Quote for Today - June 22, 2013 "Attitudes towards troubles often cause more trouble than the trouble." Anonymous
Friday, June 21, 2013
LISTENING TO
A WASHING MACHINE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 11th Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Listening to a
Washing Machine.”
I vaguely remembered and then looked up on line a comedy skit by Bob Newhart - where this family would put their father’s toupee into one of those front end
washing machines - the one with the window. Then the members of the family
would sit there and laugh as they watched it swish around in the water. Thought: was this the
family of the person who invented the TV?
The title of my homily is, “Listening to a Washing Machine.”
I have never pulled up a chair and sat there and listened to
a washing machine or a dish washer - but I’ve heard them after loading them or
checking to see if they were finished.
The sounds vary. The sounds shift. The sounds are of tumble
and switch.
The title of my homily is, “Listening to a Washing Machine.”
That’s the strange thought that hit me when I read today’s readings -
especially today’s first reading from 2nd Corinthians.
ST. PAUL’S LIFE
As you know St.
Paul dominates the New Testament.
We have his letters and we have a lot about him in The Acts of the Apostles.
He was the educated one. As far as we know the others
weren’t as educated. Some were fishermen - knowing the waters of Galilee - sometimes knowing when and where to fish - and how
to mend nets.
In today’s first reading from 2nd Corinthians 11: 18, 21-30 - we hear Paul arguing with some
group - and he was in the habit of arguing.
And he pulls out all the stops. In today's reading he’s like a parent - when a kid tells how hard a time he’s going
through. Well St. Paul says, “You think
you have it rough? I was in prison a bunch of times. I was beaten and almost
killed. Five times at the hands of the
Jews I received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked.”
And he goes on and on like that.
That’s where I began hearing the sounds - like that of a washing
machine - churning and shifting, swishing water and swirling clothes in the
deep!
Then the machine finally stops. We open it up and
everything is clean. The spaghetti sauce and melted cheese are off the plates
and silverware or shirt or skirt or table
cloth.
In today’s gospel -
Matthew 6: 19-23 - Jesus tells us more about life. In the long run the stuff
that is not important has rotted and decayed. Time steals or another robs what
can be taken. We wrinkle and wither, sag and leak - in time.
What remains is our heart. What’s in our heart? That’s what Jesus wants us to look at. It’s what remains - not what is
lost. Better: we need to look at what we treasure. We better make sure we have what’s
important and what’s right.
Jesus then switches from the heart to the eye.
Basic. Basic. Basic. That’s Jesus.
When we get our heart right, we can look each other in the eye.
When we can look each other in the eye, we can see that our
heart is right.
I know that when I procrastinate and put things off, I want
to hide - lest I see someone who is expecting me to finish something I promised
I’d get to - or get done.
CONCLUSION
In the meanwhile, it’s important that we not only observe
life, but that we learn from life.
Once more, the title of my homily is, “Listening to a
Washing Machine.” Obviously, we're never going to sit there and listen to a washing machine. But if we did, we could follow its stops and starts. We could follow its cycles.
In the meanwhile, what we could do, is this. We could sit
there and look at the cycles of your life. We could make our list - like St. Paul did in today’s
first reading. We could see when our heart was right - when our eye was right -
when we were living in the light - as well as those times we were chasing after
what doesn’t last - when we were living in the dark.
It’s then we could ask Jesus for a thorough washing - a
rebaptism - a recleansing - and then a restarting - again and again and again.
POLITICS DEFINED
Quote for Today - June 21, 2013
"The art of obtaining money from the rich and votes from the poor on the pretext of protecting each from the other." Oscar Ameringer - from page 4 of Golden Treasury of the Familiar, ed.ited by Ralph L. Woods, 1983 Question: What do they say of preachers? Smile!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
SERMONS
Quote for Today - June 20, 2013
"A sermon is not an argument - a sermon is a piece of bread." Anonymous
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
KNOWING THE BASICS
Quote for Today - June 19, 2013 "It's not the most intellectual job in the world, but I do have to know the letters." Vanna White
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
A NEW TAKE ON MATTHEW 5: 43-48
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 11th Tuesday in
Ordinary time is, “A New Take on Matthew 5: 43-48.
As you know we’re going through the Sermon on the Mountain
once more this year around this time. The first reading switches every other
year, but the Gospels are the same.
In this section of the Sermon, Jesus deals with how we deal with those folks
we don’t like - those folks we get angry or agita
with - those folks we feel we want to get even with - or what have you.
TODAY
Yesterday Jesus urged no retaliation - like the old law of an eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth. Rather he urges
that we go to the other extreme and stop the wars and the in fighting - by
turning the other cheek - going the extra mile. End the law suits. Today Jesus
tells us to love our enemies - and those people we hate.
The obvious reason is because that’s how we can change
things. That’s how we stop family and neighbor fights - by swallowing that
venom inside our mouths - inside our cheeks.
Then last night - as I read today’s gospel - I got a new take on Mathew 5: 43-48.
It’s not profound - but it hit me in a way I hadn’t thought
about before - and this is over the 48th time I’ve gone through this
reading at least.
What hit me was that Jesus ends today’s gospel by talking
about how God the Father is. God is perfect. Here Jesus is asking us to love
our enemies and the one’s we hate to be with or those who hate us. What about
God loving his enemies and those who hate him?
What about all those people who die - and most of their
lives they ignored God, were indifferent to him, cursed God, didn’t want to
know God - or lived a life of me, me, me, and then they die and God welcomes
them with great love and shocks them with his love and his embrace.
Now that’s a different take on a basic religious attitude
and thought.
Now one can get texts like Matthew 25 when we end up at the
end in heaven or hell as a sheep or a goat depending on whether we helped our
brother and our sister or Luke 16 when poor Lazarus ends up in bosom of Abraham
and the rich man lands in the bosom of fire.
There are those texts. There is also evidence at times that
God might be different than what we expect. There is evidence that some of
those who have been good - who kept all the rules - are going to be furious
when they spot this forgiving God. Hey
not fair. Some are going to be like the older brother of the prodigal son. Some
are like those who worked all day long in the vineyard - and they only get as much as those who
jumped into the vineyard the last hour. Not fair. Not fair. Not fair. Some are
going to be like the Good Thief stealing heaven at the last hour - and others
aren’t going to like it.
But the Father - as Jesus puts it is perfect - so maybe
that’s a glimpse of what perfection is - and Jesus wants us to have that love and embrace for all - even the ones we
consider God and life’s enemies.
CONCLUSION
Now this is my new wondering. Obviously, I need to pray and
think more about it.
Last night as I read this gospel story - that’s what hit me. What hits
you? I would think some of us are we
here because we feel, we rather not take chances. We rather go through life and
end up life with the spirit of love. Then our children and others will catch it
in us - and want to know where we got this spirit and they might want
some. I don’t know, but it’s worth
pondering and praying over.
Of course A is better than B - but maybe we need to learn
both and deal with both. Amen.
FORGIVING FRIENDS
Quote for Today - June 18, 2013 "It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend." Anonymous Question: Is this our experience?