PSALM 52

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily  for this 22 Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “Psalm 52”.

That’s the Psalm that is used today between the First reading and today’s Gospel. I only heard of one priest in my whole life, Father Pat McGarrity, who preached on the Psalms. I heard that he preached on the Psalm in between the readings for a whole year in his parish up in Pennsylvania. Interesting.

In the past three years I’ve been preaching more on the First Reading during the week - just to be challenged - and to learn more and be enriched more. The Psalms are sitting there waiting. I’ve given about 10 retreats on the Psalms - and I’ve often had the thought, “Why not offer a program here in the parish on the psalms - say for an hour - like Deacon Norcio gave on Saint Paul?” Time, laziness, lots of other jobs and the question: would people show up?

The title of my homily for today is, “Psalm 52.”

And today we’re only getting 2 verses of the Psalm - the last two verses 10 and 11, so the whole first section of the Psalm is not heard. That often happens in the liturgy. They simply want to use something from the Psalms as an interlude - especially a musical interlude. The early tradition was the Psalm was sung and the crowd sang the response - as we do here in most Sunday Masses.

BACKGROUND AND  CONTEXT

Let me take a moment to give the whole context of the Psalm. So I would like to say a few words about the Psalm and then recite the whole Psalm.

The two verses we heard, the last two verses, are very positive.

The whole Psalm up to verse 10 is quite nasty and negative.

The Psalm gives us a choice. Do I rely on God or do I rely on myself and use my tongue to get at and deal with other people that annoy me or I don’t care for?

The Psalm uses David as a central character. People are attacking him with words - making fun of him with choice comments. How does he respond?

He responds that he relies on God - and as a result he’s like an olive tree that is flourishing in God’s temple. He responds by saying that he is praising God - because God helps those who trust in him.

That’s the Psalm in a nutshell. So we have a choice to rely on God or on ourselves alone and our tongue - to fight, to cut, to stab back.

TWO TRANSLATIONS

Let me give two translations of Psalm 52. The first is the published and close to the Hebrew translation. I better add that I tweaked it a bit - based on various translations of it - so as to make it as clear as possible. I have a theory that the Psalms got their prestige because of the tune and sound - like our popular music - more than their words - so if they are not sung - I want to help them a bit with the best translation. The second will be my translation - more free flowing - because I like to do that as a hobby from time to time. I think I’ve done about 17 of the 150 Psalms so far.


                                      PSALM 52

                   Why do you boast of evil, O hero?
                   God’s kindness is all day long,
                   so why does your tongue devise                          disasters?


                   Your tongue is like a well-                                sharpened razor,
                   ready for deceit.


                   You love evil better than good,
                   a lie more than telling the truth.


                  You love all destructive words
                  from your tongue of deceit.


                 God surely will smash you forever,
                 sweep you up and pull you out of                      your tent,
                 root your children from the land of                    the living.


                And the righteous will see this and                   be in dread
                and laugh over you and say,
               “Look at the man who does not make
                God his stronghold,
               who trusts in his great wealth,
               who should be strong, but he’s a                        disaster!


               I, for my part, I am like a verdant                      olive tree
               in the house of our God.
               I trust in God’s kindness forevermore.
               I shall praise You forever,
               for You have acted and I have hoped                  in Your name,
               for you have been so good to your                      faithful ones.


                              PSALM 52

               Why are you so full of yourself,
               you who think yourself so perfect.


              Think of your tongue. It’s a sword
               and your mouth is its scabbard.


             You pull it out - sharpen it -
             making it razor sharp
             and then you slice people up
             with your razor sharp words.


            Your tongue is all lies.
            No truth comes out of your mouth.


           But don’t look now, you’re going
           to lose all those around you -
           especially your own children
           and those of your own house.


           People will be scared of you,
           but they will also be laughing at you
           behind your back.


           So you have a choice - to trust in                      yourself,
           in what you think are riches and                        valuable
           or you can trust in the mercy and                      goodness of God -
           and if you do, you’ll flourish
           like an olive tree in God’s temple.

ANALYSIS 

SELF 

AND OTHER

Quote for Today  - August 31,  2011

"The analysis  of character is the highest human entertainment."


Isaac Bashevis Singer [1902-1991]

WAKE UP!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Wake Up!”

In spirituality and in psychology, in prayer and mediation, in various religions, a theme that pops up from time to time is, “Awakening!”

As Catholics we hear about it every year in Advent.

