CORRECTIONS -

 SECOND DRAFTS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of St. Martha - July 29^th, is, “Corrections - Second Drafts.”

There are 2 choices for a Gospel reading for today: John 11: 19-27 when Martha proclaims her belief in Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God: he who is to come into the world”; and Luke 10: 38-40 where Jesus comes to Martha and Mary’s house and Mary ends up being praised and Martha is corrected or chided by Jesus for being anxious and upset about many things - and Mary your sister has chosen the better part.

I chose the Gospel from John to read today - only because we heard the other gospel 2 times recently.

As I read over John’s story about Martha - there are only 2 stories about Martha in the gospels - I got the thought: maybe someone said Martha was corrected too tough by Jesus - maybe someone should give her a better story.

I doubt that is what happened, but I do know from taking many courses and workshops on our Sacred Scriptures - the Bible is a lot of re-writes.

The Catholic documents on the Bible certainly spell out that we Catholics are not fundamentalists. God did not tell the different authors to grab a quill - some parchment - and God dictated word for word the Bible for us.

Not all accept this. I am aware of that - and I also learned not to fight about this. And smile - because in today’s first reading from Exodus we heard God engraved by himself the ten commandments on tablets  - with writing on both sides.

CORRECTIONS - SECOND DRAFTS

The title of my homily is, “Corrections - Second Drafts”

Anyone who writes - knows writing is rewriting. Writing is second and third and fourth drafts. Writing is asking others for comments. Pick up most books and you’ll find in the introduction or first few pages - the author thanking someone for reading their manuscript and making comments, suggestions, and corrections.

How many times have we seen a movie scene with someone at a typewriter - or writing - and they are crumbling up paper after paper - till they get what they want to say correct.

The beauty of computers is you can do this much easier - writing and re-writing and re-drafting our thoughts.

OUR LIFE

Who Moses was and who Martha was - was who Moses was and who Martha was.

The person whose life we can correct and re-draft - and freshen up - is me, myself and I.

Conversion is possible. We can come out as a new edition.

I’m not talking about lies - but I am talking about taking a fresh look at our life - and bring all to Jesus and have him bring us resurrection and new life.

We can glory in our mistakes as the saints have - but only if we have learned from them - grown in understanding from them - and can laugh with God about life with them..

One of the definitions of a saint that I love is from Ambrose Bierce who defined a saint as: “Saint: A dead sinner revised and edited.”

CONCLUSION

So if we’re still alive - the call is to become the best we can become - the call is for a second or third or fourth edition - containing the learning we have picked up from life - especially our mistakes. 

LEARNING THE ROPES

Quote for Today - July 29, 2013

"We learn the rope of life by untying its knots."

Jean Toomer, Definitions and Aphorism, Li, 1931

THE OUR FATHER -

THINK ABOUT IT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time C  is, “The Our Father - Think About It.”

I was at a wedding reception somewhere along the line and I’m talking to this guy - who says to me, “I don’t go to church - but I do say the Our Father.”

Seeing me, did I cause guilt or something?  Funny comments happen at priests at weddings.

He continued, “The Our Father is a great prayer. I say it every day. It has everything in it.”  Then he said, “Think about it!”

I don’t know what I said next or what have you - but I thought about what that guy said. I want to thank him - because like many people I say the Our Father over and over again - most of the times without thinking about it. This guy got me to think about it.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

I thought about that moment when I read today’s gospel. It contains Luke’s version of the Our Father - a bit different than the one we all know very well: Matthew’s version. I assume that both Luke and Matthew’s version have the basic ingredients of the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples.

Luke was writing for Gentile Christians. His gospel is dated from around 80 to 90 AD - some scholars think in Antioch in Syria - the 3^rd largest city in the Roman Empire at the time.  Matthew was written  75 to 90 - perhaps in South Syria - or Northern Palestine for Jewish Christians - certainly after 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed.

The Our Father is the first part of the New Testament and the gospels that is translated into the language of any new group that Christians are reaching out to.

Understand  the Our Father and you understand an awful lot of Jesus’ message.

As priest I noticed that the two things people remember till their end is the Our Father and Happy Birthday. 

I was once in a nursing home in Ohio and I noticed a sign on the door of the person I was visiting. It said, “Happy Birthday.”

I asked the lady if it was her birthday. She gave no response. She was all alone and was out of it and close to death. I wanted to ask an attendant if anyone sang, “Happy Birthday” to the lady, but I didn’t see anyone. I can’t sing or carry a tune, but what the heck, the lady was dying. 

So I sang, “Happy Birthday!” and it woke her up and she gave me a face - making me feel like a fool and off tune. I was. 

Surprise she began to sort of sing along with me. Then she spaced out again. 

I said the prayers in the book and anointed her and then I said the Our Father also out loud. 

Surprise! She was praying along with me - and then spaced out again. 

No problem. I’ve often seen people coming in and out of it during sermons.

So that’s why I say the last two things people remember are Happy Birthday and the Our Father - Matthew’s version.

