"If you're afraid of being lonely, don't try to be right."
Jules Renard [1864-1910]
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Questions:
Have you ever expressed your opinion - because you knew you were right - and you got slammed and you said, "I'll never speak up again." And you felt all alone - and then lonely?
Have you ever seen someone who wasn't scared to express her opinion and she seemed strong and not afraid of being all alone on a position?
Have you ever shut up - because you didn't want to feel all alone on some position?
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
UNLIKE THAT DAY
A LONG TIME AGO
The tree didn’t scream
the day it died, when
the farmer chain sawed it -
slicing it close to the ground -
a clean cut - compared to
what his father felt that day
he was axed - and fell dead - after many, many hacks.
The pain of winters - cold
cold winters - the standing there in the sun of so many summers - hot hot summers which prepared him for this day - the day he died - but he knew it was nothing compared to those who died hung on trees
and to that day the nails were
driven into his hands -
and into his feet - and the spit
remained on his left leg till it dried along with his blood
and then he too died, but then again there is Spring.
Quote for Today - The Twenty-Ninth and Last Day of Black History Month
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana [1863-1952], The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905
George also said, "A country without a memory is a country of madmen."
What's your take on Black History Month. I put a quote for each day as well as some YouTube pieces to stimulate thought and talk on Black History Month.
And I'll add the following YouTube piece on February being Black History month in Canada as well. It seems that having a Black History Month in Europe is catching on here and there. England has had a Black History Month (October) since 1987. Germany has one in February. From Google pieces, it seems that the movement varies and is being considered.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
NEXT TIME IT RAINS,
TASTE THE RAIN
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Next Time It Rains, Taste the
Rain.”
Next time it rains, stick your tongue out and taste the drops.
Next time it snows, stick your tongue out and taste the
flakes.
We’ve seen kids stick their tongues out to taste a rain drop
or a snow flake. When was the last time you saw an adult do that? Better: be that adult. Best: teach your kids
and grandkids to do just that.
I don’t drink carbonated drinks any more, but I used to love
to pour ginger ale or seven up into a glass and quickly put my chin into the
glass just above the soda line and feel the carbonated bubbles hit my chin.
Great sensation. Try it. And if caught, smile!
I also hope I never forget to taste the rain and the snow
flakes from heaven - and never stop to look at a clear night sky - like the
last two nights.
TODAY’S FIRST READING
Today’s first reading from Isaiah 55 triggers these
thoughts. He talks about rain and snow falling from the sky - watering the
earth - helping things grow and blossom - to work with wheat that becomes bread
and grapes that become wine.
Then he makes the leap from rain and snow - to words falling
from God to us. Taste the words falling on your tongue - your ears - your
being. Let them become you. Let them become the bread and the wine, the body
and the blood called you.
Then go forth and change the world - like Jesus changes the
world. Communion and transubstantiation go together all the time.
A SPEECH STORY
As I listened to today’s first reading - as I tasted it - as
I let it fall on me last night - I remembered a tiny story from our seminary
days - a story we used to practice to be better speakers. I went in search of
it and found it. Because we said it out loud in practice so many times in the
seminary, I remember it many, many, many times when it rains. It has gotten me
to put my face out to feel the rain - and to taste rain drops. The story is
entitled, “The Little Queen” and goes like this.
Once upon a time there was a king who failed to please his
subjects and was in consequence in instant peril. Hurriedly collecting such treasures as he
could, he and his young queen crossed the frontier one night with a few
faithful retainers and settled in a secluded castle in a friendly country.
On the first wet day, the queen was missing. High and low
the retainers searched for her, and at last she was discovered in the middle of
an open space in the forest, holding up her face to the rain.
Horror-stricken, they hurried to her aid; but she waved them
back.
“Do let me stay a little longer,” she pleaded. “All my life
I have longed to feel the rain and I was never allowed to.” “All my life there
have been coaches and umbrellas.”
And again, the little queen held up her face to the drops.
MOVING TOWARDS A
CONCLUSION
Questions: we all have our questions. How to live? How to
pray? How to read the scriptures? How to forgive? How to receive communion?
Answer: Let the word of God soak into you like the rain -
let it fall on you like the snow. For example, in today’s gospel Jesus is
teaching his disciples how to pray. He says, “Don’t babble words.” To me that
means don’t pray as in a rain storm. Pray softly the Our Father - feel the
words - let them soak in - wanting daily bread for all - as well as learning how to forgive trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
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Picture on top taken from Internet - by Zandy
ONE'S LIFE WORK
February 28, 2012
Quote for Today - Twenty-Eighth Day in Black History Month
“What we play is life, my whole life, my whole soul, my
whole spirit is to blow that horn,” he told a doctor a few months before he
died in 1971. No, he wouldn't cancel an upcoming date at the Waldorf-Astoria.
