’s. And all these meetings I would open it up to not just bishops, not just priests, not just religious, not just theologians, but to all Catholics.

I would assume that those in local Rome’s and the Rome in Italy would say, “Oh my God, are you crazy? Do you realize what that would unleash?” Underneath many would squirm - realizing the loss of power and control.

I jokingly say, “If I were pope, I’d get rid of the hats and a lot of the fanfare - knowing that there was a cut down of some of the pomp and circumstance back in Pope John XXIII and Paul VI’s time. I’d want more simplicity. Yet I know pope and pomp and circumstance probably helps the economy of Italy, etc.

 For the sake of transparency I’d have to say I’d be a jeans and tee shirt type of pope. However, I’ve never seen denim vestments.

I’d also want the popes to be younger - in their 50’s - so those who think my ideas are crazy can relax because I’m in my 70’s.

CONCLUSION

We have a Pope. We pray for him by name at every Mass - and then we name our local bishop - and we pray for him at every Mass as well. Jesus gave the Pope the Keys to the Kingdom. He is called to be a leader, a teacher, a servant. He is called to be a rock - so that we Catholics know we have a security - that our chief bishop is following the tradition of Christ and all that we have learned and discovered as our Church has down through the years.

The bottom line - the message we can glean from today’s gospel is that each pope does and says to the Church what Peter said in today’s Gospel to Jesus: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Then the pope spells out the good news that Paul tells us about what Christ does and is as we heard in today’s second reading: Jesus is and brings us the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God…. For from him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Or as Pope Paul VI said to Jean Guitton in his dialogues with him: I must disappear, Christ must appear and reappear. [1]





Notes:

Painting on top: Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter, Il Perugino, Sistine Chapel in Rome.

[1] The Pope Speaks, Dialogues of Paul VI with Jean Guitton, Meredith Press, New York, 1968.

REALITY  SHOW

Quote for Today - August 21,  2011

"And that's the way it is."

Walter Cronkite [1916-2009] Sign-off sentence, CBS Evening News

STEPS  

TOWARDS 

GOD 

Quote for Today August 20, 2011


"And almost every one when age,
Disease, or sorrows strike him,
Inclines to think there is a God,
Or someone very like him."

Arthur Hugh Clough

[1819-1861]

I AM PART OF ALL 

THAT  I  HAVE  MET

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 20th Friday in Ordinary Time is, “I Am Part Of All That I Have Met.”

It’s a line from the 1842 poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, entitled, “Ulysses” - the great Greek character of many travels and adventures.

For some reason that line of that poem has become part of what I have met. I don’t know if an English teacher paused and underlined that line - or if I heard some preacher preach or speak about it. Whatever, it stuck we me.

And I have always intrigued and interested in autobiographies, biographies, memoirs, and questions of origins. At a preaching workshop the speaker once asked, “Why do you preach the way you preach? Who influenced you.”

I loved the comment the Greek poet and diplomat, George Seferis, made when talking this theme: “Don’t ask who’s influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he’s digested, and I’ve been reading all my life.”

Yet I believe it is good to know where we come from, where we have lived, what teachers influenced us, where we are in your family birth order, what our parents were like. I often ask couples who are to be married, “How do your parents argue?” There is usually a pause when I ask that question. Then when both start to answer that question, sometimes a light goes on.

As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

How many people were influenced that day when a Pharisee, a scholar of the law, as we heard in today’s gospel, asked Jesus, “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

And Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Was that scholar moved by Jesus’ answer? Was anyone in the crowd influenced? The moment was remembered and made it’s way into our gospels. How many people have read or heard that message ever since and changed their lives or focused or refocused their lives to practice these 2 simple commandment.

FIRST READING

Did one of the names in today’s first reading from the opening chapter of the book of Ruth ring a bell?

A little girl was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi on January 29, 1954. Her parents weren’t married. On her birth certificate they put her name as Orpah Winfrey - Orpah being the sister-in-law of Ruth. Both are mentioned in today’s first reading.

Orpah - became Oprah - a simple reversal of the letters “r’ and “h” - because those who knew the little girl found it easier to pronounce. As a result the planet had a new born baby named, “Oprah”.

On her show and in her writings Oprah Winfrey has told from time to time the influences on her life: her grandmother - church - poverty - going from her grandmother’s farm to her mother in Milwaukee - big time poverty - sexual abuse - going to her father in Nashville - and his insistence of reading, studying, discipline - being given opportunities to speak in public - church and school, winning beauty contests, being given a chance at 17 to read lines on a local TV station, a college degree, mistakes, drugs, sex, etc. Baltimore, Chicago, listening to suggestions, hard work, etc. etc. etc.

