THE FOOL'S PRAYER
Quote for Today - November 8, 2012
"But Lord,
Be merciful to me,
a fool!"
Edward Rowland Sill (1841-1887), The Fool's Prayer.
Check out Luke 18:14
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 31 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Attitude.”
It’s a word that is sometimes used when parents or teachers
or coaches are talking to young people.
I’m assuming Paul is challenging the Christian community in Philippi to look at Christ's attitude compared to their attitude in their
ways of thinking and treating one another. [Cf. Philippians
2:5-11]
It’s a word that appears in today’s first reading - when
Paul says, “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in
Christ Jesus.” To me that sentence is a bit clumsy, so I looked up other
translations. I noticed that the Greek word, “PHRONEMA” is translated by the English words, “attitude” or “mind”. So here are a few translations of the key
word and key sentence Philippians 2:
5.
“The attitude you
should have is the one that Christ Jesus had.” [Good News Bible]
“Let Christ Jesus be your example as to what your attitude
should be.” [J.B. Phillips
translation]
“Your attitude should be the kind what was shown us by Jesus Christ.” [The Living Bible - Paraphrased]
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” [King James Version]
“Let your bearing towards one another arise out of your life
in Christ. Jesus.” [The New English Bible]
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” [The New Revised Standard Version]
“In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus.” [Jerusalem
In these translations from the Greek, I hear Paul saying,
“Have Jesus’ Mind” - or “Have Jesus’ attitude.”
Or we can use the acronym from a few years back: “WWJD” - “What Would Jesus Do?”
THREE WAYS TO HAVE JESUS’ MIND
OR ATTITUDE
As I reflected on the 2 readings for today I came up with 3
ways to have Jesus’ mind or attitude on how to live life and how to behave.
The first way is the emphasis of today’s first reading:
emptying self of self. Paul gives us
what various scholars think is a very early Christian hymn.[1] The Second Person of God empties himself of being
God and becomes us. He then empties himself even further by becoming our
servant. He then empties himself even more by being crushed and crucified by
human beings. When we killed Jesus - we might say, “We killed God” and “We
killed one of us” - ourselves at our
best. Maybe we couldn’t face being who we are called to be: ourselves created
in the image and likeness of God.
So the first way to have the mind of Jesus - or the attitude
of Jesus - is the willingness to empty - to
die to self - to become the servant of all - like Jesus did. Tough stuff.
Haven’t we heard Jesus say that a dozen times? [2]
SECOND WAY: WATCH JESUS
The second way to acquire the mind of Jesus or the attitude
of Jesus is to simply watch Jesus dealing with people and life situations and then imitate him. We
read the gospels to watch Jesus in action and then do likewise. That means to
forgive - to love - to be aware of those tugging on our sleeve - to notice the
unnoticed - to wash feet - to feed
others - to go the extra mile - to give the shirt off our back - in other words
to do all those things that get us to be called “sheep” and not “goats” when
the King gathers us all together at the
Last Judgment. [3]
The third way of taking on the mind of Jesus or the attitude
of Jesus is to learn his teachings and then try to put them into practice. Here is where
today’s gospel is quite a challenge.
Let me see if I can put into words a bit of what I understand or something that grabs me from today's gospel.
What is my attitude towards life? Do I see life as an invitation to celebrate -
as in a banquet - along with everyone else? We’re aware of the text in Matthew
- when Jesus answers those who ask him why do John’s disciples fast and his
don’t: “Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as
long as the bridegroom is still with them"? [4]
So how do we see life? If people are recovering from a
hurricane like Sandy or Katrina, one better not say, “Life is a banquet my
friends, come to the cabaret.” If people are going through a crisis, a divorce,
the loss of a job, a death, obviously I cannot see them seeing life as a banquet.
So how we see life at a particular moment is an, "It all depends!"
So how we see life at a particular moment is an, "It all depends!"
So the famous words of
Ecclesiastes, “There is a season for everything, a time for every
occupation under heaven: a time for giving birth, a time for dying; … a time
for tears, a time for laughter….” [Eccleisastes 3: 1-8] could be put on the
table here. I have to face lots of different situations in life - so I have to adjust my thinking and my attitude - to fit the situation.
So too Jesus.
I can’t see Jesus with a grin on his face all day long - especially when he saw suffering and struggle - but I ask myself, “What was his basic attitude towards life in ordinary time?"
