DON’T GO THERE!

The title of my homily for this 33 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Don’t Go There!”

Has anyone ever said that to you, “Don’t go there!”

Have you ever said that to yourself, “Don’t go there!”

Last night as I read today’s first reading, I found myself thinking, “Don’t go there.” [Cf. Second Maccabees 6: 18-31]

Then when I read today’s gospel, I thought, “Go there!” [Cf. Luke 19:1-10]

Obviously, our gospel reading is a story that is well known and well loved. Jesus spots Zacchaeus, the short guy, up the tree. Jesus then invites him down from the tree and invites himself into Zacchaeus’ life and home and heart and mind and conversion.

Then it hit me: did the people who put together today’s two readings put them together on purpose? It’s definitely a funny twist if they did.

If they thought what I began to think, did they say, “Don’t go there!”

In the first reading, the old man, Eleazar - is being forced to eat pork - forbidden food - otherwise it’s sure death for him. So those who knew him told him to fake it. “Nobody will notice.”

He responded, “My own people will notice and I’ll be giving bad example.”

So he goes to his death - by the hands of these foreigners who had invaded their land.

In today’s gospel, Jesus stops to talk to Zacchaeus - someone who was dealing with outsiders, a tax collector, a sinner, and when  people see Jesus going there to Zacchaeus they are surprised - perhaps shocked.

What did Zacchaeus serve at that meal? I wondered if Jesus ever ate pork.

We know the question of forbidden food was an ongoing question in the Early Church. Paul called Peter a hypocrite - because he contradicts himself at times on whether new Christians - who were non-Jews - had to take on the Jewish practices in the Christian community. Paul was saying, “Don’t go there!”

And we know Jesus comes down on the side that law is for us - not us for the law. And he challenged his fellow Jews often on the issue of following religious customs. As to taking pork, we don’t know.

Question: As priest do I have to more aware of what others think than if I was not a priest?

Another question: Would someone say of that question, “Don’t go there!”

I would answer, “Everyone - not just priests - have to be aware of the power of what one says and does. We are all responsible for what we say and do.” At work, on Sunday morning, in family, people know we’re Catholics, Christians, adults, and life has its expectations.

So we have to be courageous and we have to be prudent.

We have to be aware of consequences if we speak up - or if we don’t speak up.

So would I eat the pork? I don’t know. Probably - and with mustard.

Would I talk with the stranger up the tree? Probably.

Here in our sanctuary, above our old altar, we have a short guy, up on a pedestal.

When we Redemptorists stop to talk to St. Alphonsus and invite him down from his pedestal and into our minds and hearts, he challenges us.

He started the Redemptorists November 9, 1732, to reach out to stranger, the unwashed, the unreachable, the alien.

When he got this dream - others told him not to go there. He did.

When we Redemptorists preach on certain issues, people sometimes get upset. Don’t go there.

I know I’m a chicken - and nobody gets upset if I preach a ham and cheese kind of a sermon, but there are some "Uh oh!" hot topics. They are the, "Don’t go there!" issues.

I’ve only had a few complaints about sermons I've preached, …. so I often think I’m not doing my job.

Some Redemptorists do - and I admire them.

Once I was invited to give 2 weeks of talks to Redemptorists from two other  provinces in Tucson, Arizona. While there I noticed a notice on a bulletin board offering a day trip down to Mexico on a Sunday. I signed up - the only one. So the organizer - a Redemptorist priest who was stationed there - asked if he could bring two others with him. I said, “Of course!” They were a photographer and a reporter. I sat there in the 4 wheel drive listening. They were asking him all kinds of questions and he answered some questions, but he added each time, “This is off the record, right?” He was helping poor Hispanics - as well as fighting for bathrooms and breaks - especially for women in the big factories that had sprung up along the border near Nogales, Arizona and Mexico, after NAFTA. He added that he was being watched because of work with folks slipping over the boarder.

Afterwards I felt very proud that one of ours was doing what Jesus was doing - what Alphonsus our founder founded us to do: reaching out to those who are unnoticed and unwanted.

