FEAR:

THE WOLF CALLED "FEAR!"

Quote for Today - February 16, 2013

"Fear makes the wolf bigger than he or she is."

German Proverb

QUESTION  AND YOU ANSWER PERIOD:

Put down the names of 3 people you fear:

1) _____________________    _______________

2) _____________________    _______________

3) _____________________    _______________

Then put down next to their name the one thing you fear about that person.

Woof! Woof! Wolf! Wolf! Howl! Howl! Laugh .... Laughing.....

GOD DOESN’T WEAR 

A “FOR SALE” SIGN

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “God Doesn’t Wear A ‘For Sale’ Sign.”

I don’t know about you, but I find this topic and theme really worth thinking about.

Yesterday afternoon after getting back from a wake, I read today’s readings and walked with them on a 45 minute walk through the Naval Academy.

GOD CAN’T BE BOUGHT

The first thing that hit me after reading today’s readings was, “God Can’t Be Bought!”

Then I said to myself, “Entitle the homily: ‘God Doesn’t Wear a ‘For Sale’ Sign.’”

That title might have more impact over, “God Can’t Be Bought!” but I’m still wondering about that.

HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

That got me thinking about Valentine’s Day. If the guy doesn’t buy his wife a card or a gift or take her out to dinner, he’s in trouble. At least that’s the fantasy, the sellers of cards and chocolates - the owners of restaurants and flower shops - would like publicized and advertized loud and clear.

Then I wondered if a couple who are dead or broken up psychologically - could they heal by gifts. If I’m true to this insight I’m wondering about, “No! You can’t buy love.”

Then I thought about politics - and bribes - payoffs - tokens of appreciation - that are part of oiling the palms of public officials all over the world.

The church is no stranger to money.

Next I thought about teenagers discovering that you can’t buy friendships. I’ve heard on enough teen retreats the painful reality of someone who tried to buy a friendship - and got burnt - used - and then they discovered that friendships and relationships are mystery. Gifts don’t deliver friendships.

Of course kids use kids who have money or a car or looks for their own benefit.

Time tells everything.

Pain is a tough teacher.

As I was thinking about this - while walking through the Naval Academy - I began remembering a song by the Beatles. Didn’t they have a song, “Can’t Buy Me Love”. When I got back here I looked it up. 

Sure enough they sing that money, diamonds can’t buy me love. In the long run people discover they are not enough. It has to be love and the human fit - for a relationship to make it and for a relationship to work.

BACK TO GOD

It seems that the prophets picked up you can’t buy God. Fasting, prayer, sacrifices are not enough. One just has to experience God and let God love me as I am unconditionally.

How old does one have to be to discover that someone who loves me doesn’t love me for my money or looks or possibilities - but because of who I am down deep simple? If they love me for those reasons, expect disaster.

How old does one have to be to discover that God loves me freely - and I don’t have to do anything to earn that love.

God does not wear a “For Sale” sign.

GREAT STUFF

I wish I could spell out the importance of this question here - in this homily - but I’m only beginning to infringe on the nuances.

So I have to do a lot of homework on all this. This is just a first draft. As I was walking yesterday thru the Naval Academy, different insights were hitting me. I kept saying to myself, “This is big stuff here. Get a handle on it.”

I can’t. It’s illusive. It’s mystery. It’s God stuff. It’s relationship stuff. It’s lifetime stuff. Go figure.

The scriptures help.

How much do I have to do to be saved?  Some would answer, “Nothing. God saves us. All I have to do is simply put everything into God’s hands.” The Christian would say, “Simply put your whole trust that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and let go.”

Various Gospel texts and New Testament texts support this.

Then I sensed some caution whispers in my brain. I could hear, “Wait a minute!”  I could hear, “It all depends.”

In human relationships, there are calls for unconditional love. In marriage, that’s why vow formulas often have phrases like “sickness and health” and “in good times and in bad”. People shut down, get depressed, get lazy, make mistakes. Thank God they always don’t happen in both at the same time.

At the same time static situations needs to become dynamic situations. Couples need to talk out loud what they see is the state of their union on a regular basis. Couples need to clarify expectations. Couples need to agree to disagree.

It helps when couples click - fit - are a good match. It helps when couples realize on the 7’s [7, 14, 21, 28, 35, year marks], “We were meant for each other. It’s all mystery - but we’ve been blessed - but we also work to make our marriage a good marriage.”

So a good marriage calls for communication about expectations and conditions that need to be met. There are “No! No’s!” in a marriage.

If we one drinks too much - if one becomes a lump or a couch potato -  if one doesn’t bathe - if one just doesn’t do anything to foster the growth of the relationship, things can become tough.

DOES GOD HAVE CONDITIONS?

That’s human couples - marriages and relationships - the question I’m getting at in this homily is:  does God have conditions? Does God wear a “For Sale” sign?

Do I have to do anything to be saved?  Can I buy a ticket to heaven or does everyone get a free pass?

