IS THE FIRST MOMENT
WE MEET GOD
A LAUGHING SPREE?
"Thank God, I am still an atheist."
Luis Bunuel [1900-1983], Time, November 29, 1969 - He was born in Spain and died in Mexico. He was a moviemaker.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
HOW MANY TIMES?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “How Many Times?”
I want to preach on the theme of forgiveness – the obvious theme from today’s gospel.
PETER’S QUESTION
As you know from listening to the New Testament Peter had at least one brother – and his name was Andrew. So when Matthew tells us this story about Peter mentioning his brother, I’m going to listen two times more to this story than other stories.
Peter comes up to Jesus and asks him, “Lord, by the way, when my brother wrongs me, how often must I forgive him? Seven times?”
What? If the brother was Andrew, what did he do to bug Peter? Andrew – such a quiet, background type of guy in the gospels. The only time you hear about him, it’s good stuff.
Andrew should have been the one who asked Jesus that question.
But nope, it was Peter, and once more he puts his foot in his mouth.
Trying to impress Jesus, it seems he wants to appear the really good guy. The Rabbis said, “Forgive 3 times. That’s how many times you need to forgive your brother before you let him have it.” So big hearted Peter makes it 7 times.
Jesus laughs and says, “77 times.”
Others translate what Matthew has by saying Jesus said, 70 times 7 times. That’s 490 times. That calls for a lot of patience and good counting.
Either way, the Greek text can be – 77 or 490. Either way it’s a lot.
Some think Matthew is connecting this to an ancient text in Genesis – 4:24 – where if you think Cain was bad in killing his brother Abel –Cain’s only going to get 7 times vengeance for what he did. Worse, there is this descendent of Cain, a guy name Lamech – who was a really bad guy – he’s going to get 77 times vengeance for the blood he’s spilled.
Whatever, 77 or 490, that’s a lot of patience and forgiving being called for.
And in case Peter doesn’t get the message of forgiveness, Jesus tells this fascinating parable about the man who is asked to pay back a huge amount of debt. He whines and cries. He begs for mercy. He gets it. Then he goes out – meets someone who owes him peanuts – and he won’t forgive him. In fact, he has that servant put in jail – till he gets his money back.
Well, word got out. It always does. These kinds of unfairness always come back to haunt us. So when the master hears about this – he has the unforgiving servant brought back in and he says, “You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me for forgiveness, shouldn’t you have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?”
And the unforgiving servant is handed over to the torturers till he pays back all the owes.
CONCLUSION
I like to think that Peter got the message – because when he denied Jesus 3 times – when he ran away from Jesus – he didn’t do what Judas did. When Jesus appeared to him, Peter experienced forgiveness big time.
And I hope he went out and forgave his brother Andrew the next time he was ticked off about him – and the next time after that – and the next time after that – and I hope Peter kept a tab on how many times he forgave Andrew.
I say that because Andrew’s are always perfect, so I’m sure he never got anywhere near 77 times – or 7 times for that matter. Amen.
The title of my homily is, “How Many Times?”
I want to preach on the theme of forgiveness – the obvious theme from today’s gospel.
PETER’S QUESTION
As you know from listening to the New Testament Peter had at least one brother – and his name was Andrew. So when Matthew tells us this story about Peter mentioning his brother, I’m going to listen two times more to this story than other stories.
Peter comes up to Jesus and asks him, “Lord, by the way, when my brother wrongs me, how often must I forgive him? Seven times?”
What? If the brother was Andrew, what did he do to bug Peter? Andrew – such a quiet, background type of guy in the gospels. The only time you hear about him, it’s good stuff.
Andrew should have been the one who asked Jesus that question.
But nope, it was Peter, and once more he puts his foot in his mouth.
Trying to impress Jesus, it seems he wants to appear the really good guy. The Rabbis said, “Forgive 3 times. That’s how many times you need to forgive your brother before you let him have it.” So big hearted Peter makes it 7 times.
Jesus laughs and says, “77 times.”
Others translate what Matthew has by saying Jesus said, 70 times 7 times. That’s 490 times. That calls for a lot of patience and good counting.
Either way, the Greek text can be – 77 or 490. Either way it’s a lot.
Some think Matthew is connecting this to an ancient text in Genesis – 4:24 – where if you think Cain was bad in killing his brother Abel –Cain’s only going to get 7 times vengeance for what he did. Worse, there is this descendent of Cain, a guy name Lamech – who was a really bad guy – he’s going to get 77 times vengeance for the blood he’s spilled.
