CONTENTMENT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 24 Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Contentment.”

FIRST READING

In today’s first reading - from Paul’s First Letter to Timothy - Chapter 6, verses 2c to 12,  he talks about being content.

It sounds like some folks in one of those Early Church communities were not content.

Discontent shows up in meals, marriages, and church - as well as in traffic, politics, and the ways people line up while waiting in restaurants.

On a scale of 1 to 10 - ten being the highest are your content with your life - your age - your weight - your look - your neighbors - your family - this parish - church - world.

In this first reading Paul challenges those with an itch to complain.

It seems there is a lot disagreement going on - arguments and verbal disputes.

Folks have morbid dispositions - as Paul says.

I have never examined my life on that one.

Paul continues: there is envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions, and mutual friction.

Then comes the word - “autarkeias” - which most translators turn into the English word, “contentment”.

We’re familiar with the prefix - “aut(o)” - meaning “self” - and then part two is “arkey” - meaning “sufficient”

So do I have A S - auto sufficiency?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel has Jesus calling people to discipleship. Notice the mention of Mary Magdalene - who is described as having 7 demons cast out of her.

I checked out today’s first reading again to see if I could find 7 demons there - that are the opposite of contentment. I found:  “envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions” - that’s 4.

Could I find 3 more? Love of money, using religion for gain (prestige, position, robes, recognition, priest, pope) and I was stuck for one more. Or should I be content with just 6?

Nope. I needed a 7th.

The 7th demon would be: not being satisfied with what I have.

That could embrace weather, wages, where someone is sitting - my seat - etc.

CONCLUSION

Let us be content with today. It seems pretty neat till now.

Here are seven quotes in case you’re not content with my sermon.

1. Bake with the flour you have.

2. Plough with the oxen you have.

3. Gnaw the bone which is fallen to your lot.

4. If you cannot get bacon, be content with cabbage. Danish Proverb

5. If you have a great seat, don’t go to the bathroom. [Mine]

6. If you're poor and you're content, you’re rich.

7. Contentment lodges more often in cottages than palaces.

THE 

EXAGGERATED 

SELF

September  16,  2011

Quote for Today

"The effect of power and publicity on all men is the aggravation of self,  a sort of tumor that ends by killing the victim's sympathies."

Henry Adams [1838-1918], The Education of Henry Adams, 1907

THE ART OF ARGUING

Quote for Today  September 15, 2011

“… anecdote trumps facts every time.”



Full quote: “… look, if you’re doing advocacy, the fact of the matter is anecdotes trumps facts every time.”

Steve Liss in an interview with Michele Norris on NPR Radio program, All Things Considered - entitled, “Photographers Capture Evolving Face of Poverty,” September 13, 2011

UNDER  THE  CROSS

I stand under the cross

wishing I could hear

Jesus’ words to Mary and John

addressed to me,

“Woman, this is your son.”

and “This is your Mother.”

I stand under the cross,

wishing I could say

what the centurion said,

“Truly this was the Son of God.”

I stand under the cross

watching the scene between

the Good Thief and the Bad,

but their voices about saving oneself

and being saved and robbing

paradise at the last minute

aren’t my scene either.

I stand under the cross wishing I could say,

“I am thirsty!” wishing my faith

was thirstier, but it’s not.

I stand under the cross in the dark

seeing the spit and the blood

on the ground,

wondering down deep if the echo

of curses in the air still being thrown at Jesus

are my inner sounds. I hope not. No. Never.

I stand under the cross and hear,

“Father forgive them because

they don’t know what they are doing.”

I stand under the cross saying and praying

“That’s me. You know me!

Into your hands O God,

I hand over my spirit. Amen.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2011

IN 25 WORDS OF LESS:

WHAT DOES THE CROSS

MEAN TO YOU?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “In 25 Words or Less: What Does the Cross Mean to You?”

Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. If someone asked you to explain to them what the cross means to you - what would your words be? Could you answer that in 25 words or less?

