THE SIGN OF JONAH

INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “The Sign of Jonah.”

In today’s gospel Jesus says, “This generation is seeking a sign, but the only sign they are going to get is, ‘The Sign of Jonah.’”

And in the first reading we have Jonah going through the city of Nineveh – and it takes him 3 days – and he’s announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.”

It’s not by accident this reading was picked for Wednesday in the First week of Lent. Lent is 40 days – and the key 3 days are going to be at the end of Lent – when Jesus dies – and is buried in the earth and rises on the 3rd day – Easter.

It’s not by accident today’s gospel is chosen – with the message of Jonah and people looking for signs.

THOMAS MERTON

Every year on this day I think of Thomas Merton and his book, The Sign of Jonas [1953].

I remember reading that book – some 50 ago – and how wonderful it was to read – after reading Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain [1948].

Merton saw himself as Jonas – having gone the other way like Jonas – yet God pursued him – and here he is in the belly of a monastery – in the dark of Trappist Life – in prayer – during the night – and early morning – hidden from the world he had been in.

It is early Merton – and what he discovered was the message of Lent – that the sign that Christ gave was the Sign of the Cross – but the cross is connected to his death and resurrection – Christ being buried in the belly of the earth for 3 days and then being spilled out on the beach of heaven – alive again – resurrection.

THIS SEASON OF LENT
So Lent is the 40 days and Lent is the 3 days at the End.

And Lent begins with the sign of the Cross “ashed” black on our forehead on Ash Wednesday - broadcasting that to live we must die and be buried to self – and to let others rise – and that Jesus rises out of our us by being grave.

We can do this daily in many ways: small and big – by serving others. Here are few specifics. We must have about 10 good meeting moments each day. Talk or listen! Listen or really listen. Listening can be a great way to get out of self and really hear another human being – and watch them rise and walk away. Someone listened to me today – actually listened to me. They asked me 3 follow up questions on something I said. Amazing. It’s great to be a human being. And each day we come to at least a dozen doors. What a great opportunity to let others to be first and myself to be last church doors, elevator doors – car doors – store doors.

We can die to self daily – by putting God first – hey here we are in church at the beginning of another day.

We do this in our life – but realizing that like Christ – death is at the end of the road – but death is not the end. The casket is not a locked box for all eternity.

That’s the sign Jesus gave us.

CONCLUSION
So listen carefully to the words of the Eucharistic Canon this morning – and notice the Sign of Jonah in the several mentions of the words of "death" and "resurrection".

I know you have to get to work – but I’ll try to slowly and boldly emphasize them this morning. Amen.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Homily for Wednesday, First Week of Lent, February 24, 2010. Readings: Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 11: 29-32

[The 3 paintings on top are by Verne Davis: 1) Jonah and the Whale (Overboard) 2009; 2) Jonah and the Whale - (In the Whale) 2009; 3) Jonah and the Whale (Beached) 2009 - all 3 paintings on line courtesy of Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York, N.Y..

ANOTHER SECRET 

Quote of the Day:  February 24,  2010

“Respect for the fragility and importance of an individual life is still the mark of the educated man.”

Norman Cousins [1915-1990], Saturday Review, 1965

Statue on top: The Good Samaritan - Photographed August 2009 in St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square, London. Read Luke 10:29-37 and also Luke 16:19-31

MORAL OF THE STORY:
ON BEING UNHAPPY.... 

Quote of the Day - February 23, 2010


“As soon as one is unhappy, one becomes moral.”


Marcel Proust [1871-1922], Remembrance of Things Past: Within a Budding Grove

THE BAA PRAYER

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is “The Baa Prayer.”

As I read today’s readings for the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, February 22, that’s the thought that hit me.

“The Baa Prayer.”

Now you never heard of this before, because I just made this up last night – and I risk the comment, “Now what was that all about?”

However, in the 2000 year history of Christianity – or 4000-3500 years of Israel's history – I’m sure someone came up with “The Baa Prayer”, but I never heard of it.

WHAT IS IT?

It’s simply the cry of the sheep: “Baaaaah!”

It’s the “Baa!” of the sheep when it’s lost.It’s the “Baa!” of the sheep when it’s hungry.

It’s the “Baa!” of the sheep when it’s all alone!

It’s the “Baa” of the sheep to let other sheep know, “Hey, I’m here!”

It’s the “Baaa!” of the sheep when it’s being led to the slaughter.

