PERSPECTIVE

From way up here
everything looks so, so small …
sitting here – window seat
looking down at the vast below….
And sometimes that’s how I feel
sitting here right next to you,
window seat next to aisle seat,
feeling so far, far away from you.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2009

EITHER / OR

Walking after the spring rain….

You can see the puddle
or the sky.

Or you can see the sky
in the puddle.

© Andy Costello Reflections 2009

[Scenes from Capernaum: Notice the Octagonal Church (upper left picture)- the octagonal ruins (lower right picture) over which the church was built; the synagogue; the Red Roof Greek Orthodox Church and how close everything is to the Lake of Gallilee. Tap - tap with your mouse cursor on any picture to get a bigger view of the specific picture.]

UNDERNEATH

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Underneath.”

You never know what’s underneath. You can’t judge a book by its cover. You can’t tell a person by the color of their hair – or the number of their teeth or the look of their car. Get a second, third or fourth opinion.

Today I’m challenged by the old Indian saying we’re all very familiar with, “Don’t judge your neighbor till you walked a mile in his or her moccasins.”

To get to that theme, let me first take you on another bus ride.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Last Sunday’s gospel began, “Then they came to Capernaum….”

They go the synagogue and Jesus heals the man who screams out, “I know who you are – the Holy One of God.”

Today’s gospel begins, “On leaving the synagogue Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew….” and Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law.

In January of 2000 I went to Israel with 20 priests. It was a great deal. An old Redemptorist priest in his 80’s always wanted to go to Israel – but he needed someone to carry his bags. “Here I am Lord, send me.” If you ever get a chance to see Israel, go for it. It really gives you an interesting take many times when you read the Bible.

We got off the bus in Capernaum. We walked through a gate – into an enclosed area – maintained by the Franciscans. We walked to the ruins of a 4th century A.D. synagogue – built on top of the synagogue mentioned in last Sunday and this Sunday’s gospel.

Father Stephen Doyle, a Franciscan, was our guide. It was more like a retreat than a tour. We sat down on the stone seats on both sides of the roofless synagogue and he read last Sunday’s gospel to us. Then he gave us a half hour of quiet prayer to reflect upon the story and where we were. It was wonderful. After the half hour, he said, “We’re now going to walk to Peter’s mother-in-law’s house – but because there will be a lot of tourists there, let me now read the next gospel story in Mark.” It was today’s gospel. Neat.

That house became an early Jewish Christian community church. Then it was lost – fell apart – disappeared underneath soil and rocks.

Sometime after 1968 it was rediscovered by the Franciscan archaeologist Father Virgilio C. Corbo. A modern church was built over the ruins and dedicated on June 29, 1990.

One walks up the steps to this octagonal church and inside it has a see through glass floor – which enables one to see the excavations of Peter and Andrew and Peter’s Mother-in-law’s house below – which then became an early Christian church. It’s quite an experience standing there – looking at what is underneath one’s feet.

After finishing seeing the church and the ruins underneath, we went to the gift shop. They always have a gift shop. Then, just before we were to head back to our bus, Father Stephen Doyle said the most significant thing of the day for me. He told us to look to the distance. He said that’s a Greek Orthodox church over there – the one with the red roof. It was maybe two football fields away. There were five seasons of excavations there on the Greek Orthodox Property from 1978 to 1982. He added, “Notice the lumps and mounds of earth. Someday underneath all that earth they are going to discover all sorts of things.”

I heard the word “underneath”. Underneath all that earth were future discoveries.

I had bought the guidebook “Recovering Capharnaum”* by Stanislaus Loffreda in the gift shop and read it on the bus and that night when we got back to our hotel. I discovered what we saw that day was a total mess for centuries – well over 1000 years and then some. I read that an American scholar, E. Robinson, visited the area in 1838 and wrote, “The whole place is desolate and mournful. A few Arabs of the Semekiyeh were here encamped in tents, and built up a few hovels among the ruins….” (p. 11)

I also read that the Franciscans in 1894 had acquired from the Bedouins the ruins of the synagogue and a large area of ancient Capharnaum. They fenced and walled the area off and began digging and discovering – but it took a long, long time.

We benefited from their work and our bus ride to see Capernaum.

UNDERNEATH

My thought for today is the theme of “underneath”.

How many times in our lives have we been superficial?

How many times in our lives have we misjudged others and their motives?

How many times have we been misjudged and we never got a chance to tell others what was underneath our comment or behavior?

How many times in our lives have we been surprised – when we heard the real story or the rest of the story?

How many times in our lives have we ever really listened to what’s buried underneath the face and skin of another?

How many times in our lives have we been taken back when we discovered what was underneath?

EXAMPLES

A corporate lawyer recently said he would like to retire in his mid-fifties – and then when asked what he would like to do after that said, “I would like to work for the poor.”

