BITTER OR SWEET?
Quote for Today - August 11, 2011
"Let us be patient, tender, wise, forgiving,
In this strange task of living;
For if we fail each other, each will be
Grey driftwood lapsing to the bitter sea."
Martin Armstrong, Body and Spirit.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
UNCONTROLLABLE: WORDS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 19th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Uncontrollable: Words.”
I’m preaching this homily to myself this morning, because I want to get a handle on something that I find very difficult to control: words.
One of life’s lessons is the reality that once words are out there, out of our mouth, we can’t control them. I don’t golf or bowl, but I’ve tried both a few times way back when. I learned that once the ball is off the tee and into the air, it’s out of my control, so too a bowling ball. I can try to give them a good send off, but once they are gone - they are gone - out of my control. That’s obvious.
This is obviously obvious about words. Once they are out there - what we said can be interpreted in a way we didn’t intend - or words can be twisted intentionally or unintentionally - misunderstood or understood.
So my first thought is: "One of life’s lessons is the reality that words are uncontrollable. They are slippery eels."
OTHER PEOPLE ALSO HAVE MOUTHS
That's us. What about others? We can’t control the words of others - what comes out of their mouths.
That is also very obvious and it can be a bummer.
Remember Art Linkletter’s old line, “Kids say the darndest things.” So too priests, so too husbands, so too wives, so too parents, uncles, aunts, the other person. You never know what the other might say.
How many times in a week, do we say, “I wish he didn’t say that!”?
HERE AT ST. MARY’S
If we say something in the pulpit that someone doesn’t like, sometimes they put their objection into words. Sometimes the pastor receives an e-mail or a letter or a phone call from the listener. It was Father Jack Kingsbury’s policy to forward the e-mail or letter to the priest with the complaint.
I don’t know what the new pastor, Father John Tizio, will have as his policy, but I assume it will be roughly the same. I’ve received a few of them. I didn’t like them, but it’s good that people have a chance to comment or voice their complaint to the priest in person and articulate what bugged them.
Not everyone likes the words that fly through the air. We all remember the proverbial, “I shot an arrow into the air ….”
However, words are what make us human - and communication is all about human words - as well as about the person on the other side of the tongue and ear.
QUESTION - TODAY’S FIRST READING
Maybe you're wondering: What triggered this question and topic about "Uncontrollable: words?"
I assume that people who come to daily mass have the assumption that the priest will say a few words about the readings or a reading.
Well when I read today’s first reading, I said to myself, “Oh no! No! No. No. Not again!”
Today’s first reading - Deuteronomy 31: 1-8 - is one more reading where it has God zapping and destroying people.
I remember a rabbi saying to me that I have to read the Koran - if I am going to be a priest in today’s world. So I bought a Koran and read it. I began to notice example after example of God burning and destroying people and the call to exterminate people.
I began wondering: Is this Islam? Is this why there was September 11th or what have you? Then I began noticing that our scriptures have some of the same violence - God destroying people.
Another two questions popped up: Should we avoid all these texts? Should we only use texts that say just the opposite?
Thinking about all this: I couldn’t come up with a good reason for us to proclaim this violence in church. Should there be censorship? Should we avoid these R Rated readings - R for Violence.
Who would be the censor? Is the plan to put it all out on the table?
Nope. I assume the reason is because the Catholic Church decided to give the People the whole Bible over 2 and 3 year periods. Once you decide that, then there are some readings some people will like and there are some readings people won’t like.
Of course, at weddings and funerals people get to pick - sometimes or most of the time - in some places.
In the meanwhile we get all these readings from Jesus telling folks to put down the rocks and the swords along with texts about hellfire and the grinding of teeth and people being wiped out.
UNCONTROLLABLE
Then once more it hit me loud and clear, I have no control over any of this.
And the more I learn that I have no control over the readings at Mass - plus how people hear the readings at Mass - the more peaceful I can be.
The message is loud and clear: I can’t get my way. This is the way life works.
As priest I still hear people complaining about what some nun taught them in catechism as a kid and it drove them away from church - or made them scrupulous - that everything is sinful. Why do they keep on picking on nuns? What about all the good they did?
