SPEECHLESS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for Good Friday Morning Prayer is, “Speechless.”

That’s a strange title for a sermon which hopefully is “sacred speech”.

“Speechless in Annapolis.”

My main point will be: “Good Friday evokes awe – oooh – and – silence.

READING FROM ISAIAH 52: 13-15

“See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him – so marred was his look beyond that of man, and his appearance that of mortals. So shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless; For those who have not been told shall see, those who have heard shall ponder it.”

Speechless is the word that jumped out of the reading in today’s morning prayer for Good Friday. In Isaiah 52: 15 the writer says when people see the servant – the so called “Suffering Servant” – people will be startled and kings will stand speechless.

I stopped and thought about that. I asked when have I stopped and found myself speechless in the presence of another person.

A FEW EXAMPLES

A few years back I received a call from Anne Arundel Medical Center. We love Father Pat Flynn and now Father Joe Krastel, because they both love going up to the hospital and seeing lots and lots of people. I was on duty and got to the hospital and a nurse escorted me into an area I never was in before. It was an operating room. I said to myself, “Uh oh. Oh no!” A whole team were in the middle of an operation. The key doctor said, “Father we couldn’t wait – so we started without you. Could you anoint this man and say some prayers over him. We need all the help we can get.”

I was speechless. I was stunned. Then I anointed his forehead only –not the palms of his hands. There were tubes everywhere. I then spoke some prayers and walked out and the team said, “Thank you!”

Afterwards – as I was taking the surgical mask off, I stood there speechless – thinking, “Did this just happen?” It was a first for me – but I did hear that surgeons can be talkative at times. I’d guess it could be nerves – or the first time they did a big operation they were speechless.

I once was sitting with a couple who were to be married here at St. Mary’s. At the first preliminary meeting I noticed the guy had a metal leg. It was badly wounded in Iraq. As I heard his story, I became speechless. Being an officer, he was picked out for sniper fire – and they got him. Messy. Messy.

Haven’t we all seen someone who had been severely burnt – or what have you – and we’re speechless – especially because we didn’t want to say the wrong thing – or even let our face or body language say the wrong thing?

Well, in this reading, the author is telling about the Suffering Servant who will be raised high and will be greatly exalted. However, he’s also going to have a horrible looking face and body.

After the word, “speechless” the next key word for me was “marred”. I looked it up in my 7 different translations of the Bible. Most of the translations used the word “marred”. Next I wondered what the Hebrew word was – not that I know Hebrew – but I always find this sort of investigation interesting and informative. The Hebrew word is “MISHCHAT” and the English words that are used to translate it are meaning “marred”, “defaced”, “deformed”, “distorted”.

CHRIST

Is it any wonder that the text from Isaiah was used by Christians to describe Christ – who also was marred, defaced, deformed and distorted.

I’m sure you’ve all seen really bloody images of Christ on the cross – or you saw the movie, “The Passion of the Christ” and I’m sure you were speechless – as you sat there or stood there.

I started working on this homily yesterday afternoon and then we were out at St. John Neumann’s last night – and as I sat there looking at the gigantic cross – I continued wondering about this theme of “speechless” and “marred”. Of course I wasn’t doing this during Father Jack Kingsbury’s homily. I was wondering if the question came up when the team and I understand the parish was asked about that crucifix. “How bloody!” “How disfigured?” “How marred?”

I’m sure they and the artist who made that gigantic body for that cross thought about impact – feelings – prayers – that this work of art would evoke.

I wonder what folks who come to St. John Neumann think and feel when they see that gigantic crucifix. I have to come up with a sermon for this evening for the Good Friday service.

CONCLUSION

I’m sure all of us – the more we go through this day – the more Good Fridays we go through in our life – that we all become more and more speechless – in the presence of a God – who was willing to come to us – who was willing to take taunts and spit – and rejections – and beatings – and a crowning with thorns – and then die for us.

Today – listen – watch – notice – Good Friday – this day – around our world is quieter than any other day of the year.

What will be your few words today – if any. A lady was telling me recently that the last two words her husband said to her – as he was dying were, “Thank you!”

That left me speechless.

THE CRUX - THE CROSS -

OF THE MATTER

Quote for Today - Good Friday - April 22, 2011

"It is true, and even tautological, to say that the Cross is the crux of the matter."

