THE LONGEST JOURNEY
IS THE JOURNEY WITHIN....
IS THE JOURNEY WITHIN....
Quote for the Day - May 21, 2010
"There is a great deal of unmapped country within us."
George Eliot (Marian Evans Cross) [1819-1880]
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
HOW MUCH WAS
THE SERMON WORTH?
THE SERMON WORTH?
Quote for the Day - May 20, 2010
"A little boy watched his mother put a nickle in the collection basket at Sunday Mass. On the way home, she was criticizing the poor sermon they had heard. 'But mom,' the boy said, 'what do you expect for five cents.'"
Anon - and obviously not said on the way home from St. Mary's.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
MOVING ON
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Moving On.”
In both readings for this 7th Tuesday after Easter, there is a human experience we are very familiar with: leaving – moving on.
We’ve had this experience at least a zillion times.
We’re sitting there having coffee with some folks. We look at our watch – if that’s our method – and we say, “Oh, ooo, I gotta get going.”
We left home for that first day of school and it was tough and traumatic: sometimes for the child and sometimes for the parent.
We’ve moved – because a parent got a transfer or a divorce.
We’ve finished high school, college, a job, a parish, a term on a committee.
We’ve come to the end of vacations, movies, parties, games, and picnics.
So we know what it is to leave and to move on.
“Catch you later. I gotta go.”
PAUL AND JESUS
In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul is announcing he has to leave Ephesus and he tells them where he’s going: Jerusalem.
In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus announces at the Last Supper, “The hour has come ….” and he slowly begins heading for the door.
Last Sunday in the gospel from Luke we heard Jesus talking about leaving for the Father big time – and Jesus makes his Ascension into heaven.
WONDERING??????
As I noticed this common experience of leaving in both of today’s readings – moving on – I wondered if there is a helpful comment or message in that experience for a short 2 page homily this morning.
7 POSSIBLE THOUGHTS
Here are up 7 possible comments I came up with to chew upon. I’m sure I could condense them better, but I had to get to bed last night:
1) Every night when we go to bed, to sleep, we are letting go – giving up control. It’s only for a few hours – but it’s a letting go. We might not wake up. Do bears or animals who hibernate hesitate before they lay down for a long winter’s nap?
2) Every time we go to someone else’s house for a party or a picnic, it’s an opportunity to have a good time – but it’s an opportunity to be aware of others. If it’s a week night, some people have to get to work the next day. Life gives us lots of opportunities to think of others – have balance – not be a party pooper – but to be sensitive to others.
3) Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
4) At some point we are going to die – and that’s the big leaving. Death is a tough one. How are we doing in our ponderings about that reality? In the meanwhile, there is the challenge to stay healthy, exercise, and live life to the full.
5) “Leaving on a jet plane ….” Every time we take a trip – wave good bye – head elsewhere for a while can add to the spice and mystery of life. Leaving, moving on, can provide new opportunities – new growth – learnings about where we have come from, what was valuable back then, but we didn’t realize it till we left.
6) Waiting for others to return home from a vacation, Iraq, Afghanistan, college, a business trip, the winter in Florida, provides opportunities for new conversations, new stories, or what have you.
7) Partings give poets opportunity to write poems and songs about the tough feelings and sometimes wonderful feelings involved in this reality of moving on and leaving. Who in the English speaking world is not familiar with Shakespeare’s words in Romeo and Juliet,
“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
And those who read Emily Dickinson’s poems from time to time know the ending to poem No. 1732 – so let me end this homily with her words and finally leave this pulpit:
"Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell."
In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus announces at the Last Supper, “The hour has come ….” and he slowly begins heading for the door.
Last Sunday in the gospel from Luke we heard Jesus talking about leaving for the Father big time – and Jesus makes his Ascension into heaven.
WONDERING??????
As I noticed this common experience of leaving in both of today’s readings – moving on – I wondered if there is a helpful comment or message in that experience for a short 2 page homily this morning.
7 POSSIBLE THOUGHTS
Here are up 7 possible comments I came up with to chew upon. I’m sure I could condense them better, but I had to get to bed last night:
1) Every night when we go to bed, to sleep, we are letting go – giving up control. It’s only for a few hours – but it’s a letting go. We might not wake up. Do bears or animals who hibernate hesitate before they lay down for a long winter’s nap?
2) Every time we go to someone else’s house for a party or a picnic, it’s an opportunity to have a good time – but it’s an opportunity to be aware of others. If it’s a week night, some people have to get to work the next day. Life gives us lots of opportunities to think of others – have balance – not be a party pooper – but to be sensitive to others.
3) Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
4) At some point we are going to die – and that’s the big leaving. Death is a tough one. How are we doing in our ponderings about that reality? In the meanwhile, there is the challenge to stay healthy, exercise, and live life to the full.
5) “Leaving on a jet plane ….” Every time we take a trip – wave good bye – head elsewhere for a while can add to the spice and mystery of life. Leaving, moving on, can provide new opportunities – new growth – learnings about where we have come from, what was valuable back then, but we didn’t realize it till we left.