A retired guy recently said off hand, “I want to talk to so and so who is very good at bridge – because I’ve always wanted to learn to play bridge.”

A priest in his late 50’s, whom I worked with, once told me that he wanted to play the banjo when he was in his late teens and early 20’s but never did. Well, he took up the banjo big time in his late 50’s – and surprise, there he was up on stage jamming away – if jamming away is the word banjo players use.

A 56 year old woman, Jennifer Figge, just finished swimming the Atlantic – from the Cape Verde Islands off Africa to Trinidad in the Caribbean. It was her dream for a long time. She was the first woman to do it – swimming 700 miles.

James Harrison of the Steelers was cut from the Steelers and the Ravens, made some bad mistakes in his life, was resigned by the Steelers 4 times – got his life a bit better, won a Super Bowl Ring a few years back and helped win the Super Bowl for the Steelers again this year and is going to the Pro Bowl. He said he almost quit to become a truck driver like his dad.

Billy Crystal was bumped from the first Saturday Night Live show – and said, “Good thing I didn’t give up.”

While preaching in a small town in Ohio I met a lady who went to college for art – and when asked to do a self-portrait – her teacher and the other students made fun of as well as some tough comments about her painting. She left college – went home – got married to a part time farmer – who worked for Cooper Tire as his regular job. On the side when their kids were in school, this lady told me she started doing craft pieces – and came up with a furry type animal doll. A friend saw some of her pieces and said, “I’m going to a craft show next Saturday – bring your dolls with you and people will gobble them up.” She brought them and she was sold out of them in a half hour. Well, in three years she made a small fortune on her creations. They changed a barn into a work place. And her husband was laid off just in time to manage the business.

You never know what’s underneath. Who would believe Jesus is in us? Who would believe Jesus is in bread and wine? Who would believe that Jesus is God and he helps mother-in-laws and uncles and aunts – swimmers and bus drivers, doll makers, lawyers, comedians and would be banjo and bridge players - and us?

You never know what’s underneath.

Maybe someone here didn’t hear a word from today’s second reading, today’s gospel, or this sermon. They were still thinking about today’s first reading. They were wondering: “What would get someone to say what Job says in today’s first reading? That’s pretty pessimistic stuff.” So they go home and read the whole book of Job to get underneath his story. Then they read everything they can find on Job – including the play JB by Archbald MacLeish – and wow are their eyes opened to what was underneath the text.

CONCLUSION

Underneath.

You never know what’s underneath.

Since this is Black History Month I think of Langston Hughes’ poem, “Dream Deferred.”

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--
And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Start dreaming. Start digging. Start getting in touch with your deferred dreams. Start exploding.

Take a bus, a tour, better make it a holy quest, to your ground. It’s Holy Ground. You own your own heart and mind – even if you have a fence around it. Remember there’s great stuff – treasures – underneath.

Underneath.

*Stanislao Loffreda, Recovering Capharnaum, Second Edition, Reprinted 1997, Franciscan Printing Press Jerusalem, 1993, pp.86 - [Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Guides 1]

BECAUSE I WATCH,
BECAUSE I LISTEN

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Because I Watch, Because I Listen.”

Could everyone repeat that, “Because I Watch, Because I Listen.”

This is the story of a remarkable young girl – a fourth grader – someone that others might not notice – someone who flies under the radar – someone who is quite quiet. Her name is Nancy.

How do I know about her? “Because I watch, because I listen.”

Could everyone repeat that, “Because I Watch, Because I Listen.”

THE CANE

Nancy was with her mom at Goodwill. Her mom was searching for bargains – and there is some great stuff at Goodwill. While her mom was checking out a coat, Nancy spotted a whole collection of canes – wooden canes, metal canes, plastic canes – canes with all kinds of interesting handles.

Nancy took a good look at the whole collection – studied them – and then came the Nancy smile. She had also spotted a whole collection of yard sticks – each 3 feet long – each with some kind of advertisement on it. She borrowed one of the yard sticks and walked back to the canes. She measured several of them. “Okay, good,” she said to herself.

Her mom didn’t see any of this. She just knew Nancy liked to explore everything. Mom didn’t buy a coat – but she found a neat t-shirt for her husband who loved strange sounding t-shirts – especially all black colored ones.

That Saturday Nancy went with her dad to see his dad and mom. Nancy went with a yard stick that she knew her mom kept in a hallway closet. Her grandfather walked with a cane – and was always bent over. Not only that, he would always be moaning and groaning about his back ache.

While watching TV both her dad and his dad fell asleep. It was a boring baseball game. Nancy took her grandpa’s cane – went outside to the car – took out the yard stick and measured her grandfather’s cane. “Aha,” she said to herself.

