I'M  GLAD

Quote for Today  - October 4,  2012

"The repercussion of one person living in stubborn gladness are incalculable."

Martha Beck, O Magazine,  p. 67, September 2011




St. Francis of Assisi - Today is his feast day. He lived from around 1181 to 1226. His repercussions are still felt today. I'm never heard him described as glad - but I also never heard him described as not glad. As i reflect upon his life that's the theme that hits me: gladness. Joy to the world the Lord has come - once more to me - and I share that joy to the world. This does not mean that someone is glad about suffering - and suffering came to Francis - but underneath it all I sense and see in Francis of Assisi a stubbornness - a gladness - a joy - a peach - in both seeing the cross and seeing the birds of the air. "Oh how they sing!"



Picture on top: a fragment of a fresco in the lower part of the basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.

THE PROBLEM OF JOB:

TO BE CONTINUED

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily or thoughts for this 26^th  is, “The Problem of Job: To Be Continued.”

The first reading for today and this week - all 6 days - Monday till Saturday is from the Book of Job.

We have a reading from Job on two Sundays, the 5^th and 12^th Sundays - in Ordinary Time, Year B - and we can have Job in two other readings - one from the Mass for those Suffering Famine or Hunger - which we rarely hear and one from funeral Masses - a reading that is often picked - Job 19: 23 to 27a - and you might be familiar with that from a family funeral. That’s the text that has the message

“I know my Vindicator or Redeemer or Avenger lives

and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;

Whom I myself shall see:

my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him;

And from my flesh I shall see God;

my inmost being is consumed with longing.”

That’s it. That’s all we hear from Job in the readings here at Mass - and the 6 readings from this week are every other year - and some of those 6 are bumped because of feast days - like this week.

So a  bottom line message would be to read sometime in our lifetime the Book of Job.

SUFFERING: TO BE CONTINUED

As you know the Book of Job presents the problem of suffering - a problem that is part of every life - more or less.

The title of my homily is: “The Problem of Job: To Be Continued.”

I gave it that title because sometimes we grasp answers to the problem of suffering and sometimes we don’t.

Suffering - knocks on our door - and we don’t want to answer that door.

The Book of Job has speeches, debates, comments, and questions: They are all about how we humans deal with death and suffering.

Like Job - each of us has to open our own door - and face those messengers and messages that are the Bad News. If Gospel comes from the old English word, “Godspell” - “Good News” -  Job deals with “Badspells” - “Bad News”.

Down through the centuries folks have sat with Job and talked to God about “Badspells” in life.

The Book of Job invites us - tells us - it’s okay to scream at God - yell at God, “How come” God?   Some of the Psalms as well as the movie and play, “Fiddler on the Room” tell us the same thing.

We might not get answers, but we get permission to yell - scream - and say, “God I got doubts about you!” or "Why do I have these torments!" or what have you?

The Book of Job also gives us lines - prayers - screams to make - like, “I know that my Vindicator lives” [Job 19:25] “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” [Job 13:15].

The Book of Job tells of one person’s sufferings - but then it’s put on stage - and developed - so it can deal with everyone’s sufferings. Scholars voice different opinions where the Book of Job comes from. I like the opinion that it was an ancient document from well before 1000 years before Christ - from another mid-East culture - that Israelite writers took and developed it - to help folks deal with the bad things that happen to people good and bad.

CONCLUSION

Put reading the Book of Job or reading it again on your bucket list because “suffering: to be continued.”

+++++

Notes: Picture on top - Job and His Daughters [1800] by William Blake [1757-1827]; picture in the middle, Job's Tormentors [1793] - also by William Blake.

ENEMY

Quote for Today - October 3,  2012


"Everyone carries an enemy in their own heart."

Danish Proverb



Questions:

Name your's right now and down through the years?

Have any of them become non-enemies?

Isn't it a bummer?

Jesus had enemies - so did he practice what he preached about how to deal with one's enemies?

GUARDIAN ANGELS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Guardian Angels.”

Today - October 2^nd - we celebrate their feast.