In today’s first reading we hear about Ruth and Orpah. At the death of a man named Elimelech, Naomi, his wife, was left with two sons who married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. After 10 years both sons died and Naomi was now left with two daughters-in-law. Orpah went back to Moab. Naomi said to Ruth, “Go back like Orpah to your people and your god.” Ruth stayed with Naomi saying, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “I Am Part Of All That I Have Met.”

Ruth re-settles with Naomi and is spotted by Boaz. They marry and their son Obed becomes the grandfather of David. Ruth becomes one part of the long line of people that Jesus has in his geneology - (Matthew 1:5) as well as the first name of many women ever since.

Orpah becomes the birth certificate name of a billionaire woman in the 20 and 21st centuries.

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

Statue on top: Ruth and Naomi - by Leonard Baskin - outdoor sculpture in Wichita, Kansas, 1978

WHAT DOES IT COST?

Quote for Today - August 19, 2011

"Take what you want and pay for it."

Spanish Proverb
Tap, Tap, Left, Left,
mouse or pad
the picture
from the Market
in Helsinki, Finland
to see everything
up closer.

CHANGING  THE  PAST

Quote for Today - August 18,  2011

"Even God cannot change the past."

Agatjpm [c. 447 -  401 B.C.]

IF YOU WERE A TREE,

WHAT KIND OF A TREE

WOULD YOU BE?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 20th Wednesday of Ordinary Time is, “If You Were A Tree, What Kind Of A Tree Would You Be?”

I have always found self tests something that really gets people’s attention. I translate that to mean: people want to grow in self knowledge - and people want to know how they are coming across.

In today’s gospel [Matthew 20:1-16], Jesus provides a great self test in the Parable of the Vineyard. Am I like the owner? Am I like those who don’t like the owner’s generosity? Am I an early or am I a late starter? Am I like those Christians who are great Christians all their lives - but they don’t like it when Jesus says, “You can steal heaven at the last moment.” That’s what he said from the cross to the Good Thief and that’s one of the things he’s saying in this parable. [Cf. Luke 23:43]

The parables of Jesus are great self tests. All you have to do is read a parable and ask yourself: “Which character in the story am I?”

And there are lots of “If’y” Self Tests. If you were an animal, what kind of an animal would you be? If you were a dog, what kind of a dog would you be? If you were a car, what kind of a car would you be? If you were music, what kind of music would you be?

A ton more of attention arises if others in a group are asked to describe everyone in the group as an animal, a dog, music, a car, the weather, or what have you.

I would be a monkey high in a tree - with a boom box - playing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

If you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be?

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from Judges 9: 6-15 triggers this reflection on self tests.

Jotham doesn’t like Abimelech who was made king by the citizens of Shechem. So he makes the top of Mount Gerizim his pulpit or platform or podium and tells the parable of the trees. There is evidence from Aesop and many others in the Middle East from way back that speakers often used in their speeches the differences in trees - trees being jealous and envious of each other - trees having strengths and weaknesses - comparing trees to people: kings, politicians, leaders, etc.

In the parable in today’s first reading Jotham tells the values and the pluses of the olive tree and the fig tree - as well as grape vines -and each in turn is asked to be king and all say, “No!” Each says, “I don’t want to spend my time waving to other trees. I want to spend my time producing oil or fruit or wine.” So they ask the buckthorn to reign over them. The buckthorn tree says, “If you wish to anoint me king over you in good faith, come and take refuge in my shade.” The message is, “Expect to be stuck and stung and cut and bleeding if you take me on. I come with thorns.” Jotham is telling the folks, “You have taken Abimelech as king. You fools. Don’t expect benefits. Expect cuts! expect to be scratched.”

To me it proves the scriptures, if one takes the time to sit in its shade, are saying, “So what else is new? Isn’t life the same old same old?”

Here we are in August of 2011 and politicians are going around waving their hands - running for election or re-election - and the next national elections are  not till November 2012.

Obviously, we want public servants - popes and presidents - priests and principals - teachers and doctors - to give us fruit - from their work - not hand waving - that they are working in the vineyard and not standing around doing nothing. If you were the pope or the president, what kind of a tree would you be?

APPLE TREE OR CHRISTMAS TREE?

One of my favorite sermon examples is the “Apple Tree or Christmas Tree” sermon.