And sometimes if the person says, “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory” at the end, I know he or she was either in AA or went to a Protestant Church.

As an aside, wouldn’t it have been nice if the Catholic Church added that Protestant addition at the end of the Our Father we say at Mass - as a gesture of good will. Yet at Mass, we did add it a bit later.  

TEACH US HOW TO PRAY

Today’s readings are about prayer. They are a good reminder. They are a wake up call and a challenge for us to think about our prayer life - our communication - our relationship with God. How is it?

Today’s first reading has the fascinating story in the primitive text of Genesis - how Abraham like anyone in the marketplace tries to haggle down a merchant on how much something is going to cost. Abraham gets God from 50 down to finding 10 good people in Sodom and Gomorrah - and God won’t destroy it.

Message: there is nothing wrong with arguing, haggling, begging, bargaining, bothering God with our prayers.

Today’s Psalm Response has one of the 4 most basic prayers there are: Help, Sorry, Thanks and Wow! Petition. Contrition. Thanksgiving. And adoration. The Psalm response we sang was a good prayer, “Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.” If God doesn’t answer you, pray some more - and let God know you’re angry with Him. The Psalms are loaded with that reality - especially, “Help!”

Today’s second reading from Colossians challenges us to bring to prayer the need for God’s power to forgive us our sins - our transgressions - one of the key parts of the Our Father.

Today’s gospel begins with a great way to learn how to pray: Go to Jesus and say to him: “Lord, teach me how to pray.”

Today’s gospel gives us Luke’s Version of the Our Father and then the key message of asking, seeking, knocking at God’s door - any time of the day or night and keep nagging him - nagging him - nagging him.

PRAYER SUGGESTION: USE A ROSARY

One simple, short, suggestion: use your rosary for your praying.

I like to say in the pulpit, “Rosary beads aren’t just for Hail Mary’s.” I’m not saying I’m against the great prayer called, “The Hail Mary.”

What I am saying is to use a rosary as a reminder. When you reach for it in your pocket in the car or at a boring meeting or while walking, you’re saying to yourself:  “I am now about to pray.” 

Muslims do the same thing with beads and prayer rugs. Just take them out and you’re telling yourself, I am now going to pray. Rosary beads are great worry beads - they are great prayer beads - and don’t be scared to let people see you use them. We’re supposed to be evangelizing folks.

PLEASE EXPLAIN BETTER

If you tell me next summer. I heard your sermon last summer about using one’s rosary beads for prayer - and for this past year my rosary beads are right here in my pocket - and I take them out from time to time to pray - and I wasn’t scared to tell family and friends what I was doing.

Next I hope you hear the following.

Before using a rosary for Hail Mary’s, the Our Father, the Glory be and the Apostles Creed, say on the 59 beads for a month - once a day the opening request in today’s gospel: “Lord, teach me how to pray!”

Just do that for a month.

Second month: Our Father….

In today’s gospel, Jesus then teaches his disciples the Our Father.

Now, it’s an obvious disaster what we can do with the Our Father when we say it as if it is one long word: OurFatherwhoartinheavenhall owedbethynameThykingdomcomethywillbedoneonearthasitisinheavenGiveusthisdayourdailybreadandforgiveusourtrespassesasweforgivethosewhotresspassagainstusandleadusnotintotemptationbutdeliverusfromevil.Amen.  It’s not one word….

As that guy at the wedding said to me: Think about it.

For that second month simply say on the 59 beads the words, Our Father - and forget about the counting - let the beads do that for you. Ponder God as Father - our Father - while saying those two words 59 times. If you’re a father, what kind of a father are you? Think about God - as Father. That’s one of Jesus’ big teachings. It can be seen as sexist - or it can be seen as God as core - God as central - God as creator and provider - mother and father, parent. God as the one who keeps the whole house of the Universe together. Our Father.

By saying that we’re saying we believe in God. We’re saying, “I’m not in this life alone.” We’re saying, “There is a God - Our Father - and He is aware of me.”

Say for the next month, “Our Father who are or art in heaven.”  Saying there is a heaven is another act of faith. See where that takes you by saying it 59 times and thinking about it for a month.

Say for a month: “Hallowed be your name.”  A person’s name is sacred. The person whom we love, we say their name all the time in our inner brain. I read once that lovers say one word - all the time - the name of the person they love. Hallowed be your name - our Father.”

“Your kingdom come.” Say that for a month on your beads. See where that takes us. Mathew adds, “on earth as it is in heaven”. Luke just says, “Your kingdom come.”  What does kingdom mean? Isn’t the kingdom what God desires - what God wants, what God wills, what God hopes for. Isn’t that what we want, a dream world and a dream hereafter. Compare our dream with God’s dream and see where that takes us - in the here and in hereafter.

“Give us each day our daily bread.”  We feed birds. We give animals water in the dog days of summer. We keep hearing lots of folks are starving and there is enough food for all. People eat. People are hungry. It’s great when we see beyond our own bellies and do for the bellies and stomachs of all.