The next time her mom was going to Goodwill – Nancy took a five dollar bill from her piggy bank and went directly to the yard sticks and then to the canes. Her mom was checking out coats once again. “Perfect,” said Nancy. She went up to the front of the store with this longer cane and bought it for 75 cents. “Wow!” said Nancy.

When her mom saw her with the cane, she said, “What’s that?”

“Just something,” said Nancy “and it only cost 75 cents.”

Her mom didn’t buy a coat, but she did get another t-shirt for her husband – only a dollar.

Nancy didn’t say, “I beat you mom.”

When she went with her dad – now wearing his latest black T-Shirt – with the words, “Chicago Auto Parts” on it – it’s a Rock Band nobody ever really heard of - to see his dad that following Saturday, Nancy brought the cane with her. “Grandpa, I got you a new cane.”

“Nancy,” said her grandfather, “thanks, but I don’t need another cane.”

“Grandpa, try it, you’ll like it.”

Two Saturdays later she went with her dad to see his dad again and Grandpa was all smiles. “Nancy. This cane is perfect. I no longer feel any pain in my back and I’m not bent over. How’d you know I needed a longer cane?”

Nancy said, “Because I watch, because I listen.”

Could everyone repeat that, “Because I Watch, Because I Listen.”

"MEANY"

In Nancy’s 4th grade class there is this kid every kid in the class can’t stand. Her nick name is “Meany.” She was a bully, a pest and a pain.

But she never picked on Nancy. Nobody did. Nobody really noticed Nancy.

Nancy waited for the right moment.

"Meany" was sitting there eating an apple.

“Jessica,” she said, “is everything all right at home?”

“What do you mean?” Jessica meanly replied.

“Well,” said Nancy, "when someone has a sharp rock in their shoe it shows up on their face and their words.”

“What are you saying girl? What are you trying to say girl? I don’t have any rocks in my shoes.”

“Well, Jessica,” said Nancy. “You never pick on me, but some kids call you 'Meany' behind your back and I don’t like that. I figured that hurts. So I figured you have a sharp rock in your soul and it’s rubbing you the wrong way.”

“Get out of here girl. Get out of here.”

So Nancy quietly walked away.

The next day however, Jessica came over to Nancy, when she was eating an apple, and said, “That was nice of you yesterday to say what you said. When I get home my older brother and sister pick on me constantly, so that I come into school, I get back at them by picking on others.
But I was wondering how you knew this Nancy?"

Nancy simply said, “Because I watch, because I listen.”

Could everyone repeat that, “Because I Watch, Because I Listen.”

THE BASKETBALL PLAYER

In the eighth grade there was this girl named Rhonda – who was 5 inches taller than any other girl in her class – or any other girl on the basketball team. Her mom and dad were both over 6 foot tall.

Rhonda made the girls’ basketball team – but never got any baskets.

Nancy’s older sister Pamela was also on the basketball team – so Nancy went to different games.
One day Nancy saw Rhonda playing in her drive way. She was visiting and practicing hoops with Pamela. The ball went down the driveway and Pamela went chasing after it.

Nancy had her chance. “Rhonda, I went to all of your games this year and I noticed that you are great at rebounds – but when it’s at your end, you always dribble once before you shoot a rebound. You would do much better to practice not dribbling. If you get the ball at your end, just put it up right away without dribbling.”

Rhonda said, “What?”

Just then Pamela came back with the ball and Nancy went inside.

But that Thursday afternoon Rhonda got 11 points and their team won – and Nancy noticed she didn’t dribble after any rebound at her basket. And after the game Rhonda went over to Nancy. “Nancy, where did you learn that?”

“Oh,” said Nancy, “because I watch, because I listen.”

Could everyone repeat that, “Because I Watch, Because I Listen.”

ONE LAST NANCY STORY

Nancy was on the phone with her grandmother – her mom’s mom - and Nancy made a mistake. The door was open and her dad just happened to hear the whole conversation.

He heard Nancy say, “I hope you are okay grandma. It looked like you were really hurt with my dad’s mother-in-law jokes.”

Silence.

Her grandmother was very quiet.

Finally her grandmother said, “How did you know that? Yes, I am very sensitive, but how did you know I’m hurt every time he tells a mother-in-law joke?”

"Well, last Sunday’s gospel was about Jesus’ healing Peter’s mother-in-law and I was thinking of you."

Her grandmother asked, “But how did you know your dad does that?”

And Nancy answered, “Because I watch, because I listen.”

Could everyone repeat that, “Because I Watch, Because I Listen.”

And her dad overhearing all this said to himself, “Oh no! How could I be so stupid? My own kid is picking this up at her age. Well that’s the end to all this.”

And her dad never told another mother-in-law joke that hurt his mother-in-law again. Amen.