They pick on priests as well. There is always the someone who was hurt by something a priest said to them in confession. Or someone mentions how their outlook on God is a hell and damnation God - because of words they heard years ago from the pulpit.
One of my favorite string of words is from the Talmud: "Teach thy tongue to say, 'I do not know!'"
Maybe I ought to follow: "Teach thy mind to say: 'It's out of your control.'"
Control. Uncontrollable. It’s life.
Who can control the wind? Who can control the words? Who can control the reactions?
Okay we can turn off the TV or turn off some of what we’re taking in - but I’m saying here, to be human is to enter into the world of thoughts and words.
So sometimes I can’t even control my own mouth - let alone my thoughts and judgments and distractions.
And obviously, I can’t control what comes out of other people’s mouth.
Someone just mentioned yesterday that he heard on EWTN that a priest said that getting a tattoo is sinful - because it’s destroying one’s body. “Is that true?”
I said, “I disagree.”
I wasn’t going to get into that one.
Afterwards I said to myself, “Good move keeping your mouth shut - except for 2 words!” Then I laughed to myself, “If that’s what the guy heard the priest say on TV, I’m sure I’ll hear that question or comment again.”
Well, if anything, that comment will get people to think. It will get people to say to themselves, “You don't have to believe everything you hear on TV or from the pulpit.”
Think. Process. Go figure. Talk. Communicate. Read. Study. Google. Learn.
No kidding.
I can also hear people thinking: “What are they going to say next: pierced ears are wrong too? Try that one and see if the fund raising goes down. As to the tattoos, it will be a conversation starter for the next 50 years. Mommy what were you thinking when you got that tattoo on your back?”
CONCLUSION
So I have no control over what others say - only what I say or don’t say - and only sometimes.
That would be the message I am talking out loud about today.
Driving back today I might say to myself, “Dumb move with that sermon. It was too, too wordy. You could have said what you said in 25 words or less - or talked about the Gospel and the Kids or Lost Sheep."
Yet I think it’s something worth addressing - and talking about - because when we forget this reality about, “Uncontrollable: Words” - we get ourselves upset from time to time - and sometimes big time.
Then I laughed again, because I then said to myself, “Actually, after we get over being the little children Jesus talks about in today’s gospel. [Matthew 18: 1-5] we are all called to grow up and become adults who know that much of life is all our of our control. It’s uncontrollable. Amen.”
Monday, August 8, 2011
OUT OF THE DEPTHS
I CRY FOR YOU
O GOD!
Quote for the Day - August 8, 2011
"Desire and longing are the whips of God."
Anna Wickham [1884-1947], Sehnsucht. This the name of a poem by Anna Wickham. Sehnsucht is the German word for "longing". "Sehnen" means "to long for" and "sucht" means addiction. So the word connotes a deep intensive addiction to longing. May we all have a deep longing and hunger and thirst for God. May we see in all our hungers and thirsts the hunger and thirst for the ALL - GOD.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
WHISPERING SOUND
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “A Tiny Whispering Sound.”
Those are words we heard in today’s first reading: “A Tiny Whispering Sound.” 1 Kings 19:12.
Elijah the prophet is running for his life from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel - two infamous characters in the Jewish Scriptures and Jewish history.
We know and have heard of these names: Ahab and Jezebel. Ahab is the name chosen by Herman Melville for the self-destructive mad sea captain in Moby Dick and Jezebel is the name and title of one of Frankie Lane’s songs about a devil of a woman. Listen to the first few verses of his song entitled “Jezebel”:
Jezebel.
Jezebel.
If ever the devil was born,
Without a pair of horns
It was you,
Jezebel, it was you.
If ever an angel fell,
Jezebel,
It was you.
Jezebel, it was you.
If ever a pair of eyes,
Promised paradise.
Deceiving me, grieving me,
Leavin' me blue.
Jezebel, it was you.
So Elijah the prophet is running for his life from Ahab and Jezebel. He hides in the desert. He hides in the mountains. He hides in a cave.
He feels all alone and the only one left is God.
And he hears the Lord say, “I am going to be passing by.”
1 KINGS 19
And we have heard this famous story from 1st Kings 19 - today’s first reading - in our past - but did we hear it? It ought to be part of our spiritual repertoire - one of our inner spiritual stories that help us in our inner life. So we ought to know this scripture story in 1st Kings 19.
