A  GOOD  GUY

Quote of the Day  April 27,  2010

A TOWN'S TRIBUTE TO ITS FRIEND

The other day in Emporia [Kansas], the longest funeral procession that has formed in ten years followed the Rev. John Jones three long miles in the hot July sun out to Dry Creek Cemetery. Now, a funeral procession may mean little or much. When a rich and powerful man dies, the people play politics and attend his funeral for various reasons. But here was the body of a meek, gentle little old man - a man "without purse of scrip." It won't take twenty minutes to settle his estate in probate court. He was a preacher of the gospel - but preachers have been buried before this in Emporia without much show of sorrow.

The reason so many people lined up behind the hearse that held the kind old man's mortality was simple: they loved him. He devoted his life to helping people. In a very simple way, without money or worldly power, he gave of the gentleness of his heart to all around him .... When others gave money - which was of their store - he gave prayers and hard work and an inspiring courage. He helped. In his sphere he was a power. And so when he lay down to sleep hundreds of friends trudged out to bid him good-by with moist and with cramped throats to wish him sweet slumber."

William Allen White [1868-1944] - American newspaper editor and politician.

RANDOM  ACTS 
OF KINDNESS 

Quote of the Day April 26, 2010


"Do good by stealth and blush to find it fame."


Alexander Pope [1688-1744]

OH, OKAY
NOW I KNOW

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Teen Mass for this 4th Sunday after Easter – C – is, “Oh, Okay, Now I Know.”

PHONE CALLS

How many times have we had the following experience?

We get a phone call and we recognize the voice, but we don’t know who it is, who is calling? We’re trying to figure it out – but the answer is not coming. It can be frustrating.

The person calling didn’t introduce himself or herself at the beginning of the call. They take it for granted we recognize their voice and who they are.

They know who we are, because they are the one who is calling.

Finally we have to ask, “Wait a minute, I have to ask a very important question, who is this?” Or, “I embarrassed to ask, but just who is this calling?”

Then the person – surprised – says, “Oh, this is Sue or Tim or Jack or Jill.”

And we go, “Oh, Okay, now I know….”

And then it becomes a different conversation.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

How many times have we had the following experience?

We’re walking in Borders or Best Buy or in some store or somewhere and we hear music. We hear a beat – a rhythm – some background music – and we say to ourselves, “I know that beat. I know that tune? What is it?” But we can’t come up with a name. And we keep trying – keep listening trying to “Name that tune!”

Last Friday evening I was visiting this home and three people played some music: piano, guitar, then piano again. When the host started to play some piano pieces and I knew none of the pieces – and the same thing happened with the two earlier players. The host played some classical music pieces. But then he played a piece that I recognized. It was the music from The Sting – a movie I loved. It was a Scott Joplin piece and because he loves Tango pieces – he transformed or whatever the verb is – the Scott Joplin piece by adding some Tango rhythms into it. Interesting.

I said to myself, “Oh, okay, now I know!”

PREMISE OR POINT

Here’s a premise. Just like the phone call, just like musical pieces, the more time we spend with a person, the more we remember their voice and their rhythms – their beat – what they are off on – what they are about.

More time – more know.

Common sense – common experience.

FIRST READING

Now a jump to today’s readings. This is a homily – a reflection on the readings at a particular Mass.

In this first reading Paul and Barnabas are preaching to a group of Jewish people. They are telling them that Jesus is background and background music for Jewish scriptures. They are playing that tune. They are trying to point out how Jewish Jesus is and how he fits into Jewish songs and psalms, prophecies and hopes.

The crowd rejects Paul and Barnabas.

If we knew Hebrew and Aramaic – if we knew the sounds and words of these languages – and then we heard the Gospels in Aramaic we would hear similar patterns, rhythms and sounds. Jesus grew up with the Jewish scriptures. We hear that when we hear him quoting Isaiah – the Psalms – and various other pieces of Jewish Scripture. The words of the Jewish scriptures had become flesh in him.

The folks here in the first reading reject Paul and Barnabas. They reject what Paul and Barnabas say is the word of the Lord. They reject the connecting of Jesus to their story.

So Paul and Barnabas bring their song to the Gentiles.

SECOND READING

In today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation, we have the powerful image of the Lamb. It’s a powerful image of Israel. We find it all through the Jewish scriptures. And John in this second reading is saying that Jesus is the Lamb who was sacrificed – slaughtered – just like Israel had been slaughtered – and sacrificed so often.

GOSPEL

And in the gospel, Jesus says that the sheep that are his – know his voice.

I remember hearing a talk once during which the speaker told about a Jesuit priest – who taught scriptures at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, that one summer he went to work on a ranch – a sheep ranch in Wyoming – I think it was Wyoming. The experience gave him new, fresh, understandings of what sheep and shepherds were like.