O O O O O O O O O

This was a kids homily at our 8:00 AM kids Mass - 5 Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B - February 7, 2009. The basic inspiration came from the second reading - the call to be a preacher. Nancy is a preacher. Here's the reading from the Children's Lectionary:

A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, 9: 16-18

Brothers and sisters:

I don't have any reason to brag about preaching the good news.

Preaching is something God told me to do,

and if I don't do it, I am doomed.

If I preach because I want to, I will be paid.
But even if I don't want to,

it is still something that God has sent me to do.

What pay am I given?
It is the chance to preach the good news free of charge

and not to use the privileges that are mine

because I am a preacher.

ANXIETY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Anxiety.”

The word “anxiety” or “anxious” appears 5 times in today’s second reading, so I began thinking about anxiety – and did some research on it for this homily.

Anxiety.

Since it seems to me to be a psychiatric term in English, I looked up the Greek text from which we get our New Testament to see what word they are translating with the words “anxiety” and “anxious”. All 5 times the Greek word is “MERIMNA” or “AMERIMNA” It’s Greek root verb is, “MERIZO” – which means to be pulled or drawn in different directions and as a result of these pulls, these cares, these distractions, a person can feel anxious, tense, nervous, confused, apprehensive, sweaty – or even have heart palpitations.

Ever feel that way? We’ve seen movies where someone is tied arms and legs to two or four horses and the horses are driven in different directions – and we’re sitting there, going, “Uoooooh that hurts.”

FEARS AND ANXIETIES

Do you ever feel anxious? About what? Do you have any fears? What are they?

I’ve always heard that the difference between fears and anxieties are the known and the unknown. If we know what we’re scared of, that’s a fear. If we don’t know what we are scared of or antsy about, that’s an anxiety. I assume that not everyone agrees with this distinction, but it works for some people.

We can know our fears – but when it comes to anxieties – it helps to try to go back in our life to find possible sources of our antysiness. It could be an aunt – who baby sat us when we were a little kid and kept on telling us we were going to go to hell if we didn’t eat our broccoli or spinach – if we didn’t go potty right or we didn’t shut up in the afternoon when she wanted to watch the soaps – or we were going to go to hell if we didn’t fold our hands just right when she forced us to say the rosary with her. But that could seem unfair – picking on an aunt – or anyone – and fairness and unfairness can often be a source of anxiety.

We’ve also heard people use big words for fears or phobias: claustrophobia – fear of enclosed places; acrophobia or altophobia – fear of high places; arachnophobia – fear of spiders; but do we know that doraphobia is fear of fur and eisoptrophobia is fear of mirrors? And we might remember the cartoon when Charlie Brown hearing about all these phobias says, “I have pantophobia.” And when asked what that means, he says, “Fear of everything.”

MOVIE: HIGH ANXIETY

Remember the Mel Brooks movie, “High Anxiety.” It’s a spoof on all this to make us laugh. Mel Brooks, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman and Madeline Kahn go through a whole series of scenes – some of them take off’s on Alfred Hitchcock movies – that also deal with anxieties. Alfred Hitchcock said he liked to have his movies take place where people think they are in a very safe place – and then birds – thieves – killers appear.

Anxiety is not a laughing matter. People out of work – not knowing what to do next – or wondering and worrying about the economy can be the stuff of real anxiety. Sometimes anxiety gets us moving. Sometimes it gets people into not only economic depression – but also emotional depression. Uh oh’s can be the real deal. Uh oh!

Yet, sometimes laughter is just what we need. While reading about the movie “High Anxiety” which goes back to 1977, I laughed when someone said that for the scene that mimicked Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds, the plan was to use fake bird droppings made from mayonnaise and chopped spinach. They were dropped from a helicopter – but real birds got scared because of the real helicopter – and people down below didn’t know what they were being hit with. Was it really mayo and spinach?

Is there a word, “birddropophobia”?

And surprise last night while watching soccer on TV with Father George, at a break, we noticed on the menu that the movie, “High Anxiety” was on at 10:30. Surprise. I put it on. It was quite corny – and goofy spoof's – but it had a few laughs. George went to bed.

PUSH AND PULL

We’ve all seen on doors the words, “Push” or “Pull”.

We all have our pulls – as well as our pushes.

What’s pulling us in different directions? What’s pushing us?

Sometimes we feel like a door with two signs on it: push and pull. We have many doors we go through in life – some with signs we don’t like: boss, principal, undertaker, angry brother or sister – or nursing home where dad or mom is.

Push. Pull. Uh oh! Oh no! Anxiety is knocking on our door. Different doors can be the source of different anxieties.