A priest asked the congregation: Are you an apple tree or a Christmas tree? Then he said, “The Christmas tree just stands there, looks pretty and people lay gifts at its feet. The apple tree gives blossoms with a delicious scent in the spring, gives shade and rest in the summer and gives apples in the fall.”

CONCLUSION

Here in this church of St. John Neumann we are under the tree of the cross. Jesus does not wave to us. His hands are nailed. For starters, the call is to sit under this tree and eat of its fruits. Chew on Jesus’ last words. Console Mary. Say, “Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.” Hear Jesus say about the tree of the cross, “Greater love than this, no one has, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” “If you want to follow me, pick up your cross every day.”

BE PRO LIFE! 

DON'T ABORT YOURSELF! 

SEE THE 

GRANDEUR 

OF EACH OTHER!

Quote for Today - August 17, 2011

"If there is a sin against life, it lies perhaps less in despairing of it than in hoping for another and evading the implacable grandeur of the one we have."

Albert Camus [1913-1960]

Tap tap [twice] with a left click
 to see the picture on top
in wide screen spectacular
cinemascopic perspective.

THE LORD BE WITH YOU.

AND WITH YOUR SPIRIT.

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 20th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “The Lord Be With You. And With Your Spirit.”

This coming November 27th, the First Sunday of Advent, one of the possible opening prayers at Mass is, “The Lord be with you. And with your spirit.” It will replace, “The Lord be with you. And also with you.”

We’ll discover together if this change and the other changes in our Mass will switch smoothly.

I don’t remember what it was like back in the 1960’s and 70’s when other changes took place.

We’ll see.

A SLIGHT DIFFERENCE

It’s interesting that today’s first reading has “The Lord is with you.”

That’s a one word, one verb, difference from “The Lord be with you.”

The old Latin was “Dominus vobiscum.” It has no verb. I assume it’s understood. So I assume it can be translated “be” or “is”.

And the altar boy and the parish responded, “Et cum spiritu tuo.”

So the change will mirror the Latin in this second phrase, the response, “Et cum spiritu tuo.” “And with your spirit.”

So someone just gave a teaching - an explanation - of one of the upcoming changes in the Liturgy of Mass. I’m sure some of us, the bulletin, Catholic papers and magazines, will be mentioning more and more tiny bits of info as we move towards next Advent.

I’m assuming we’ll learn by doing. People will have missalette in hand and priest will have missal in hand - till the changes become second nature.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Let me take a moment to point out something about today’s first reading: Judges 6: 11-14 - the call to Gideon. It has the announcement: “The Lord is with you.”

When you heard today’s first reading, did it ring any association bells? This is something that the scriptures are often trying to do: trigger thoughts, memories, as well as other scripture stories and texts.

It rang loud and clear something I heard back in 1962 - when we studied today’s first reading for the first time. The professor had us read today’s first reading and then read the gospel of Luke 1:26-38. That's the annunciation scene. He asked, “Any comments!” We said, “Both are very similar.” He added, “Both are annunciation accounts.”

There are various, “Dominus vobiscum” scenes in the Bible. It’s a greeting. So it’s not just a “Hello”. It’s bringting the Lord be into the greeting. We still do this. When someone sneezes, many still say, “God bless you.” When someone is going in for an operation or they are taking a trip, some say, “May the Lord be with you!” or “I’ll keep you in my prayers.” Or “Please God you’ll have a safe trip!”

Lithuanian blessings, Irish blessings - Polish blessings - Italian blessings - are loaded with the “God” or “Lord” word. Praise God.

Then there is today’s annunciation scene  from the book of Judges. Just as in Mary’s annunciation scene, after the opening greeting comes questions, some fears, some wonderings, and then comes the blessed assurance. “The Lord will be with you.”

So we begin Mass and end Mass with the “Dominus Vobiscum”. It’s a Latin Blessing - but before that a Hebrew Blessing - underneath that, a human blessing - a prayer and a hope that we all realize we’re not here alone - and we won’t leave or go it alone today.

CONCLUSION

“The Lord be with you.”

I said that to see what you would answer.

After November 27 it will be a mix of “And also with you” and also “And with your spirit.”

Hopefully this sermon and these future changes will be much ado about something.

STOP YELLING! 

PREACH US 

GOOD NEWS!

Quote for Today - August 16, 2011

"A popular preacher once said of his pulpit efforts, 'I always roar when I have nothing to say.'"

Anonymous