CRITICIZING 

THE POOR 

IS AN OLD,  

OLD STORY

Quote for Today  September 7,  2011

"Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well fed."


Herman Melville [1819-1891]

COMPLICATED OR SIMPLE?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for the 23 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Complicated or Simple?”

Have we ever said to someone or has anyone ever said to us, “Do you want the complicated or the simple version?”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel - Luke 6: 12-19 - is rather simple. Jesus goes out to a mountain to pray. He spends the night in communion with God. Nice. A lot of people do some of that here with our Eucharistic Chapel - which is soon to be back in service.

Then at daybreak Jesus gathers together his disciples and selects 12 of them to be his apostles. He calls them on a first name basis.

Next: coming down the mountain with them he begins his ministry again. He has already done some healings and some reaching out to folks before this - but now it’s going to be big time. Then they meet a large crowd from all over the place - people who came to hear Jesus and be healed by him.

Don’t we all need those two things from Jesus: to hear him and to be healed by him? We can picture those two things. It’s simple.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading - Colossians 2: 6-15:  now that’s complicated.

If you listened to it carefully - did anything grab you? When I read it last night, I scratched my head each time I read it. I underlined its verbs. It has lots of verbs that are active or have a charge and some change in them: receive, walk, rooted in, built upon, establish, taught, abound, captivate, dwell, share, circumcise, uncircumcise, bury, raise, bring to life, forgive, obliterate, oppose, remove, despoil, lead.

Saint Paul announces in this letter that in Christ dwells the fullness of the deity and we share in this fullness in him. Christ brings us into God - into God’s fullness - into his power. That’s an amazing statement. That’s an amazing teaching. That’s an amazing revelation. Through our baptism - through his dying for us - we are brought into the life called “being in God in Christ.” Pinch yourself. It’s complicated. It’s a lot of words - but pinch yourself. We are in God by being in Christ.

Sometimes I picture that as standing in a gigantic power plant with all engines roaring - or standing at Niagara Falls with all the water flowing. Sometimes I picture that as being with God in the Rocky Mountains - or at the edge of the Atlantic. Smallness standing in the roar of greatness.

COMPLICATED

It’s complicated. Next I picked up Barclay - his Daily Study Bible Series -  because when things are complicated or dark or cloudy, he can often give some light and insight.

However on today’s text, William Barclay makes the following comment. “There can be no doubt that for us this is one of the most difficult passages Paul ever wrote.” Then Barclay really complicates things with what he says next: “For those who heard or read it for the first time it would be crystal clear.” [1]

They would know what he is challenging them about. They knew about the teachings others were giving that Paul said were wrong.

The title of my homily is, “Complicated or Simple?”

It’s complicated - very complicated - according to Barclay because Paul says we don’t understand what these false teachings were that Paul says were causing problems in the Christian community - that was started there at Colossae.

Paul in today’s text uses the word “philosophy”. It’s the only place in the Bible that the word is used. That’s interesting. However, in the Acts of the Apostles 17:18 Paul is in Athens and he uses the world philosopher - and mentions Stoicism and Epicurean philosophy. And that’s the only place in the Bible the word “philosopher” is used.

If these were the 2 philosophies that Paul was concerned with here in the town of Colossae, things would not be too complicated - because we know what those two philosophies were about..

What the Christian community was dealing with was Gnosticism.

Gnosticism - Gnostics - are words and ideas we hear about from time to time.

Do you want the simple or the complicated take on Gnosticism?

The simple explanation is that someone gets some knowledge - that makes them feel better or smarter or more knowledgeable than others. You can hear the root word “gnosis” in the word “knowledge”. I’m in the know. You’re not. We see this same kind of behavior and thinking in most systems and organizations and not just religion. You’re dumb. I’m in the know, dummy.

The complicated explanation of Gnosticism is even more complicated because there lots of Gnostic systems - teachers and documents - and we don’t have most of their texts - and those we do have are head scratchers.

I’m sure you heard of the Gospel of Thomas, Mary Magdalene, etc.

We have those documents - but we don’t know just what the Christian Community in Colossae were facing - what leaders and what teachings in Gnosticism they were hearing and dealing with.