I am aware that if one preaches anything about illegals or people who have a life style that others don’t like - the pastor gets letters, etc. I am aware that people sit there in church or what have you thinking, “Don’t go there.”

Question: What's your take on the illegal immigrant issue? What are your sources? What's your take on the United States Bishops take on immigrants - as well as Vatican Documents on immigrants?

I finally have my take and I can voice it from time to time - knowing others have a different point of view.

I'd begin with anecdotes - aware that statistics and data - are listed as better than story telling - but story telling has the power.

Shortly after I got here - some 9 years ago - I remember going to a big wedding - and there were lots of people there - as well as lots of Maryland politicians and what have you. As I was sitting there watching the scene, I began noticing every waiter and waitress at the wedding looked Hispanic but one - a lady whom I thought was African American. I noticed her on the way out and said, “Hello” and she said, “No se habla Ingles.” I laughed.

And every time I read about roundups I go crazy - as well as laugh - because I ask, “Does anyone look at who’s cutting the grass around here - and who’s doing the dishes - and all these tiny jobs around here - all those jobs my mom and dad did when they came to America - those jobs that keep your costs down?

I remember sitting in a barber shop in Eastport and someone else was sitting there not knowing I was a priest. He said to another guy, “Hire Hispanics. They work cheap and they are great workers.”

So if anyone asks me about that question, I now have my anecdotes and my answers.

My first comment would be: "Don’t go there."

I would say that because I'm aware that at times the other person has their mind made up and they are not really asking a question.

If they persist, I might give my anecdotes and then say the following. I know where you can go.  Go to New York City and take a ferry boat to Liberty Island and see the Statue of Liberty. Then read what’s written there by Emma Lazarus. Then take another boat and go to Ellis Island. Check it out. Look at all the pictures - all those images that are part of what makes American great.  See if your name and your roots are there.

Tap Tap this plaque to make it readable.

Then I might tell the Sammy Davis Jr. comment. When you're on the elevator and it gets up to the top, don't forget to push the button and send it down to bottom - for the next group who wants to come up.

HAND MADE

Quote for Today  - November 15,  2011

          Things Men Have Made

Things men have made
with wakened hands
and put life into
are awake through years
with transferrered touch,
and go on glowing for long years.

And for this reaason,
some old things are lovely
warm still with the life
of forgotten men
who made them.

D. H. Lawrence

RANDOM ACTS  

OF  KINDNESS

November  14,  2011

Quote for Today

"You cannot do a kindness too soon,  for you never know how soon it will be too late."

Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-1882]

YOU’VE GOT TALENT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 33 Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, is, “You’ve Got Talent.”

As you know for the past few years there have been various programs on TV - that are all about, “You’ve Got Talent”.

Britain’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent, Australia’s Got Talent. Korea’s Got Talent. I couldn’t find out if any other country than these have their own version of this kind of a program - but I’m sure every country, city and county could have such a program. The world has talent.

And people sit there and discover Susan Boyle - and various other people - who have talents they didn't know about.

THE WORD “TALENT”

I like words - and I like to look up a word’s history - to see where it came from and when it started to be used. If they are English words I like to see what century is listed as its earliest use. That’s why I like the Oxford Dictionary - the two volume set - that comes in a dark blue hard cardboard box - with two box sleeves or sections. On the top it has a cardboard drawer - which has a neat magnifying glass - which is in the shape of a rear view mirror. The magnifying glass is helpful because these two volumes have very tiny print. [Someone said this morning, "Hey,  Dummy, it's on line.]

The English word “talent” comes directly from the Greek word “talanton”. And this gospel parable is how this word and its meaning have come down to us till today. Check it out: Matthew 25: 14-30.

And down through the years, thousands, dare I say “millions”,  of teachers and preachers, have recited this parable to kids and others. They have challenged others to use their talents well - and not to bury their talents in the ground - out of fear - like the third person in today’s gospel story.