When a new born sheep is born and dropped in a field – they are very helpless. They need the shepherd. The only voice they know is the “Baa” of their mothers. Well, the shepherd goes through the fields finding the new sleep – makes sure they are all right – and they get to know the voice of the shepherd – so that when he calls – they will come running. Those of you who have a dog – know that dogs knows the sound of your voice. They come running when you call – for a treat – for a trip outside, etc. etc. etc.

CONCLUSIONS

So we come here to church to get to know the sound of Jesus – the voice of Jesus – the vision of Jesus – the music of Jesus – so that we can go out into our world be the love, music, hope, the voice of Jesus to our world.

That’s my homily. I hope you said somewhere in my homily, “Oh, Okay, I know what he’s talking about.”

VOICES AND VISIONS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 4th Sunday of Easter - C - is, “Voices and Visions.”

If you hang around religion long enough, you’ll run into people who are off on “Voices and Visions.”

It’s tricky to preach on this – because some of you sitting here might be off on voices and visions. Relax I’ve been to Lourdes and I’ve been to Chartres in France – the most famous shrine of Mary in the Western World – up until Lourdes and Fatima.

Whatever…. yesterday this is what hit me – to say a few words about voices and visions – something I’ve been thinking about for a long while now.

Just the other day I saw a lady outside of church holding a little baby and I said to this other lady who was also standing there, “Isn’t that a beautiful baby?” And this other lady says looking right at the mother and the little baby girl, “Yeah, but you know what Nostradamus says about the world ending in 2012.”

At that I was hoping the little baby girl would give her a Bronx cheer, “Pfatt!”

If you hang around religion long enough, you’ll run into people who are off on “Voices and Visions” – “Predictions and Prophecies.”

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s 3 readings triggered for me this question about voices and visions.

Today’s second reading from The Book of Revelation begins this way, “I, John, had a vision….”

Today’s gospel has Jesus saying, “My sheep hear my voice.”

If you come here to church, you’ll hear 3 readings every Sabbath and 2 readings on weekday Masses. The reader says at the end of the first and second reading, “The word of the Lord” and we all answer, “Thanks be to God.” The deacon or priest reads the Gospel and concludes by saying, “The Gospel of the Lord” and everyone answers, “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.”

By making those two responses, we are saying something very profound. In today’s first reading a whole group of people rejected Paul and Barnabas when they said they were speaking the word of God.

And there are billions of people around this world – who don’t hold what we hold – that the Bible is in a profound way – the Word of God.

PRIVATE REVELATIONS

If you hang around the Catholic Church long enough, you’ll run into people who are off on religious revelations: visions and voices.

And voices and visions sometimes fill churches and collection baskets. That’s a dig – but I’ve seen that taking place here and there.

Down through the centuries there have been many, many, many predictions about the end of the world – giving dates.

I always think that’s stupid – because dates come and go. Of course it has impact, if you give an exact date – and it’s coming soon.

Here we are in 2010. We made it past 2000 and 2001.

I loved the comment that someone made to someone in California who was worried about the world ending at midnight on January 1, 2000. “Relax it was midnight hours and hours ago in Australia and we’re still here.”

Volcanoes, hurricanes, violence and war – expect more.

Predictions of the end of the world – expect more – but it’s my take to say, “Don’t believe them – unless someone says that the sun is going to run out of fuel 5 to 8 billion years from now – or whatever scientists figure out.” We know that by just watching a fire in our fire place fade or the battery in a cell phone running out – till we recharge it. So when the sun runs out of fuel, this world will end – but folks might be on a dozen other planets. There’s a lot of future ahead of us.

I spent 8 and ½ years before I was stationed in Annapolis, preaching all over the country – and let me tell you – it’s my experience that people are fascinated by religious revelations. I also spent 14 years of my life working in two different retreat houses – and people would ask from time to time about books that claimed to be voices and visions from God or the Blessed Mother.

To be transparent, to be P.C. correct, I have to announce that I’m a skeptic when it comes to private revelations.

To be priest, I’ll say that the Church is very, very hesitant to approve private revelations. The Church also has announced non-approval of revelations that people claim – voices from Mary and Jesus – and who have you.

So if someone pushes some of this stuff on you, do what I was hoping that little baby would do to the Nostradamus lady, “Pfatt!” Or just say, “Interesting – and ooops I’m late for an appointment.”

If you want to know more about this stuff – and if you’re a Google Doodler on your computer – just type in, “Private Revelations” or “End of the World Predictions.” And if you’re retired, you won’t run out of stuff on private revelations.

Just know that the basic position of the Catholic Church is that you don’t have to accept private revelations. That statement is well documented – and has been publicized many times.

THE SCRIPTURES

Next pinch yourself – for being a Catholic. When it comes to the Bible we have wonderful teachings. And the Bible is filled with voices and visions.

It took us a long time and a lot of struggle to get to where we are today when it comes to how we understand the Bible – and there will be more growth in years to come.