CONCLUSION

Now I can’t leave this hanging - after saying all those things. So how to make this practical - if possible? The Gnostics can really gum things up with some weird teachings. Let me take the verbs and the descriptions and the advice of Paul in today’s first reading and try to apply them to our lives.

So here are 3 things to do each day:

1) Receive  is the first verb I choose. Mornings are for receiving: a new day, new life, a fresh start, a new again. Receive Christ each day - be in communion with him - sit with here in church or in morning prayer at home and then come down from that mountain moment of prayer and walk with Jesus each new day.

2) Build On: The next verb would be Build On. Build on yesterdays. Build for tomorrow. There are 4 verbs that have that as a theme in that first reading: plant or root in or build on or establish, or re-establish each day Christ as the foundation of my life. Paul tells us how to do that: listen to Christ as teacher. That’s just what that crowd was doing in today’s gospel. So we listen to the scriptures - see the messages in the Bible as seeds - planted in our field - and water them, work them, and be grateful for the fruit that appears.

3) Cut - the verbs used in that first reading are: circumcise, strip, bury. Each day we can cut out the hurts, the digs, and listen to the other. It’s Jesus call to die to self so others can rise.

Or to try to finally make the complicated simple here are 3 gestures:

[1) Hands out and open in receiving gesture- each new day as a morning prayer.] Then say “receive!”

[2) Hands hammering gesture.] Then say, “Work, work! Build. Build. Plant. Plant!”

[3) Hands cutting - fingers like a pair of scissors gesture.] Then say, “Cut! Cut!”

 “I hope that’s simpler!

NOTES

[1] William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Westminster Press, 1975, page 134

REGRETS

Quote for Today - September 6,  2011

"Regrets are as personal as fingerprints."

Margaret Culkin Banning in Reader's Digest, October 1958, "Living With Regrets."

Questions:

Looking at your life, name your greatest regret. Write it down -  which will help you face it rather clearly.

Have you ever told folks - especially those very close to you - what that regret was?

Tell another, unless it could hurt another, what your regret or regrets are - and see if his opens up them - or maybe ask another what their regrets are - and if they start telling you some - then ask what the biggest one was.

You could even talk about resentments.

Okay, you don't want a pity party, so talk about accomplishments or life's surprises - or ask, "Did any good come from your regret?"

JOBS

Quote for Today - Labor Day  - September 5,  2011

"Without work all life goes rotten."

Albert Camus [1913-1960]




Questions:

What was your best job?

Have you ever been laid off?  What did it do to you?

Was there a dream job you had in mind - that you never got?

DOES EVERY OFFICE

HAVE ONE?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 23 Sunday in Ordinary Time A, is, “Does Every Office Have One?”

The title could just as well be, “Does Every Family - or Every Parish - or Every Work Place - or Every Classroom - or Every Organization Have One?”

And by ONE I mean a pain - someone who bothers us - someone with sandpaper skin - who rubs us the wrong way.

I don’t mean characters. Thank God we have characters. They make life on stage very interesting - especially for those who love to sit back and watch life as it unfolds - for those who love to be audience.

The following did not happen here. I want to make that perfectly clear. We were at a get together - somewhere, sometime, and someone in the group was venting about someone in her office who was driving her insane. This person was really getting to her. the longer she spoke to us, the more her frustration was becoming a bit too much. I would rather if someone was talking about sports or the weather. Well, this other person speaks up and says to the lady was complaining, “Didn’t you know: every office has one?” Someone else added, “And sometimes two!” At that the lady who was complaining became quiet - and we all became quiet - and then she said, “Oh, okay!

Sometimes it helps to vent. Sometimes it helps to get it out - but sometimes it can be too much.

The following also did not happen here. I once had a boss who was driving us all crazy -and by accident myself and this other priest discovered something that I have remembered for life. We would get away from the crazy priest boss by taking a drive - and we would vent. We were young. Then at some point, one of us said, probably the other guy, but I always wished it was me, “Hey this is becoming poison. Enough already.”

The trick: learning the difference between venting and poison.