THIS GOSPEL PARABLE

I did some research again yesterday on this parable. That’s the beauty of having the gospels on a 3 year cycle. One comes back to these texts over and over again. Education calls for recycling and repetition.

There is the added gift that there is another variation of this story in Luke 19 - where instead of three servants, there are ten servants who are given money to trade or work with while the owner goes on a journey. He expects them to work while he is gone and make more money. In Mark 13 there is a very short version of the parable. It’s only 5 verses. Mark doesn’t give a number of servants. It simply says each has his own task.

Then I noticed while doing a bit of research yesterday there is mention of another gospel. It’s a gospel that didn’t make its way into our Bible. It’s the so called, Gospel of the Nazarenes. It’s a gospel that is not referred till after 800. As of now, we don’t have a copy of such a gospel. So it could be another gospel or actually be the so called, “Gospel According to the Hebrews” with a different title. What we have are quotes and parts of it that are mentioned in other documents.

Who knows - a complete copy might be found somewhere, sometime, in the year 4011? As I mentioned in a homily two weeks ago, there is a copy of a work by Archimedes that is featured in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore till January 1st, 2012. The text had been washed off the animal skin it was written on. Then prayers were written where the original text was. Eureka. Hints of the earlier text could be spotted. The pages had a lot of wax on them - from 300 years of use in a monastery in Palestine. With lots of time, research and great equipment, experts have been able to get to the erased Greek text underneath the present text - the prayers.

This Gospel of the Nazarenes is not mentioned in Early Church literature. However, for further thought on today’s gospel,  this Gospel of the Nazarenes has this same basic story.  It also refers to three servants. But in this version, the third doesn’t bury his talents in the ground. Instead, he spends the money on prostitutes and lute players. This was before I-Tunes etc.

Some biblical scholars then say that what we’re missing is the earliest version of this parable - what Jesus actually said - and intended - or closer to it. It was either the message about being ready for the Second Coming - or being ready for a personal accounting on how we use our gifts and talents. Maybe someone will find a version of the Gospel of the Nazarenes or find another text somewhere or under something that is  closer to the original copy of the Parable of the Talents.

YOU'VE GOT TALENT

The Early Church certainly thought the end was near. When that didn’t happen, the church had to rearrange their thinking. So I sense this parable was used more and more as a challenge for each of us to use the talents we have each day for the greater good of our world.

I sense that this take had the most traction for preachers and teachers.

Next ….

So I'm preaching to use this text as a personal challenge for each of us to use the talents we've been given and to use them well.

Re-reading the story, I am called to be both the servant who has been given talents - more or less - and also to be the rich man in the gospel who asks for the accounting.

Question: What are my talents, skills, and gifts?

Question: What is my judgment on how well I have used  the gifts I have been given?

Challenge: Settle accounts with God who has given us the talents we have - in prayer - especially journal praying.

Ponder: All of us from time to time - have sat in the back seat of a car - or plane - or boat and done a lot of talking to ourselves - about life.

The scene from the movie, On The Waterfront, that most people remember takes place in a taxi cab. Terry Malloy (Marlo Brando) is sitting back there with his older brother, Charlie - who had gotten him to throw a fight and lose, says, “I could have been a contender, I could have been somebody, instead of a bum which is what I am.”

When you heard today’s gospel did it trigger a judgment moment for you? Did you ask yourself the Mayor Koch of New York City question. He was often quoted as asking, “How am I doing?”

How are you doing?  How's it going? Do you feel that you are somebody? Do you still feel you’re a contender? Do you still see yourself on stage - and it’s a contest - in which you use your talents - and everyone out there is looking at you and judging how you’re doing?

Do they boo or clap? Do you get a 2 or a 10?

Wow she’s got a nice family, a nice house, a nice job, a neat car, a good life. He's a good guy!

Or is the theater empty - and it’s just you on stage. Picture yourself as both judge and jury - critic and scorer.

Today's parable is from the 25th Chapter of Matthew. It has three parables about judgment. I assume for starters - because they are at the end of the gospel and are being used at the end of the Church year - all three have to do with the final judgment.

