WHY DON’T THEY?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22nd Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Why Don’t They?”

One of the most basic traits of human beings is to see others – and think or say, “Why Don’t They?”

• Why don’t they use their blinker when switching lanes?
• Why don’t they cut their lawn?
• Why don’t they brush their teeth?
• Why don’t they deport all these illegals?
• Why don’t they go to church?
• Why don’t they go on a diet?
• Why don’t they mind their own business?
• Why don’t people think the same way I do?

It could also be the reverse in all these comments, “Why do they?”

• Why do they drive like that?
• Why does he eat so much?
• Why do they make so much noise when they eat?
• Why do they dress like that?
• Why is she so lazy?
• Why is he so crazy?
• Why do people die when it’s so inconvenient for me?
• Why does God allow this?
• Why does God work this way?

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s gospel – Luke 5: 33-39 – has the same old, same old, Pharisees and Scribes, the ultra religious and the ultra educated in his day, saying to and about Jesus, “Why are his disciples the way they are? Why don’t they fast like John the Baptist and his disciples fasted?”

Why are you going around doing what you’re doing? Why are you going around saying what you’re saying?

And Jesus answers with one of his great answers, “When you’re at a wedding – you eat and drink – and celebrate. So when my friends and disciples are with me, we celebrate. I’m the bridegroom. I’m celebrating my marriage to you. I love you. I see you as one with me. I see you as God’s people. Rejoice. Put a smile on your face. Dress up. Wake up! Wise up. Lift up your hearts!

In today’s first reading from First Corinthians 4: 1-5, Paul talks about judging.

He was a Pharisee – and one of the worst offenders – in judging others and wanting them not to do certain things and to do certain things. And if they don’t, I’m going to get you! Paul was in on Stephen’s stoning (1) – and did you know they are still stoning people today? Why do they do that? Why don’t they hear Jesus’ message: Let the one without sin cast the first stone.” (2)

WHEN I WALK INTO A ROOM

All of us have to ask ourselves, “What do I want people to think, feel, be like, when I walk into a room?”

To be honest I don’t want to be noticed. However here I am a priest – and the priest is up front – so I realize I’m noticed. But when I say Mass – when I preach – I do not want to be noticed. I want two people to be noticed: God and the person who is in your skin and your clothes today. Okay I also hope we all notice our neighbor as well.

When I say Mass, when I preach, I don’t want anyone to say: “Here comes the judge.”

If anyone says that about any one of us here, I would guess that person wouldn’t know that – because you don’t tell judges: “You drive me nuts. Every time you walk into a room, I feel you’re judging me!”

Ugh and fiddlesticks on that life posture.

When I say Mass – I want to celebrate Mass.

Of course I have my collection of, “Why don’t they?” and “Why do they?”

There are still some people who refuse to give the sign of peace. I say to myself, “Why don’t they at least bow, wave, smile, and whisper a ‘Hi’ to the person next to them at Mass – instead of keeping their eyes down and not acknowledging anyone around them?”

Why do people not move in – in the benches at church – instead of stepping out into the aisle – when someone else wants to sit in that bench? I know they might have to go to the bathroom. Or they have claustrophobia and want an aisle seat? Or they want to be able to sneak out right after communion?

Church … driving … politics … meetings … neighbors … kids … grandkids … the kids today … Muslims … the Spanish … the Blacks … the old … the rich … the poor … the president … people who put signs on their lawns … priests …. popes …. bishops … preachers … why don’t they? Why do they?

SUGGESTIONS FOR HOW TO DEAL WITH WHAT YOU DON’T LIKE

Close your eyes. Tickle yourself. Change the subject. Laugh. Become philosophical. Become a stand up comic. Write essays. Look in the mirror. Video tape a recording of yourself – and then watch the video tape of yourself that day. Athletes do it all the time to improve. Write letters to the editor and then rip up the letters….

There are two kinds of people: those who see life as a courtroom and those who see life as a wedding banquet.

CONCLUSION

Today – September 3rd – is the feast of St. Gregory the Great.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if we had a preview of our wake and funeral and all the people there are thinking: Wasn’t she great? Wasn’t she such a nice person? Wasn’t he a great guy?

Wouldn’t it be horrible if they all thought inwardly? What a pain! Why didn’t he or she see life as a great banquet and enjoy the dance of life!

Picture on Top from Town Hall Square in Tallinn, Estonia - summer 2009.

(1) Acts 7: 55 to 8: 3


(2) John 8: 7

ADULT PRAYER TOO

Quote for the Day: September 3, 2010


"A child's prayer: Please make the bad people good, and the good people nice."