PRAY 

So when you’re feeling all alone – lost – hungry – or you just want to say to God, “I’m here” or when everything in you life seems be slaughtered, pray “Baa!”, scream “Baa!”, yell, “Baa!” out to God.

That’s “The Baa! Prayer.”

Image taking a rosary and making 59 “Baas” on the beads.

I tried it last night with a timer and a pair or rosary beads. 59 “Baas” took 2 minutes. I was looking at an image, an ikon, of Jesus on my wall while doing it – looking Jesus right in the eye.

Besides saying, “Baa” – I could hear Jesus saying, “What’s wrong with you? What are you doing? What’s this?”

I began thinking that God must hear a million prayers per minute, but this “Baa Prayer” might catch him off guard – and might give us a double listening.

“Baa! Baa!”

But now that I have let the sheep out of the bag, maybe if enough of us do this, maybe it will become old hat for God.

SCRIPTURES

Maybe and maybe not.

One of the most basic images for God in both the Jewish and Christian Scriptures is that of the “Shepherd!” Notice we said Psalm 23 today, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

In today’s gospel Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Nobody gives the answer, “The Good Shepherd” not even John – but in his Gospel he does.

And one of the first and most primitive images for Christians of Jesus in wall scratching and art and prayer was that of the Shepherd.

Why? Because that’s what Jesus was – a Good Shepherd. He told several stories – parables – with shepherd and sheep as the central metaphor and message.

And he called Peter to be the chief shepherd – and we see that in today’s first reading from 1st Peter.

CONCLUSION

So today, when you’re alone, when you’re out of ear shot, say, “The Baa Prayer” to God and see what happens.

I also thought maybe I should write a story about “The Baa Prayer” and one of the scenes would be someone coming into the back of church one morning and there are about 25 people sitting there together with rosary in hand moaning, “Baa, Baa, Baa!” for 2 minutes. Wouldn’t that be interesting?

Would the person say, “Baa! What’s this? Am I in the wrong church?”

“Baa! No!”

This was a weekday homily for the feast of "The Chair of Peter, Apostle." Someone after Mass made the astute observation, "Be careful with that word "Baa!" It's very close to the word, 'Baal' - one of the so called 'gods' that Israel's prophets spoke against." Never thought of that!

SMILE 

Quote of the Day:  February  22, 2010


“It takes 73 muscles to frown and only 14 to smile. No wonder grouchy people are always tired.”


Anonymous

FEBRUARY 

Quote of the Day: February 21, 2010

"February: the shortest month in the year ... also the worst."

Italian Proverb

TEMPTING!

INTRODUCTION

The title and theme of my homily for this First Sunday of Lent is, “Tempting.”

How many times in our life have we said, “Tempting”?

“Tempting.” Haven’t we all said that word out loud or in loud at times?

The second piece of Black Forest Chocolate Cake. Tempting. The affair. The money is just sitting there. The comment – especially when someone is posing or bragging and we would love to cut them down to size. If only they knew, what I know, about them! Tempting. We would love to throw an imaginary banana skin on the floor and see them slip and fall, so all can laugh at them. Uuum tempting!

Tempting. It’s the stuff of comedy. It’s the stuff of tragedy.

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
Every year the First Sunday of Lent has this theme of temptation. Jesus goes into the desert and he is tempted.

This year’s gospel is from Luke. Last year was Mark. The year before it was Matthew. Each gives their particular theology and reflection on what it was like. Matthew and Luke spell it out a bit more than Mark, who is always brief. Matthew and Luke each give three temptations – but they are presented slightly different.

The key is the 40 days. All three, Matthew, Mark and Luke, mention the 40 days. Jesus represents Israel going into the desert for 40 years. Well, Jesus, the New Israel, goes into the desert for 40 days and wrestles with evil and temptations.

Christianity is smart. Lent is a season - a long season - but just a season. The Church knows we can’t sustain the same thing over and over again every day. Too much of the same thing is often too much. The ongoing can make us numb. And so we have vacations and weekends. We need breaks. We need to break the sameness. So we have holidays and holydays. So we have the Sabbath. And it’s good for Christians to attend a retreat once and a while.

So we have Lent – 40 days – a lot of days – but it’s not all days. To be human is to compartmentalize and break things down into weeks, months, seasons. Islam has the month of Ramadan – 30 days of fasting.