Another learning - a nuance: there is a difference between talking about people and talking about people. Sometimes it’s just talking about people - the #1 topic of conversation - people’s idiosyncrasies people’s idiot-syncrasies - the funny characteristics people have. What would conversations be without our ability to talk about people? Sports and weather - are not enough. They are ice breakers. But sometimes the stuff we say about each others shouldn’t be said. It’s sinful - wrong - when we put down others to build ourselves up - or we’re jealous or envious or what have you. We can’t ruin other’s name by letting everyone know about the other’s sins or what have you. That’s a nuance we all need to learn. And that’s something we can all do. It’s not too difficult to say, “Wait a minute. I don’t think we - notice the we. I don’t think we should be saying this about him. We haven’t walked in his shoes. Let him or her without sin, cast the first stone.” That I found out - if we use the we word - and not the you word - works.

Back to the lady who was complaining to all of us about someone in her office: was it enough for her just to vent to third parties and then hear that she wasn’t the only one who had to deal with the crazies? She didn’t poisoning the party - but she was getting closer and closer.

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s readings triggered this question about people who rub us the wrong way.

The first reading from Ezekiel  33: 7-9 talks about watchmen - being called to speak up - being someone whose job it is to warn the rest of us - when someone is doing wrong.

The second reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans - 13:8-10  tells us that the key thing is to love one’s neighbor. It has a powerful statement: “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Today’s gospel  from Matthew 18: 15-20 moves away from the ideal - the ideal being just what we heard in today’s second reading. It gets practical. “If someone is sinning against us - talk to that person. Tell him or her his fault and him or her alone.”

Then Matthew adds Jesus’ next bit of advice: if that doesn’t work - talk to one or two others - and see if two or three of you together - can talk to the person. Here it is: the intervention process that is used at times in families when someone is deep in alcoholism. Then Jesus says if that doesn’t work - go to the church - and if that doesn’t work - then avoid the person.

I think most people avoid that first step - meeting face to face with someone who is driving us crazy - because that person has the problem. It’s easier talking about them when they are not in the room. So we might practice the second and third steps - but still without talking to the problem person. Then we put into practice the fourth step - avoiding that person whenever possible. However, we continue two and three - venting to others and groups about the person who drives us nuts - but always behind their back.

Remember the old book: Up the Down Staircase. Isn’t that what most of us do - when so and so uses the front staircase?

Step # 1 - face to face communication - is tough stuff - because if the other person truly is very difficult - this can only make it worse - or assumed to be worse.

And sometimes we practice the last step: we pray for the person who drives us crazy - most of the time alone but sometimes with others.

FAVORITE SCRIPTURE TEXT

I remember taking a course with Father Benedict Groeschel on Spiritual Direction - and he once suggested asking people their favorite Biblical Text. He added, “It’s like a Rorschach Blot. It will tell you an awful lot about the other person.”

I’ve mentioned this in sermons down through the years because of what happened next. That weekend I was part of a team of priests giving a weekend retreat. There was this guy on the retreat who was driving us all crazy. He kept on saying things like: “Why doesn’t the Church do something about this or that?” and on and on and on. He would fit the definition of watchman from today’s first reading. Remembering what I had heard the previous Monday from Father Benedict Groeschel, I said to the guy, “By the way, what is your favorite Bible text?” Without a second of hesitation, he blurted out, “Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

What is your favorite Scripture text?

Be aware, be careful, of what you answer - because it will tell you a lot about yourself.

By the way, what is your favorite Bible text?

I have an inner joke. It’s a Scripture text. It’s not my favorite Bible text, but it’s one I often remember. When I am in a group of people and someone is really complaining about someone - or something that’s going on that’s driving him or her or all crazy, I find myself wondering if they have me in mind or if I’m guilty of the same thing, so I find myself saying the words of Judas at the Last Supper, “Is it I, Lord?”

Let me go to the full context of that text. The disciples are all there for the Last Supper with Jesus. He says, “The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better if he had never been born.” That’s Matthew 26: 24. Matthew continues, “Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, ‘Surely it is not I, Rabbi?’ He answered, ‘You have said so.’”

The older translation was: “Is it I, Lord?” - so I must have been saying this to myself for most of my life now.

Whenever - well not every time - but many times when someone is complaining about stuff that’s going on in the parish or the rectory, I find myself saying to myself, “Is it I, Lord?”