6) Waiting for others to return home from a vacation, Iraq, Afghanistan, college, a business trip, the winter in Florida, provides opportunities for new conversations, new stories, or what have you.
7) Partings give poets opportunity to write poems and songs about the tough feelings and sometimes wonderful feelings involved in this reality of moving on and leaving. Who in the English speaking world is not familiar with Shakespeare’s words in Romeo and Juliet,
“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
And those who read Emily Dickinson’s poems from time to time know the ending to poem No. 1732 – so let me end this homily with her words and finally leave this pulpit:
"Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell."
This was a homily for May 18, 2010 - the 7th Tuesday after Easter. It's basically a first draft sermon - but someone asked for a copy - so I'm putting it on my blog.
SELF MADE HOUSE
Quote for the Day - May 18, 2010
"An architect, who had worked for a large company for many years was called in one day by the board of directors. They gave him plans for a fine house to be built in the best part of town. The chairman instructed him, 'Spare no expense. Use the finest materials and the best builders.'
"As the house began to go up, the architect began to think, 'Why am I using such expensive workers? Why are we using such expensive materials?'
"So he began to use poor materials and to hire poor quality workmen, and he put the difference in the cost into his own pocket.
"When the house was completed, it looked very fine on the outside, but underneath it all, there would certainly be problems.
"Shortly after it was finished, the board of directors held another meeting to which the architect was called. The chairman made a speech, thanking the architect for his long service to the company, and as a reward they were giving as a present: the house."
Anonymous - an old story with lots of variations and lots of food for thought.
Monday, May 17, 2010
BREATHE!
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 7th Monday after Easter is, “Breathe!”
One of the 3 key images of the Holy Spirit is breath.
The other 2 are fire and the dove.
Suggestion for this week before the feast of Pentecost: become very aware of your breath.
Some people, as we hear in today’s first reading, could say, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
Come Holy Spirit!
Come Holy Spirit to all peoples.
Come Holy Spirit – be to us as close as our breath.
BREATHING PRACTICES – DURING PRAYER WORKSHOPS
If you have ever taken a workshop on prayer, you might have experienced people saying, “Breathe!”
The several that I have taken said, “Practice breathing. Be aware of your breathing!”
You will have people have you stand up and stretch – and then at some point to have you sit down. They will ask you to be aware of your body – your butt on the chair – your back into the back of the chair – your feet on the floor – your hands on our lap or at your side.
Too many times we start praying too soon – too fast.
So prayer teachers will suggest coming into church or into your prayer space and stretch and be conscious of that as well as your body in a chair and then they will then suggest becoming aware of your breathing.
Some teachers will say plants give off oxygen – without which we would not be alive.
They will then tell you that our bodies breath in oxygen – O2 – otherwise we will not be alive.
Then if I have this right, the body changes that oxygen that we bring into our lungs and it becomes energy and fuel for our body through our blood system and then it becomes carbon dioxide – CO2 – and that goes back to our lungs and we breathe that out – and then that carbon dioxide goes back into the plants to nourish them and on and on and on.
You will be told to let go of that information and just be conscious of your breathing. Just “Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.”
ONE OF THE GREAT SCENES IN THE BIBLE
One of the great scenes in the Bible about breathing takes place in the Book of Genesis – when God creates, sculpts, the first human, Adam, meaning, clay, earth, and then God breathes life, the Spirit of Life, into that first person.
We grasp that because we know the difference between a statue and a human being – a doll and a person. We know the scene of the birth of a baby – when the delivery room people get that baby breathing.
We have stood at the bedside of a person dying – seeing their shortness of breath – wondering if they are still alive. We know when we are out of breath. We know when stairs and hills are tough – and we have to do some more exercising.
We might have seen scenes in movies or on beaches when someone drowns – and someone is giving that person artificial respiration.
So the writer of that story in Genesis has God breathing life – breath – into his creation.
PRAYER
And so a good way to pray is to just breathe in and out – breathing in the breath of God and breathing out the opposite of God.
A good way to pray is to deep breathe.
A good way to pray is to say, “Come Holy Spirit.” and breathe in the breath of life.
A good way to pray is to realize while we’re breathing in we are in communion with all people and all creation – trees, water, wind – which is all in union with each other. We’re all connected. We’re all in union with each other.
These chemicals are being recycled – along with water – and what’s in us was in others – and in plants and trees and we’re all in this together. Interesting.
And we know when we walk into a room – our spirit – our attitude – our mood – effects the mood and atmosphere of the room. Happy faces, sad faces, impact our face. So hopefully we rise from prayer and bring joy to the world.
Come Holy Spirit…..
CONCLUSION
Take the time this week – this time of preparation for Pentecost – to be aware of your breathing – and this amazing process called life – and its net, its interchange, and its interconnection. Be aware of the Holy Spirit in us and about us – and in all people. Amen.
Come Holy Spirit.
This is a weekday homily. Someone asked that I put it on my blog.
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