Lent is 40 Days. We all got marked with ashes on Wednesday as a community. Now as a community we do penance – but as Jesus said in the Ash Wednesday gospel, do the penance without tooting one’s horn.

So Lent is a time to desert the dessert table. It’s a time of fasting. It’s a time of turning off the TV more – fasting from that a bit. It’s a good time to take walks. Hey, the weather is getting better and hopefully the snow is disappearing.

It's wise to take a lot of good walks away from the ordinary and into the extraordinary within us. Walking is good for the soul.

To walk down deep into the desert of our soul – and maybe it has been deserted – and God is waiting there as the Alone in the alone of all of us.

So Lent is a good time to escape, to retreat, to walk away and walk into the temple of our soul.

Now the big message – the theme of this homily: if you go into the desert of your soul, expect temptations. They are part of the landscape. Temptations come with the territory.

RETREATS – TEMPTATIONS

For 14 years of my life I worked in two different retreat houses giving retreats.

Somewhere early on – on some retreat, someone asked me a question I had never heard before, “How come when I go on retreat, I have a lot more temptations?”

I didn’t know the answer.

Then someone else asked me the same question again. Once more I couldn’t give an answer.

Then I started making 8 day silent retreats at the Jesuit Retreat House in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. On a retreat Frank Miles, a wonderful Jesuit priest, asked me to reflect on Jesus’ temptations in the desert.

It was then I realized that’s part of what it means to become quiet and make a good retreat. What hit Jesus hits all those who go into the desert of self: temptations.

When we go into the desert to get closer to God, surprise, we get closer to the devil.

It’s one of life’s “Uh oh’s.” No wonder people don’t make retreats. No wonder people don’t pray. No wonder people fill up prayer time with words, babble, reading. No wonder people avoid silence (the theme of my homily for last Sunday).

The closer we get to God, the closer we get to the devil.

It brought me back to the great book by C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters. He says it all in there. He tells us how the Devil works.

It’s actually obvious. “Nature hates a vacuum,” as I’m sure you’ve heard. Benedict Spinoza said that in his Ethics, from way back in 1677. Turn off the distractions, and we turn on to other distractions. Turn off the TV and spend that gained time in prayer and the screen of our mind will show lots of things to think about. We have lots of channels and programs playing on the different stations of your mind.

So when people pray, I say, expect distractions. You don’t have to go to confession about them. They are part of the landscape of prayer.

So Lent is a retreat – a 40 day retreat – into the desert of self – and expect temptations.

Jesus retreated into the desert and had great temptations.

What are your temptations? What are your 3 biggest temptations?

THREE POINTS

So on this first Sunday of the 40 days of Lent that started with Ash Wednesday, when Ashes, our mortality, is rubbed in our face, the readings get us to face our temptations.

Luke talks about 3 temptations. Each First Sunday of Lent I wrestle with how to make sense of these 3 temptations. This year I found myself wording and working on them this way:

First Temptation: The Easy Way Out or Laziness!
Second Temptation: Give Me the Power and The Glory!
Third Temptation: Taking Risks or Risky Behavior

In this homily let me spell out these 3 a bit more. The second one, “Power” is not that difficult to understand. The first one, “The Easy way out” is a bit foggy and the 3rd one, "Risky Behavior” is not as clear as I would like. Sorry. It’s not you. It’s me.

1) THE EASY WAY OUT

The first temptation to reflect upon is, “The Easy Way Out.” To take the easy way out. To not do anything. To sit back and be lazy.

Jesus is hungry and the devil tempts him to change a rock, perhaps the shape of a loaf of bread, into bread.

That’s the temptation to wish we could just snap our fingers and solve our problems – or let someone else do all the work.

However, to have our daily bread, we have to go and work.

To have our daily bread, we have to buy the wheat seeds. We have to dig the soil, plant the seed, and then water it. Then wait. Then water. Then wait. Then water. Then we have to harvest the wheat. Then we have to crush it and make meal and flour – or however bread is made – then bake it and then slice it or break it.

Bread takes work and time.

Or okay, you’re not into baking, you buy packaged bread at the supermarket. You still have to get out of bed each day and get to work to earn your daily bread.

So too all the work in raising kids.

Things don’t just happen. We have to make things happen.

Life is the long struggle – but the temptation is to cut corners. The temptation is to avoid work. The temptation is laziness. To duct tape life. Sloppiness. Procrastination. To bury our talents in the ground. To put things off. To do nothing. To waste a life.

