FUTURE
Quote for Today March 1, 2013
"The future is not what it used to be."
Paul Valery [1871-1945]
Friday, March 1, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
INNER ADULT
Quote for Today - February 28, 2013
"The pursuit of the Inner Child has taken over just as the moment when Americans ought to be figuring out where their Inner Adult is, and how that disregarded oldster got buried under the rubble of pop psychology and specious short-term gratification."
Robert Hughes [1938-2012] Culture of Complaint, Oxford University Press, 223 pages, 1993
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
HUMILITY - JOB #1 FOR A
POPE!
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this Tuesday in the Second Week
of Lent is, “Humility - Job #1 for A
Pope!”
There’s all
kind of stuff in the papers - this and that - positive and negative - about
this upcoming election for a new pope. The Capital called Day 1 for comments from a priest here at St. Mary’s. I’m glad I wasn’t asked - because a) Down deep I don’t know enough of what is involved in all this and b) I’d probably make some kind of a cute statement which would be a dumb statement in the long run.
Since then I’ve been thinking.
In one sermon I said, the Number 1 requirement for a new pope is that he proclaim Jesus Christ - not himself. The pope is an important symbol to our world - of our Catholic faith - and from what I read - more for U.S. Catholics than other places. He himself has to see that Jesus is the reason for the whole institution. I see that Pope Benedict in his writings was quite Jesus centered.
I also put on my blog a fun piece - having the Cardinals getting deadlocked - for 100 ballots - so they decided to ask the whole church for what they want and on the 101st ballot they came up with a total surprise. They don’t pick a cardinal. Nobody noticed my blog piece and I haven’t been called to the
If asked to explain, I would simply say that I was just being cute - while at the same time very serious.
What would you consider the top qualification in a pope?
The title of my homily is, “Humility - Job #1 for A Pope!”
HUMILITY
I’d say humility has many ingredients. Here are 4: being
human, having a sense of humor, being honest, and having a sense of horror.
Human, humor, honesty, and horror.
Humility comes from the word “humus” earth - from which God
formed us from the clay, the mud, the soil of the earth. On Ash Wednesday we
heard we’re made from earth and we’ll be going back to earth. And the food we
eat - that becomes us - some more than others - comes from this earth to make
us who we are.
To be human is to recognize this. We leak. We flake. We
crumble. We are humbled by our slow sinking feelings - heading on the long
journey to the grave.
Humility then is being down to earth - human.
Pope John XXIII comes to mind for me with this quality. He
was born of a peasant sharecropping family in Northern
Italy . He had farmer’s hands. You probably heard this story: A
soviet diplomat and his wife came to see Pope John XXIII. The pope handed the
diplomat’s wife a rosary. When he placed the rosary beads in her hand, she said
to her husband in Russian, “Look, he has the hands of a worker, he is one of
us!” Of course she did not expect this peasant-pope to understand Russian.
He did - along with French, Greek, Bulgarian, Turkish, as well as his native
Italian. These were skills he needed and picked up in his work as a diplomat
himself. He also got his doctorate in Church History and knew the Fathers of
the Church well. So he was smart yet quite human - which to me is a key ingredient
to being humble.
Next John XXIII had a
good sense of humor. You’ve heard his comment when made pope he looks in the
mirror in his new outfit and says, “My God, this pope is going to be a disaster
on TV.” Being able to laugh at oneself is key to being humble.
Next honesty is part of humility. If the church needs
anything it’s honesty.
Lastly, part of humility is to have a sense of horror. Horror
happens in this world - in this life: suffering
- craziness - war - abuse - hunger - the haves having the advantage over the
have-nots. We need to be able to cry - not just laugh.
CONCLUSION
Today’s two readings say all this a thousand times better
than I just put it.
I wish they were electing the pope today and the boys had to hear today’s readings.
The readings have a call to humility in them.
The first reading - Isaiah 1: 10, 16-20 - talks about the call to get things right - to put an end to sin -
cease doing evil - start doing good. Make justice your goal. Defend the widow
and the orphan.