G.K, Chesterton [1874-1936], The Everlasting Man, (1925)

Photo on top - a scene along a farm road in Croatia

POETS

Poets throw words into the air.

And some fall into ears and

work their way down

that brown wax channel

into the garden of the brain.

And like a steel spade

the poet’s words and images

wiggle and ease and shake

loose a root of a memory. And

water trickles or rushes up

from that forgotten moment.

And tears flow out of eyes.

And a smile shows up

on a face or two. And sometimes,

sorry, just the opposite happens:

a scowl – the wanting to hide

from a distant deep rooted hurt

which appears as a wince

on a wrinkled face.

O my God, there is so much tilling

and so much telling to tell – and

so much to forget, so much to bury,

or sometimes better, so many roots to cut.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2011

A TASTE

OF SUFFERING

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Holy Thursday morning prayer is, “A Taste of Suffering.”

I picked the topic of suffering because that’s the topic in the following scripture reading we just heard from the 2nd chapter of Hebrews, verses 9 and 10.

“We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, that through God’s gracious will he might taste death for the sake of all. Indeed, it was fitting that when bringing many to glory, God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make their leader in the work of salvation perfect through suffering.”

What’s your take on suffering? What suffering have you tasted in your life so far?

MAKE A LIST – TAKE A LIST TO PRAYER AND TO REFLECTION

If someone asked you to make a list of the top 10 sufferings you have tasted in your life – what would your list look like – what would your list taste like?

The death of a child. The death of a spouse. The sudden death of someone very close to you.

Divorce. Betrayal. Being rejected. Being ignored. A family split apart.

Cancer. Strokes. Alzheimer’s. Parkinson’s. Mental sickness. Retardation.

Abuse. Cover ups. Denial of abuse – allowing for more abuse. False accusations.

Cries in the night. Can’t sleep. No way out. No relief. Enough already.

What did our childhood sound like? When we see and hear little kids screaming in church – do they echo in our screams in the night when we were in the dark and mommy and daddy were elsewhere and we felt all alone? Did we have a happy childhood? How about our teen years? Acne or aches or being made fun of – or thinking teachers had favorites and we weren’t one of them?

We know what it is to think milk or wine or a piece of fruit looks great and we drink it or bite into it and it’s sour or bitter? What sufferings did we taste in our 20’s and 30’s and beyond?

What sufferings do we taste daily? How come everything seems better in the other person’s house or family? Am I plagued by comparisons – and as we know: comparisons can crush. How do optimists become optimists and pessimists become pessimists? Is it a matter of luck or a matter of attitude or grace?

As in a Chinese restaurant, so in life, there is the sweet and the sour,

What sufferings have we tasted?

What do we choose for our outer conversations with each other and our inner conversations with ourselves: Good News or Bad?

As Jesus says in the garden this very night – after the Last Supper, “Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done.” [Luke 22: 42]

Obviously, the reality of suffering, the cross, death, denial, betrayal, are major themes and scenes we ponder and reflect upon and bring them to our prayers, this week – this Holy Week – but also when we have to make our own personal Way of the Cross some other week, some other moment this year or some other year.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM TASTING SUFFERING?

We can make our list on that as well.

We might have learned that suffering can help us grow in understanding and patience – because now we know what others have had to go through.

We might have learned that some people think God zaps and punishes people – and some people don’t lay that on God. Some people know that suffering sometimes comes from the results of our poor eating habits or smoking or drinking or laziness or lake of exercise and sometimes suffering comes with a random knock on our door.

We might have learned that God is powerless when it comes to suffering – so powerless that God became one of us and went through horrible suffering, rejection, jeering, beating, stripped naked and then nailed to a cross and made to die on the cross, to redeem us as well as to help us deal with crosses – to tell and show us we’re not alone when it comes to suffering. We can realize that Christ is with us all days even to the end of the world. Yes, Jesus said he could call on his Father and 12 legions of angels could be there faster than any 911 call. But no, these days we experience once again, what Jesus went through in all these Stations of the Cross – especially the 12th Station – when Jesus dies on the Cross.

What have we learned from tasting suffering?