The best thing I like is that we are not fundamentalists.

Today’s second reading from The Book of Revelation has been a great source for many interpretations and conjectures. If you want to know more about The Book of Revelation – take courses – and do your homework.

Now we made mistakes. When scholars at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century said that The Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible, were not written by one person, Moses, the Catholic Church criticized such scholars – even when some of them were heavy duty specialists like Pere Marie Joseph Lagrange – a Dominican priest who taught and wrote from the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem. The scholars said there are various authors and voices in Genesis and the next four books. It’s like a scholar saying, “If I picked up a play by Shakespeare and another play by Arthur Miller, or a story by Hemingway and a story by Dickens, I can tell these are different writers.”

So someone like Pere Lagrange – after a lot of study and research – said such things about The Book of Genesis and from 1902 till 1938, he was labeled “suspicious”. In 1912 he was exiled.

By now many Catholics have heard about the 4 schools of writers in The Book of Genesis. It’s a theory – but to many it makes some sense – and we understand the Adam and Eve stories, etc. a lot better.

Years ago we priests hesitated to say something like this from the pulpit – because folks who had different assumptions about the Bible would make an inner, “Uh oh!” But Catholics for the past 50 or so years have read and attended Bible classes and talks and heard preachers from time to time go from these different premises. And folks instead of saying, “Uh oh!” would say, “Oh okay, that makes sense.”

And it helped very much when Pope Pius XII in 1943 came out with his liberating encyclical on the Bible, Divino Afflante Spiritu. Pere Lagrange didn’t live long enough to see this.

And then we have development in The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation [Dei Verbum] by the Second Vatican Council on November 18, 1965.

When I see people pushing or reading private revelations – especially in prayer groups, I say to myself, “I wish they would read the Bible and the Documents of Vatican II instead.” I wish they would use the many excellent commentaries on the Bible, like “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary”. I would add, there are very few – if any - scholarly commentaries on private revelations.

HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD

In Thomas Szasz’ book, The Second Sin, [1973] which I found fascinating and challenging, the several times I’ve read it, he says, “If you talk to God, you are praying; if God talks to you, you have schizophrenia. If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist; if God talks to you, you are a schizophrenic.”

Today’s gospel begins, “Jesus said, ‘My sheep hear my voice ….”

Have you ever heard Jesus speak to you? Have you ever had a God experience?

Andrew Greeley – in his work as a sociologist – said that many people have had God or Jesus experiences. I’ve had a few – but I don’t make them Gospel.

I’ve found out many people have had so called “private revelations”. A few times I thought they were crazy – I didn’t use the word, “schizophrenic” – but many times I have been moved by people telling me stories and experiences they have had of God’s presence and love and voice of reassurance after a loved one died or on a vacation in the mountains or at the ocean or while sitting in the Eucharistic Chapel – or sometime in the middle of a late night moment when they looked out the window at a star filled sky.

CONCLUSION

In fact, I hold – and I hold this very strongly – that if we pray – and sit or kneel in the presence of God on a regular basis – even though one has many distractions and doubts in prayer, at times in doing this, we’ll have so called “God’s presence feelings and moments.”

Having taught spirituality for 9 years, I add that saints who write about this sometimes say, “God is more present in the dark nights of the soul than in the bright morning light of spiritual delights.”

Then I add, if we pray on a regular basis, we will see and hear God’s voice on a regular basis. We’ll hear God’s voice and see God’s presence in a baby’s looking at us in church or an old person’s smile at a 90th birthday party or and old person with a great smile sitting there at the edge of a dance floor at a wedding watching everything – or a wave from a little kid to us when there is a car next to us at a red light – or when we see the beautiful green of a piece of steamed broccoli or a bird on a branch outside our kitchen window – over and over again. We’ll hear God saying, “I’m here. Hi! I’m with you all days – even to the end of the word and we say, “Thanks be to God.”

GARDENS 

Quote of the Day:  April 25,  2010

"God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man .... I do hold ... there ought to be gardens for all the months in the year; in which ... things of beauty may be seen in their season."

Francis Bacon [1561-1626], Of Gardens

A  TEACHER  CALLED, 
"UH  OH!"

Quote of the Day:  April  24,  2010


"A good scare is worth more ... than good advice."


Edgar Watson Howe [1853-1937] - Country Town Sayings, 1922

MY   SPACE 

Quote of the Day:  April 23, 2010


"We talk about a space race. There is a space race down here on the ground. In this race every human being is a superpower and the competition no longer stands a chance. Other species are bound to this or that patch of turf, and this planet. We feel bound to no patch of turf on Earth, bound only for the stars. We sacrifice a marsh, a bay, a park, a lake. We sacrifice a sparrow. We trade one countdown for another."



Jonathan Wiener, The Next One Hundred Years, 1990