WOULD YOU DRINK
TO THAT?
Quote for Today - February 19, 2011
"Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine."
St. Thomas Aquinas [1225-1274]
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
BABEL, BABEL, BABEL
The title of my homily for this 6th Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Babel, Babel, Babel.”
In today’s first reading we have the famous, “Tower of Babel” story from the Book of Genesis 11:1-9.
It’s a great story for so many reasons.
We know that the purpose of these early stories in Genesis is to try to answer basic questions:
- Where do we come from?;
- Who started all this?;
- If God makes only the good, where does evil come from?;
- How come people mess up and kill each other?;
- Why are there floods and natural disasters?; etc. etc. etc.
We were taught that this story evolved in an attempt to answer the question: where and why do the different languages of the world come from? If we all descended from Adam and Eve – how come we’re all speaking different languages?
Last night I checked how many languages there are in our world. The New York Times Almanac said there are approximately 100 languages in the world and Wikipedia on line said there were from 3000 to 6000 languages. That’s quite a difference. I assume it’s one more example of, “It all depends on how we’re seeing or understanding a question.”
The answer from the author of this text in Genesis explains it all by the sin of pride. Adam and Eve went it without God – and here now are people trying to build a tower to reach the heavens – on their own – without the help of God.
I did it my way!
We’ve all heard the saying: “The bigger they are; the harder they fall.”
We’ve seen little kids at the beach trying to build a bigger and better sand castle than the other kids. We laughed when the kid with the biggest castle was standing there – tall – filled with pride – and then the whole thing came crumbling down by a big wave. We didn’t know it then, but we were learning one of life’s big lessons: things crumble – especially when we think we’re solid sure and bigger and better than others.
The symbol for pride in the Tarot Cards is the tower.
Unfortunately and fortunately, it’s when we fall that we crawl to God. So it’s not just Christmas and Ash Wednesday that some people come to church and to God. It’s when they experience powerlessness and sickness and crumble and crash and crush. It’s when something has gone wrong with our body or our health or our family that we turn to God.
The sounds, “Uh oh” – are sometimes the beginning of real prayer.
It’s a no brainer that the human brain knows to tell us to fall on our knees when we know we need a power greater than ourselves.
It’s a no brainer that the human brain knows that those who imitate the proud, imitate them by sticking their noses up in the air. There’s the tower image again. And we know that the word for “humble” comes from the Latin word “humus”. We are made from the dirt of the earth and it will be rubbed into our foreheads this year on March 9th, 2011. That’s Ash Wednesday this year. And we’ll hear the ancient words, “Remember you are dust, dirt, earth, and into dust you shall return.”
Notice in today’s first reading that the people stopped building the tower – made of clay bricks – and each went their own way. Like everything, in time the tower disintegrated and disappeared. Remember towers of power, you are dirt and into dirt you shall return.
I dare say that this was part of the motive for the two times others tried to bomb the World Trade Center – the second time they succeeded and there was the horrible carnage and death that resulted. Obviously some thought: “Let’s destroy two great United States symbols of power: the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. What was the other target?
Let me close with a poem that tells the story of the Tower of Babel in other words. It’s called, “Blue Girls” A man saw some beautiful young school girls on a green lawn running and playing and dressed in Blue and it triggered for the poet, the memory of a beautiful woman who fell from grace.
Instead of saying a few words on how today’s gospel – Mark 8 to 9:1, where Jesus talks about just the opposite of pride, emptying and denying oneself, I would like to close with a poem.
The poem is by John Crowe Ransom – and it has a few words to explain before reciting and closing with this poem.
Sward – S W A R D – is a section of ground covered with grass. The word “sward” goes nicely with twirling and skirts.
Fillets - F I L L E T S – a fillet is a strip of material that is a headband – in this poem there are “white fillets” in the girls’ hair.
Seminary – is an old word for “school”.
Here’s the poem:
BLUE GIRLS
by John Crowe Ransom
Twirling your blue skirts, traveling the sward
Under the towers of your seminary,
Go listen to your teachers old and contrary
Without believing a word.
Tie the white fillets then about your hair
And think no more of what will come to pass
Than bluebirds that go walking on the grass
And chattering on the air.
Practice your beauty, blue girls, before it fail;
And I will cry with my loud lips and publish
Beauty which all our power shall never establish,
It is so frail.
For I could tell you a story which is true;
I know a lady with a terrible tongue,
Blear eyes fallen from blue,
All her perfections tarnished—yet it is not long
Since she was lovelier than any of you.
* Painting on top: The Tower of Babel [1563] by Peter Brugel the Elder [c. 1526 / 1530 - 1569]
Thursday, February 17, 2011
SHARING OUR STUFF
Quote for Today - February 17, 2011
"We should not consider our material possessions our own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need."
St. Thomas Aquinas O.P. [c. 1225-1274]
Painting on top by Fra Angelico, also a Dominican [c. 1387-1455] Oooops! Maybe I should have looked for a painting of Thomas with more of a smile on his face. I read somewhere that he was a jolly person.