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Picture on top: Garden of Gethsemani Copyright Kichura

HOLY THURSDAY

Quote for Today - Holy Thursday Prayer - April 21, 2011

"O God,
from whom Judas
received the punishment of his guilt,
and the thief the reward of his confession,
grant us the effect of Your clemency;
that as our Lord Jesus in his passion
gave to each a different recompense
according to his merits,
so may He deliver us from our old sins
and grant us the grace of His resurrection."


This is an English translation of the Collect prayer for Holy  Thursday and Good Friday - the Latin of which is found in the Gelasian Sacramentary dating back to  5th to the 7th century. The Gelasian Sacramentary is the second oldest Roman Catholic liturgigal book. The oldest is the Verona Sacramentary.

Picture on top: Garden of Gethsemani in 1893.

COMMITMENT:

JESUS AND JUDAS

INTRODUCTION

Today, Spy Wednesday, I’d like to talk about commitment.

And after making some preliminary comments about commitment, I’d like to make two points about commitment.

PART ONE: COMMITMENT—

SOME PRELIMINARY COMMENTS

THE QUESTION

I believe that when it comes to commitment, the question isn’t whether I’m committed or not, the question rather is: What am I committed to?

That is the question!

A few weeks ago when I spoke about St. Patrick, I got into this whole issue of where my heart is—where my core is—what am I committed to?

The people we say or think are not committed, might be quite committed to just that: to not being committed—to not being nailed down—to not being tied to anything.

And that very posture is a commitment.

So everyone is committed (in my opinion). So the question once more is: what am I committed to?

AN ASIDE

And as an aside, if a person has a clear commitment and we approve of their commitment and the way its going,  we call them dedicated, zealous, and committed.

If we don’t like them and / or their commitment, we call them fanatics, hardhats, hard heads, liberals, conservatives, nuts, what have you.

LIKE FLINT

In today’s first reading, Isaiah uses the image or symbol of flint. He says, “I have set my face like flint....” [Cf. Isaiah 50: 4-9a]

Flint is basic. It’s stone. It’s hard and well defined.

Isaiah sees that once he becomes a prophet he has to be: dedicated, a rock, stable, sharp, clear, well defined, strong.

We make primitive axes and homes out of rock.

So no wonder it’s a good image or symbol of stability and strength. It’s an image of commitment.

When we are committed, we are willing to fight for our cause. We pick up stone axes or we  tighten our fists.

When we are committed to putting up a house — we start by searching for stones to build solid walls. Picking the spot, starting to build, is a statement to ourselves that we are planning to stay here, to settle here in that place. We’re settling in. We’re committed.

If we’re not, then we hit the road and keep on searching. If not, a tent is our symbol!

EZECHIEL

There is a passage in Ezechiel where we find the same image that we see here in Isaiah.

It’s from Ezechiel 3: 8 - 9:

“The whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate.
But now, I will make you as defiant as they are,
and as obstinate as they are;
I am going to make your resolution as hard as a diamond
and diamond is harder than flint.
So do not be afraid of them,
do not be overawed by them
for they are a set of rebels.”

Then Ezechiel hears the words, “Listen closely....”

LUKE – JESUS FACE IS SET LIKE FLINT

In the gospel of Luke, we find this same message in 9:51. Jesus aimed his face at Jerusalem. Jesus took the road that leads to Jerusalem resolutely.

The people in the north would take a route around Samaria to get to Jerusalem in the south. Jesus went straight through Samaria. His face was set like an arrow towards Jerusalem. He traveled like the crow flies.

That’s commitment.

That’s having a clarity of goal, target, destiny.

COMMITMENT

So commitment is sticking to one’s goal, no matter what.

Isn’t that what Jesus did?

Isn’t that what Judas also did - as we notice in today's gospel? [Cf.  Matthew 26:14-25]

Judas had a clear goal.

He thought Jesus was his way to reach it.

When he saw that Jesus was not fitting his goal, his plans, his expectations, then Judas betrayed him.

That’s commitment.

ANDREW GREELEY

When I read Andrew Greeley’s autobiography, “Confessions of a Parish Priest”, I jotted down several comments about commitment that grabbed me.

On page 32 he writes, “I decided I wanted to be a priest in the second grade, have never changed my mind and never had any doubts.”

