EARTHEN VESSELS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 10 Friday in Ordinary time is, “Earthen Vessels”.

For our first reading these days we’re going through 2 Corinthians - and the theme of Earthen Vessels here in Chapter 4: 7-15  is well know - especially for us Catholics after the St. Louis Jesuits singers put out a whole album entitled, “Earthen Vessels” - which ended up being sung in churches around the world - selling well over a million copies - in English and many of the songs were translated in various other languages.

The Earthen Vessel Album has 12 songs - 8 of which are in our present Breaking Bread Missalette.

THOUGH THE MOUNTAINS MAY FALL,

IF GOD IS FOR US,

BE NOT AFRAID,

TURN TO ME,

SING TO THE MOUNTAINS,

EARTHEN VESSELS,

PRAISE THE LORD MY SOUL,

SEEK THE LORD

These 4 aren’t:

TAKE LORD RECEIVE

IF THE LORD DOES NOT BUILD,

MY SON HAS GONE AWAY,

WHAT YOU HEAR IN THE DARK.

What a gift to our church and world. These songs have made it into Protestant hymnals as well.

THE COVER AND THE QUESTION

The cover of this second album of their songs, “Earthen Vessels” features just that: an earthen vessel.

 The question I ask is: Why is this theme of Earthen Vessels so popular?

Answer: we are earthen vessels. We hear on Ash Wednesday, “Remember you are dust and into dust you shall return.” [Cf. Genesis 3:19]

That message is taken right from the book of Genesis 2:7 where the author pictures God as a sculptor taking the clay of the earth and forming us out of it - and then breathing life  - the spirit of life into us.

And we know this body of ours is of the earth - being filled and fed with water and wine,  wheat and bread - as well as sheep and lamb - etc. and etc.

And we know as time goes on we crumble - bend over - creak and crack.

So we know at the end our ashes or our bodies - our earthen vessel - will turn to ashes and be buried and placed in the ground - [or sea or a shelf for some for a time].

CONCLUSION: THE BEAUTY OF WHAT’S IN THE VESSEL

But the key to the beauty of the message is what’s inside the vessel - us - God. That’s where the treasure is.

We all know about boxes and bottles and containers: it’s what inside that counts.

Paul is telling us here in his message that has been heard billions and billions of times: Christ is within. Then he adds: it’s when we ache and break - when we experience the passion, death, and crucifixion of Christ within us - it’s then that we don’t have to despair - in aging or suffering and dying.

That to me is why that message, that song, is so moving and so worth singing.

Every once and a while I spot the St. Louis Jesuits’ cassettes or records and even though the record may scratch or the tape might get stuck, the songs still sound out great songs - so too us. 

FATHER'S DAY 

IS THIS SUNDAY 

Quote for Today - June 1, 2013

"Cosmic upheaval is not so moving as a little child pondering the death of a sparrow in the corner of a barn."

Thomas Savage, Her Side of It, Little Brown, 1981



Comment and Question: In Matthew 10: 29 we read, "Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge."   If God notices an old sparrow in some wood in West Virginia die on a Tuesday morning in April, is he like a little child pondering the death of a great grandmother - all alone in a nursing home in Columbus, Ohio - dying on a Tuesday morning as well?

LEAVING SELF BEHIND

Quote for Today - June 13, 2013

"To greet someone,
you must leave 
your own place."

L:i Qu Li

PUT DOWN

Put down that book,

talk to me - be with me -

be novel - be non-fiction -

tell me your stories -

tell me who you are - what

you’re feeling, what you’re

thinking - or just listen - listen -

let’s just listen to each other

or else - or else we’re

somewhere else than

being here with each other -

right here, right now. Now.

Put down that cell phone -

turn off that iPod - you’re

smart  enough without

your smart phone - you don’t

have to be always talking

to someone else  - some miles

and miles and miles away from me.

Make me your facelook -

screen me in - don’t screen

me out. I’m here - no wires -

non battery,  non electronic -

just me. Simply me, me, me.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2013

Paintings by Dan Witz

SELF WORTH

Quote for Today  - June 12, 2013

"The reason was
that I kept trying
to make others
see my worth
instead of seeing it
for myself."

Steve DeMasco, Kung Fu Master

PHOS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 10^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time  is, “Phos”.

“Phos”  - P H O S  is  the Greek word for “Light!”

We know its root in the big English words that begin with the prefix, “phos” - as in  phosphorus and  phosphorescence. We can also spot it in all those words  beginning with phot - P H O T  -  as in  photographs - something we see - because there was light.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel Jesus calls us to be salt and light - to make a difference - to be tasty and enlightening. I’m just going to reflect on light - “Phos”. It’s a word right there in today’s gospel from Matthew 5:14 - right after the Beatitudes as we start the Sermon on the Mount.

SHORT MOVIE

Years and years ago in a retreat house - during a whole retreat season, we showed a short movie called “Phos” during the Saturday night session of the retreat. So I saw the movie over 35 times. I don’t remember if any words were spoken in the short movie.

As I remember the movie,  it went like this. The screen is all dark. It’s a shot at night looking down at a hill that leads to a village. It’s the night before Easter. It’s on a Greek island. Everything is dark. Night.

Then a small light appears on the upper left hand corner of the screen. It’s a new light. It’s lit on top of a hill. It’s a fire - as in our Easter Vigil - but this is more dramatic.

Then one sees a shadowy figure light a candle or a lamb from that fire and then that person lights the candle  or lamp of the person next to them. The road from the top of the hill to the bottom was lined with people.  The light moves all the way down the mountain on this curving, winding road to  a village. Then you start to see all the houses in the village slowly having a candle or a lamp lit in a window - and the whole town becomes bright - in the night.

I saw that movie over and over again. The story was simple a visible light from a fire on top of a hill - working its way down a road to a village.

It was a parable. It was a message maker. It got everyone talking about how we are called to be a light to our world.

THE NEW TESTAMENT

Another way to read the scriptures is to read them in light of that image of “Phos” or light.

Jesus came into the world as the Light of the World.

Jesus often talks about light and darkness - and the gospels - especially John - says that the light will never go out.

We come here to have our oil lamps filled for the day - and the night.

We can be foolish or wise version of the Christian.

The light can go out. We can walk in darkness.

We are like that long line of people on the hill and we pass the Light of Christ to the next person - and it works its way - please God to all the homes of Annapolis and the people we meet this day - and into their homes and their lives.

CONCLUSION

Today - June 11 - we celebrate the feast of St.  Barnabas - called out of anonymity and he passed the Light of Christ along with Paul to those same Greek islands and the area called, The Mediterranean Basin - and it has come to us.

Yes the light can go out. Yes the light can be rekindled.

Weren’t many of us brought up with the Christopher message from Father Keller, “Better to light one candle than curse the darkness”?

PLATO'S CAVE - 

LIGHT AND SHADOWS

Quote for Today - June 11, 2013

"Behold! 
Human beings living
in an underground den ...
Like ourselves ...
they see only their shadows,
or the shadows of one another,
which the fire throws on
the opposite wall of the cave."

Plato [c, 428-348 B.C,] The Republic, VII, 515 - B, Paul Shorey (Loeb Clasical Library)