INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “One of Your 10!”
When I lived in Pennsylvania I used to go see a Jesuit
Priest, Frank Miles, a neat guy, for spiritual direction. I also saw him for a
few 8 day directed retreats - which were silent retreats as well.
In a directed retreat, one method is to give the
retreatant a single Biblical Text for the day or two days or for a short period
of time - and the retreatant would spend a couple of hours of prayer, chewing
on and digesting that text.
Well, Frank Miles gave me some wonderful texts - that fit
my needs - and what was hitting me on that time of retreat - things I wanted to
talk about.
It hit me that he really knew Bible texts in a special
way. He owned them. So I asked him, “How many Bible texts do you own?”
He asked what I meant.
I explained.
“Oh,” then he said, “I get what you’re asking.”
Then he said, “I don’t know. Let me think about it.”
The next day he said, “About 75.”
The Bible is this portable library of some 73 different books or scrolls - and this Jesuit priest
said, “75 were his. He owned them.”
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel has a Bible text - that all of us should
own.
It should be part of our spiritual repertoire and value system. The text is this. You already know it. I’ve
heard you say it at various times in your life. Here it is: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the
first to throw a stone at her.”
That’s John 8:7
Use your rosary and say that
text on your beads, 59 times. Think
about it. Pray with it. Make it even more your own.
That’s one text you own.
The title of my homily for
today is, “One of Your 10.”
I’m not saying to come up
with 75. I’m suggesting 10.
You have a couple of texts that you already own
and you’ve said those words - that text - that saying from time to time in your
life.
I like Galatians 6:2. I own
it, “Bear one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the Law of Christ.” Come up with the best translation of the text
that you like, Galatians 6:2 is also
put this way in English, “Help
one another to carry these heavy loads, and in this way you will fulfill the
law of Christ.”
And I like John 10:10. Actually John 10:10 B. “I have come that you
might have life and that you live it to the full.”
If one of your deepest and best texts is an old
translation, take that as a possible sign that this text has been in you for a
long time.
So I’m asking in
this homily, “Come up with 10.”
NOW BACK TO THIS NOT THROWING STONES TEXT
The men who dragged this woman to Jesus - actually were hoping to use his response as an excuse
to throw stones at Jesus.
We hear in these Lenten texts especially - Pharisees and
other groups wanting to kill Jesus.
Once we catch the power, the lightning, the wisdom, the
depth of meaning in a text, it’s then that it can become our own.
SUGGESTION: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
If you want to get at this text in John about sin and
stone throwing, I suggest reading Nathaniel Hawthorne.
He has two main novels and lots of short stories.
He lived in Massachusetts between 1804 to 1864.
However, he wrote
a lot about the mindset of the Puritans in New England from a much earlier
time. The Scarlett Letter takes place between 1642 and 1649. Students of Hawthorne thought he wrote best
about this earlier period of New England life compared to his time: the 1850’s
and 1860.
The Puritans came to New England with the hope of
purifying the Church of England.
The Puritans were purists. They were sometimes called,
“Precisionists.”
They were stern - strict - and very off on sin.
They were not too happy about having fun. They didn’t think well about young people
dancing - for example around the so called “May Pole.”
Maturity meant sadness and sobriety - strictness and
sternness.
You can find this type of person in all religious groups.
The key is to catch ourselves when we are being this type
of person.
The woman dragged to Jesus in today’s gospel is caught in
Adultery.
Hester Prynne - in The Scarlett Letter
- has a child out of wedlock. It’s assumed that her husband was dead: Roger Chillingsworth. She is tried - condemned - made to wear the
scarlet letter A - for adultery - on the front of her robe.
Where is Jesus when he is needed?
Hawthorne was a Christian - but didn’t go to church. His
house was his church on Sundays.
He sided with the Puritans a bit - but more with the
transcendentalists - for a while.
The Puritans saw sin - the transcendentalists saw light
and wisdom.
Hawthorne is complex - and he changed in time discovering
more darkness and duplicity in people’s insides than when he was younger.
Every one of us has to ask that question: as I age am
seeing more emptiness and sin or more more love and joy in others? Am I mellowing and laughing more or am I
becoming, “The Scream” painting as I cross the bridges of life.
As I just said, “Hawthorne is complex.” He also saw that Hester didn’t commit the
worse sin in life. Sexual sins are never
that. Food too. The real sins are the
deeper sins. C.S. Lewis also said that
loud and clear. Dante too with his levels of hell.
Hawthorne saw that Hester sinned. But the worst sin, the
deeper sin - was the sin of pride in the Puritans who didn’t want to see their
own sins - but only others sin.
There are 3 main Characters in Hawthorne’s novel: The
Scarlet Letter, Hester, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester’s husband Roger
Chillingsworth, Hester Prynne is the least sinful. Dimmsdale is next. He’s the minister who is
the father of Hester’s baby, The minister changes - grows - especially in
understanding human beings - but Roger Chillingsworth doesn’t and commits the
worst sin: revenge and can’t forgive Dimmsdale - and basically destroys himself
in his fury.
As I read up on Hawthorne I heard various specialists say
that Hawthorne learned a lot in his writing and studying all of this: that the
human heart can be depraved - weak.
Hawthorne is trying to figure out how much we suffer from
the attitudes and ways of our great grandparents etc. His great grandparents were Puritans - and
one might have been very much a part of the Salem Witch trials.
Hawthorne had very negative understandings of Catholicism
and he thought we Catholics were fluff without depth because of confession and
how easy we can sense forgiveness and
receive absolution.
The funny story is that his daughter Rose becomes a
Catholic and a famous Dominican nun.
CONCLUSION
Enough.....