And here it is this morning in today’s first reading. Paul is telling the folks at Thessalonica - as he’ll tell the folks in Rome, “It’s time to wake up.” [1]

Wake up!

QUESTION

What have been the wake up calls in my life?

Was it a teacher or a coach that burst our balloon or ego bubble, who said, “Wake up or you’re going to fail!” or “Unless you show some improvement, you’re going to be sitting on the bench every game!”

Or was it not making the team - or being dumped by someone you fell in love with? Or was it a cancer scare or a death or a loss of a job?

What have been the wake up calls in my life?

Wake up!

BUDDHA

The Buddha found the light - the inner eye opener - the answer - the secret - in the middle way - while sitting under the Bodhi tree. And his life was different from then on - in and out. He had had it all. He gave away it all. He discovered light in the center of the seesaw. He saw riches and he saw poverty. He saw being young and he saw being old and losing it all slowly. He woke up. He saw and he could see through everything - that desire is what kills us. I want my way or it’s the high way - and that’s not the way it works. Remove desire and you remove unhappiness. Aha! Now I see! [2]

TREES

The Christian could sit under the tree of the cross - the Seeing Tree - and discover enlightenment. He or she could say just what the centurion said there on Calvary - the same thing the man with unclean spirits saw and said in today’s gospel. “I know who you are: the Holy One of God.”

The Christian could sit under the tree of the cross - the Seeing Tree - and discover that it doesn’t end the way I thought it was going to end. It took the disciples a bunch of days and a bunch of experiences and a lot of letting go after Good Friday to discover that - to see that.

The Christian could sit under the tree of the cross - the Seeing Tree - and discover that unless I learn to forgive - I’m not going to be okay. Can I see and then say what Jesus saw and said from the cross, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” If I can see that, I am seeing the power of resurrection that is possible in forgiveness - because forgiveness calls for the humble crumble of ego.

Sitting under the tree of the cross - the Seeing Tree - gets us to the roots of reality - and Christ the Risen One - can get us to rise and follow him - and continue to be Christ and his Presence in our world.

Sitting on these hard wooden benches - in this church - wood from cut down a long time ago - sitting under the tree of the cross - the Seeing Tree - we can see a lot - we can have big wake up calls.

A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE FOR TODAY: MAKE A LIST

Make a list of one’s 10 top wake up calls in one’s life so far.

The secret is to list 20, 40, 50 of them - enlightening moments - and then pick one’s top 10 and then rank them in order of impact. This takes work - and prayer - and time - but it’s well worth it.

And share your list with loved ones and hear theirs if possible.

Paul - under his earlier name Saul - had his big wake up call - his awakening moment on the road to Damascus. [3]

Augustine, whose feast was August 28, but we missed it because it was this past Sunday, had his wake up call in a garden in Milan. [4]

CONCLUSION

It’s my experience -  if I do that kind of an exercise - making my list and then listing the 10 top wake up calls or wake up moments, then I’ll start to have more. That’s the way it works. Life can be an eye opening experience. We can wake up every morning - and no longer be a sleep walker.

I know I can preach asleep. I know people sleep during sermons. I know I can be like Rip Van Winkle and be asleep for years and years and years. [5]

As Paul said in today’s first reading, “All of you are children of light and of the day. We belong neither to darkness nor to night; therefore let us not be asleep like the rest, but awake and sober.”

Wake up.

I believe this is one of ten top things Jesus does: he calls people to wake up.

Wake up.



NOTES

[1] I Thessalonians 5: 1-6, 10-16 [Today's First Reading] Check also: Romans 13: 11-14; Ephesians 5: 1-20

[2] Buddhist Scriptures, edited by Edward Conze, Penguin Books, 1959; Lama Surya Das, Awakening The Buddhist Heart, Broadway Books, New, York, 2000, especially Chapter 2, “Awakening to a Deeper Love - A Buddha’s Love” Check The Documents of Vatican II, "Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions," [1965] # 2. Check also The Catechism of the Catholic Faith [1994],  #842 and 843. I was hoping that this particular catechism would give more recognition on the gifts and insights of non-Christian religions to our world. Compare that Churchwide Catechism to  The Dutch Catechism [1967], pages 28 to 30; 271; 284-285. Cf. Zen Catholicism by Dom Aelred Graham, Harcourt, Brace and World, 1963. Looking at the dates of the Vatican II document as well as The Dutch Catechism and Zen Catholicism, I am dating myself. Those were the years when my theological viewpoints were being shaped. Confer also the book by John Allen Jr. Cardinal Ratzinger, The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith,  Continuum, New York, London, [2000], pages 253-255.