Last night in preparing this homily I did some homework - some reading up - on “angels” and “Guardian Angels”.  What’s your read on angels?

FOR STARTERS

For starters angels are very much part of our Sacred Scriptures. We hear of them in all kinds of stories and situations in both Testaments.

Some angels have names - most don’t.

Some angels of God are destroying angels - wiping out enemies.

Some angels come to earth to help - to lead - to stand by - to camp themselves around folks to protect people. They are also pictured as part of the upper heavens giving praise to God - all the time - and when we pray we enter into their ongoing praise and music to God.  

They are part of the Hosanna singing “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts.”

So they are very much part of our scriptures as well as our tradition.

We also find them mentioned in Islam, Mormonism, and various other religions.

In our Bible one of their key roles  - besides guarding and protecting us, is that they are messengers.

They are usually pictured with wings - because they seem to fly everywhere and flutter over someone - and then give them a message.

HERE IN THIS CHURCH

Here in this church they are holding holy water in the back of the church as you come in. There are images of angels up here around the tabernacle and on the edge of the old altar. We see them  in the stained glass windows - in the OLPH picture - up near the ceiling -. Evidently they can fly.

ANGELIC QUESTIONS?

Where are you with angels? Are they part of your spirituality? Are they part of your spiritual practices and prayers?

What are your wonderings about angels?

What are your questions about angels: good and bad angels?

What was the angel movement from about 10 or was it 15 years ago - when there were so many angels for sale - in all kinds of shapes and forms? It certainly was a money maker.  I received two little angels named “Andrew” - and I keep them on a book shelf - gathering dust - along with another tiny angel without a name. This chubby cheeked creature has a little card saying, “I’m Angel Cheeks, your Guardian Angel. I will be there when nobody else is, to care, kiss away tears and bring smiles on rainy days. And always - to be a very best friend. Because everybody needs somebody … That’s Me!”   Made in China.

If I was an artist, I thought of this last night, how would I sculpt or paint an angel? Answer: I’m not sure. Would I paint a ray of light, a hand on a shoulder, a bug in an ear, a push in the back, an index finger to the face?  That question gave me an understanding why artists often picture them as humans - but with wings.

I wonder why Protestantism rejected the Catholic practices about angels? The literature against Catholics said that they worshiped angels - along with Mary and the saints - and that’s idolatry. Catholics responded with a no. We just ask for their help, because we need all the help we can get. I was surprised about the Protestant attack on angels - because they are very scriptural.

As I read up on this last night I spotted some strange stories like in the middle ages relic savers would have objects like a branch from the burning bush of Moses and a feather off the wing of Gabriel the archangel. Boccaccio [1313-1375] told the story of a Friar who walked around saying he too had one of the feathers that dropped of the Angel Gabriel when he dropped into the bedroom of the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation.

That kind of stuff didn’t help Catholicism. And I agree with the criticism of the recent angel period that was non-denominational. Angel were being sold as these chubby faced clean feathered images. The criticism was that they might give you a feeling of the sacred - or the holy -  but there was no challenge - like that of dealing with a real person.

CONCLUSION

As to one’s Guardian Angel what I think would be helpful is to ask one’s Guardian Angel for guidance and to guard us from all harm.

I also think what would help is not to picture them as a tiny feathery creature - like a cherubic faced doll in a white dress - hovering over our right shoulder. Would it be better to imagine one’s angel as a voice - an inner voice?  Even that is tangible - and sensible. At this point, I think a good image for one’s Guardian Angel would be a voice that challenges us with messages each day on how to be a better Christian - a messenger like Gabriel who came to Mary and called her to  bring Christ into our world. So too us. Amen.

BE ANGELIC! 

TAKE YOURSELF LIGHTLY

Quote for Today - October 2, 2012

“Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.”

G. K. Chesterton [1874-1936]

OBITUARY AND LEGACY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my sermon for this October 1^st feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux is, “Obituary and Legacy.”

This is a topic I’ve been interested in for years now.