Saying that triggers a quote from Albert Camus that I remembered and went in search of. He said in The Fall  [1956], “I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment. It takes place every day.”

That wasn’t his original idea. St. Ignatius and the Jesuits stress the same idea that each day we enter into a moment of judgment on our life - as well as taking the time to do just that on a regular basis - like at a Jesuit retreat.

So how am I doing now and how do I picture the hereafter?

CONCLUSION

How are you doing? Are you still contending? What are your talents? What’s the prize? What are you after?

The title of my homily is, “You’ve Got Talent!”

What are your talents? Talk to yourself. Talk to each other - about each other's talents.

Some homework….

Take today’s first reading about “What does a good wife look like?” I read in my research for today’s homily that someone said, “This is a male’s description of a good wife?” My thought at that was: “Ladies write up your description of a good husband.” Then I said, “Wait a minute. Husbands write up a description of a good husband.” Then I said, “Married folks sit down together - read today’s first reading - then each of you write up your description of a good wife, a good husband, a good couple, and if you’re blessed with kids, a good family. Then share.”

So I don’t think Jesus is talking about the economy or money here - and I wouldn’t dare to jump into that arena. Yet I hope some of you do - those who have that talent - because there are a lot of people out of work and the world’s economy needs fix. No more bubbles - or see them when they appear.

In the meanwhile, there is that other parable right after this parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the parable of the sheep and the goats and the big judgment scene at the end of the world - where we’re judged on whether we made sure the other person wasn’t hungry, thirsty, naked and unvisited - whether when sick or in prison. We’ll hear that parable next Sunday - the Last Sunday of this Church Year.

Or as Father Barry, Karl Malden, says in the movie, On The Waterfront, “You want to know what's wrong with our waterfront? It's the love of a lousy buck. It's making love of a buck - the cushy job - more important than the love of man!”

==============================================

LONGER VERSION - AND A BIT MORE COMPLICATED

YOU'VE GOT TALENT.

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 33 Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, is, “You’ve Got Talent.”

As you know for the past few years there have been various programs on TV - that are all about, “You’ve Got Talent”.

Britain’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent, Australia’s Got Talent. Korea’s Got Talent. I couldn’t find out if any other country than these have their own version of this kind of a program - but I’m sure every country, city and county could have such a program. The world has talent.

And people sit there and discover Susan Boyle - and various other people who had hidden talents.

THE WORD “TALENT”

I like words - and I like to look up a word’s history - to see where it came from and when it started to be used. If they are English words I like to see what century is listed as its earliest use. That’s why I like the Oxford Dictionary - the two volume set - that comes in a dark blue hard cardboard box - with two box sleeves or sections. On the top it has a cardboard drawer - which has a neat magnifying glass - which is in the shape of a rear view mirror. The magnifying glass is helpful because these two volumes have a lot of words - and the print is very tiny.

The English word “talent” comes directly from the Greek word “talanton”. And this gospel parable is how this word and its meaning has come down to us till today. Check it out:  Matthew 25: 14-30.

And down through the years, thousands, dare I say “millions” of teachers and preachers have recited this parable to kids and others. They have challenged others to use their talents well - and not to bury their talent in the ground - out of fear - like the third person in today’s gospel story.

THIS GOSPEL PARABLE

I did some research again yesterday on this parable. That’s the beauty of having the gospels on a 3 year cycle. One comes back to these texts over and over again.

Education calls for recycling and repetition.

There is the added gift that there is another variation of this story in Luke 19 - where instead of three servants, there are ten servants who are given money to trade or work with while the owner goes on the journey. He expects them to work while he is gone and make more money. In Mark 13 there is a very short version of the parable. It’s only 5 verses. It doesn’t give a number of servants. It simply says each has his own task.

Then I noticed while doing a bit of research yesterday there is mention of another gospel. It’s a gospel that didn’t make its way into our Bible. It’s the so called, Gospel of the Nazarenes. It’s a gospel that is not referred till after 800. As of now, we don’t have a copy of such a gospel. So it could be another gospel or actually be the so called, “Gospel According to the Hebrews”  with a different title. What we have are quotes and parts of it that are mentioned in other documents.

