SERMONS
Quote for Today - March 8, 2013
"The half-baked sermon causes spiritual indigestion."
Austin O'Malley
Comment: O my God, I am partly sorry....."
Friday, March 8, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
A LIFE SKILL CALLED “FORGIVENESS”.
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this Tuesday in the Third Week of
Lent is, “A Life Skill Called ‘Forgiveness.’”
BASKETBALL
In my early thirties I used to play basketball once a week
with a group of thirty-year old priests in the Archdiocese of New York
Seminary. We were taking a two year course - one morning a week - on Pastoral
Counseling and Spirituality. It was great. Updating ourselves in the morning
and basketball after lunch.
We’d play 5 on 5, 4 on 4, 3 on 3. One day this guy Neil
Connelly is guarding me. I have the ball and I’m standing there dribbling
trying to see if I should drive, shoot, or pass the ball. While dribbling I
noticed that Neil is not standing directly in front of me as is usual - but off
to my right. While dribbling I said to him, “Why are you guarding me like
that?” He laughed and said, “Because you can’t drive to your left.” I said,
“What?” He says, “Yeah that was one of the first things we were taught in
basketball. Find out if the other guy can go to his right and to his left - and
guard him accordingly.”
At the age of 33 or 34 or so I learned I could not drive to
my left.
Well, let me tell you, I practiced that after that. Never
got good at it, but I practiced it over and over again - trying to get that
skill.
A SKILL CALLED
“FORGIVENESS
The title of my homily is, “A Life Skill Called
‘Forgiveness.’”
If you got it, great. If you don’t have it, work on it. Practice. Practice. Practice.
I met a Rabbi at a wedding once who asked me if I had read
the Koran. I said, “No!” He said, “You better.”
So I bought a Koran and read it - from cover to cover. I
have to admit, I didn’t get it. I kept hoping there would be something in there
that would grab me. I said to myself, “If this book is so important, there has
to be something in here that’s enlightening.”
It didn’t happen to me.
Then I said, “Maybe it’s the translation. Maybe there is
something great in here in Arabic - but I don’t have that skill.”
So nothing grabbed - except all the times it used the words
“fire” and “burn”. I got a magic marker - an orange high lighter - and went
through the whole Koran again and magic marked in orange the word “fire” or
“burn” every time either appeared. Ugh too many times - too much violence.
Then I began to notice that there is a lot of destruction
and violence in the Jewish and Christian scriptures as well. There is.
People get burned by people; people want to wipe people out. God is crushing armies and enemies. Ugh.
Then I began to notice how much in our scriptures there is
to call for forgiveness - especially in families - in relationships - in both
the Jewish and the Christian scriptures - brother with brother, father with
son, but there is some sister stuff as well - but the document is heavily
masculine and patriarchic. It’s up to us to translate it to deal with all our
relationships especially in our family.
If we listen to the scriptures and if we listen to people -
every family needs the skill called “forgiveness” - not just 7 times, but 70
times and over and over again. We need this skill in dealing with others - with
God - and in forgiving ourselves.
CONCLUSION
Today’s gospel - Matthew 18: 21-35 - is a powerful challenge to forgive and be
forgiven - from the heart. That’s how Jesus put it in the last sentence in
today’s gospel. Forgiveness includes brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers,
God and life - as well as ourselves - being able to go this way or that way
with forgiveness - whatever it takes - difficult moves at times.
Want to learn how to forgive and be forgiven - practice,
practice, practice till the skill is our’s. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Monday, March 4, 2013
OPEN UP YOUR EYES.
IT’S ALL SURPRISE!
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this Monday of the Third Week of
Lent is, “Open Up Your Eyes! It’s All Surprise!”
Every morning it’s nice to sit there, to pray there, and say
to God, “I wonder what you have in store for me today!”
Every night it’s nice to sit there, to pray there, and say to God, “Now lets take a look at all the surprises I had today.”
Every night it’s nice to sit there, to pray there, and say to God, “Now lets take a look at all the surprises I had today.”
That kind of a morning prayer and that kind of a night
prayer - will open up our eyes, our minds, and our hearts, to all the surprises
life offers us - that God puts on our plate for the day.
PEOPLE
You can’t tell the book by the cover. You have to open it up
and read the story. Expect surprises.
You can’t tell the other person by his or her skin, you have
to meet them and greet them and be with them. Expect surprises.
I remember reading a long time ago about the 6 people in
every marriage: the he, she thinks he is; the he, he thinks he is; the he, he
really is; the she, he thinks she is; the she, she thinks she is; the she, she
really is.
Besides that, people change.
Well, this morning I was looking up a quote to put on my
blog - for a Quote for the Day, and I spotted the following quote by William
James. “Whenever two people meet there are really six people present. There is
each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each
man as he really is.”
I was wondering who realized that theory first - and who else said something like that 1000 or 2000 or 2500 years ago.
TODAY’S READINGS
Today’s first reading - 2
Kings 5: 1-15b - has several characters: Naaman an army commander who had a
skin disease, his master the King of
Aram, a little girl who was captured in a raid who became Naaman’s wife’s
servant, Elisha the prophet in Israel, the king of Israel, and Naaman’s
servants. If this reading was being
staged that would call for various actors - as well as animals, chariots,
silver, gold and garments.
That’s a lot of people and the possibility of a lot of
surprises in a story.
In today’s Gospel - Luke
4: 24-30 - the scene is Jesus and a lot of people in Jesus’ hometown synagogue. They are not going to accept Jesus as is. Jesus tells them about one of the
great mysteries of life - that the Spirit of the Lord can come upon us and all kinds of surprising changes can result. He
tells the people about Elisha the Prophet healing a foreigner and Elijah the prophet
taking care of a poor widow of Zarephath
in the land of Sidon
Surprise! They are deaf. They are blind. They are imprisoned in their own inner prisons.
They can't believe that someone from their own town can be different than the way they see him to be. Jesus has come back and he is different. They want the story to go their way. They have already written how the story should develop. Surprise. Life is the surprises.
The title of my homily is, “Open Up Your Eyes! It’s All
Surprise!”
What a sad ending to today's gospel story. After planning on killing him - Jesus passes through their midst and went away. Their loss....
Surprise Naaman, the army commander, who has leprosy, can’t open up his eyes to the surprise on how life and healing can happen for him. However, he changes. Unlike the people of
CONCLUSION
Pray each day: morning, noon and night: “Lord open up my eyes and my mind and my
heart to your surprises today - not what I expect, not what I’m planning. When I meet the people I meet today - help me Lord to realize that they not to the person I
think they are, but they are person they really are - and help me to
enjoy the surprises!"
WICKED
Quote for Today - March 4, 2013
"No one ever became extremely wicked all at once."
Decimus Juvenalis, Late 1st - early 2nd century A.D.
Question: Name something down deep that is part of you that is wicked. Describe to yourself how it has become you - it's creepy, crawly, history - gradually overtaking and becoming you. Then what happened? Personal history is important to read.
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