TODAY’S SECOND READING

St. Paul says the single person has different anxieties than the married person. Some of you might remember the movie, My Cousin Vinnie. There’s Mona Lisa Vito - single – still wondering if Vinnie will marry her. Many say the most memorable scene in the movie, My Cousin Vinnie, takes place on a porch out in the woods. There’s Mona Lisa, Marisa Tomei, wearing perhaps the greatest one piece outfit of any movie of all time kicking her foot on the wooden deck outside the house and whining, “My biological clock is ticking … ticking… ticking.”

Anxiety – not being married – not having kids – being married – having kids – worried about mortgages – and bills and keeping one’s job – and where our kids are and it’s after 10 PM or this and that – can pull a person apart.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel Jesus enters the synagogue in Capernaum and meets a crazy man – a man with an unclean spirit. The man yells out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God.”

What a great scene! The crazy guy knows who Jesus is – the rest of the crowd don’t.

I wonder if it’s Mark’s sense of humor appearing here.

What a great scene! Jesus yells back and says to the unclean spirit, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulses him and with a loud cry came out of the man.”

Amazing. Isn’t it a strange scene? Isn’t this scene much more powerful than the pea soup scene in the movie, The Exorcist. Isn’t it much more immediate?

Mark in today’s gospel says the crowd was amazed. It would be better if they had anxiety. It would be better, if they too knew who Jesus was – the Holy One of God.

JESUS IS IN THIS PLACE – RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, FOR US

Hopefully, we hearing this story, seeing this movie here in Mark, we can feel Jesus standing here – in this place, right here, right now, for us. Hopefully, we feel some anxiety. Better, hopefully we have some Jesusphobia – that he might come over to us and say, “Quiet! Bad spirits come out of this person.”

Don’t we all have evil spirits within us – that rattle our cage at times: meanness, jealousy, envy, snarkiness, nastiness, laziness, anger, impatience, inability to control life – especially people?

Wouldn’t it be great that we too – like this crazy man – knew that Jesus is the Holy One of God – that he can come up to us and heal us of our evil spirits.

Any of you who have taken Bible Courses or Workshops on Prayer – or know the Jesuit exercises from retreats or this or that, know that the secret of prayer and reading the Bible is to place oneself in the scene. See it. Hear it. Be the different characters in the story. Use their lines. Make them our prayers.

I’m assuming that today’s first reading from Deuteronomy was chosen to say that Jesus is the new Moses – a prophet – here in our assembly – here in this synagogue – here on this Sabbath – and hopefully we know who Jesus is – “the Holy One of God” – that we let him heal us – and we walk out of church today better than when we walked into this church today.

CONCLUSION

There is a German proverb, “Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.”

Anais Nin, wrote in her diary, “Anxiety is love’s greatest killer.” [The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. V, 1974]

Hopefully, by coming here to church, we can become free from sin and feel and find the peace, love and healing power of Jesus Christ.

Hopefully, by coming here to church, we can stand here this moment – crazy, anxious, nervous, with our fears and anxieties – and we hear Jesus say to our evil spirits, instincts, moods, “Quiet. Come out of her. Quiet. Come out of him.”

In every Mass, right after the Our Father, there is a short prayer that the priest says. Right in the middle of it, there is the word “anxiety”. I often wondered who pushed to put it there. Maybe it was someone who liked today’s second reading. Maybe it was someone who had a lot of anxieties to deal with. Listen to it carefully this morning:

“Deliver us, Lord, from every evil,
and grant us peace in our day.
In your mercy keep us free from sin
and protect us from all anxiety
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

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

*Picture ? -Not sure where I found this. Sorry. I like to give sources.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

P.S. Received the following in an e-mail. It gives a different slant or glance on how to deal with anxiety - so I plugged it in. Don't know the author or source. Sorry.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied: “The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.”

“If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

He continued, “And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.”

“So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. Relax; pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!

And then he shared some ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.

* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others -- (that one killed me!!!)

* Never buy a car you can't push.

* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

* The second mouse gets the cheese.

* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

* We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are dull; some are plain, some are pretty. Some have weird names. They all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

* A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

HOW GOD CALLS US?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “How God Calls Us?”

How does God call us?

Yesterday morning I was sitting here at St. John Neumann in the front bench for the service in preparation for the Kids’ First Confession or Sacrament of Reconciliation. I found myself wondering, “What am I going to preach on tomorrow morning?” It was my distraction while trying to listen to something else. Smile.

I thought about the Sunday readings – especially the Gospel story of the call of Peter and Andrew, James and John, - as well as tomorrow being the feast of the call and conversion of Saul – who becomes Paul – and the question, “How God Calls Us?” hit me.

If you ever wonder where or how or when we priests get our ideas for sermons, that’s a glimpse.
I jotted down on a scrap of paper, “How God Calls Us?”

When I got back home to my desk at 11:30 AM and started working on a homily for today, two things had already hit me about this question on how God calls us.

First: you’re assuming that God calls people.