That’s one of my lifetime questions. Compared to the mind or the attitude that the Pharisees had towards life - being all law and dealing with nit picky stuff - I hope to live my life with joy and in and with the freedom of Jesus Christ. I hear this in the gospels loud and clear. I have met people whose main metaphor for life is that it’s a battle. I never got that. I have always had trouble with that image and that mind set for life. [5]
So too Jesus.
I can’t see Jesus with a grin on his face all day long - especially when he saw suffering and struggle - but I ask myself, “What was his basic attitude towards life in ordinary time?"
That’s one of my lifetime questions. Compared to the mind or the attitude that the Pharisees had towards life - being all law and dealing with nit picky stuff - I hope to live my life with joy and in and with the freedom of Jesus Christ. I hear this in the gospels loud and clear. I have met people whose main metaphor for life is that it’s a battle. I never got that. I have always had trouble with that image and that mind set for life. [5]
I also picture Jesus experiencing rejection. I picture Jesus
seeing people walking away from him because of his attitude towards life. Was he too happy for them? I picture Jesus
discovering that many of those called - didn’t buy his call. He discovered that not everyone accepted his take on life.
Is it automatic frustration if we want everyone to like us -
and everyone to accept our attitude and mind set for life?
The more we live, the more we see variety and possibilities
in the people around us who are living out what they think Jesus’ vision of how life
works. Here is where we need to check out our attitude towards other people.
At times it is difficult to get along with each other - especially
when another is different than I am - or looks different - or talks or thinks
differently or what have you.
The reality is that we are different. Who’s right? Who’s
wrong? People have different attitudes about who are the “good people” - who
are the “chosen people” - who are the “saved” - as well as who are the “wrong
people” to be in community and communion with.
We judge each other. We like being with so and so. We avoid being with
so and so. We are hesitant about the stranger and the unwashed.
Today’s gospel is quite a challenge - because Jesus is
saying that life is this banquet to be celebrated together. However, when Jesus
proclaimed this message: many declined the invitation. So he said, “Okay, if
you don’t want to be in the kingdom, at the dinner, at the banquet, I'll send out my disciples to call others and fill the banquet hall.
Luke - challenges Jewish Christians to think outside the box
of Judaism - and see that Christ starts in Jerusalem and reaches out to the Gentiles -
to the Many!
Today’s parable of The Great Supper challenges us to look at
our attitudes towards “Who’s Who?” in our church - in our parish -in our
circles.
I hope our church keeps on going out to all the world - to
I would suspect this parable of The Great Supper gets in there under our prejudices - into the gray matter of our attitudes at times. We look around and ask, “What is he doing here?” “What is she doing here?” “What are they doing here?”
I don't know about you, but there is usually someone in the room, who challenges us. To be transparent, I know I am challenged at times by folks who are ultra-right or ultra-strict. I think most people have their list of undesirables. Today’s gospel story challenges us right there - in our mind and in our attitudes.
Jesus says the kingdom - the will of God - is the call to a
great supper - a great banquet. If the invited don’t accept this message of
Jesus, well then Jesus says to go out and call in the unwashed, the beggars, the
blind, the lame and the dumb. My banquet hall must be filled. Notice that Luke’s version of
the story handed down from Jesus does not have the addition that Matthew gives. Matthew says the invited outcast now the in crowd - needs to have a wedding garment. Luke says he or she
just needs to be there. [6]
CONCLUSION:
REVELATION A STORY BY FLANNERY O’CONNOR
My favorite retelling of this story in today’s gospel is by
Flannery O’Connor. It’s in a story called, “Revelation.”
Her stories take place down south. The setting for "Revelation" begins in a doctor’s office and
ends on a farm.
It’s the story of a woman named Mrs. Ruby Turpin who brings
her husband to the doctor - because he has a bad sore on his leg.
Ruby comes into a small doctor’s waiting room. She doesn’t like the crowded look of the room and those in the room: white trash, the ugly, the overweight, and the poorly dressed folks. There’s only one seat. She tells her husband to take it. She is screaming inwardly that there is a kid on a couch with a running nose - and whoever his mother is, doesn’t tell him to get off the couch and give it to the lady who just walked in.
Ruby Turpin does not like these folks she has to hover with.
At night she plays a game in her mind about who she would be, if she wasn’t herself. She wonders who she
would want to be and who would she not want to be. She would not want to be
black, white trash, ugly, or unwashed.
It’s a long short story - and this sermon is too long already.(7) Let me just say that a girl in the waiting room goes berserk and hits the 48 year old Ruby with a book. She then jumps on Ruby and calls her “an old wart hog from hell.” They sedate the girl and she is carried away the insane asylum.