I rarely say it out loud, because like many people, I don’t like conflict or confrontation.

I remember a story that a great old priest I was stationed with, Father Henry Simon, always loved to tell. He said he was stationed in a small parish down south - with just one other guy - and this other guy would always be complaining, “Someone around here is making a lot of noise.” Or “Someone around here always leaves the light on in the kitchen.” Or someone always gets peanut butter in the yellow butter.”

Then Henry would laugh and say to us - now years later, “I always wanted to say, ‘Yeah, who is that other person?’ but I never did. I just laughed.”

People at times ask, “How can priests who aren’t married talk about marriage or family life?”

I do answer that one at times: “Try living with 3 or 4 priests - here even more -  and you learn a lot about people. Do that for 30, 40, 50 years. Be stationed and live with guys in many different places - and you have the opportunity to learn a lot more about people than a lot of people might know about people.”

The older we get, the wiser we should get on how to deal with each other.

We can learn a lot about people at home or in traffic or in church - sitting and listening and putting up with different priests, different people in church - or being in classrooms, or on teams or being on vacation with an extended family or being in the Army, Navy or Air Force with lots of other people.

What have you learned about how to deal with other people?

I still think the first step is to ask the Judas question: “Is it I, Lord?”

Maybe it is I? What do I have to work on to be a better person? Maybe the others don’t like it when I enter the room and cut people off in their conversations - so I can tell everyone what I just experienced this morning - or I turn off the lights when others want them on - or open the window when everyone wants it closed or what have you.

Maybe if I say, “Is it I, Lord?” I’ll find out it is me. I have to change. I have to grow.

That might be the first great lesson in life.

It’s also a great way to read all the scriptures. Put your finger on a Bible text and say, “Is it I, Lord?”

The second lesson might be that people don’t change that easy or that much or they certainly are not going to change because I want them to change.

I love the statement someone said and I’ve been pondering it all through the years, “The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of the other person.”

I’ve also thought through the years that yes, Jesus is telling us here in today’s gospel to go to the person who is driving us nuts or who is messing up their lives - but he didn’t do it that much himself. At least that’s my thought and my assumption. I see him putting up with a lot of things. Yes he challenged Peter - and James and John and might have hurt Thomas for his doubting - in front of everyone else - but I see him forgiving 70 times 7 times - having human and Divine  Patience.

Divine Patience - because people seem to want God to zap crazy people or stop the crazies - who keep going on and on and on - they like the Energizer Bunny.

CONCLUSION

Yes, couples, families, organizations, need at times to challenge and confront each other. Hopefully they do it for the other’s good and the good of the group and goal of the group - and not just to zap the other person - or to put another down to feel better about themselves. Hopefully, Christians also know that St. Paul said that the motive for correction has to be love and spoken with love. [Cf. Ephesians 4:15]

Hopefully, we take our good time - to correct another - one to one - if we believe it won’t wound the other for life or make things worse.

This stuff is obviously not easy - so maybe the best bet is to remember that simple principle in today’s second reading - already mentioned, “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence love is the fulfillment of the law.”

SMILE! 

YOU'RE  JUST LIKE  ME!

Quote for Today  September 4, 2011

"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this, that you are dreadfully like other people."

James Russell Lowel [1819-1891]

STICKY! STICKY!

OPENING: STATING THE PROBLEM

Today’s readings for this 23 Sunday in Ordinary Time A challenge us with one of life’s stickiest problems: to warn or not to warn; to correct or not to correct; to blow the whistle or not to blow the whistle?

Who wants to rock the boat? Who wants to upset the apple cart? Who wants to be called nosey or a busybody? Who of us wants to be seen as a snitch? Didn’t Jesus say, “Let the one without sin cast the first stone”?

A mom is shopping with two close friends at a mall a good two hours away from where they live. It’s lunch time, so one of the ladies says, “I know a good restaurant just down the road from here.”

The restaurant is crowded – but the three get seated in a back corner. “Uh, oh!” Over the top of her menu, the mom sees her married daughter in a booth on the other side of the restaurant with a man other than her husband. And they are being “lovey dovey”. The daughter doesn’t spot her mother. And thank goodness, the other two ladies don’t spot the mother spotting her daughter and the man she’s with.