Secondly: you’re assuming that there is a God.

Assuming those two things, how does God call people?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel, we have the stereotypical God call. Jesus walks up to two brothers, Peter and Andrew, and calls them. Then he walks along the beach and sees two more brothers, James and John, and calls them. They drop everything and follow Jesus.

OUR CALL TO BE A CHRISTIAN

Why are you here today? How and when were you called to be a Christian?

I am a Christian and a Catholic because my mom and dad were Catholic and their parents, and their parents, and their parents were Catholic. When I was doing a bit of genealogy, I got back as far as a guy named, "Edward the Carpenter" – and I assume that he was a Catholic there in Galway Bay, Ireland.

I assume people way, way back somewhere started going to church and people kept on going to church or dropping out and then coming back and I’m the beneficiary of their decisions.

As to the call to be a priest, I’ll find out after I die, whether this was the thing to do or not to do in my life – if that’s the way it works. I know a priest came into our classroom in grammar school and talked about the need for Redemptorist priests in Brazil and asked us to think about a vocation to choose such a life and I thought about it and that’s what I did. So far, so good – except for not getting to Brazil as I hoped.

I love Father Andrew Greeley’s “Call Story”. It's in his autobiography. It went something like this: someone came into his second or third grade classroom and asked, “Does anyone here want to be a priest?” He said, “I raised my hand and I’ve never taken it down.” *

CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL

Today, January 25th, is the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul – and Pope Benedict asks us to reflect upon his life and letters this year. Deacon Tony Norcio is offering a series of talks on St. Paul on Thursday evenings here at St. John Neumann’s. Check it out in the bulletin for details.

Christianity was off and running. Jews were joining this reform movement in Judaism – that Jesus started. A man named Saul, a Pharisee, didn’t like this dangerous trend and started persecuting Christians. On the road to Damascus in Syria this man, Saul, was hit by a bolt of something – fell to the ground – heard a voice, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He answered, “Who are you?” And Saul, blinded for the moment, gets the insight that he is persecuting Christ. He discovers the followers of Christ are the Body of Christ – the Risen Christ – walking our world. Wow!

How did Saul or Paul get called? It was a very direct conversion – being knocked off one’s feet. Artists and preachers often add that he was knocked off his high horse – but the scriptures don’t have him on a horse. He might have been - but the message is that he had a major conversion, call, change, on his way to arrest Christians in Damascus.

In A.A. – Alcoholics Anonymous – and the many 12 Step programs that use its methodology, there is the saying, "You have to hit bottom – before you can stop hitting the bottle." Does it come from this story of Paul? I don’t know. But many people only change, only hear God’s call, when they hit bottom big time.

HOW DO PEOPLE HEAR GOD’S CALL?

Some people hear God’s call dramatically. Some people hear God’s call slowly? Some people hear God’s call without even knowing it’s happening – and their life changes and grows quite gradually.

How do you hear God’s call?

The big message I’m hearing in spirituality for today is adult religion – having an adult relationship with God – and for the Christian – an adult relationship with Jesus.

People reading the Gospels see Jesus walking into their lives – knocking at their door – sitting down to table with them – and they have heart to heart talks with him. I am the Pharisee. I am the blind, the lame, or the deaf - or all three. I am the rock thrower. I am the woman at the well. I am the one caught in adultery. I am the one who is paralyzed. I am the one who has to forgive and be forgiven 70 times 7 times.

Looking at your life, when have you experienced God’s presence? God’s call? When do you have time to sit down with Jesus?

The Religious Education folks in every parish hope that parents who bring their kids for First Confession and First Communion – also get wind of God’s word.

Yesterday I’m sitting here hoping and saying to myself, “Okay parents you are here this Saturday morning. I hope you’ll be here tomorrow – Sunday morning.”

WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS

I was not a parish priest from 1969 till I came here to Annapolis in August of 2002.

St. Mary's has been a wonderful experience – great people – great parish. Of course we have to listen to the Gospel a lot more – and grow a lot more – and conversion is a lifetime experience.

As to God’s calls – in the last six years I have heard at least 50 times the following. Someone is here for a wedding or a funeral from Chicago or Boston, Virginia or Nevada, and they say after the funeral or wedding, “Thank you for the nice service. I guess I got to get back to church.” Jewish folks have also said that to me. I even got two offers to be a rabbi. That moment makes all the hard work of preparing a wedding or funeral homily and service worth while.

We work. God gives the increase. [Cf. 1 Corinthians 3: 5-9]

HOSPITALS AND DOOR BELLS

Father Joseph McManus, whom I was stationed with in New Jersey in a retreat house around 1970, liked being a parish priest much more than working in a retreat house. Joe is buried in our cemetery in the back lawn of St. Mary’s on Duke of Gloucester Street. I’ve stood over his grave many times. I find that's one way God talks to me – as well as the person whose grave I'm standing on. I read those numbers on tombstones. I wonder about those who have died. I find standing on cemetery ground to be standing on holy ground.