The story ends with Ruby back home on their farm. It’s sunset, It’s
beautiful. The sky is filled with colors. Ruby has a vision - a
revelation. She sees a bridge up into heaven. Then she sees folks she considers
white trash, the ugly, the poor, the blacks [she uses the n word], to all be on a
bridge leading up into heaven. Surprise
she sees herself - but she’s not first.
NOTES
[1] The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, “The Letter to the
Philippians,” Brendan Byrne, S.J., p. 792.
[2] Check out these gospel
texts where Jesus tells us he is the servant of all as well as our call to
serve: John 13: 1-16; Mark 10:41-45; Matthew 20: 24-28; Luke 22: 24-27
[3] Matthew 25: 31-46
[4] Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19; Luke 5:34.
[5] Cf. Lorenzo
Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat as well as the writings of Dr. Peter
Kreeft. Cf. also Romans 13:14 and especially Ephesians 6:10-20.
[6] Compare Matthew 22: 1-14
with today’s text Luke 14:16-24.
(7) The spoken version of the homily was 1/3 shorter. As I walked towards the pulpit, I knew it was too long and too vague. I knew it was a first draft - so I fixed it up a bit for my blog. It still needs clarification - especially on Part 3.
(7) The spoken version of the homily was 1/3 shorter. As I walked towards the pulpit, I knew it was too long and too vague. I knew it was a first draft - so I fixed it up a bit for my blog. It still needs clarification - especially on Part 3.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
NINTH BEATITUDE
Quote for Today - November 5, 2012
"'Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed', was the ninth beatitude."
Alexander Pope [1688-1744] in Letter to Fortesque [September 23, 1725]
Comments:
I don't know the background or the reasons for this comment - but I still want to make some comments and reactions.
Try it - that is - not to have expectations - and listen and watch what happens to your soul.
Even that - not to have expectations - is an expectation.
Did this Pope's wife have any children? If she did, what was he thinking for those 9 months?
My comment would be: Crazy! Life is all about expectations - starting with Christmas Morning.
Painting on top: "Merry Christmas" (1891) by the Danish painter Viggo Johansen (1851-1935)
Sunday, November 4, 2012
HOW FAR AM I FROM
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time B is, “How Far Am I From The Kingdom of
God?”
TODAY’S GOSPEL
The second last sentence in today’s gospel is a statement
from Jesus. Jesus says to the scribe, “You are not far from the kingdom of God
The last sentence in today’s gospel is, “And no one dared to
ask him any more questions.”
In this homily I’m daring each of us to ask Jesus this
question: “How Far Am I From The Kingdom of God?”
This could lead to another question: “Just what is this Kingdom
of God or Kingdom of Heaven
If you’ve ever left the United States for a vacation or a
trip, you know the feeling on returning of coming to the custom’s desk -
usually at the airport - or at the border - and you pass your passport over to
an officer. You stand there as he or she looks at your passport - your picture
- you - and then a computer screen. Then there is a pause. Then there is that
wonderful message, “Welcome home!” You’re back in the good old U.S.A. Then you get home and you come into your
house and you feel, “It’s good to be home.”
So we know when we’re home. We know when we’re in our own
state and when we are in our country.
But do we know when are we in this kingdom of heaven that
the scribe in today’s gospel is not far from?
Would Jesus say to us: “Welcome home. You’re in the
kingdom?” or would Jesus say, “You’re not far from the kingdom
of God ” or would he say, “You’re far
from the kingdom
of God
That question is the gut and the genesis of this homily.
THE KINGDOM: NOT ONE OF OUR USUAL STATES OF MIND
On a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest and best, if
we were asked, "How good am I as a member of God’s kingdom?". most of us would
become silent.
I don’t hear myself or most of us using that word "kingdom" or asking
that question. However, we do see ourselves or identify ourselves as being
members of various other kinds of
categories:
o Ravens
or Redskins or Steelers Fan
o Marylander
o Catholic
o Christian
o Independent,
Democrat, Republican
o Annapolitan
o Married,
Single
o Rich,
Poor, Middle Class
o American
- American citizen
We could possibly rate ourselves on a scale of one to ten on
those categories - but how good are we as a member of the Kingdom
of God or the Kingdom of Heaven
I know I hesitate when I think about this question - because
I’m not that sure of the criteria. There are no t-shirts to wear, bumper
stickers to put on our car, games to watch, coffee mugs to drink from - with
the words, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
I’ve heard people say from time to time, “I’m not that good
a Catholic!” Or “I try to be a good
Christian.” To say that implies we have an idea in mind what constitutes a good
Catholic and a good Christian and we sort of know how we’re doing.