“The people are waiting for me, I got to do it, Doc, I got to do it.”
Louis
Armstrong - 1901-1971
Monday, February 27, 2012
YOUR TOP 10
BIBLE TEXTS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Your Top Ten Bible Texts”.
There are various ways to make the Bible one’s own - or to
own the Bible.
There are 2 ways to understand that verb, “to own”.
Literalists might say,
when asked if they own the Bible, “Of course, I own a Bible. It’s right
there on my bookshelf.” Others might say, “No way. I only own a couple of
quotes and stories that are in the Bible.”
How is the Bible part of your life?
I ask these questions - as reflection questions for Lent.
FATHER JOSEPH
CHAMPLIN’S BOOKLETS
When someone dies and calls the parish for a Funeral Mass
here, they are given not a Bible, but Father Joseph Champlin's Through
Death to Life booklet - to help prepare the Funeral Liturgy. It helps the
family to pick the first and second reading. Father Joseph Champlin did
the booklet that we give couples to pick readings for their wedding as well.
In the early 1970’s I took a course on Liturgy at Princeton
Theological Seminary given by Father Joseph Champlin. Nice guy - and he gave me
an A. He died in 2008 at the age of 77 - from Waldenstrom’s - a bone marrow disease. He was from the Diocese of Syracuse.
I like it when a family or a couple pick Bible readings that
are not in those booklets. It often means that they or the loved one who has
died has a special Bible text that they really owned - or loved. At the same time some favorite Bible texts for funerals and weddings are in those booklets.
FATHER FRANK MILES - JESUIT
I am grateful for Father Frank Miles, a Jesuit, who died here in Maryland.
He was stationed in the Faulkner retreat house down there in Southern
Maryland. I knew him when he was in Wernersville, Pennsylvania.
I went to him for Spiritual Direction - as well as making a few directed
retreats there. On directed retreats -
after listening to someone for a half hour or so - he would give those he was
directing a Bible text to chew on and digest - a text usually right on
target. I once asked him how many Bible texts he used. And he said something
like, “I own about 75 texts.”
I think that’s where I got this idea of one way to
understand the Bible is to see what texts one owns.
There are other ways of reading and using the Bible. To see
what texts one owns is just one way.
LENT
If you want one more Lenten practice, try the owning the
Bible Question. Simply jot down 10 Bible texts you own. They’re yours. You
don’t have to know the Book, Chapter or Verse. Just jot down a favorite text -
and then you can find it afterwards. If you have a computer, just type in what
you know about the text into Google and go from there.
TODAY’S TWO READINGS
What I just said hit me after reading today’s two readings.
Today's two readings also triggered the following thoughts.
Today’s first reading, Leviticus
19: 1-2, 11-18, has a list of prohibitions based on the Ten Commandments.
If asked favorite Bible texts some people might say their
key text is the Ten Commandments.
What hit me next was this: well then would someone else
might say their favorite text is today's gospel - Matthew 25: 31-46. It's the parable of the
Sheep vs. the Goats.
Being careful and not wanting to fall into the sin of pride,
I would think that if a person says their favorite text is Matthew 25: 31-46 compared to someone who would pick The Ten Commandments,
then they might be saying an awful lot about themselves. It would be sort of the
same if some one said that the Beatitudes and not the Ten Commandments was key
to them. That would be saying an awful lot about a person as well.
To me the difference would be in the area of the struggle of
Paul - between outer law and inner law - which he voices loud and clear in
Romans 7. It would take us to what Jeremiah 31:31-34 talks about in that text. There is the law
written on stone and there is a law to come that will be written in the human heart.
The difference takes me to what I see Jesus doing with his
struggles in Matthew with the Pharisees - especially Chapter 23. I see Jesus taking us into a whole different realm or
Kingdom in my opinion than being a Ten Commandments' Person. They can be like a list on
a refrigerator door - or a granite stone with the Ten Commandments chiseled
into it standing outside a court house. To be living one’s life putting
Matthew 25 into practice that takes a lot of living and experiencing and
spiritual growth. To make Matthew 25: 31-46 one’s own - it would take meeting various folks in need and caring for them. That would flesh out Matthew's words into their lives by our service. We would be incorporating our heart and mind with Jesus' heart and mind. Jesus is calling us to visit the sick or serve say
on the St. Vincent de Paul team - or be with those folks who visit the prison up on
Jennifer Road.
CONCLUSION
So in this homily I’m asking about our top 10 Bible texts -
the one’s we own. Or if you want lesser homework: pick the bible texts you want
at your funeral. Either way, I’ll give you an A.
WORKING AT IT
February 27, 2012
Quote for Today - Twenty-Seventh Day in Black History Month
“People might not get all they work
for in this world,