Who knows - a complete copy might be found somewhere, sometime, in the year 4011? As I mentioned in a homily two weeks ago, there is a copy of a Lost and Found copy of a work by Archimedes that is featured in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore till January 1st, 2012. The text had been washed off the animal skin it was written on - with prayers then written where the original text was. Eureka. Hints of the earlier text could be spotted. It  had a lot of wax on it - from 300 years use in a monastery in Palestine. With lots of research and great equipment experts have been able to get to the erased Greek text underneath the present text - the prayers.

This Gospel of the Nazarenes is not mentioned in Early Church literature. However,  for further thought on today’s gospel, someone later on in our church says this Gospel of the Nazarenes has this same story - and refers to three servants. But in this version,  the third doesn’t bury his talents in the ground. Instead, he spends the money on prostitutes and lute players. This was before I-Tunes etc.

To me the best scholar on the parables is still a man named Joachim Jeremias. [Cf.  The Parables of Jesus, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1963]

Looking at all four versions of the story, Joachim Jeremias says flat out that Luke’s interpretation of the original parable of Jesus is wrong. I don’t find biblical scholars being that blunt - most of the time. He says Luke compares the rich man  to Jesus. The rich man after handing out the money to the ten men goes off to a distant country to become king. They reject him so he comes back and then calls in the ten for the accounting. As in Matthew the lazy servant is corrected and ridiculed. Then Luke adds that those who rejected the rich man as king are to be brought in and executed in his presence. This is what Joachim Jeremias is bit too much as a way of describing Jesus. He thinks Luke is missing the original purpose of the parable - which was a warning about the Second Coming.

Various scholars say we don't have the original parable of Jesus - just different takes on it - and different points are made - depending on the source one is looking at.

When reading a sermon on today’s gospel from John Kavanaugh, he says that in the 1980’s the U.S. Catholic bishops put out a pastoral letter on the economy. Then the Lay Commission on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy wrote a letter that used this parable. In this sermon for this Sunday back in the 1990’s , John Kavanaugh says that they too were wrong in their use and interpretation this parable. They were saying that “this parable of the talents describes the ‘terrible punishments which lie in store for those who do not produce new wealth from the talents God has placed in their stewardship.’” [Cf. John Kavanaugh, The Word Embodied, Meditations on the Sunday Scriptures, Cycle A, p. 127]

John Kavanaugh continues by saying that even though the commission’s “letter is a thoughtful effort at interpreting capitalism with the demands of the gospel, I think the parable of the talents has as little to do with capitalism as it does with slavery or absolute control over the destiny of the servants who appear as characters in the story.”

Then Kavanaugh - and the scholars whom I like - say that this gospel is one more example that people in the early church were thinking that the end of the world was getting close - so be prepared for the end - the arrival back of the Master - Jesus the Lord.

YOU’VE GOT TALENT

When that didn’t happen, the church had to rearrange their thinking and I sense that this parable - was used more and more as a challenge for each of us to use the talents we have each day for the greater good of our world. And next; there will be a judgment at the end of our world - on how well we did - but we don’t know when that is going to happen.

I sense that those two takes have always had traction for preachers and teachers.

Next ….

So I like the use of this text as a personal challenge for each individual to use the talents we've been given and to use them well.

Reading the story I am called to be both the servant who has been given talents  - more or less - and also to be  the rich man in the gospel who asks for the accounting.

Question: How have we done with the gifts we have been given?

Settle accounts with the one who has given us talents we have.

All of us from time to time - have sat in the back seat of a car - or plane - or boat and do a lot of talking to ourselves - about life.

The scene from the movie, On The Waterfront, that most people remember takes place in a taxi cab. Terry Malloy (Marlo Brando) is sitting back there with his older brother, Charlie - who had gotten him to throw a fight and lose, says, “I could have been a contender, I could have been somebody, instead of a bum which is what I am.”