Whatever, 77 or 490, that’s a lot of patience and forgiving being called for.
And in case Peter doesn’t get the message of forgiveness, Jesus tells this fascinating parable about the man who is asked to pay back a huge amount of debt. He whines and cries. He begs for mercy. He gets it. Then he goes out – meets someone who owes him peanuts – and he won’t forgive him. In fact, he has that servant put in jail – till he gets his money back.
Well, word got out. It always does. These kinds of unfairness always come back to haunt us. So when the master hears about this – he has the unforgiving servant brought back in and he says, “You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me for forgiveness, shouldn’t you have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?”
And the unforgiving servant is handed over to the torturers till he pays back all the owes.
CONCLUSION
I like to think that Peter got the message – because when he denied Jesus 3 times – when he ran away from Jesus – he didn’t do what Judas did. When Jesus appeared to him, Peter experienced forgiveness big time.
And I hope he went out and forgave his brother Andrew the next time he was ticked off about him – and the next time after that – and the next time after that – and I hope Peter kept a tab on how many times he forgave Andrew.
I say that because Andrew’s are always perfect, so I’m sure he never got anywhere near 77 times – or 7 times for that matter. Amen.
Monday, March 8, 2010
CLEANSED
INTRODUCTION
Instead of a homily today, I wrote a short poetic meditation or reflection – based on the two readings for today, the 3rd Monday in Lent. In the first reading we heard the story about Naaman – the army commander – who has leprosy – and a young girl captured in Samaria and made a servant of Naaman's wife. She had a thought and expressed it, “If only Naaman went to where I come from in Samaria, I’m sure the prophet, Elisha, would heal him of his leprosy.” He goes – and is healed – but after some twists and turns in the story. And in today’s gospel Jesus refers to that story about Naaman the Syrian that is in 2nd Kings. Jesus says, “Here I am in your midst – and you don’t recognize me. I can heal you. I can cleanse you.” They reject Jesus – unfortunately.
So a poetic reflection or meditation called, “Cleansed.”
Instead of a homily today, I wrote a short poetic meditation or reflection – based on the two readings for today, the 3rd Monday in Lent. In the first reading we heard the story about Naaman – the army commander – who has leprosy – and a young girl captured in Samaria and made a servant of Naaman's wife. She had a thought and expressed it, “If only Naaman went to where I come from in Samaria, I’m sure the prophet, Elisha, would heal him of his leprosy.” He goes – and is healed – but after some twists and turns in the story. And in today’s gospel Jesus refers to that story about Naaman the Syrian that is in 2nd Kings. Jesus says, “Here I am in your midst – and you don’t recognize me. I can heal you. I can cleanse you.” They reject Jesus – unfortunately.
So a poetic reflection or meditation called, “Cleansed.”
CLEANSED
Sitting there, standing there, some people still
feel sordid here – sinful here – unclean – as
if the skin of their soul had splotches, blotches,
scars and marks as well as written remarks –
on the palms of their hands – reminders –
bad memories – bad mistakes –
that they can’t silence – can’t erase.
That dumb move – that sin – that dumb relationship –
those wrong words – that family mess -
that they feel they caused – just yesterday, last year,
or so, so many years ago. Mess. Mess. Messy.
They come to Mass. They come to confession.
They do a hundred things to try to erase
feel sordid here – sinful here – unclean – as
if the skin of their soul had splotches, blotches,
scars and marks as well as written remarks –
on the palms of their hands – reminders –
bad memories – bad mistakes –
that they can’t silence – can’t erase.
That dumb move – that sin – that dumb relationship –
those wrong words – that family mess -
that they feel they caused – just yesterday, last year,
or so, so many years ago. Mess. Mess. Messy.
They come to Mass. They come to confession.
They do a hundred things to try to erase
or to buy off the mistake,
but right in their midst is Jesus – everyday Jesus –
the one who can cleanse them – heal them –
make the inner skin of their soul brand new skin –
like the glistening skin of a new born baby.
But no, they don’t know this Jesus who heals.
Instead they keep him outside the church
of their soul – or dump him out of their lives like
some people dump dying or dead cigarettes
out the window of their car –
and then they drive away –
as if they hadn’t been to church at all.
But Jesus rises from these rejections every time.