So the mother tries to keep cool and not let the other ladies know what she’s noticing. Her daughter is not facing her. The mother sees them stand up to leave. They are holding hands on the way out. Arms and shoulders are touching. She mutters to herself another inner, “Uh, oh!” They go outside – out of view for a moment – but surprise, she sees both of them through the restaurant window in the parking lot giving each other a kiss goodbye. Both get into their separate cars. Yes, it’s her daughters maroon Camry.

Obviously, the mom didn’t enjoy the lunch with her friends. The other two ladies didn’t seem to notice. She was wondering, “What do I do now? What about the 3 grandkids? Is the marriage finished? Keep cool! Keep calm. Do I tell my daughter or someone who might do something, if something could be done?” Obviously, she didn’t taste the chef salad she ordered – nor the pie a la mode she had for dessert out of nervousness. What to do?

A husband, a boss, a priest, a wife, a son, a daughter, a parent, is drinking too much. What to do?

A college basketball referee is gambling. He doesn’t know it, but another referee, whom he is going to do a game with, is around a corner on the other side of the locker room. Thinking he is alone he makes a phone call to place some bets before the game. The other referee overhears him. During the game he keeps wondering about some key calls the other ref makes. Is he or isn’t he? What to do?

An accountant in a big company begins to spot some “funny” numbers. Are we begin “Enroned”? Are we? But she has one kid in college and two kids in a private high school and her husband is out of work the last four months and so she really needs this job. What to do?

HOMILETIC REFLECTIONS

Today’s readings deal with this basic issue of speaking up – of warning others – of blowing the whistle – of correcting others.

In today’s first reading, Ezekiel is appointed watchman for the house of Israel. He is called upon to watch the people and when wicked, to warn them. This is the prophet’s calling; this is the prophet’s job.

Still stronger, Ezekiel says, if the watchman sees a danger and doesn’t sound a warning, he or she is responsible for all the disasters and damage that result.

As one glides through the Old Testament, this image of the watchman on the walls of the city is common. Like a rooster he cries out when “Morning has broken!” But his main job was to walk the walls or stand in a watchtower and spot possible enemies. The watchman was the eyes and ears of a city.

And obviously, prophets being poets, would use this image of watchman for their call to warn the people of sins that could destroy them.

Prophets and preachers are called to yell out “the Word of the Lord”. They are called to speak “the Mind of God”. They are to tell people “the Will of God”. This is an awesome responsibility. At times it can be awfully dangerous. It can land a prophet in jail or in a pit or on a cross.

Is warning others everyone’s call? Is it the call of the every Christian?

Today’s gospel touches on this touchy situation as well: the call to correct a brother or sister who sins against us.

But let’s be honest, who of us wants to correct others? Who wants to be told, “Mind your own business?” Who wants to be called “a mud slinger”? Who wants to run the risk of having mud thrown back in one’s face? People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones or mud.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Today’s readings give us the issue, the motive and a method for warning, confronting or blowing the whistle on another person.

Ezekiel tells us when to do it. Paul tells us why to do it. Jesus tells us how to do it.

Ezekiel tells us to warn people when they are in deadly danger. It’s very simple: we scream when it’s a matter of life and death.

It can also be very complicated. We hesitate when we are not sure whether it’s a matter of life and death.

If we see a kid out in the street and a car is heading right at her, we scream or run out to save the kid or try to stop the car. When we see kids playing with matches, we grab the matches. But what about letting kids learn the hard way? Sometimes it might be the best way. We’ve all seen cute scenes in old movies when a father lets a little kid take a sip of his beer and the kid goes, “Uooh, uooh, ugly taste!”

Kids need to be challenged, corrected, but they also need to grow, to be allowed to make mistakes, to figure things out. They also need to be encouraged, affirmed, and given a chance to show their stuff in the classroom, on the playing field, and at home. Smart parents, teachers and coaches know that some kids respond better to a pat on the back, while others respond better to “a yell in the face.”