Joe McManus often talked about the importance of hospital ministry as a priest – that the key folks were not the person in the hospital bed – but the spouse and the family of the sick person. He said a hospital is a great place where God speaks to lots of people. How about you? Have you heard God’s call when loved ones got sick and / or died? Today's second reading has those very intriguing words: "... the time is running out." The world hasn't come to an end - like various people in the Early Church expected - but we run out of time. That is to be expected.

Joe also said that Jesus often rang door bells in the skin of the poor looking for help. This parish is one of the best parishes I’ve seen for the generosity of people putting money in the poor box. We also have a great group of parishioners who serve the poor as part of the St. Vincent de Paul team - interviewing, listening, helping the poor in our name with great love, respect and care.

READING AND WRITING

I started writing in the 8th grade – stream of consciousness writing – a la James Joyce writing – long before I heard of James Joyce. I did it for laughs as well as for the joy of writing.

Without knowing it, I was to slowly discover that I wanted to not only be a priest, but also a writer. And both were very possible as priest. I’m finding less and less time for writing the longer I am here – but people are more important than words. That’s obvious. However, I jot down thoughts from this and that while experiencing people and situations here in Annapolis – so that when my legs go – but I hope before dementia sets in, I’ll have lots of notes to do some more writing.

I want to do that because I have found God speaks to me through writing – and I’ve had folks write and tell me that something I wrote helped them. That’s enough for me.

I also have discovered that God speaks to me through reading good stuff. I also would like more time for reading.

How does God speak to you?

Read any good books lately – novels – non-fiction – what have you?

SCRIPTURE AND PRAYER

And obviously, reading scripture and praying with scripture is a classic way God speaks to so many of us. I’m blessed as priest with the opportunity over and over again to preach. That means I have to sit down with the readings for each Mass and let them speak to me.

For instance, today’s first reading from the Prophet Jonah triggers so many powerful thoughts. Jonah was called “The Reluctant Prophet”. When God called him to preach in Nineveh he got on a boat and headed the other way – but finally God forced him to preach in Nineveh. Surprise! People heard the word of God and changed dramatically.

I pinch myself for all the places I have been in the United States – never Brazil – where I had to a chance to preach – the 8 and ½ years I was on the road before I came here to Annapolis – plus 14 years in two different retreat houses – where people came to pray and hear the call of God. Thank You, God. Thank You, God.

CONCLUSION

How does God speak to you?

P.S. I’m trying to reach you through this homily. Are you listening? Are you praying? God is speaking. God is calling you. God is challenging you. "Shush!" [Put finger to lip] Listen. Amen.

* Andrew Greeley, Confessions of a Parish Priest: An Autobiography

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “What Are You Looking For?”

I’m sure I preached on this question somewhere along the line because it’s so obvious a life theme, but if I did, I’m not sure just what I said.

It has to be the theme of many songs. I think of Mariah Carey’s song, “Do You Know Where You’re Going To?” with the line, “Do you like the things life is showing you?” and the haunting refrain, “Do you know?” “Do you know?”

How many times have Best Buy sales folks, parents, teachers, guidance counselors and best friends, asked us, “What are you looking for?”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel Jesus says to these two disciples of John the Baptist, “What are you looking for?”

It’s one of those questions that we’ve heard a thousand times in our life – and if we’re over 65, we’ve said it to ourselves a half dozen times a day – scratching our head, having walked into another room and wondering, “Now what was I looking for?”

“What are you looking for?”

ANSWERS

Our first answers might be:

· Peace in the world.
· That the economy gets better.
· That people out of work would find jobs.
· That the new president and congress and staffs and state and local governments would help turn things around.
· Good Health and Good Health Care for everyone.
· Peace in our families
· Laughter. Joy. Peace. Hope. A good day every day.

Our second answers might become more specific:

· Health and healing for so and so who has cancer.
· An end to drinking and drugs for so and so.
· That a kid’s marriage will turn around – especially because there are kids involved.
· That there be no plane crashes today, but if there are, let them be as lucky as the one the other day in the Hudson River.

Our third answers might be wider or deeper or different, because we might turn to God more or go down deeper into our soul:

· I would want my life to be more pleasing to God.
· I would want my life – what I’m doing each day – my work - my time at home - my outside interests - to make sense to others and be helpful to others.
· I would want to have loved and been loved.
· I want to see my children’s children!
· I would want the world – well at least the places where I’ve been – to be better because I was there. If you cry every Christmas as you watch the black and white movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life” you’re there. You get it.