If someone saw that you had a cross around your neck or had a cross as a lapel pin on a suit or a jacket or outfit - or on a wall in your home and asked, “What does that mean?” What would you answer?

Would the best sermon idea for this feast be to have in our church benches, paper and those tiny church pencils - golf pencils that don’t have erasers - and ask folks to use the 3 or 4 minutes for weekday homily time to answer that question: “In 25 Words or Less: What Does the Cross Mean to You?”

Or what would it be like to ask all of you to go to one other person here in this church and tell that person in 25 words or less, what the cross means to you - and then that person does the same to you?

Today I ask all of you to jot down for yourself - sometime today - on this the feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross - what the cross means to you.

THE CROSS FOR DUMMIES

In Barnes and Noble and in any Borders book stores that are still alive - as well as Amazon or books on line, you can find a whole series of Books for Dummies. Is there a book, “The Cross for Dummies”?

I don’t think so, but I sat down this morning and came up with 10 short, quick comments on what such a book might contain - or what you might find in CliffsNotes on the Cross. [Cliff was Cliff Hillegass who started summary notes in Nebraska in 1958. It’s spelled, “CliffsNotes” and it’s one word.]

1) The Cross is the symbol for the Christian - the wood on which Christ died for us - to save us. [21 words]

2) Life has many crosses. I plan life to go this way - and something cuts across it every time. It’s called the Cross - especially when what cuts across our life changes everything: suffering, sickness, death, disaster. [37 words]

3) The Star of David is the symbol of Judaism for many Jews. The Crescent Moon is the symbol of Islam for many Muslims. The moon and the stars are in the sky. Christians believe that one person in the Trinity of God came down from on high to earth and became one of us - became a baby - a human being who lived and died as one of us. So the Christian symbol, the cross, is of the earth - not the skies - but reaching to the high heavens. In the night look up at the moon and the stars. They are beautiful - but they don’t have words coming from them like Christ on the Cross. [119 words]

4) The cross with the figure of Christ on it can be found in many Catholic Churches - perhaps few with so conspicuous a cross as we have here at St. John Neumann. It has great meaning. People when here look up to this mighty cross for help from Christ. This cross might seem too big till someone has a very big and very heavy cross to carry.  [65 words]

5) The cross is a gigantic bloody red  STOP  sign - announcing to the world: "STOP  killing each other." This is the same basic message of the Snake on the Pole that Moses saw. See and stop what’s killing you. [39 words]

6) “Greater love than this no one has - that they lay down their lives for their friends.” [17 words]

7) The cross is a gigantic tree - and sometimes when people sit under trees and ponder - apples fall on them and they discover the Law of Gravity - or  like the Buddha under the Bodhi tree they discover that desire is a fire that burns us every time - or like Mary and John under the tree of the cross,  they hear from Jesus on the Cross that the secret of life is not me - but the other - that we take care of each other. [86 words]

8) The cross is both the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - and the tree of life as found in Genesis.  Seeing the fruit of this tree the message is: "Take and eat!" [34 words]

9) Accepting and picking up one's cross - is a message from Jesus - that  follwing him means to do just that. [19 words]

10) The cross is mystery - never running out of meaning. [9 words]

CONCLUSION

So that’s homework and heartwork for today: “In 25 Words or Less: What Does the Cross Mean to You?”


[772  words]


Painting on top by Duccio di Buoninsegna [c. 1255 - c. 1319]


Picture above # 4 - St. John Neumann Church, Bestgate Road Annapolis, Maryland


Photo of Buddha Under a Tree by Dolores Monti - found on line.

REVEALING 

ONESELF

Quote for Today - September 14,  2011

"People never disclose their own character so clearly as when they describe another's."

Jean Paul Richter [1763-1825]

ON A PEDESTAL

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of St. John Chrysostom is, “On a Pedestal.”

It struck me last night that I see two kinds of saints: those whom I put on a pedestal and those who can walk with us on our level.