He still hangs around churches. He slips into ears
as words of challenge or into people’s souls
as bread and sips of wine. He still appears as
other broken people and sometimes we see him
as we help someone else and we are healed.
And the rest of us – Oh let’s hope
we’re like that young servant girl
who whispered to someone,
“If only he or she went to see the Prophet.
If they do, they can be healed.”
but right in their midst is Jesus – everyday Jesus –
the one who can cleanse them – heal them –
make the inner skin of their soul brand new skin –
like the glistening skin of a new born baby.
But no, they don’t know this Jesus who heals.
Instead they keep him outside the church
of their soul – or dump him out of their lives like
some people dump dying or dead cigarettes
out the window of their car –
and then they drive away –
as if they hadn’t been to church at all.
But Jesus rises from these rejections every time.
He still hangs around churches. He slips into ears
as words of challenge or into people’s souls
as bread and sips of wine. He still appears as
other broken people and sometimes we see him
as we help someone else and we are healed.
And the rest of us – Oh let’s hope
we’re like that young servant girl
who whispered to someone,
“If only he or she went to see the Prophet.
If they do, they can be healed.”
© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2010 - 3 Monday Lent
Sunday, March 7, 2010
IT’S A MYSTERY
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “It’s A Mystery.”
Have you ever been asked a question and you answered the other person by saying, “It’s A Mystery”?
In other words, “You don’t know.”
The older I get, the more I say, “It’s A Mystery.”
In fact, is that the sign of reaching old age – or the age of wisdom – the day we say, “It’s A Mystery!”?
SOME THINGS
Some things can be figured out – and it would be a cop out to say, “It’s A Mystery.”
Or it could be laziness – and we just don’t want to take the time to understand the difference between a 6 cylinder and an 8 cylinder car - or how to change a digital watch - with all those buttons on the side - and the directions are incomprehensible - and there is no little kid around to ask.
Or we know but we don’t want to tell some little 6 year old kid how babies come about or how come some parents make kids go to bed at 8 o’clock while other parents with kids the same age make them go to bed at 9 o’clock – or why some seem to have no set time for kids' bed time?
So some things can be known and some things are mystery.
Like earthquakes. We know why they happen – but we don’t know when they are going to happen. But maybe in the year 4010 they will know exactly when an earthquake is going to happen. What will that be like?
OLD SONG
There is an old song, “Ah Sweet Mystery of Life ….”
Some mysteries are sweet – like the beautiful day we had today. And some mysteries are not sweet. They are bitter. Like all that snow we had two weeks ago – unless you wanted all that snow – and you got out of all that school.
So life is both sweet and not so sweet, bitter, and sometimes bitter sweet.
Why do some birds go south every winter and some don’t?
I have no idea.
Why do some kids have all the brains – and the rest of us are B and C students – and we try and try – and this kid who never seems to study – gets A’s every time?
Why does life seem so unfair at times?
And why do I get the break at times? I’m on a long line at K-Mart – and every line is long – and surprise – the check-out counter next to me opens up just that minute and I’m last on the line and the lady signals to me – and I’m the only one who sees her and I walk over and now I’m first on line.
I think of Jesus’ words, “The last shall be first….”
But why did this happen to me today?
“It’s a mystery!
Yet they say great athletes – and musicians – and snowboarders – get that way because of practice, practice, practice - or merging talent with practice.
TODAY’S FIRST READING: MOSES
The Moses story in the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, is quite mysterious.
As a baby all baby boys in Egypt are to be killed – that is, if they are born of Jewish parents. Why do people kill other people?
It’s a mystery.
Yet we can take some time to figure it out – at least we can start with ourselves. Why do we hurt brothers and sisters? Why do we hurt friends? Why are we selfish at times? Why do we pick on people who are different?
It’s a mystery – yet we might be mind lazy – or we’re jealous – or we think we can feel better about ourselves by making fun or persecuting someone different from us.
Anyway – Moses is put in a basket and floated on the water towards the Pharaoh’s daughter – and because everyone loves a baby – why – we just do – and Pharaoh’s daughter saves and raises little Moses.
So far so good.
Then Moses grows up and one day he sees an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew and Moses goes crazy and kills the Egyptian and then looks around to see if anyone sees him. Then he hides the dead body in the sand. The next day he finds out he was seen and so he runs away. He heads for the hills.
Here he had everything – next he has nothing – so he becomes a shepherd in the desert and in the hills.
Now - finally getting to today's first reading ....
