Quote for Today - June 23, 2013 "And then last night I tiptoed up To my daughter's room and heard her Talking to someone, and when I opened The door, there was no one there ... Only she on her knees, peeking into Her own clasped hands." Amiri Baraka [LeRoi Jones] [1934- ]
Saturday, June 22, 2013
WORRY, WORRY,
TROUBLE, TROUBLE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 11th Saturday in
Ordinary Time is, “Worry, Worry, Trouble, Trouble.”
I noticed in today’s gospel the word “worry” - that Jesus is
telling his disciples to cut down on the worry. Stop worrying about what you
are to eat. Stop worrying about what you are to wear.”
SONGS
I remember being on a high school retreat this year and the
kids were singing some song that had the words, “worry, worry, worry, trouble,
trouble, trouble” in it,
So I typed in the Google Search engine box on my computer
the words, “Song: Worry, Worry” and sure enough there was the song. It brought
back the memory of hearing 40 kids - mostly teenage girls singing - with heart
and with gestures, “Worry, Worry, Worry”
and then the song continued with the words, “Trouble, Trouble, Trouble.”
And I discovered last night what the kids were singing along to - a song -
“Trouble” by Ray Lamontagne which has
those words, “Worry, Worry, Worry…. Trouble, Trouble, Trouble.”
I wondered on the retreat and I wondered last night: do teens
like the song because they can relate to the human condition of worrying - and
we all have our troubles? My conclusion:
nope, they don’t have enough worries yet and enough troubles yet. They have
them - but I think they liked the song because or its beat and rhythms and it’s easy to act out and do drama and gesture with
it. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe a lot of
them have big troubles that I am not aware of.
In a way it doesn’t make a big difference between teenagers
and adults, when it comes to troubles, because in the long run, worry, worry,
trouble, trouble - is a reality and a song that echoes and sounds in every
person. In fact I found 4 other songs with the same theme of worry, worry and
trouble trouble.
So for a short homily thought for today: on a scale of 1 to
10, 10 being the worst, how worrisome am I?
Ooops! What hit me next was this: that
question should draw a blank. It should draw a further more specific question
like “Worried about what?”
Jesus challenges us on worries about food, drink, clothing -
are good for starters.
Next could come relationships - and the future - and money and retirement,
jobs, medical care and medical costs.
Next, I would assume that advertisements and political
speech plays and spins on basic worries.
WHAT TO DO?
Well, in today’s gospel - still part of the Sermon on the
Mount - Jesus gives three good basic strong messages that challenge us when we
become worrisome or somewhat worried:
1) Deal with today, today.
Don’t get stuck in tomorrow.
Jesus puts it this way at the end of today’s gospel: “Do not worry about
tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own
evil.” Easier said than done. AA puts it well with its simple message of a
day at a time; a step at a time. Don’t be in Baltimore
when you’re just getting on Route 97 at Annapolis.
We can often get ahead of ourselves and as a result, we can miss the gift of the present - and
that’s why it’s called the Present - as we’ve heard people put it..
2) Trust in what you got now and not what you don’t have
now. Check out the birds of the air and the flowers of the fields. They seem to
be doing fine. They are ours: like the sun the moon and stars, the earth and
the waters. Trust in the Providence
of God.
3) Get priorities straight. Try to live in the Kingdom -
that’s the space that Jesus calls us to
be alive in. It’s much more important than living in America or Maryland
or Annapolis. Or
take what St. Paul
is saying in today’s first reading. Some people want to live in Bragsville.
Paul talks about himself in the third person - but he’s saying, “Look you who
brag about being in the know - or having a great spiritual life - or even for
having revelations - I had supersonic revelations - being brought up to the
third heaven - but what I’ll brag about is my weaknesses. I have a thorn in my
side that’s driving me crazy. Down through the history of the church people
have made that thorn a problem with lust or anger or pride or what have you.
Other scholars say it’s these folks in Corinth
who are driving him nuts - being on his back. He has his priorities straight,
so he ends up saying that he boasts of his weaknesses, he’s content with his
weaknesses, because when he is weak, he’s strong - because it’s then that he
relies on Jesus. Many people have hung onto the
words he said he received from the Lord: “My grace is sufficient for
you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
ATTITUDES
TOWARDS TROUBLES
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
