"It's a wonderful feeling when your father becomes not a god but a man to you - when he comes down from the mountain and you see he's this man with weaknesses. And you love him as this whole being, not as a figurehead."
Robin Williams, Rolling Stone, 1988
Saturday, June 16, 2012
ENEMIES HELP US
TO DEFINE AND DISCOVER OURSELVES
June 16, 2012 Quote for the Day
"I don't have a warm personal enemy left. They've all died off. I miss them terribly because they helped define me."
Clare Booth Luce [1903-1987], "The Dick Cavett Show," July 21, 1981
1932 Photo by Carl Van Vechten
Questions
What do you know about Clare Booth Luce?
How would you define yourself in 50 words or less?
What have been your biggest discoveries about yourself? List 5 "that I's" about yourself.
I know this about myself, that I ______________
I know this about myself, that I ______________
I know this about myself, that I ______________
I know this about myself, that I ______________
I know this about myself, that I ______________
Who are your enemies?
Who are your warm enemies? Who are your cold enemies?
What have each by name taught and told you about yourself?
Have you ever in your life talked to an "enemy" one to one? Please describe. Have you ever talked to a friend about any of those experiences? Please describe.
Check back:
Check back into my blog and you'll find a series of self tests.
Have you ever in your life ever talked to an "enemy" one to one?
Friday, June 15, 2012
THE SACRED HEART:
3 IMAGES OF GOD’S LOVE
INTRODUCTION
The
title of my homily is, “Feast of the Sacred Heart: 3 Images of God’s Love.”
Today’s 3 readings
give 3 images of God’s love for us.
For starters, there is
a basic human question: “Do you love me!”
We ask it in various
and many ways:
·
Does anyone love me?
·
Does she love me?
·
Does he love me?
·
Does [did] my mother love me?
·
Does [did] my father love me?
·
Do my children love me?
·
Does so and so love me?
·
Does God love me?
Today’s 3 readings
for this feast of the Sacred Heart give 3 images of God’s love for us?
FIRST READING - FIRST IMAGE
PARENTING
Today’s first
reading from Hosea the Prophet gives the basic image of a parent loving a
child. [Cf. Hosea 11: 3-4, 8c-9.] That’s where it all begins - being held and
loved as a baby.
I’ll never forget a
scary statement I heard in a lecture in a counseling course I was taking, “The
bigger the problem, the earlier the problem.”
The speaker then
said, “If a person has severe personality problems, sometimes it can traced
back to horrible neglect of that person early, early in their childhood and
babyhood.”
It gives me pause when
I run into “problem people” or “strange rangers” or folks I find “difficult”.
Please God we
have/had parents that love us.
All through the
scriptures we hear that theme - God as a Parent - both Mother and Father -
loving us. [1]
Hopefully, when we
say the “Our Father” - we say it with deep feelings because we got glimpses of
the love of God for us - because we had a loving father - or we experienced in
our lifetime from guardians or father figures - great care and love for us.
Want to catechize your
kids and grandkids? Love them.
SECOND READING - THE IMAGE OF
CONVERSION MOMENTS
In today’s second
reading from Ephesians we have mention of Paul’s experience of Christ. [Cf.
Ephesians 3: 8-12, 14-19.] Saul, who became Paul, was trying to remove mention of Jesus, or the presence, awareness, following, or attachment to Christ from Jewish folks who
were becoming Christians. In his conversion Paul discovered that Christ was
aware of him.
Today’s second
reading has the word “access”. Isn’t that a neat image? Christ gives us
“access” to the Father. In his conversion moment on the road to Damascus, Paul
discovered that the one he was trying to kill - erase - destroy - hurt -
was the one who saved him from his destructive life style. In this Christ - in
this mystery of Christ - which he entered - Paul experienced the love of God
for him and for all.
Conversion stories
are reversal stories.
Listen again to the
powerful words from Ephesians in today’s second reading - words of access to
the Father through, in, and with Christ.