Then there is that “uh oh!” state we wonder about - if we’re
living in it: the state of grace. That’s an “Uh oh!” We have glimpses of what
that is all about.
But today I’m preaching about being in the state or mystery
called, “the Kingdom
of God
If we read the Gospels we often hear about being a member of
the Kingdom of God
What’s it like to be in that kingdom - so we can compare
ourselves to the model - or get an estimate on how we’re doing?
I don’t know if the scribe in today’s gospel wanted to enter
Jesus’ group or Jesus’ view or Jesus way of doing life. I don’t know if the
scribe - meaning someone who was educated - understood what the Kingdom of God
Another question: fill in the blank. I see myself mainly as a ___________?
I think that’s a great question - hey I made it up. I would think that what we
fill in that blank with would tell us a lot about ourselves.
Would the answer be “human being”. I see myself mainly as
one more human being on this planet and there are lots of us. Or would we fill
in the blank with one of these words as our #1 answer on how I mainly see myself: mother, father, husband, wife, plumber, lawyer, accountant, kid,
teacher, lover, friend, Christian, Catholic, son, daughter, grandparent, cancer
survivor, lonely, satisfied, rich, lucky , blessed.
If we come up with the #1 way we see ourselves, then we could
rate ourselves on a scale of 1 to 10 - 10 being the highest and the best.
IN THIS HOMILY
In this homily I want to push and press for the category of being a kingdom member as a possibility for how we see ourselves.
In today’s gospel we hear about a scribe - someone without a
name. For starters we only know that he can read and write. Then we find out
that he asks Jesus a big question: “Which is the first of all the
commandments?”
Had he been watching Jesus? Did he hear about Jesus? Did
Mark put this question in here because all of us down deep ask that question
all the time - and most of the time - without knowing we’re asking it?
What’s it all about? Where am I? How am I doing? God - are
you satisfied with how I’m living my life? Oh my God, I’m scared about all this
down deep at times.
And Jesus answers the man by quoting the Shema - the great
commandment to Israel :
“Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all
your strength.”
The Shema - the Great Commandment - which we also heard in today's first reading from Deuteronomy 6: 4-5 was put on a tiny piece
of parchment - rolled up - and put in a tiny box - the Mezuzah - and that was nailed to one’s door frame - as a reminder. Here’s the plan. Here’s the
message. Here’s the key. Here's how to live life.
Then Jesus added a second commandment - also from the Jewish
Scriptures: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” [Cf. Leviticus 19:18b]
Public speakers often say, “If you can’t put your message on
a matchbook cover or a calling card, you don’t know your message!”
There it is - there’s the plan. There’s a plan. And it can
fit on a tiny piece of paper.
But does it put us in the kingdom of God
We have to answer these questions. We have to spell out the
implications of the two great commandments Jesus mentions in today’s gospel. We
have to score ourselves on how well we are doing.
The metaphor or image or word I like for the Kingdom is Dream. The Kingdom is the Dream of God for all his children for all creation.[1]
The metaphor or image or word I like for the Kingdom is Dream. The Kingdom is the Dream of God for all his children for all creation.[1]
CONCLUSION
My goal for this homily today was just to ask the question -
and to ask each of us to put ourselves in the skin of the scribe. We can read
and write. We can listen. We can think.
Asking ourselves if we are members of the kingdom - widens
the circle.
We know we’re members of the Church? We know we’re members
of a parish - state - country. But being a member of the Kingdom - now that’s
mystery - that’s wider. That challenges us to see the Church as a means to
bring us into the Kingdom
of God
It also widens the circle to include all people - all religions - and all ways of life.
It also widens the circle to include all people - all religions - and all ways of life.
I picture the scribe in today’s gospel walking away thinking
about that last statement from Jesus, “You are not far from the kingdom of God
We don’t know what happened to the scribe, but we can know what’s happening to us. Amen.
NOTES
[2] Cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Documents of Vatican Council II, # 45; Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church, Documents of Vatican Council II, #1
We don’t know what happened to the scribe, but we can know what’s happening to us. Amen.
NOTES
[1] Cf. The God We Never Knew by Marcus J. Borg, Harper San
Francisco, 1997, pages 141-155; 133-137; 100; also read once more the "I
Have A Dream Speech" by Martin Luther King Jr. August 28, 1963. It can be
found on Google by just typing in, "I Have A Dream Speech," Martin
Luther King Jr.
[2] Cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Documents of Vatican Council II, # 45; Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church, Documents of Vatican Council II, #1
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