Marwood (Devon), Parish Magazine, November 1984

SOMETIMES NOVELS 

GET US TO SEE  

OURSELVES IN THE MIRROR 

OF ITS PAGES. 

September 2, 2010

Quote for the Day - September 2,  2010

"He was nimble in the calling of selling houses for more than people could afford to pay."

Sinclair Lewis [1885-1951] in his book, Babbit, 1923

“FOR GOD ALONE"

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22nd Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “For God Alone.”

In today’s first reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, we have evidence of a problem that shows up regularly in religious communities and organizations. It’s the problem of rivalry! Jealousy! Factions! Divisions!

Luckily at St. Mary’s you get a variety of priests. It’s my take that people come to Church for Christ – to enter into the Trinity – to enter into the mystery of Christ – to be in communion with Christ and his body – and his body has all kinds of characters (1) – and then to go forth from here – to make this a better world – not coming here for specific priests – but coming here, “For God Alone.”

Of course hospitality, good liturgy, good service, lots of love, all help.

Many parishes are one priest parishes. If the guy is great, if the guy is a servant, wonderful. It the guy is a lemon, people can be stuck for years – unless they make lemonade and come there for God alone.

So as we heard in today’s first reading, in the Corinthian community, there was bickering and bragging. Some said that they follow Apollos and not Paul; others said they follow Paul and not Apollos. We get glimpses of rivalry – factions – and frictions as we read the New Testament – not just in the letters and the Acts of the Apostles, but also in the gospels. (2)

Paul gives the classic comeback to the question of rivalry. I planted. Apollos watered. God gives the growth. (3)

WHAT IF?

If people come to church for the priest, what happens when the priest gets transferred? Or what happens if the priest is discovered to be an abuser or what have you. Uh oh!

I’ve listened to people who went through all this. I’ve heard people talk about the priest who married them – who later left and got married himself or what have you. What if the priest has problems?

SACRAMENTS AND THEIR VALIDITY – BASED ON THE PRIEST

One of the problems that came up several times in the early church was that some held that the validity of baptism depended on the inner life of the priest. (4)

The church in time said, “Nope!”

Imagine the chaos if a community didn’t know the mind set or spirituality of a priest? Am I baptized or not? Are my sins forgiven or not? Is the Mass valid or not?

Of course things go better with better priests – hopefully.

In that comment, I was wondering if I should use the word “holy” instead of “better” as in “better priests” or “holy priests”.

I think “better’ is the better word – because the word “holy” can mean a lot of things and there have been situations where people experienced “holy” priests – where division and stress erupted

Not everyone is everyone’s cup of tea. Yet we come here for God.

I love the story where the old lady in Jersey City, N.J. said, “The five marks of the Church are: it is one, holy, Catholic, apostolic and survives its clergy.”

I’m sure you’ve heard the old story about Cardinal Ercole Consalvi – and what he said to Napoleon Bonaparte when Napoleon threatened to destroy the church. Consalvi said, “If in 1,800 years we clergy have failed to destroy the Church, do you really think that you'll be able to do it?” (5)

If you read the lives of the popes, fortunately or unfortunately, you’ll come away either stronger or weaker in your faith. Please God, stronger. Please God you come to church and you remain in the church because of Christ who is with us all days even to the end of the world.

CONCLUSION
I love these early texts in the gospels – like yesterday and today’s gospels – where demons know who Jesus is – the holy one of God and the people Jesus is reaching out for, don’t really know who he is – including his disciples and apostles.

And Simon Peter whose mother-in-law Jesus heals in today’s gospel, Peter who discovered and once blurted out who Jesus is – and gets praised by Jesus for saying so, ends up saving his own skin by denying Jesus three times. (6)
The theme for religious education in our school and religious education this year is, “For God alone! Soli Deo”. It was one of St. John Neumann favorite short sayings and prayers – St. John Neumann whose anniversaries we celebrate this year. (7)
My message this morning is to avoid rivalry in church life – liberals vs. conservatives, this pope vs. that pope, young vs. old, those who dress up for church vs. those who don’t, this priest vs. that priest – but to be here, “For God alone.” And then for all of us to try not to be a pain you know where.

Statue in picture on top: St. John Neumann, CSSR, in the outside gathering space of St. John Neumann Church - Annapolis, Mary - other church building for St. Mary's Parish.



