PLEASE LISTEN TO ME
March 11, 2012
Quote for Today
"The first duty of love is to listen."
Paul Tillich, recalled at his death, October 22, 1965
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
LIMITATIONS
"We have to make peace with our limitations."
Dr. Harold Lindsell
Questions:
How old does a person have to be to be able to realize that?
How old was Dirty Harry Callahan when he said, "A man's got to know his limitations." Magnum Force - 1973
Name 3 of your limitations:
1)
2)
3)
What were your life experiences that helped you learn that lesson?
Ask your spouse of a close friend - what they think are your 3 key limitations:
1)
2)
3)
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
DROPPING
OUT OF CHURCH
Quote for Today - Wednesday March 7, 2012
"Don't stay away from church because there are so many hypocrites; there is always room for one more."
Anonymous
Drawing: The Pharisee and the Publican, Unknown illustrator of Jerome Nadal's 'Evangelicae Historiae Imagines." 1593
Questions:
What are the 3 reasons you have noticed why people stay away from church?
1)
2)
3)
If you could tell the pope three things, what would they be?
1)
2)
3)
If you could tell God three things, what are they?
1)
2)
3)
HUMOR AND HUMILITY
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this Second Tuesday in Lent is,
“Humor and Humility.”
Father Tizio likes to use props in his homilies - and he
uses them very well. They are not the message. They help his message. And they
don’t get in the way of his message - which I always find very clear - not just
with kids - but with adults.
So I have a prop for my homily this morning. It’s a Whoopee
Cushion. Someone gave me a present recently that had 2 Whoopee Cushions in the
box. Why? I don’t know. I gave one away and kept this one. One evening last
week I filled this one with my hot air and placed it on the cushy chair that
Father Joe Krastel uses. However, the cushion of the chair doesn’t lift, so I
put this Whoopee Cushing under a blanket on the chair. I’m sitting there
watching the evening news when Joe walked to the chair. He grabbed the blanket
first and spots the Whoopee Cushion. He laughs and the laugh was on me. My
little game didn’t work.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
The reason I mentioned the Whoopee Cushion is because every time we have this gospel, I remember a story I heard it from a bishop telling a story about another bishop.
In South America they had
this very, very pompous bishop who was the top guy in the Bishop’s Conference.
Well, before he came into this big room for a big meeting of bishops, this one
bishop put a Whoopee Cushion under the
cushion of the big shot’s chair and told all the bishops in the room to
be ready. All were waiting for the big moment. In marches the bishop, serious
as a bishop, in all his regalia. He sits down on the chair and you know what a
Whoopee Cushion does. And all laughed except himself - at first. Finally he
smiled.
Well, in today’s gospel [Matthew
23: 1-12], Jesus talks about the Scribes and the Pharisees taking their seat on
the chair of Moses.
And Jesus says “they
preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and
lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their
phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets,
seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation
'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and
you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father
in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Christ. The
greatest among you must be your servant.” Then Jesus finishes this blast with
the message: “Whoever exalts himself will
be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Tough
stuff. The title of my homily is “Humor and Humility.”
Jesus
after blasting and ridiculing the scribes and the Pharisees here in Matthew 23 - which is close to the end of
his gospel - gives us one more clear reason why they wanted Jesus killed. I’m sure some of the folks hearing Jesus
speak these words laughed - seeing the humor in hypocrisy - seeing those who
exalt themselves being humbled.
We
priests - as well as bishops and the pope -
are voicing these words from pulpits and podiums around the world today.
Obviously, we need to hear these words more than others. These past years we
have certainly been humiliated with our sins and our mistakes - especially in
the abuse cases - the harming of so many young people. Will we ever learn? [Pause!] I sense that some good has come out of the
horror cases: more protection for more
young people. It also seems that Rome
Humor
and humility are connected. Humility and being human are very connected. In the
Book of Genesis we read that God bent
down and created us from the clay, the humus, of the earth and then breathed
the spirit of life into us. Then we rise - and sometimes we stop being down to
earth. We think trappings and titles - seats of honor - will make us better
than others. When we start to think that way, it’s a signal we actually down
deep think less of ourselves. That’s the paradox of wanting power - seeing it
at times as the power to put down others - to humble them - to make ourselves
feel better.
If we
can laugh at ourselves - when the air is knocked out of us - when our inflated
ego is deflated - then we’ll see what we’re really doing and who we really are
- just one more human being in the room.
As I
thought about this stuff last night preparing this homily, I asked myself,
“Should I put this in my homily - say this stuff in church?” Then it hit me, “Hello! Isn’t this the kind
of stuff Jesus is getting at in this gospel - which the church is asking us to
listen to today?” So we better laugh and laughter helps us with humility.
CONCLUSION
I’ll close with a
Jewish proverb: “Don’t make yourself so big. You are not that small.”
LAUGHTER
"Man is the only creature endowed with a sense of laughter; is he not also the only one that deserves to be laughed at?"
Fulke Greville
HO! HO! HO!
Questions:
Would part of your life resume be: "I have a sense of humor"?
Have you ever been described as over-sensitive? Can you take a joke about yourself?
Have you ever made fun or someone and you realized afterwards that it hurt that person? What happened next?
What is one thing about you that is funny? Your ears? Your belly? Your walk? A mannerism? Your way of eating? Your way of driving? Your way of talking?
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