Matthew certainly presents limitations in his way of addressing this question.

Luke does too - but seems makes getting into heaven easier.

Thank God we have Matthew and Luke. Thank God we have Mark and John - and the rest of the New and Old Testaments.

Matthew  25: 31- 46 - Jesus’  great parable of the Last Judgment has everyone lined up as a sheep or a goat. One  goes to hell or heaven based on whether we served and fed and visited the sick the lost and abandoned. Matthew when he gives the parable of being invited to the wedding 22: 1-14, has a guy thrown out - because he didn’t have the proper wedding garment on. That’s a restriction. So evidently there are boundaries and conditions.

Next - the added question. If I fulfill those requirements, would that be buying God?

In Luke 15 we have the 3 big parables on all this. They are the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. In those 3 stories it seems we are brought right into the kingdom as is. And all are invited into the wedding banquet. You don’t have to buy a wedding suit or dress for the occasion. Come as you are.[Cf.  Luke 14:15-24.]

Whose closer to the truth: Matthew or Luke?

What is God really like?

We have to die to find out.

CONCLUSION

In this homily I’m saying that God can’t be bought. God does not wear a “For Sale” sign.

We can fast and do all that stuff. Good if it’s good for us.

Better - if it’s better for others - as Isaiah  58: 1-9a says in today’s first reading - when he tells us what kind of fasting God calls for loud and clear in today’s first reading.

We can fast - as today’s gospel - Matthew 9: 14-15 - puts it, but if the fasting kills the celebration of life in a person, stop the fasting. If Lent makes us worse than we usually are, stop the fasting. We heard about the evils of a certain type of fasting, alms giving, praying, tooting one’s horn on Ash Wednesday. We also remember the old stories preachers told at the beginning of Lent - about families can’t waiting for Lent to end because so and so was abstaining from liquor for Lent. Amen.

QUESTIONS

Quote for Today - February 15, 2013

"He's been that way for years - a born questioner but he hates answers."

Ring Lardner [1885-1933]

Question: Is that me?

LOVE AND CREATE 

VS.

HATE AND DESTROY

Quote for Today - February 14, 2013

"Humankind is composed of two sorts of people - those who love and create, and those who hate and destroy."

Jose Marti [1853-1895] in a Letter to a Cuban Farmer [1893]

Love Sculpture in New York City - from the design for a Christmas card by Robert Indiana [1928 - ] for the Museum of Modern Art in 1964.

Rage is from the cover of the album Renegades - Rage Against the Machine

Choice: Every day with our tongue and our actions, and mind and our behavior we have a choice to love and create or destroy and hate. Our move.....

DISINTEGRATION

The title of my homily or reflection for this Ash Wednesday is disintegration.

When Ashes are rubbed into our forehead - our skull  - our face - on Ash Wednesday, the person giving the ashes says, “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  I always say  the second message: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Dust - it seems to be a must - everything disintegrates - slowly - and we see dust in as well as floating around inside our homes - sometimes when the sun is sliding through an afternoon window. Dust seems to land on everything in a room or attic that isn’t used that often.

The title of my homily or reflection for this Ash Wednesday is disintegration.

I don’t dust - well maybe two times a year - so I suspect I’m more aware of disintegration than others.

In winter - the tips of my fingers crack more than in summer. I put skin cream on my finger tips - as well as Band-Aids at times - but my skin still cracks and cut. I don’t remember my skin doing this as a little kid. Is that true?  My memory is also slowly disintegrating.

Disintegration….

On Ash Wednesday they put ashes on our forehead and we hear the words from the book of  Genesis: “Remember you are dust and into dust you shall return.”

Disintegration …. Has anyone ever written a song called, “Disintegration”? or is that too tough a topic to touch. I looked that question up. Sure enough there is an album called, “Disintegration” by The Cure - whoever they are. Are they still together or have they disintegrated?

Have you been to a funeral lately?  More and more people are being cremated after they die. It hastens the process. It saves money and space. Some people are dealing with doing funerals that way better than others.

Disintegration….

I remember one of the first jokes I got - that had some abstraction in it - and I was just a little kid. “What did the moron say when he saw dust curls under his bed?” Answer: “Someone is either coming or going?”

On Ash Wednesday we hear the words rubbed into our forehead along with ashes, “Remember you are dust and into dust you shall return.”

Ash Wednesday - along with Palm Sunday - are two of the busiest days of the year for Church. People get something different. Ashes used to be collected from the palms from the previous year. Now the ashes are bought and come in plastic bags - and these seem to work  better.

Plastic bags blow in wind - end up stuck in trees and hedges - hurt or kill wild life - or make it to garbage dumps - where it takes 15 to 1000 years to disintegrate  - or they go up in flames - and become ashes.

Disintegration….

Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent - the season of Seriousness - when it’s rubbed into our foreheads the message that we have a shelf life - an expiration date - and it’s printed in black ashes on the front side of our package - on our forehead and then those ashes disintegrate throughout the day. Kids love to chatter about ashes on Ash Wednesday.