The gospel - Matthew 23:1-12 - calls for humility - enough with the tassels and the titles - front seats - and public show. Honors are not one of the H’s for humility.
John XXIII called for cutting down the robes and stuff - and
Benedict put some of this stuff back - but his red shoes were not Prado’s - in
spite of that report.
Humility. Humility. Humility. Humility - a la Jesus.
These boys and all of us ought to be praying the old prayer
of the Church to Jesus: “Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.
Amen.”
Monday, February 25, 2013
ON HEARING THE “BOOS!”
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this Monday in the Second Week of
Lent is, “On Hearing the Boos!”
Do umpires and referees hear the boos?
We’ve all been to a basketball, football or baseball game
and the referee or umpire was booed. Bummer!
We hear phrases like, “Throw the bum out!” “Horrible call ump!” “You’re blind!” “Get a pair of glasses!” and phrases we can’t repeat.
Nobody likes to be booed.
ARMANDO GALARRAGA - NO HITTER
On June 2, 2010 in Detroit
- Armando Galarraga was pitching a perfect game for the Tigers - no runs, no
walks, no errors. 26 batters - 26 outs - in a row. One batter to go. Up comes Cleveland ’s Jason Donald who hits a ground
ball which would be the final out. The umpire calls him safe at first base. The
crowd screams, “No way!” Etc. Etc. Etc.
Shortly afterwards - but too late - the umpire, Jim Joyce, said he made a mistake
and apologized to the pitcher. The baseball commissioner, Bud Selig, would not reverse the call and say it was a
no-hitter. Detroit
won the game 3-0 - but Armando Galarraga does not go down in history for
pitching a no hitter and a perfect game.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
In today’s gospel from the 6th chapter of Luke,
Jesus speaks about one of his key themes: not judging. [Luke
6: 36-38]
Jesus tells us to be merciful as his heavenly father is
merciful.
Jesus tell us to “Stop judging and you will not be judged.”
Jesus tell us to “Stop
condemning and you will not be condemned.”
Jesus tells us to “Forgive and you will be forgiven.”
Jesus tells us “For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Jesus tells us “For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Evidently Jesus spotted a lot of judging going on.
BOOS
BOOS
The title of my homily is, “On Hearing the Boos!”
Life’s a game!
There are plenty of players on the field as we sit here in
the stands judging the plays.
We all do a lot of umpiring - refereeing, officiating - on
how our brothers and sisters are behaving.
Too bad we didn’t hear God booing us!
Last night was the so called, “Woman’s Super Bowl” the Oscars.
I didn’t watch it. However, I read in the papers various articles that voiced complaints
about the Oscar voting for last night - before and afterwards.
There was that big call at the end of the Raven’s Super Bowl
game. If the ref called “holding” the
Ravens might not have won that game - but then there were those other calls
that went against the Ravens.
If our movie or team doesn’t win or get the call, then we
boo.
But we don’t hear any boos for our judgments about how we
see people behave, how people dress, what people wear in church or on stage, where people sit
in church, or what have you. I know I’ve made lots of bad calls.
CONCLUSION
The title of this short homily is “On hearing the Boos.” I wanted to examine our calls - our judgments - on others.
We haven’t walked in our neighbor’s shoes. And when we make a bad call on someone, maybe we should have the courage to say, “I blew the call! I made a mistake!”
And surprise, the more forgiving we become, the less judgmental we become, the more we
become like God.
Ooops! I would also suspect - how unGodlike of me to be suspicious - that some people would boo me for saying that. Yet I suspect - if we become that forgiving - that God like - others will knock the heck out of us. Hey they judged Jesus and threw him out of the game by crucifying him. Expect as much.
Ooops! I would also suspect - how unGodlike of me to be suspicious - that some people would boo me for saying that. Yet I suspect - if we become that forgiving - that God like - others will knock the heck out of us. Hey they judged Jesus and threw him out of the game by crucifying him. Expect as much.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)