On page 95: he spells it out, “So when did I decide to be a priest? In Sister Alma Frances’ classroom, in second grade, in the late autumn of 1935 when she asked how many boys wanted to be priests. About half of us raised our hands, and Sister, God be good to her, said that perhaps one of us would make it. Actually two of us did, my close friend Lawrence McNamara, now bishop of Grand Island, Nebraska, being the other.”

On page 121 he says that when he was in the major seminary and experienced what he thought was nonsense, I “kept my own counsel, honored all the rules ... and gave the proper responses to the prefect of discipline and the spiritual director and the rector when they asked me about my fitness for the priesthood.”

On page 136 he asks, and why? Why did he put the best possible face on it? His answer, because “I wanted to be a priest. My instincts told me there was more to the Church than the seminary.”

And on page 71 we hear Greeley say that his commitment is till death. He is talking about being told to stop writing novels. He is often asked that question.

He explains, “Freedom of expression is not a right the Church can bestow and take away. It’s an inalienable right with which we are born. The Church does not grant it, the Church cannot revoke it, I cannot even in good conscience give it up because Church leaders demand it. It is conceivable, though I think unlikely, that I could lose the canonical standing which I now claim. If that happens, so be it. It is also possible, though unlikely, that ecclesiastical authority could laicize me. Both the cardinal and his Roman friends realize, however, that if they attempted to throw me out of the priesthood, I would simply not leave. I would continue to claim to be a priest theologically if no longer in canonical good standing and continue to do exactly the same work as I am presently doing.” (p. 71)

So that’s commitment. Greeley wanted to be a priest since he was a kid and he still wants to be one.

As priest it was helpful for me to read all this – since my story is somewhat similar in wanting to be a priest ever since grammar school.

Here is one last comment from page 96. “Why did you want to be a priest? That question is a lot harder to answer. I can remember the day I decided, but I can no more articulate the reason for the decision today than I could then. I liked the priests, I respected them, I admired what they seemed to do—intervening somehow between God and humans—and I wanted to do the same thing. The impetus and the drive to the priesthood came not from the family, but from me, not exactly against their better judgment, but against some gently spoken reservations.”

“My response to the reservations was typical of the little boy who had run down the hill at Twin Lakes. Why experiment with something else when you’ve made up your mind what you want to do? Why put off ordination for one more year? Why make the course thirteen years instead of twelve?” (p. 96)

Enough of Greeley. I state all that to stress what commitment is—whether it’s Greeley, or Isaiah, or Ezechiel or Jesus.

Now two points about commitment.

PART TWO:

TWO POINTS ABOUT COMMITMENT

FIRST POINT

The question then is not whether we are committed, but what we are committed to.

Now I would make the point that we’ll never really be happy or joyful, until we are committed to what God made us for.

If we chase the wrong star, it’s disaster.

And the line from today’s gospel, jumps off the page. “It would have been better if we had not been born.”

We are born to do God’s plan for us.

God is not an idiot. God made us for a reason. God has plans for us. He has dreams for us and about us.

So that would be my first point. The secret of happiness is to do God’s will, God’s dream for us.

Thy will be done.

When we don’t, we are in living in “Disasterville.”

POINT TWO

And the second point is to come up with answers to this question: “Well then, how do I know God’s will, God’s plan, God’s dream for me?”

And the answer is to ask him. Stop and listen to him.

I mentioned above some words from Ezechiel. Listen closely to them.

We heard in today’s first reading that we should pray each morning that God’s pours his word into our ears.

EMPTY CUP OR GLASS

Each morning when we fill our glass with orange juice or our cup with coffee, simply say, “Here I am, Lord. Pour your words into my ear.”

Or as Ezechiel says elsewhere, “Eat God’s words.”

So how do we know God’s will. Ask him.

This is holy week. Listen to him.

Hear the word of the Lord.

Chew on that word. God’s word will become you.

CONCLUSION

Maybe that’s what Judas stopped doing! Maybe he stopped listening to Jesus somewhere along the line.




Picture on Top - Judas in a study on the Last Supper by Michaelangelo.

NOW

Quote for Today  - April 20, 2011

"Why always, 'Not yet'? Do flowers in spring say, 'not yet'?"

Norman Douglas