I don’t know if that is true - but that is what hit me last night as I prepared this homily thinking about the saint for today: St. John Chrysostom. Tomorrow or next week I might revise my thoughts about two ways of looking at saints.
I put this out there - for your consideration: how do you see the Saints you know about? Do you see some of them up on a pedestal - way up there - and some of them sitting and walking and talking with you?

I put those saints I can’t identify with on a pedestal.

SOME EXAMPLES

I'd put St. John Neumann and Blessed Seelos on street level.

I keep St. Alphonsus - who is up there on a pedestal above - here at St. Mary’s -  still on his pedestal. He was a strong character - and I picture him as tough to live with. I’ve read 5 biographies of him. I found him someone who was amazing - driven - a hard worker - someone who didn’t want to waste a minute of time - someone who could be very challenging.

Neumann and Seelos - both Redemptorists - were both hard workers - but different from Alphonsus. Seelos is sitting on a bench here in our Marian Garden - waiting for people to talk to him. Neumann, the quieter of the two, is on a pedestal in the courtyard at our St. John Neumann Church. I don’t want to take him off his pedestal, especially because he was only 5 foot tall. I wouldn’t mind living and working with both of them - on the same level.

St. Teresa of Avila - I picture her more down to earth. So I might take her down from her pedestal - up here on our high altar at St. Mary’s. If I had to "restatuize" her to bring her down to our level, I don’t know yet how I would imagine that.

St. John Chrysostom: he’s on a pedestal - a high pedestal -- one of the 8 Fathers of the Early Church. He was a great preacher. Some of his sermons went for 2 hours - and they still clapped. He challenged those in power in both church and state - as well as clergy. He wasn’t scared of anyone. As a result he had enemies and was exiled twice.

TODAY’S FIRST READING - 1 TIMOTHY 3: 1-13

St. John Chrysostom wasn’t married - but he fits the description of how St. Paul pictures bishops should be - as described in today’s first reading.

Today’s first reading also gives a description of how a deacon should be. We have examples in the literature on how John Chrysostom was as a deacon: preaching, feeding the poor, helping the stuck, writing. That was at Antioch. When John Chrysostom was bishop in Constantinople, he removed two deacons from the clergy - one because he murdered someone -  the other because of adultery. Interesting….

Today’s first reading also talks about how women should act and be. Paul says they “should be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in everything.” If you read about St. John Chrysostom you’ll read that he challenged some women - especially those of the court - on how they dressed and showed up for parties. When a silver statue of the Empress - Eudoxia - was put on a pedestal outside of the main church in Constantinople - everyone was praising it. Not John Chrysostom. When the Empress cheated a widow out of a vineyard, he spoke up and publicly criticized her. They were no longer cordial  to each other after that - and she wanted him out.

John Chrysostom tried to live simply, under budget, and get others - especially the clergy to live their calling. He made enemies - especially in the uppity up circles.

I can’t see myself doing any of that. So I’m a wimp - preferring the spoonful of honey gets more flies than a barrelful of vinegar approach to life. It also keeps one safe. John Chrysostom was more courageous than cautious, so that’s another reason why I put him up on a pedestal. Obviously, my approach - covering my hide -  is a self-centered approach to being a priest.

CONCLUSION

Who are your favorite saints?

Do you lump them all together?

What do you think of my division: those on the pedestal and those on street level?

This is just my opinion.

In the meanwhile,  I like the Blessed Seelos on a bench bronze statue in our Marian Garden. I like the bronze statue of St. John Neumann - in our church on Bestgate. Yet, if I had my choice I’d sculpt him walking - with a pack. There is a neat statue of him in our church in the Bronx, sitting with kids. I’d go with the walking theme because he was a great walker and died at the age of 49 on the streets of Philadelphia walking back home from the Post Office.

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

Images on this blog: Top - St. John Chrysostom in Glory. Middle: St. Alphonsus statue in St. Mary's Church High Altar. Seelos Bench in the Marian Garden her at St. Mary's Annapolis.  Bronze statue of John Neumann at St. John Neumann Church Annapolis. St. Mary's High Altar at St. Mary's.