For this reason I
kneel before the Father, from
whom every family in heaven and on
earth is named, that he
may grant you in
accord with the riches of his glory to be
strengthened with power
through his Spirit
in the inner self, and
that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith; that
you, rooted and grounded in love, may
have strength to comprehend with
all the holy ones what is
the breadth and length and
height and depth, and to
know the love of Christ which
surpasses knowledge, so that
you may be filled with
all the fullness of God.
GOSPEL - DEATH
SCENES - THE SACRED HEART OF GOD
And today’s Gospel
gives us the third image of God’s love for us.[Cf. John 19: 31-37] It is a scene from Jesus’
death on the Cross. I assume it was chosen for this feast of the Sacred Heart
because the lance is thrust into Jesus’ chest - his heart area - and out flowed
blood and water.
What happens to you
when you stand before an image, a statue or a picture of Jesus Christ? We have
this gigantic image of Christ here at St. John Neumann’s. At St. Mary’s we have
a big crucifix in the back of church, a statue of the Sacred Heart in the
sanctuary, and an image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd on the upper wall of the
sanctuary. What is your favorite image of Jesus? What moves you?
Looking at the
history of how Jesus is pictured, using broad general statements, the first key
image of Jesus was that of the Good Shepherd. Then came Jesus on the Cross.
Then came Jesus as the Sacred Heart. In the last century came the image of
Jesus filled with Divine Mercy. These images convey caring, relating, reaching
out, pouring out one’s heart, for others.
Today we celebrating
the image of the Sacred Heart.
We know the meaning
of the heart - in all those “I love you’s” - all those heart images on rings
and things - bumper stickers - and Valentine Day stuff. We feel it in our pump
- our chest - our heart - when we are loved and when we love.
CONCLUSION
In this homily I
presented from today’s 3 readings, 3 images that God loves us. Today, on this
feast of the Sacred Heart, we celebrate that reality: God loves me.
[1] Pope John Paul I, [Albino Luciani] (1912-1978) said at the Sunday Angelus blessing in St. Peter's Square on September 17, 1978, "He is Father. Even more, God is Mother, who does not want to harm us."
STUFF ME
June 15, 2012 Quote for Today
"If I am what I have and if I lose what I have
who then am I?"
Erich Fromm [1900-1980]
Thursday, June 14, 2012
HAPPINESS
June 14, 2012 Quote for Today
"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling."
Margaret Lee Runbeck
Questions:
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, are you happy?
Who is the happiest person you know? Have you ever asked her or him the secret of their happiness?
Ask your closest friend: "Do you see me as a happy person?" If they hesitate, breathe. If they say, "Yes" - ask, "For example?" If they say, "No! and if you are really close, ask, "Have you any thoughts why you think I'm unhappy?"
What has been your best day this year so far? What has been the best day in your life, so far?
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
VOTING
June 13, 2012 Quote for Today
"Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against."
W.C. Fields, in Robert Lewis Taylor, W.C. Fields, His Follies and Fortunes, 1949
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
HATRED
June 12, 2012 Quote for Today
"I have honestly never gone in for hating. My temporary bitternesses toward people have all been ended by what Freud called an inferiority complex and Christ called 'Let him without sin -' I remember the day he said it. We were just like that then; we tossed up for who was to go through with it - and he lost."
F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter to Ernest Hemingway, June 1, 1934, in Matthew J. Bruccoli, Scott and Ernest, 1978
Questions:
Have you ever put down a word (a rock) and not spoken it (thrown the rock) about another because of Jesus' words - as F. Scott Fitzgerald put it - in the above quote?
Have you ever seen hatred or gossip or attacking others as having inferiority feelings - as F. Scott Fitzgerald put it - in the above quote?
Is there anyone you hate? What does that do to you?
Read Matthew 5: 38-48. What did Jesus figure out about hatred and retaliation and people who bother us and those we label as "enemies"?