[3] Acts of the Apostles 9: 3-19; 22: 1-21

[4] St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 8, Chapter 12.

[5] Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon - has Irving's version of this often told  folktale about someone who sleeps through significant changes in one's surroundings - some for many years. He published his story in 1819.

GRUMBLE, 

GRUMBLE, 

GRUMBLE!

August  30,  2011

Quote for Today

"Grumbling is the death of love."

Marlene Dietrich [ 1901-1992], ABC, Doubleday, 1962

THE SLUDGE OF GRUDGES

INTRODUCTION


The title of my homily is, “The Sludge of Grudges.”

Today is the day we remember the Beheading of John the Baptist.

And there is a line in today’s gospel that jumps off the page every time I read this gospel. Mark says, “Herodias harbored a grudge against him” that is, John the Baptist.

And Herod - as we heard in today’s gospel - made the promise and the boast - at the party - in front of the other men - that he would give Herodias’ daughter anything she wanted - even up to half his kingdom.

It’s great storytelling. It’s great writing. It’s easy to picture this young woman doing a lusty dance - and pulling Herod into her trance - by her dance - and it gives her mother a chance to get rid of John the Baptist for good - by getting her daughter to ask the king for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

Herodias had a grudge against him because he told Herod it was not right for him to be living with your brother’s wife.

The title of my homily is, “The Sludge of Grudges.”

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GRIPES AND GRUDGES

There is a difference between gripes and grudges.

Gripes are annoyances - people not using their blinkers when changing lanes - people sneezing into their hands - instead of the new hope - into one’s shoulder - people having 11 products at the 10 items or less counter at the supermarket.

Grudges are deep seated - can’t stand feelings about another - because of something they said or did 11 years ago. Grudges are underneath and sludge up our arteries - with anger - when we come into that person’s presence or something triggers that memory.

It’s great English translation of the Greek  in today's gospel - when our translation says, “Herodias harbored a grudge.”

We’ve seen docks and harbors on TV where stuff comes in from all over the world. We’ve heard about strikes where nothing moves - and vegetables start to stink. Or garbage that was supposed to be shipped elsewhere is stuck standing still there in the harbor. And fruits and vegetables and garbage start to rot.

We sometimes find out what we’ve been harboring at weddings, wakes and funerals - when we have to meet and greet family members especially. Grudges are often about family situations. Blood is thicker than water and blood is even thicker when it has sludge - the sludge of a grudge - in it.

LETTING GO - FORGIVENESS

The opposite is letting go. The opposite is getting the sludge of grudges flowing - by the clean living water of Jesus.

Letting go of a gripe and forgiving it - is much easier than letting go and letting sludge flush and flow away. That’s much, much more difficult.

It can be done.

Jesus was really aware of grudges - the stuff we hold onto - hence the big, big stress in the gospels about forgiving one another.

If we don’t heads roll.

If we don’t  forgive and let go as best as possible - often only step by step, then that sludge builds up - and when others see us - see our face - and face our spirit - they hear inside their being a, “Heads up! Watch out for this one!”

Too many grudges - too much sludge - and we get what the scriptures call, “Hardness of heart.”

Warning: if people nickname us, "Grudge" or "Grumble!" or "Growl" then it's time for a change of heart - attitude - way of living and interacting with others. If they nickname you, "Gripe", you're a bit off the hook. Smile.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “The Sludge of Grudges.”

The topic is timely - because today is the Memorial of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist.

The topic is timely - because many people in the east came back to basements filled with sludge.

Much worse is coming to the realization I’m carrying a certain grudge about a certain person too long now - too many years now - and I have to cut that out of my head. Tough stuff. Tough work. Tough task. Amen.

GRUDGE

Quote for Today  August 29, 2011

"When Callas carried a grudge, she planted it, nursed it, fostered it, watered it and watched it grow to sequoia size."

Harold C. Schonberg, On Maria Callaas, The Glorious Ones, Times Books, 1985, quoted in The New York Times, August 21, 1985

LIKE FIRE BURNING 

IN MY HEART

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22 Sunday in Ordinary Time A is, “Like Fire Burning In My Heart.”

Isn’t that a great image -“Like Fire Burning In My Heart.” It’s from Jeremiah the prophet - Jeremiah Chapter 20, verse 9.