I first heard about legacy while driving on a Sunday morning somewhere. I was listening to a  program on the car radio. A speaker said something like, “The big deal is making one’s will. I think the big deal should be: putting together one’s legacy.”

That hit me. Ever since I heard that radio program I have pushed In sermons from time to time the value of pulling together what we would like as our legacy. It’s something I think about from time to time. Better I think we all think about this without calling it thinking about our legacy. It’s what folks do in what Erikson calls the 8^th Stage of human psychosocial development. That stage is called: “Wisdom: Ego Integrity vs. Despair - [Late Adulthood, 65-death].”

An obituary is usually written after our death and by someone else. However, I’ve met folks who have everything arranged for their death - including their obituary. A legacy takes a lot of time and reflection and homework than an obituary.

ST THERESE OF LISIEUX

This theme of “Obituary and Legacy” hit me again today on this feast of the Little Flower: St. Therese of Lisieux.

Ida Gorres, in her book, The Hidden Face, The Life of Therese of Lisieux has the following opening paragraph to her book: “The cult of St. Therese of Lisieux has a history unequalled in recent centuries. This young nun who was born in 1873, and entered a convent at fifteen, died at twenty-four of galloping consumption. Never, in this short span of life, did she do anything that even attracted attention. The general estimate of her among the nuns of the convent community, with whom she had lived in close association for nine years, is expressed in a well-known anecdote: from the window of her sickroom Therese, during the last months of her suffering, heard one nun say to another: ‘Sister Therese will die soon; what will our Mother Prioress be able to write in her obituary notice? She entered our convent, lived and died - there really is no more to say.’”

And yes her obituary was brief and minimal. In time her legacy was heard all around the world - with a wide, wide world following and impact. Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, was translated into many languages. Between 1898 and 1923 the autobiography sold 700, 675 copies and 2 ½ million copies of an abridged copy were sold - just in her own language alone: French.

Love, having the simplicity of a child, putting everything into God’s hands, could sum up her legacy. Better read her book - The Story of A Soul. Read Ida Gorres book, The Hidden Face, as well.

CONCLUSION

Right now most of us could write  ¾ of our obituary. Right now, some of us could pull together the first paragraphs of our legacy.

Legacy is autobiography for starters.

Legacy includes details and memories - but especially learnings from our experiences.

Legacy includes our dreams, our learnings, our hopes, what we perceive as our accomplishments.

But what about mistakes - even disasters in our story? Instead of despair - which is the opposite side of Ego-Integrity as mentioned in Erikson’s 8^th Stage of Psychosocial Development, the Christian knows about forgiveness. They know Jesus’ parable of going into the garden at the last hour. They know they story of Jesus forgiving the thief on the cross. The Catholic might know the story of St. Therese of Lisieux praying for the conversion Henri Pranzini in 1887. He had brutally murdered two women and a child. He showed no remorse - but Therese kept praying - and she read in the paper that he grabbed a crucifix and kissed it three times before his death by the guillotine.

The title of my homily is, “Obituary and Legacy”. I’m stressing: write one’s  legacy. Use paper or computer. Maybe it too will go viral after we go. Let those who find it after we die find out who we were and what we were about.

[Picture on top: Therese Martin aged 15]

STEP UP!

Quote for Today - October 1,  2012 - Feast of the Little Flower


"You make me think 
of a little child 
that is learning to stand 
but does not yet know 
how to walk. 
In his desire 
to reach 
the top of the stairs 
to find his mother, 
he lifts his little foot 
to climb the first step. 
It is all in vain, 
 and at each renewed effort he falls. 
Well, be this little child: 
through the practice of all the virtues, 
always lift your little foot 
to mount the staircase of holiness, 
but do not imagine 
that you will be able to go up 
even the first step! 
No, but the good God 
does not demand more from you 
than good will. 
From the top of the stairs, 
He looks at you with love. 
Soon, won over by your useless efforts, 
He will come down Himself 
and, taking you in His arms, 
He will carry you up.... 
But if you stop lifting your little foot, 
He will leave you 
a long time on the ground." 

St. Therese of Lisieux [ 1873-1897] in Counsels and Reminiscences



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