(1) Cf. St. Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthians 12: 4-31


(2) Acts 15:1-12; Acts 15: 36-40; Luke 12: 51-53; Mark 10: 35-45; Matthew 20: 20-28


(3) 1 Corinthians 3: 6


(4) For example, there was the question in the early Church whether baptisms in the heretical churches were valid. Here is a quote from Berthold Altaner’s book, Patrology, Herder and Herder, 1960, pp. 194-195 on Cyprian, “”Like Tertullian before him and like the bishops of Asia Minor, Cyprian thought heretical baptism invalid. Three synods at Carthage over which he presided in 255 and 256 declared themselves in favour of the invalidity of heretical baptism. Though Pope Stephen rejected the opinion of the African Church, Cyprian persisted in his view (EH 257/307). This did not later prevent St. Augustine from emphatically defending and excusing him as a catholicus episcopus and catholicus martyr when the Donatists appealed to his authority.”


(5) Hilaire Belloc [1870-1953] is reported to have said that the Catholic Church is “an institute run with such knavish imbecility that if it were not the work of God it would not last a fortnight.” Source of quote – couldn’t find?


(6) Cf. Luke 9:18-21; Matthew 16: 13-20; Mark 8: 27-30; and then the denial of Christ Luke 22: 54-62; Matthew 26: 69-75; Mark 14: 66-72; John 18: 15-18; John 21: 15-19


(7) “For God alone – Soli Deo” …. Cf. Michael J. Curley, Venerable John Neumann, CSSR: Fourth Bishop of Philadelphia, Washington, Catholic University of America Press, 1952, p. 374

SEEING  THE  SKY 

THROUGH  THE  

NEEDLE'S EYE 

Quote for the Day - September 1,  2010


"For rich people, the sky is just an extra, a gift of nature. The poor, on the other hand, can see it as a gift of infinite grace."


Albert Camus [1913-1960], Notebooks 1935-1942

RELIGION

Quote of the Day - August 31, 2010


"Religion is not an opiate, for religion does not help people to forget, but to remember. It does not dull people. It does not say, Take, but Give."


Bede Jarrett, O.P., [1881-1934], The Catholic Mother, 1956


Perhaps written to respond to Karl Marx [1818-1883] who wrote, "Religion ... is the opium of the people." in Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of the Right [1844], introduction.


Miguel de Unamuno [1864-1936] wrote, "One of those leaders of what they call the social revolution has said that religion is the opiate of the people. Opium ... opium ... opium, yes. Let us give them opium so that they can sleep and dream." San Manuel Bueno, prologue.

THE CROSS
IS VERY SIMPLE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22 Monday in Ordinary Time is, “The Cross is Very Simple.”

We get it. We get the cross. It’s life.

And the cross cuts across our life every day.

That’s one reason why we have a cross in every church – in this church – big time big.

TODAY’S READINGS

In today’s first reading from First Corinthians 2: 1-5, we have one of Paul’s recurring themes and most basic messages: “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

We’re told to dress for success. We’re told to stress our strengths in our resumes. Paul talks about his negatives: his weaknesses and his trembling – as well as Jesus’ weaknesses.

Paradoxically, weakness is the power of God.

God is totally weak in the face of free will. Lucifer walked out. Adam and Eve chose the forbidden fruit – and lost the idyllic life of the garden. Cain killed Abel. And the story repeats itself.

Yet if we freely choose God – then life has its greatest meaning and it’s greatest love – and as we walk down its roads, there stand the crosses.

Love isn’t love if the other isn’t free. That’s what makes it so wonderful as well as so painful. The other can say “no” with words or body language by heading for the door or looking at his or her watch and saying, “I gotta go” – or break our heart.

In today’s gospel from Luke 4: 16-30 all is fine. Jesus gives his inaugural address and in the next 3 minutes they want to kill him – by hurling him off the top of a hill.

THE CROSS

We’ve all experienced the cross.

It’s not a cross word puzzle. We get it.

I choose to do this – to go this way – and the other chooses to go that way. We find ourselves at cross purposes.

It’s as simple as that.

We are in Giant’s or Graul’s supermarket and someone cuts right in front of us to get ahead of us on the line and we groan inwardly. And then the person has 3 items that need to be price checked – and then they have problems with their check – and we let out in inward Giant Growl.

It happens in traffic, in church – someone is in our bench – or in our families.

It’s my way or the highway. It’s your way and I think it’s the wrong way.

It happens in every home – in every church – in every organization. It’s always something. It’s the cross.

CONCLUSION

It kills us every time – but every time that we get it – we have an opportunity to grow.

How many people have learned the great prayers of Jesus on the cross: “Why God why?” and then “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” and then, “Into your hands I hand over my spirit.”