POEM

I gave two talks to the Anne Arundel County Catholic Catechists yesterday in St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish in Pasadena and I used a poem by the Sufi poet Hafiz. It’s entitled, "With That Moon Language."

WITH THAT MOON LANGUAGE*

Admit something:

Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.”
Of course you do not do this out loud; otherwise someone would call the cops.
Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.
Why not become the one who lives with a full moon in each eye that is always saying,
with that sweet moon language,
what every other eye in the world is dying to hear?

He’s saying if we want to be loved, look deep into the full moon in every eye that is saying the same thing. “Love me.”

What are we looking for? To be loved – so love one another. Sounds familiar? Read the gospel of John – especially his account of the last supper. It’s all about love.

What are you looking for?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

When Jesus asks the disciples that question, they answer with another question, “Rabbi – Teacher – where are you staying?”

Jesus says, “Come, and you will see.”

This scene takes place in the first chapter of the Gospel of John.

The Gospel of John has been reworked and reworked in the early Joannine Community – and it has a rich, well developed theology.

I was recently reading my notes from a book on preaching, Imagining a Sermon. It's by Thomas Trogher. He urges the preacher to use imaginative theology. The preacher has to evoke. He writes, “I will not cheat the congregation by handing them a souvenir from my trip on the river when I can take them along on the voyage and let them feel the current and the water for themselves.”

How do you do that? The Gospel of John can do that. It can take you on the journey to meet, feel, taste, experience Jesus.

The Gospel of John wants us to come and see Jesus – come and be with Jesus – come and stay with Jesus – come and experience Jesus.

And if you have the overpowering experience that one of the disciples, Andrew, has, then you will go about bringing others to Jesus – so they too can have the same experience.

This is the year of the Gospel of Mark for Ordinary Time – but I smiled when today’s gospel for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time is from John. This is the year of Paul. The Pope also said it’s the year for us to be thinking about Africa.

So if you want to be contrary, make this the year of John or the Letter to James for you.

When I say the rosary I only say the Joyful Mysteries. One of these years I might find myself moving into other mysteries, but I haven’t found myself so moved yet – and this has been going on for about twenty years now. And surprise – I’ve met people who said, “Thank you for saying that. I thought I was the only one.” One lady told me she makes only one station of the cross – the fourth station. Isn’t religion interesting?

The gospel of John provides many, many great questions. But notice this one in Chapter One: “What are you looking for?”

And notice the question in Chapter Twenty: “Whom are you looking for?”

Or the question in Chapter Twenty One, the Last Chapter of John, "Have you caught anything yet?"

Notice the other line in the last chapter of John’s gospel, “None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, ‘Who are you?’; they knew quite well it was the Lord.”

Then they had a meal and Jesus asked Simon Peter three times, “Do you love me?” “Do you love me?” “Do you love me?” and three times Peter says “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” And three times Jesus says to Peter, “Look after my sheep – feed my sheep.”

CONCLUSIONS

What am I looking for?

Love – and hopefully in all the right places. Isn’t that what Paul is telling the Corinthians in today’s second reading - to realize our bodies are temples that can hold the Holy Spirit – that we are the body of Christ – and life is to give glory to God – not to immorality?

Today’s first reading has a great text from the first book of Samuel. Three times the Lord calls the young man Samuel – and he is too young to get it. He has to sleep some more. The prophet Eli is there to help him process his calling. [Oh would that the Giants won last Sunday and in that story it was Eli who was sleeping and he didn't wake up.] It seems that for most people we spend a good period of our life sleep walking. Maybe today or this year is the day or year to wake up – if we haven’t yet – and we say and pray to the Lord, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

And today’s Gospel challenges us to discover what and who Andrew discovered in the first chapter of John, “We have found the Messiah. It’s Jesus.” Please God we’ll find Jesus, that we’ll realize that he like everyone else has a sign in his eyes that says, “Love me!” and if we haven’t found him yet, we’ll find him now, love him as the one we are looking for in whatever chapter of our lives we are in now. Amen.**

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*I found the poem by Hafiz in Chapter 8 of “Ten Poems to Change Your Life Again and Again”, by Roger Housden. It is translated by Daniel Ladinski. It is worth reading to get a far better explanation of this poem than the quick comments I made.

** And then there is the book, The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, by St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorists. He discovered that the meaning of life was to practice loving Jesus Christ. How? By putting into practice all those wonderful descriptions of love that Paul gives in First Corinthians 13:1-13 that so many couples pick for a reading at their wedding. Alphonsus had a great love for Jesus being born for us, giving his life for us, especially in the Eucharist and dying on the cross for us. Alphonsus, like Andrew in today’s Gospel, went around telling everyone, especially the poorest and most abandoned, that they are loved by Jesus. Yes – even the poorest and forgotten have that message in their eyes, “Love me!”