Elijah is all alone and he hears God say, “I’m going to be passing by.”
Then he has 4 experiences:
• First, there is a great and mighty wind that splits the mountains and shatters the rocks - but God is not in the wind.
• Next there is an earthquake - but God is not in the earthquake.
• Next comes fire - but God is not in the fire.
• Lastly comes a tiny whispering sound - and Elijah hides his face in his cloak as he stands there at the entrance of a cave. He has just had a God experience - a theophany.
Our text stops ends there.
Dumb. The next line has God speaking to Elijah. The text says, “Then a voice addressed him; ‘Why are you here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I am moved by zeal for the Lord, the God of Hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and have put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life.’”
In this experience, this encounter, with a very quiet God, Elijah is turned around and God sends him back into the action - to be a prophet - someone who challenges the mighty - the powerful - those who are not listening to the Word of God.
In 1st Kings 22 - a few chapters later - Ahab is killed in battle - hit by a random arrow - and the blood from his wound ran down into the hollow of his chariot. Then the dead body of the king was brought to Samaria and they flushed out his chariot in the pool at Samaria. It sounds like a car wash - a chariot wash - and then the author of this text from 1st Kings says the dogs lapped up his blood in that water.
In 2nd Kings 9 we learn the fate of Jezebel. She was thrown out a window and tramped to death by horses down below. Then she is dropped in a field in Jezreel and dogs devoured her flesh and all that is left is her skull.
The description of both their deaths are R rated - so I’ll only say that much - and that’s a lot.
And Elijah goes forward to proclaim the Lord. He passes on his powers and mantle to his successor - Elisha the prophet - and then he flies off into the sky in a fiery chariot as is told in a legendary story. And we hear his name told over and over again with reverence throughout both the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. I like the tradition of the empty chair left for Elijah in some Jewish ceremonies.
LISTENING TO THE TINY WHISPERINGS OF GOD
Now to be practical as well as poetic - here would be my homily point for today.
Listen to the tiny whisperings of God.
Take time to listen to the tiny whisperings of God.
It’s called prayer.
Survey after survey of what people want from homilies is for us to teach people how to pray - how to deepen our relationship with God.
In this homily I’m saying: Stop and listen to the tiny whisperings of God. As Psalm 46:10 puts it: “Be still and know that I am God.”
People pray and scream to God in tornadoes and hurricanes. People pray and scream to God in earthquakes and fires, but today’s first reading challenges us to hear the tiny whisperings of God.
The scriptures say over and over and over again: “Hear the word of the Lord.” “Listen… listen … listen to God’s voice!” “Harden not your hearts!” “People have ears but they don’t hear.” “Listen….”
CROWDED ROOM
Have you ever been in a crowded room - and everybody is talking, talking, talking - so many voices - that you can’t hear well?
In the last 25 years we’ve seen a dramatic change in society: everyone seems to be listening to these tiny whisperings in their ear. We see people driving, walking, talking, listening, smiling, making gestures with their hands - as they walk. We see them doing this at ballgames, at the Mall, and they are all alone - that is till we see that thing in their ear - or next to their ear. Ye gads! The gadgets….
That’s just one series of things people are listening to.
There is another one even deeper. I’ve been saying in sermons for years now that the number one conversation we’re all having - all the time - is inside our heads. We’re always talking and listening to ourselves - inner chatter, chatter, chatter, talking, talking, talking, inner yak, yak, yak, yak, yak, yak, yak. Tell me what you’re talking to yourself about and I’ll tell you who you are.
Some 30 or so years ago I was listening to an audio tape of a talk by Alan Watts. He was saying Eastern meditation teachers ask their students to quiet their tongues. He said the human tongue is forever moving - always ever slightly - when talking out loud or in loud. I don’t know now and didn’t know then if that is true about the tongue ever moving. It impressed me. It helped me realize I’m always thinking - talking inwardly.
Become conscious of your tongue right now. Move your tongue around in your mouth. Listen to your tongue. Notice it. Is it moving?
I also am aware that everyone here in church is talking and thinking inwardly all through this Mass about all kinds of things.