“Give us this day our daily bread.”   Notice the word “Our”. That one prayer can get us to volunteer for Thanksgiving Dinners for others - or to volunteer to help with the St. Vincent de Paul Society or put money in our poor boxes - or to help out once a month at the Lighthouse or make sandwiches once a week - or once a month - or once a year -for hungry folks or what have you.

Forgiveness is the next big theme to pray for a month on - using our beads. Luke’s version is shorter than Matthew’s. I think one reason  Matthew’s version is more accepted and known is because it interconnects our being forgiven with the way we ourselves forgive others.

And lastly, spend a month with our beads with the prayer: “lead us not into temptation” or “the final  test” as Luke’s version in English puts it. Saying the prayer: “Lead us not into temptation” - or “Prepare me for the final test.” Say that 59 times on our beads for a whole month. See where that takes us.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “The Our Father - Think About It.”

I think I gave you some practical ways of learning how the Holy Spirit can help us to pray and how to grow in prayer - how to be with Jesus praying to Our Father each day.

REMEMBER  WHEN 

THE MUSIC ....  

Quote for Today - July 28, 2013

"Like dead, 
remembered footsteps 
on old floors."

Edwin Arlington Robinson [1895-1935], The Pity of the Leaves

THE WHEAT AND

WEEDS PARABLE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 16^th Saturday in Ordinary Time is, “The Wheat and Weeds Parable.”

Today’s gospel - Matthew 13: 24-30 -  has an intriguing parable from Jesus.

It’s a very difficult parable to put into practice. Jesus calls parables seeds. They slip into our ground and grow and then new life appears or pops up to challenge us in different places and in various ways.

FIRST STEP: GRASP THE PARABLE

Jesus tells about a farmer whose workers planted wheat seeds - but someone - an enemy - planted weeds.

Different commentators on the parable say it might be something that really happened  - and Jesus heard about it - and used it as the basis for his parable.

When the crop of wheat and weeds started showing up,  the farm hands came to the owner and said what was happening. They asked if they should pull up all the weeds - like right now  - like immediately.

The owner of the land says, “No. Do that you might pull up some of the wheat along with the weeds. At harvest time then we can do the separation.”

That’s the parable. Then Jesus asks us: “What’s your take on it?”

SECOND STEP: APPLY THE PARABLE:  THE  MIND AS A FIELD

Picture the human mind or brain as a field. In it are planted lots of stuff. Sometimes it’s done by an enemy. Sometimes it’s done by ourselves.  If we have the TV remote or the computer - we can put all kinds of stuff into our mind. We can also turn off the TV or the Computer or what have you.

Some stuff - some seed - once it’s inside our brain - it’s there and we can’t get it out.

I was in Chartres Cathedral in France in 1996 with my two sisters and my brother-in-law. The tour guide said in English: “Don’t look over to our right - watch your wallets and pocket books - because there are two pickpockets there.”  Well of course, everyone turned and looked and I saw the two pickpockets quickly duck behind a big pole. Guess what? The two pickpockets are still in my brain. I see them in many churches. And they came to mind: as I was putting together this homily.

THIRD STEP: APPLICATION # 2: LET THEM BOTH STAY

The second application is the great challenge from Jesus.

Some people go crazy with weeds in their garden.  It’s like the old story of the person who wrote six times to the Dear Mr. Gardener  in the local newspaper. Six different times the person wrote for advice. Obviously, the first five suggestions didn’t work, so the sixth suggestion from Dear Mr. Gardener was, “Learn to live with them.”

Some people learn to live with dirt on other people’s glasses and some don’t.

Some people have problems with bugs on other people’s windshields.

Some people go crazy with strings of spaghetti on their dad’s shirt as he eats at the nursing home and some don’t. 

Some people can’t stand such and such a priest’s long sermons and some read the bulletin.

Some people don’t like the way  so and so dresses for Mass - some people are thinking about last nights ball game.

Some people think so and so is wrong in how they pronounce Boston or Baltimore and some don’t mind it when people say “good” when  it should be “well”.

Some people complain about who comes to church and who doesn’t - who goes to communion and who doesn’t.

Some of us have lists about ourselves;  some have lists about others.

CONCLUSION

Sometimes we don’t get the remote and we can’t change the channel.

Sometimes we can sit behind poles in church or go to different Masses or check the web site to see who has what Mass or walk down different streets or don’t look - but sometimes those weedy thoughts and comments and scenes appear on our screens and we have to learn to live with them.

Bummer.

In the meanwhile we can enjoy the wheat called Bread - called communion - with Jesus - even though we’re thinking about the weather for this Saturday as we’re walking back to our bench from receiving Communion. Enjoy life. Enjoy the Lord. Don’t step on the weeds.

DAUGHTER

Quote for Today - July 27, 2013

"My son is my son, 
till he marries a wife,
But my daughter's my daughter 
all the days of her life."

Saying

LIFE  DREAMS

Quote for Today - July 26, 2013

"In dreams begins responsibilities."

Willian Butler Yeats [ 1865-1939], Responsibilities [1914], epigram (from an old play)