One day while shepherding Moses has a great vision – way up there in the mountains.
He sees a bush. It looks like it’s on fire – but it doesn’t burn down.
He hears a voice. He hears his name, “Moses, Moses!”
He answers, “Here I am?”
And God says, “Come no nearer. Take off your sandals. You’re standing on Holy Ground.”
The voice continued, “I am the God of your fathers, of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
Moses was experiencing big time, “It’s a mystery.”
Moses covers his eyes. Moses is scared – filled with big time afraid.
Moses hears God say, “I have witnessed the pain of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of complaint against their slave drivers. I know their suffering. I have come to rescue them from this land of Egypt and I’m going to bring them to a land of milk and honey.”
It’s not in our text today – unfortunately – but God says next, “I am sending you to them to tell them to come with you. I am sending you to the Pharaoh to go and say, ‘Let my people go.’” [Read Exodus 3:1-15 and not just today's reading, Exodus 3:1-8a-13-15.]
Moses asks this voice, this vision, this mystery, this God, “What is your name?”
And God says, “I am who am.”
Others translate this by saying, “I am who I am!”
Others translate this by saying simply, “I Am!”
QUESTION
Why didn’t God do this when the Jews were being killed by the Nazis?
Why didn’t God do this when there was that big slaughter of Armenians by the Ottamans?
Why didn’t God do this when there was that big slaughter of people in Rwanda?
Or why doesn't God do more about children that are abused?
Why is there sin and selfishness?
Why is their evil?
It’s a mystery.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Or take today’s gospel.
Why did Pilate – one of the head Romans in Palestine around the time of Jesus – beat up and kill some Galileans - a little know historical moment mentioned here in the Gospel of Luke?
Or why did a tower collapse at Siloam in the time of Jesus and kill 18 people?
Why does a earthquake happen in some places during the day when kids are in school and the school building collapses and a couple of hundred kids are killed and it could have happened at 2 in the morning and less kids would be killed?
Why? Why? Why?
I don’t know.
It’s a mystery.
I am serious about saying this. I am not trying to be flippant.
Okay, I hope when they rebuild Port-au-Prince in Haiti – they will do two things. If they know where there is a earthquake fault line, they won’t build over it – and when they put up buildings, they will use the best information they have to build somewhat earthquake proof buildings.
CONCLUSION
In the meanwhile, today’s gospel also talks about a fig tree.
Fig trees are supposed to give figs. If they don’t they should be dug up and not take up space – space where another fig tree can be planted – that will give a fig.
That’s no mystery.
Well, it’s a mystery to me why Jesus waited till he hit around 30 and then began to walk around healing, preaching, telling stories and challenging people.
It’s a mystery to me what Jesus saw when he saw people.
It’s a mystery to me why he healed this person and must have walked by other people who needed healing.
There is a story in the Gospel of Mark that takes place in the city of Bethsaida. Jesus heals a blind man. Jesus puts spit in the man’s eyes. Interesting. Then Jesus puts his hands on the man and asks him, “Can you see anything?” The man says he can see people but they look like trees. [Mark 8: 22-26]
To me it’s just like being in the eye doctor’s chair. They ask, “What do you see?”
I say, “I see blur.”
They do something and ask, “Is that better.”
I say, “Better.”
Well the blind man says, “I see men as trees – but they are moving.”
Jesus puts his hands on the man’s eyes again and he starts to see clearly. Everything is exact and distinct.
Why didn’t Jesus heal the blind man right away – like he does in the other blind man stories in the gospels?
I don’t know.
It’s a mystery.
Well, thinking about today’s gospel, at times I think Jesus saw people as trees – and some of them were doing nothing. They were trees that were just taking up space. Walk through any forest and you’ll see trees like that. Well, there are people who are like trees that are not producing – and those who know them – want to write them off – "dis" them.
But in this story Jesus gives this tree a second chance.
That’s why I love this story and love Jesus.
Jesus gives second chances.
Why?
It’s a mystery.
This is a homily for our young people's Sunday evening mass on the 3rd Sunday in Lent, C, March 7, 2010
P.S. This Monday morning, March 8th, 2010, I was looking for something online from NPR Radio - and surprise I found a neat 5 minute piece from March 5th - that has as its ending - some of what I'm saying in this homily. If you use Google as your search engine, type in the following: "NPR Weekend Edition - Poverty and Chastity for Every Occasion."
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