My fantasy about preaching is that nobody in church is hearing a word that I’m saying or even noticing me. My hope is that people become aware of their inner talk - inner issues - the me that’s me - and then they bring into consciousness something the readings or the preacher triggered - and it challenges them - sometimes something said in a whisper - a tiny whisper and they didn’t even hear it coming.
I’m hoping that something I said or the readings said or the stained glass windows trigger - changes people’s inner conversation from something that happened yesterday or last night or something they are thinking about for this afternoon - and then they hear a tiny God whisper - and they say, “What?” or “Wait a minute!” Or, “God what are whispering to me? Woooo!”
So I’m assuming that a zillion phone conversations and radio and TV sounds are flying through this space here in this church right now. We don’t hear them - unless we access a few of them with a gadget.
But I’m also assuming that there a zillion sounds and voices inside each human skull - inside each human auditorium on our shoulders - inside each church above our neck. They're stored in there - and we’ve processed them - most of them being the zillion whispers - we’ve collected in our lives so far.
I’m assuming this is part of how we become who we are. We’ve heard all these million voices of our mom and dad - and teachers - TV - radio - songs, sounds, and they’re there inside the memory banks in our brains.
I would hope that one type of prayer would be to isolate the tiny whispering sounds of God - in the mix of all these voices and really hear and consider them. I would hope that this happens more and more in life - and these theophanies, these whisperings of God become our spiritual life more and more.
I hope a tiny bit of this got into your jet stream this morning.
I also hope some of this sounds interesting - and you say, “I’m going to think about all this.”
I hope that this grabs you: that God is whispering all the time. Not just our conscience which is sometimes called that still soft voice inside us - but God's voice is a deep whisper you hear.
I’m also saying there is competition for air time - with all these phone calls, texts, twitterings, etc. Someone just told me the other day she dropped her Facebook deal - and she felt so empty at first - but then came this great big sound of relief. She heard a whispered, “Phew!”
R RATED VOICES
And I better also say, I would hope all of us would realize there are alien sounds - dangerous inner whisperings - dangerous surround sounds around us. Some of our whisperings as well as inner songs and sounds are Ahab like sounds of self destruction or Jezebel like sounds of greed and intrigue that end up having us hurting others by our gossip or our nastiness or what have you - and in the process we destroy ourselves.
I would hope today all of us would think outside the boat, the bed, the box, the chariot, the car, the brain, the mind called me. We are in an ocean of words. We can be drowning in words. This could be overwhelming and scary - like Peter thinking outside the boat in today’s gospel and he steps out into the water and flounders and almost drowns for lack of faith - and Jesus saves him.
I would hope we all have both the experience of Peter and the experience of Elijah - and we sit down in quiet places - like church or in the backyard or a walk - or on a boat - or on the shore - after life’s experiences - and we listen to the whisperings sounds of God within. They are there.
Every night before going to bed - I found it practical to ask myself - "What happened today?" Then I make sort of a shopping list with a word or two describing the different things I experienced that day. I usually come up with about 15 items on that list - one word or one liners. Then I put a circle around the most significant moment or experience. Then I bring it into communion with God.
Then I might say, “Thanks God” or “Sorry God” or “Better tomorrow, God.” And then it's time to get to bed.
CONCLUSION
Remember the old joke: If you talk to God, it’s called prayer; but if you hear God talking to you, it’s schizophrenia.
Disagree - most of the time.
In this homily I’m saying both are prayer - and like Elijah, it’s smart to take the time to run away from it all from time to time, and listen to the tiny whisperings of God in our ear.
And the more we listen - calmly and quietly - surprise - the more we discover God is there in all the moments of life - and we Christians will discover what the disciples of Jesus discovered: Jesus, the Son of God, is walking beside us every moment - in the water - on land - in the day - and in the night.
Just listen - and we’ll hear the tiny whispering sounds of God.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
BECOMING QUIET,
BECOMING STILL
BEKNOWING GOD!
Quote for Today - August 7, 2011
"To my mind the most poignant mystical exhortation ever written is 'Be still and know that I am God.'"
Arnold Bennett, Journals, December 1929
Picture on top: Solitude Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado - photo by Erik Stensland
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