But what about adults? Obviously, here is where this issue becomes very tricky. Timing is everything. If an adult is abusing a child and we are sure about it, obviously the time to act is now! If the problem is adults with adults, we have to ask the basic question: is this problem deadly or very dangerous to them or others? If the answer is yes, then we need to act. We need to speak up. We also need to be prudent. We need to weigh the consequences. Is my speaking up going to make the situation better or worse? Is this person going to make me pay for my comments the rest of my life?

We know all this. We’ve been in these situations at various times in our life. Sometimes we act and sometimes we step back. Sometimes we’re a chicken and we walk away and sometimes we’re a rooster and we give the other a wake up call.

Obviously, the real tricky stuff is the gray areas. That’s when we do a lot of inner talking and worrying about the sticky situations of life.

The Talmud says, “Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I do not know.’”

Often we don’t know the whole story. We haven’t walked in another’s “moccasins” or “sins” for one mile.

The New Testament talks much more about forgiving than correcting others. While reading the Gospels, isn’t it amazing how much Jesus puts up with the idiosyncrasies of others – especially his disciples?

So there are moments to be quiet and there are moments to speak up. And if the moments of speaking up are too much and too often, hopefully someone will speak up to us about our tendency to be always correcting others. It’s a warning signal if we find ourselves always wanting to correct others at work or in our regular circles. Maybe we voted ourselves into the position of the town crier – but there wasn’t an election – and we only got one vote for the job – our own.

People who are overweight mention they often get diets, suggestions, comments from their thinner friends. “Enough already!” People who are overweight vent to their closest friends, “I don’t need to hear people tell me everyday that I am overweight. Don’t they know fat people are beating on themselves every day? Don’t they know we don’t need others to beat on us as well. One is enough!”

All this is tricky, so we need to look at our motives – the why question. Motives are keys. Checking our motives can help us untie some of the knots in sticky situations. Why should the mother who saw her daughter in the restaurant in an apparent “wrong” relationship need to do something? Why should the referee who overheard his fellow referee making bets over the phone need to blow the whistle in some way? Why should family members or friends or co-workers of an alcoholic scream or try to intervene?

The motive always has to be one’s love for the other person. In today’s second reading Paul tells us love is the debt that binds us together. That’s what we owe each other. When we do that we fulfill the law. Paul stresses that the Golden Rule, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” is underneath the commandments not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to covet, “and whatever other commandment there may be.”

The why question is crucial. If our motive for “correcting” another is to “get” another, then we need to stop right there and not go any further. Case closed. We don’t have to go to the “how” question, because the “why” question shows that our motive is flawed. We might be avoiding the logs in our own eye by seeing spots in our brother or sister’s eyes.

But, if our motive is love, and what’s going on with this other person is killing them and others, we need to move to the how question.

We need to reflect upon Jesus’ method of correcting others as found in today’s gospel.

We’ve all heard Jesus’ method of fraternal correction since we were kids. First go to the person one to one. If that doesn’t work, go to him or her a second time with two or three witnesses. If that doesn’t work, go to the church community with the problem. If that doesn’t work, then exclude him or her from the community.

Sounds good on paper, but it’s very difficult in practice. It’s much easier to talk to people in our minds or behind their back, but face to face is the place most of us want to avoid.

Sometimes speaking to another works; sometimes it doesn’t. Well planned “professional” intervention into the life of someone who is really messed up with drugs, or alcohol or gambling, has helped people. Sometimes it takes many such interventions. Sometimes it’s a disaster.

It’s never easy. And we all know the human tendency is to take the easy way out. We saw this in the rash of newspaper stories this year about sexual abuse by the clergy. We wish away problems. We sweep them under the rug – only to have them trip us up as we walk into the future.

This is painful stuff. This is tough love stuff. This is sticky, sticky stuff.

Today’s gospel wisely closes with words of Jesus about prayer. If all else fails, pray. If all else fails, gather with two or three trusted friends and pray for the person who is messing up their life. Maybe in prayer we’ll see that our motives are flawed or we definitely do have deep love for the other. Maybe we’ll see another solution, because we got deeper into the Golden Rule, and considered how we would like to be challenged or corrected if we were messing up our life this way. Maybe then we can go out with these friends to a nice restaurant, have a good meal together and really enjoy the taste of pie a la mode.

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

 This is a published homily I did for Markings in 2002.