Suggestion to any Catholic who screams about socialism: reflect upon the above words of Aquinas in light of the Acts of the Apostles 4:32 as well as the great social encyclicals and documents of the Catholic Church: Rerum Novarum, Leo XIII; Quadragesimo Anno, Pius XI; Mater et Magistra, Pacem in Terris [Pope John 23], Gaudium et Spes, Vatican II; Populorum Progressio, Octogesima Adveniens, Paul VI; Laborem Exercens, Sollicitudo Res Socialis, Evangelium Vitae, Centesimus Annus, John Paul II; Caritas in Veritate, Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
“COMPLETE THIS SENTENCE:
I REGRET….”
I REGRET….”
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 6 Tuesday in Ordinary time is, “Complete This Sentence: I Regret….”
Those are words found in a book, How To Survive the Loss of a Love, by Melba Colgrove, Harold H. Bloomfield, and Peter McWilliams.
Would everyone give us an answer to that request?
Regrets can be like lobsters; they can bite us; they can really hold onto us.
We’ve all heard people being asked that question: “Any regrets?”
And we’ve all heard people in public say, “Nope. No regrets.”
But would that person – some night years later – with scotch or bourbon or wine in hand say, “Okay I have one regret.”
Does every person who has lost a loved one – have at least one thing they wished they said or did?
Haven’t we all put our foot – maybe even both feet – into our mouth – and said the wrong thing at the wrong time – and then – we made it worse – by repeating what we were really trying to say but even "worser" and there is no eraser for some "worser" words?
Did Jesus ever regret picking Judas or even Peter? How about Thomas? I’m sure he had no regrets about Andrew. But how about James and John?
DE-ENERGIZING THE BUNNY AND IT ISN’T FUNNY
Might-have-beens can be mighty draining.
Katherine Mansfield said regrets are “An appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in The Way to Freedom, wrote, “If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.”
So do you have any regrets? Have you gotten on any wrong trains? Have you made any mistakes? How about sins of omission? How did it go with your marriage? How did it go with your family? How did it go with go with schooling, money, jobs? How about you and God?
AT LEAST 5 A DAY
At the end of the day, I have at least 5 regrets for that day.
But it’s the big ones that count – the lifetime regrets.
I regret that I didn’t ask my dad all the questions that I thought of after he died June 26, 1970 – but I’m happy I sat down with yellow pad and pen 5 or so months before he died and asked him questions that gave me about 40 pages of info and stories on paper – in hand.
I had some good conversations with my mom – and I’m glad I taped her before she died – April 7, 1987.
But there are still so many more questions.
There have been lots of insipid or stupid sermons. There are 3 books that I haven’t finished. There are also 2 books on my shelf that I could not get a publisher for.
There are lots of people I didn’t visit – because of laziness – selfishness - and lots of excuses, excuses, excuses - all of which are sources for a lot of regrets.
CONCLUSION
What triggered this topic is the comment about God in today’s first reading from Genesis 6: 6: “God regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved.”
But would that person – some night years later – with scotch or bourbon or wine in hand say, “Okay I have one regret.”
Does every person who has lost a loved one – have at least one thing they wished they said or did?
Haven’t we all put our foot – maybe even both feet – into our mouth – and said the wrong thing at the wrong time – and then – we made it worse – by repeating what we were really trying to say but even "worser" and there is no eraser for some "worser" words?
Did Jesus ever regret picking Judas or even Peter? How about Thomas? I’m sure he had no regrets about Andrew. But how about James and John?
DE-ENERGIZING THE BUNNY AND IT ISN’T FUNNY
Might-have-beens can be mighty draining.
Katherine Mansfield said regrets are “An appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in The Way to Freedom, wrote, “If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.”
So do you have any regrets? Have you gotten on any wrong trains? Have you made any mistakes? How about sins of omission? How did it go with your marriage? How did it go with your family? How did it go with go with schooling, money, jobs? How about you and God?
AT LEAST 5 A DAY
At the end of the day, I have at least 5 regrets for that day.
But it’s the big ones that count – the lifetime regrets.
I regret that I didn’t ask my dad all the questions that I thought of after he died June 26, 1970 – but I’m happy I sat down with yellow pad and pen 5 or so months before he died and asked him questions that gave me about 40 pages of info and stories on paper – in hand.
I had some good conversations with my mom – and I’m glad I taped her before she died – April 7, 1987.
But there are still so many more questions.
There have been lots of insipid or stupid sermons. There are 3 books that I haven’t finished. There are also 2 books on my shelf that I could not get a publisher for.
There are lots of people I didn’t visit – because of laziness – selfishness - and lots of excuses, excuses, excuses - all of which are sources for a lot of regrets.
CONCLUSION
What triggered this topic is the comment about God in today’s first reading from Genesis 6: 6: “God regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved.”
How about regrets about women? Smile.
Of course, that’s a projection by the writer onto God. It’s what they call an "anthropomorphism".
Hopefully we have no regrets that a writer put this story of the big flood into the Bible – because it certainly has helped people who have been flooded out and drowned in stupidity – or what have you - to have hope after the big loss, after the big regret, to start again – and doing this life over.
And P.S.: going two by two or more, certainly makes life easier than going it alone - except for those two mosquitoes God let on Noah's boat. I regret them and a few other bugs. I know. Everything has a reason. But ....
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