40 DAYS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this First Sunday in Lent, Year C, is, “40 Days”.

For some reason, 40 is one of those numbers one hears in various religions. It generally stands for a period of learning and growth.

When mentioned, it’s usually either 40 days or 40 years.

A SHORT LIST IN THE BIBLE

In the New American Bible, the one we use at Mass, the number 40 appears 109 times.

Noah was out there on the waters - for 40 days and 40 nights - of rain and storm - and cleansing - and a fresh start.

The Israelites came out of Egypt and wandered in the desert for 40 years.  It was also  a period of cleansing -  preparing them for the Promised Land - for the land of milk and honey that we heard about in today’s first reading.

Moses was up in the mountains with God two times for 40 days of prayer and communion.

Goliath - the Giant - strutted and taunted the Israelite army for 40 days before David went out with a sling shot and killed him.

Elijah the prophet took a 40 day journey - an escape - to Mount Horeb - where he experiences God.

Jonah the Prophet finally went to the city of Nineveh and proclaimed 40 days of penance and repentance - otherwise their city would be destroyed.

Jesus goes into the desert for 40 days as we heard in today’s gospel.

Lent is traditionally described as 40 days.

THE POET HAFIZ

Years ago I discovered the Persian poet Rumi [1207-1273]. Dropping Rumi's name could get an "Aha!" From time to time I’d notice the mention of another Persian poet Hafiz [c,1320-1389] with Rumi's name.

So last year when I spotted a copy of Daniel Ladinisky’s book, A Year with Hafiz - Daily Contemplations. It's in English. It gives 365 short - one page or half a page or even shorter poems of Hafiz. I scooped it up. It provided intriguing, interesting pieces to ponder and pierce.

When I started thinking about the number 40, I remembered that in the introduction to Hafiz’s life and poetry, Daniel Ladinsky points out the significance of the number 40 in Hafiz’s life. 

When he was a young man - he was working as an assistant to a baker. One day he was delivering bread to a mansion. He notices this beautiful young lady. She didn’t spot him. With one glance he was in love. He began writing love poem after love poem about her. It seems she never knew was interested in him. His poems became very popular - and made him famous. He didn’t notice any of that. He was still totally stuck on this gal.

To try to win her he began a very difficult Sufi spiritual practice that called for him to keep vigil for 40 nights at the grave of a Muslim saint. He worked all day in the bakery and stayed at the grave every night - trying not to  sleep - praying and hoping to win this girl.

As the story goes, “on the fortieth day, the Archangel Gabriel, appeared to Hafiz and told him to ask for anything he wished.”

“Hafiz had never seen such a glorious, radiant being as Gabriel.”

He began thinking, “If God’s messenger is so beautiful, how much more beautiful God must  be!”

As the story goes, “At that Hafiz forgot all about the girl and said to Gabriel, 'I want God!'”

That’s when the angel Gabriel directed Hafiz to a spiritual director and he began a 40 year search for God.

His Sufi Muslim teacher or master was Muhammad Attar.

Attar was a tyrant - a tough, tough teacher - who made life “hell on earth” as Hafiz described it  - “day after day, year after year, for forty long years.”

Poetry was very much part of Sufi spirituality. For 40 years Hafiz wrote love poem after love poem about how he saw God and love in creation and in human beings. These poems became a rich part of Persian and Eastern literature down through the centuries.

After  40 years - Hafiz now well over 60 years of age - complained to his teacher, Muhammad Attar, “Look at me! I’m old, my wife and son are long dead. What have I gained by being your obedient disciple for all these years?”

Attar his teacher and master said, “Be patient and one day you will know.”

Hafiz shouted, “I knew I would get that answer from you.”

That’s how these stories go.

What to do? Once more - as in the beginning - he went on a final 40 day search for God - and answers.

Well, at the end of this period of 40 days, Attar gives him a cup of wine and he experiences a "God-Relization" and "Cosmic-Consciousness". He was flooded, drowned, overwhelmed and swept into the love of God. He experienced deep union with God for the rest of his life.

LENT 2013

We have begun Lent 2013.

At the end of these 40 days will we be any different than today?

Go for it. Go for God -  the God of love.

You know the Lenten practices: prayer, fasting, almsgiving.

Find your desert place: a walk each early morning or each evening with God. Designate a chair in a quiet place in your place as your prayer chair. Close your eyes. Be in the presence of God. Have one of those Lenten meditation booklets next to your chair or a rosary. Use it for Hair Mary’s or say on the 59 beads,  “Here I am Lord!” or “Where are You, Lord?”  or “Help!” or “Thanks!”

Have your Bible sitting there. Pick a passage. 

Put the words on your lips and then let them sink into your heart as today’s second reading puts it. [Cf. Romans 10:8-13]

Be careful when it comes to scriptures. Remember the old saying, “The devil can quote the bible.” That saying comes from today’s gospel.[Luke 4:1-13]

CONCLUSION

Lent it’s 40 days. I can be the same me at Easter or I can change a lot or a bit - these 40 days. It's a grace time to discover the God of love in everyday life.

Let me close with three short poems by Hafiz:

JUST AS I SUSPECTED

In a vision I heard this clearly whispered:

Study those who sing the most,

but are free of criticism or praise.

Following that advice, things turned out

just as I suspected.

I started spending more time with birds.

WINE IS LIKE THE LORD JESUS

Wine is like the Lord Jesus;

it can bring the dead to life.

WHY NOT BE POLITE?

Everyone is really God speaking.
Why not be polite and listen to

the Old Guy?

+++++   X  ++++++++ = 40

Book: Daniel Ladinsky, A Year With Hafiz, Daily Contemplations, Penguin Books, London, 2010

WANTING OUR LIFE 

TO MAKE SENSE

Quote for Today - February 17, 2013


WANTING OUR LIFE TO MAKE SENSE

All day long you do this, and then 
even in your sleep .... pan for gold.

We are looking to find something
to celebrate with great enthusiasm,

wanting all our battles and toil
and our life to make sense.

"I found it, I found it, I found it!"
a hermit once began to shout,
after having spent years
in solitude, meditating,

"Where?" a young shepherd boy
nearby asked, "Where?"

And the hermit replied,
"It may take a while,
but I will show you.
For now, just sit near to me."

All day long we do this with our movements 
and our thoughts ... pan for gold.



Hafiz [c. 1320-1389], in Daniel Ladinsky, A Year With Hafiz, Penguin Books, page 40

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.