When you heard today’s gospel did it trigger a judgment moment for you? Did you ask yourself the Mayor Koch of New York City question. He was often quoted as asking, “How am I doing?”

Do you feel that you are somebody? Do you still feel you’re a contender? Do you still see yourself on stage - and it’s a contest - in which you use your talents - and everyone out there is looking at you and judging how you’re doing?

Do they boo or clap?

Wow he’s got a nice family, a nice house, a nice job, a neat car, a good life.

Or is the theater empty - and it’s just you as on stage - and just you as judge and jury - critic and scorer?

This 25th Chapter of Matthew has 3 parables about judgment and all three have to do with the final judgment.

Saying that triggers a quote from Albert Camus that I remembered and went in search of. He said in The Fall [1956], “I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment. It takes place every day.”

That wasn’t his original idea. St. Ignatius and the Jesuits stress the same idea that each day we enter into a moment of judgment on our life - as well as taking the time to do just that on a regular basis - like at a Jesuit retreat.

CONCLUSION

How are you doing? Are you still contending? What are your talents? What’s the prize? What are you after?

The title of my homily is, “You’ve Got Talent!”

What are your talents? Talk to each other.

Some homework….

Take today’s first reading about “What does a good wife look like?” I read in my research for today’s homily that someone said, “This is a male’s description of a good wife?” My thought at that was: “Ladies write up your description of a good husband.” Then I said, “Wait a minute. Husbands write up a description of a good husband.” Then I said, “Married folks sit down together - read today’s first reading - then each of you write up your description of a good wife, a good husband, a good couple, and if you’re blessed with kids, a good family. Then share.”

So I don’t think Jesus is talking about the economy or money here - and I wouldn’t dare to jump into that arena. Yet I hope some of you do - those who have that talent - because there are a lot of people out of work and the world’s economy needs fix. No more bubbles - or see them when they appear.

In the meanwhile, there is that other parable right after this parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the parable of the sheep and the goats and the big judgment scene at the end of the world - where we’re judged on whether we made sure the other person wasn’t hungry, thirsty, naked and unvisited - whether when sick or in prison. We’ll hear that parable next Sunday - the Last Sunday of this Church Year.

Or as Father Barry, Karl Malden, says in the movie, On The Waterfront, “You want to know what's wrong with our waterfront? It's the love of a lousy buck. It's making love of a buck - the cushy job - more important than the love of man!”

MISERY

Quote for Today November 13,  2011

THE  MISER

A man had a large sum of gold coins, which he buried in the ground. Every day he came to the spot to dig it up and count the gold coins one by one. 


He made so many trips that a thief, who had been observing him, guessed what it was that the man had hidden. One night he quietly dug up the treasure and made off with it.


When the man discovered his loss, he was overcome with grief and despair. He groaned and cried and tore at his hair.


A neighbor, after hearing his complaint, said, "Do not grieve so much. Bury a stone in the same hole and imagine it to be the gold. It will serve you just as well, for when the gold was there you made no use of it."

Aesop [c. 550 B.C.]

Check Highlighted in Yellow, A short course in living wisely and choosing well, H. Jackson Brown, Jr. and Rochelle Pennington, page 86.

BACH

November   12,  2011

Quote for Today

"Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian."

Robert Fry

RELATIONSHIPS

November 11,  2011

Quote for Today


"True belonging is born of relationships
not only to one another, but to a place
of shared responsibilities and benefits.
We love not so much what we have acquired
as what we have made and whom 
we have made it with."


Robert Finch, "Scratching," The Primal Place, 1983

Questions:

Comparing connections and relationships you had in school and those you have had at work, which ones had the greater impact. Name names for yourself.

Talk with your spouse and close friends about the people who have impacted you in your life. Who comes to mind first?

What was your best work place?  Was it the work or the people there who made it the best?

What was your best school moment? Have you figured out reasons why?

Now re-read the words of Robert Finch once again.  Does it make more sense after reflecting upon these questions?