Last Sunday afternoon at 3 PM I had the baptism of a tiny little baby right here at St. Mary’s: Evangeline Cecilia.  Last Sunday afternoon at 4:30 PM I was at Hardesty’s for a wake service of a woman who died at the age of 87. Birth - Death - the in-between. Church - church time - reminds us of so much.

Life is the integration and disintegration. 

Life is the integration of our mom and dad who create us and our life time begins: pregnancy, birth, life, death. 

Life is learning to put things together - integrating seeing someone standing up and walking and talking and learning and working and relating and marrying and on and on and on -  and then we try it. And somewhere along the line we start to learn about disintegration - as we  learn what life is about. Some say we start crumbling from day one. I don’t want to be that realistic. A baby’s skin is much different than an 87 year old lady’s skin. At the age of 73, my skin tells me this every time I look in the mirror to shave or brush my teeth.

Ash Wednesday begins Lent - a time to check out the serious things.

We have the regular Mass schedule here at St. Mary’s as well as our other church - St. John Neumann: Sunday and weekdays.

We have the extras of Lent: Stations of the Cross every Friday evening at 7:30; Confessions on the weekends - as well as The Light Is On Confessions at St. John Neumann every Wednesday evening at 6:30 till 8 PM; 5 Tuesday nights an hour service on 5 Parables - a time for a talk, some prayers, some quiet, some reflection; Father Milton is going to do a program from Father Barron CD's on the 7 Deadly Sins on 4 Wednesdays after the 12:10; check the bulletin for all these events. Then there are the Soup Suppers on Wednesday evenings at St. John Neumann. Choose some of these events and spiritual practices - as well as use the booklets that were on the tables in the back of church.

We come here not just for Ashes or palms - both of which disintegrate - but for the Lord Jesus Christ in Communion - to be in communion with him and each other - because we believe because of him we last forever - and the person who I am disintegrates - but reintegrates - a good word for the Resurrection - which we believe in - as the Apostles  creed puts it, “I believe in … the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

 MARRIAGE:

7 SECRETS 

SECRET # 7

 

Quote for Today - February 13, 2013

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.  I do not call you servants any longer,  because  the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.  You did not choose me, but I choose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.” 

John 15: 12-16

National Marriage Week USA - February 7-14  http://youtu.be/XM-fguKqpZU

THE DISTANCE OF ONE’S LIPS 

TO ONE’S HEART

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “The Distance of One’s Lips to One’s Heart.”

[Gesture - with hands - from lips to heart and then say] “That’s about 12 inches or one foot to one’s mouth - to one’s heart.”

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s First Reading - Genesis 1: 4 to 2:4a -  has these wonderful words from the first Creation Account in Genesis, Yesterday we heard about God’s creations on the first 4 days. Today we have the last 3 days - the last day being the Sabbath - the day of rest. It looks like the idea of weeks of 7 days - with one day of rest - goes way, way back, into our history.

Today’s Gospel - Mark 7;1-13 -  has these powerful words of Jesus - the heart of what I want to talk about. It’s something Jesus discovered: some people honor God with their lips but their hearts are far away.

Let me try to tie the two readings together this way:  the first creation account has God speaking and his words create the world - the universe. His words are powerful - creative. When God says, “Let there be birds and fish and creepy crawly things”, there are birds and fish and creepy crawly things as a result.

Our words can be empty and vain - fake and disconnected to our heart.  Question: how creative are my words?  Do my words bring light and life - like God’s words? After all I’m made in the image and likeness of God.

The title of my homily is, “The Distance of One’s Lips to One’s Heart.”

Last night while working on this homily I couldn’t find a specific quote I was looking for. I remember reading in Rabbinic Literature that rabbis liked to point out that the distance from the lips to the heart or vice versa - can be very close or very far.

The distance from the lips to the heart can be seven miles for some - and right next to each other for others.

Jesus met people giving lip service to God, to the Law, but that’s all it is: lip service.

Their bodies - their words - their prayers were in the temple - but their hearts were miles away.

THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES

Today’s first reading from Genesis ends with mention of the Sabbath.

These Genesis stories are here to teach us great lessons. The story teller is saying - we need to take a break every seven days - like God did. Then on the Sabbath - we need to stop. We need to rest. We need distance and difference from the rest of the week.

We as Christians have Sabbath.

We also have Lent. It starts tomorrow.

The books in the back of Church - the readings at Mass - have plenty of food for thought - to digest.

CONCLUSION

This morning my message would be to rest - be silent - reflective - and check out the distance between  my words and my heart.

If you use Map Quest or one of these GPS programs to get directions, they often tell us how many miles we are from our destination.

In this homily I’m saying we can be praying with our lips but our hearts can be far from God. We do this to each other as well. We can say to another, “I love you” but it can be lip service. The words never get down to our heart or come from the heart. The result can be babble not Bible.

This Lent close the distance. This could be a good Lenten resolution.