I wonder if anyone has that as a tattoo: “Jeremiah 20: 9.”

Here’s the full text again from today’s first reading: “I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.”

Hot stuff.

SEVERAL WONDERINGS

As that text hit me I began to have some wonderings. Here are 7:

1) There has to be some great sermons down through the years on this text in Jeremiah. It certainly is a preacher’s text. Who preached those sermons and where can I find them?

2) How come I don’t have the passion that Jeremiah had - in preaching on the Lord? Silence. That was a very humbling realization. That hit me on Friday evening when I began reflecting on this text. I also realized again that I never used a script for preaching till I got to Annapolis. That’s at least 35 years of preaching without using paper. I figured out the sermon beforehand - jotted down notes - and often wrote the sermon after I gave it. A sermon has more energy that way. But when I got here to Annapolis, I found myself putting words together beforehand on paper. That reality sometimes triggers what I once read - some words by Charles Peguy - the poet/essayist (1873-1914). He wrote, “A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his coat pocket.” For weekday sermons I reaching into my pocket and pull out two pieces of paper. For Sunday sermons I have a folder - with 5 pieces of paper. So that question about how much fire and passion I have in preaching hits me. That’s a self centered question. How about you? Do you have enough fire and passion?

3) What is my passion? What have been my passions? Does anyone have the passion for the Lord, our God, that Jeremiah had?

4) Listening to what Jesus says in today’s gospel, would I go to my Jerusalem knowing they wanted to kill me there?

5) Would I be like Peter who said to Jesus: “Don’t do it! Are you crazy?”

6) Would Jesus then say to me what he said to Peter, “Get behind me Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as humans do.”

7) As we heard in today’s gospel, as well as from Paul in today’s second reading from Romans: Is there any cause - any reason - I would lay down my life for - to follow Jesus - to offer my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God?

SOME PONDERINGS ON THESE 7 WONDERINGS

Certainly Paul - Saint Paul - had that fire - that passion - that desire - that dream - as we see in his letters. He was burnt by Jesus - on the road to Damascus. It was a wake up call - and he woke up - switching his passion for crucifying Christians to reaching out to make Christians. That’s a complete pendulum swing and switch. I’ve often given new converts - plenty of space - and time - when they make a conversion switch - because they are often in high energy mode.

Certainly Saint Augustine had that fire - that passion - as one discovers in his great book, Confessions - which everyone better read at least 2 times in one’s life. The first time is to know the book and get its grabs - its great words like, “You have made us for yourself O God and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” (Book 1, Chapter 1) And, “Too late have I loved you, O Beauty, so ancient and so new, too late have I loved you! (Book 10 - Chapter 27) Then one has to read his Confessions many years later - well into the Christian Life - and during this second or third time reading and pondering and praying, one realizes - how Jesus can be a fire burning in one’s heart.

Certainly Francis Thomson, the poet and the drug addict, had it - as discovered in his great poem, “The Hound of Heaven” - when he too confesses what Paul and Augustine confessed “I fled you down the nights and down the days…. I fled you down the labyrinthine ways…" but you found me. Like a hound, God, You found me. God sniffs us out.

We can run - but we can’t outrun God. We can hide, but God finds us.

GENTLE BREEZE OR BURNING FIRE?

Three weeks back - August 7th - on the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - we had a reading from 1st Kings - where Elijah - who is running from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel as well as from God - discovers God as a gentle breeze.

Question: Reflecting on our experiences of God - has that been our experience - experiencing God like a whisper - compared to a fire or an earthquake or heavy winds - very close to what we experienced last night as well as last Tuesday?

Certainly last night’s storm - got many people to pray - as well as say to God - “Why can’t You just move this storm 300 miles east of us?” Certainly last night’s storm got us to ponder how God works, how nature works, how life works?

Amongst other words, I’m sure many people last Tuesday when they felt the earth quaking, said, “Oh my God….” That’s one of the most basic prayers there is. We say God’s name in shock, anger, fire, storm, surprise - usually in the unexpected - in the uncontrollable.

The storm is over for us. Once more do we speak to God - do we wonder and ponder with God - in the aftermath? Do we pray to God, the Gentle Whisper, in our mind and heart? Do we see, connect with God, bringing God into the inner conversations we all have with ourselves? Do we feel God when we are holding a baby or seeing a baby sleeping on a father’s shoulder? Do we connect with God in the gentle quiet - like on the back porch by ourselves - or watching a wedding - or the moments after communion - or while the bread and wine hear the words, “This is my body…. This is my blood…. given for you … given for all?”