So that’s the first temptation – to be lazy and let things happen instead of making them happen.

2) GIVE ME POWER & THE GLORY

The second temptation is to seek power and glory for ourselves – instead of using our powers and gifts to serve one another.

We have wonderful gifts and powers:
· the power of speech,
· the power of listening,
· the power of imagination,
· the power of money,
· the power of sex,
· the power of being a male,
· the power of being a female,
· etc.

How well do I use my powers and do I use them to build others up or to build myself up.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Give God the Glory!”

Power is tricky.

There is a temptation to Lord it over others – to act like God – out of laziness – or feelings of inferiority – or knowing down deep we are not God.

The devil asks Jesus to give him the power and the glory.

We’ve all heard the saying from Lord Acton of England, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Power is sneaky. It needs to be watched.

Those of you who are married know the power of sex. Do you use it well – to embrace, to help, to love one another?

You who are well married know that the word “intercourse” means to talk, to communicate, to use the language of love – that it’s not just a physical moment – but it’s a 24-7 communication – that love making needs to include working and walking with each other – cooperating and eating and sharing and communicating with each other. You know that using or withholding sex can be a powerful weapon – instead of a way of expressing our love for one another.

Money is power – the so called “God Almighty Dollar” – and it can be used to help or hurt folks.

A car has power – how well do I drive?

Alcohol has power – it can help folks relax in moderation – but it can also powerfully destroy human beings and wrap people around a bottle.

Power is tricky.

Look at the problem of priests who abused people. As I listened to people who have given us workshops on this, I kept on hearing that it is an abuse of power.

As I reflected on today’s gospel and the phrase in it that we all know, “The Power and the Glory” – I wondered about Graham Greene’s book by that title. I hadn’t read it in years. So I did a bit of research on it. It’s a powerful story of a priest – the so called, “Whiskey Priest” and his Calvary, his cross, his being hunted in Mexico at a time no priests were allowed. I remember reading it slowly and so much hit me – his dealing with redemption and pain and suffering. It’s a good read for Lent.

Well surprise, I found out something I didn’t know. Graham Greene wrote the book in 1940. 13 years later, 1953, a Cardinal Pizzardo in Rome condemned it. Then a Cardinal Griffin in England, condemns it – along with two books other books, his so called, “Catholic Novels”: Brighten Rock and The Heart of the Matter. Evelyn Waugh, a friend of Graham Greene said to him, “Why don’t you wait 13 years to reply?”

In reading about this I noticed the following: Graham Greene meets Paul VI who said to him on the side, “Some aspects of your books are certain to offend some Catholics but you should pay no attention to them.”

3) RISKY BUSINESS

The third temptation is to take unhealthy risks.

The devil asks Jesus to jump off the temple and let the angels catch him.

We need to exercise and eat right. We need to get medical checkups. We need to take care of our health. Smoking and couch potatoing are not smart.

We need to drive carefully and wear seat belts and get our car serviced – and to check our tires.

Common sense instead of a sense of reckless risk taking is the call of life.

We need to be aware of the danger of having an affair – that it can endanger our marriages and our families.

We need to be wise with our spending – keeping within our budget.

We need to pray and have a healthy spiritual life.

And then there is the risk of hell. I don’t know about you, but I don’t worry about hell in the hereafter as much as going to hell in the here and now – thru risky behavior and risky attitudes.

It’s not smart to walk on the edge of the cliff of danger – expecting God to rescue me – or to blame God when we go over the edge.

I remember being stationed with a priest who slowly drank himself to death. We intervened. We tried to get him help – but he resisted strongly. I remember writing a poem called, “Slow Suicide.” In it I was saying you're not killing yourself with one shot, but many shots.

Risky behavior.

Taking risks can be a dangerous temptation.

CONCLUSION

This homily is too long. I went overtime. I didn’t practice what I preached – one of the regular sins of preachers.

So I conclude by saying, these 3 temptations are right there in the Our Father.

The first and third are in the regular part of the Our Father, “Give us this day our daily bread” and “Lead us not into temptation.” The second is found in the old addition to the Our Father which Protestants say right at the end of the Our Father and Catholics say at Mass right after a short prayer.

“For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen."

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

The 4 paintings on top are Temptation of Christ [1982-2002], by James B. Janknegt

Check http://bcartfarm.blogspot.com/ --- for a look at his religious paintings.