Or have our God experiences only been when fire and storm and tragedy hit?

This morning Jeremiah and Jesus take us to another level.

This morning Jeremiah and Jesus challenge us with another question.

Take a moment. Close one’s eyes. Go into one’s heart. Can you spot a fire place there? Is it lit? Is it burning? Has it gone out? Have we given up? Are we sleep walking? Are we on hold? Have we pushed the mute button on God?

When was the last time I was on fire - firing on all pistons as they say? When was the last time I took stock of my lifetime dreams? Did I ever have a passion - something I couldn’t wait to finish other things to get back to it?

Just as God called Jeremiah and Jesus to give their lives to his will - his hope for what to do with the gift of one’s life, God calls us. The readings are read so we can hear the same wake up call.

God calls all of us to lay down our lives - to give of ourselves.

That’s God’s passion. That’s God’s will. That’s what we pray for in every Our Father, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” That’s the fire God has placed in every human being. That’s God’s fire and desire.

So the question for today is: What am I using my passions, my energy, my fire for? And: is that fire burning or has it gone out?

The fire that Jeremiah felt when he said, it’s “like fire burning in my heart” it’s in my bones challenges us to go inside. That fire is there or can be there. It’s underneath. It’s more like those fires in them their hills in Pennsylvania - ongoing mine fires deep in the heart of the earth.

The fire that Jeremiah felt in his words, “like fire burning in my heart” is like what Joseph Campbell reflected out loud about in Bill Moyer’s TV series from years ago. Remember when he Joseph Campbell said the secret of life is to, “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”

He said that one’s bliss is when one is full alive - fully alert.

I remember when I had a job called Novice Master up in Oconomowoc Wisconsin. Monday to Friday the novices would be half asleep at morning prayer and my morning conference or talk - but come Saturday morning - if they were going on a trip - say to Chicago - they were alive and alert - ready to roll. I prayed that they would have that same passion for Christ - and for the ministry - for the people they said they joined the Redemptorists in order to serve.

It’s my discovery that the key fire - the dream fire - is about a person or persons.

When we’re young or if we never grow up - or if we’re a narcissist - or selfish or self-centered that person is me. That’s my fire: me, me, me. What’s in it for me?

As Jesus says loud and clear in today’s gospel, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Then he adds, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”

When we discover the fire is not about me, we can be furious. We can scream with Jeremiah as he begins the first reading, “You duped me, O Lord…. You tricked me O Lord.” It might get us to say, “God, You mean after all that I have done to get to where I’ve gotten, it’s not for me or about me?”

And God laughs at that. Hopefully we arrive at that day and then say with Jeremiah, “I let myself be duped by you.”

That’s Step One - the realization that my life is not about me.

Step Two is the rest of our life - giving our life for a person or persons - other than myself.

Hello! That’s the message Jesus gives at every Mass. This is my Body. This is my blood, I’m giving it to you.

This is the fire than can fire us up every day, inspire us every day.

This is the “why” people get out of bed each day. It’s love. It’s one’s spouse. It’s one’s kids. I’m in this for you!

And then - as life goes on - hopefully - people wake up to an even bigger picture. The call is to love all kids - love all spouses - love all people - of all skins and creeds and languages.

When we get to that stage, we then have the passion to spend time with our kids friends and other kids. We find ourselves volunteering to coach or teach other people’s kids remedial reading. We find ourselves visiting neighbors in nursing homes or next door. It’s then we turn off the computer or TV and turn and see that there are a lot of people all around us. It’s then that the father says to his two little kids, “Let’s go next door and play rummy with Mr. X. He’s all alone and loves to play cards - especially now that his wife has died. Remember how Mrs. X always stopped to talk to you kids.”

Seeing and being that way is the fire of love. It’s loving one another.

Take Martin Luther King Jr. His fire, his passion was for people. Read his great speeches and sermons - like the “I Have A Dream” speech. You’ll hear fire in his words. You’ll hear his concern for all children -white and black - civil and human rights for all. He had a fire in his belly for justice.

Speakers and preachers like that get shot.

Take Jesus - at 30 he left his home and began teaching and preaching - about treating people right - to get religion right - to give one’s life for the world as we heard in today gospel.

People like that get crucified.

CONCLUSION

Message: That fire is down there in our heart. Stir it up today. Stir it up this week and watch what happens.