Monday, August 5, 2013

JEALOUSY



Quote for Today - August 5, 2013

"Being with an insanely jealous person is like being in a room with a dead mammoth."

Mike Nichols, New York Times, May 27, 1984

Question: Which came first, the dead mammoth in the room or the living elephant in the room?

Sunday, August 4, 2013

HE COULDN’T SPEAK

[This is a story  homily  -  based on today’s readings - for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C. It’s entitled, “He Couldn’t Speak.”]


He couldn’t speak - but he could see.

He couldn’t speak - but he could think.

He couldn’t speak - but he could cry.

And so Jack sat in his blue vinyl seat - in his standard wheelchair - with stainless steel bars - hard rubber wheels - watching everyone in the nursing home.

He couldn’t write - his stroke - pretty much wiped out his ability to tell others what  he was thinking - what was going on in his mind and heart and soul.

At first it was hell.  All hell had broken loose in him.

He had everything and now he felt he had nothing - nothing - lost - gone - in one quick stroke.

At first it was hell  - being in a room with Joe - who snored - snored - very loudly - every night - every night.

Joe - being very much overweight - was also a wheel chair patient -  but he had one with a deluxe size seat - dark maroon  vinyl - with  more stainless steel metal than Jack’s wheelchair.

Joe could talk - but it drove Jack crazy at first - “Talk. Talk. Talk!” Jack would say in his brain of Joe, “Talk. Talk. Talk. Talk!” Then that was followed by an inward litany, “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”

So Jack loved it when a nurse or an attendant would ask, “Do you want to sit outside and get some fresh air?”

With his eyes and a learning to smile, smile, Jack would always say, “Yes. Yes. Yes. Get me out of here.”

Jack had few visitors. His wife had left him many years earlier. They had two children: Jack Jr. who lived on the other side of the country and Sonya - who lived on the other side of the county. Neither had kids. Both were divorced. Jack Jr. was in a second marriage.

Before his stroke - Jack had everything - stress on things.

After his stroke - Jack had nothing - really nothing.

His kids - Jack Jr. and Sonya - met and decided on selling the house - and his cars - one of which was a green and white 1954 Eldorado Cadillac convertible - which Jack loved to ride in - all by himself - actually - in every Fourth of July - town parade. They put the money in the bank - in an account for him - and Sonya and Jack Jr. decided that Sonya - since she was closest - and Jack Jr. was very successful - and didn’t need anything - Sonya would visit their dad on a regular basis - and get everything when Jack Senior - their dad -  would die.

Jack Jr. and Sonya with a lawyer visited Jack Sr. in the nursing home and told them all this and he nodded agreement with everything. At that point, he really didn’t care. They got it notarized - so they had a plan. Just get it done.

The house was sold - everything was sold - the money was put in the bank - and Sonya would visit her dad at least once a week - and find him either in the corridor - or in outside alcove in the middle of the nursing home complex - depending on the weather.

Jack didn’t care about any of the money or the house stuff. He was stuck in anger because his whole life went down the tubes. He was just stuck in a hell in his mind - in that blue vinyl seated wheelchair.

Time ticked on. Physical Therapy - Speech Therapy - did very little.

What nobody knew was the spiritual therapy that was about to begin in Jack’s brain and being.

The electric shock moment was the Mass moment.

One Sunday morning Jack looked over to the TV screen Joe was watching.  Joe - had to watch this Sunday Mass every Sunday - because that would be the first question Joe’s wife, Angela, would ask him when she arrived around noon. “Did you go to Mass today?”

Jack had been Catholic,  but never went to Mass.  The priest on the TV screen was rattling on that Sunday morning with a sermon that was very short and disjointed. The priest was talking about the first reading for the day. He kept quoting  the opening words of that first reading, “Vanity of vanities..,, All things are vanity!”

Jack was wondering who the Kardashians were….

Jack really didn’t hear anything else in that sermon about “Vanity of Vanities ... and all is vanity”.

What clawed and floored  him was the gospel story the priest read out loud before his sermon.  In an electric lighting flash Jack realized he was the man Jesus was talking about - the man with the barns - who was planning on bigger and bigger barns - bigger and better everything - and Jesus said the poor fellow was to die that night as he dreamed about bigger and better tomorrows and years to come.

Jack couldn’t speak - but he could cry.

He turned to the wall. He didn’t want to see anyone or anyone to see him. And he couldn’t  move his arms or hand to wipe the tears from his eyes.

Bummer….

And he knew Joe’s whole family - wife and kids and grandkids were about to  show up - as they always did on Sunday at noon - and take over the room - and their grand children loved to take each other for rides in Joe’s wheelchair.

Sure enough - they came. They came in hoards that Sunday - high noon.

Jack turned around in his bed and watched Joe’s family in action.

Jack wished the little girls would borrow his wheelchair. When one gal sat in it - he motioned with his nose and his head - and his face with a rich smile, “Take it. Take if for a ride!”

She did and that became one of the first great signs of Jack’s new outlook on life - thinking of others. Celebrating others - celebrating living by giving.

As a result of Jack’s signaling to the little girl to use his wheelchair, Joe’s grandkids became famous for wheelchair racing in the corridor outside Joe and Jack’s room.

The nurses seeing Jack’s chair without Jack in it - went into the room and were about to ask him if it was okay. Seeing the smile on his face from his bed - they knew it was perfect - because they never saw him smile before.

Around 3:00 PM that afternoon, Jack was sitting outside in the front of the nursing home. This was a first for him.

Surprise, Sonja showed up in the 1954 Green and White Eldorado Cadillac Convertible.

Double surprise.  There was her dad - in his wheelchair - sitting outside in the sun - near the front entrance of the nursing home - hoping she would come.

“Uh oh!” she thought. “I know he thinks we sold it.”

As she headed towards him she saw a great big smile on his face.

“Uh oh!” she thought. “Something’s different.”

“Okay, dad,” she said, “I couldn’t sell the convertible. It is too precious. It is too much you. So I had to keep it.”

He motioned with his face, with his eyes, with his neck and head going up and down with a “Yes” signal - that this was wonderful.

“You mean it’s okay dad,” said Sonya - and she started to cry and smile and go over and give him a first big real hug in years.

And after that, all was great for Jack.

He got to love to hear Joe’s stories about his life - and his family - and he loved it when Joe’s grand kids would sit in Jack’s bed as the whole family laughed and shared food with each other.


And their tiny nursing home room - #607 - with its two beds and two wheelchairs - became home and playground - picnic area and therapy center - chapel and cathedral  for them. Amen.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY! 
WRITE YOUR LIFE 

Quote for Today - August 4, 2013




"I've given my memoirs far more thought than any of my marriages. You can't divorce a book."

Gloria Swanson [1899-1983], New York Times, March 10, 1979

Photo: from movie - Beyond the Rocks, 1922 - with Rudolph Valentino [1895-1926]





Saturday, August 3, 2013


FORGIVENESS! 
SOUNDS GOOD ON PAPER! 


INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 17 Saturday in Ordinary Time  is, “Forgiveness! Sounds Good on Paper!”

Today’s first reading from Leviticus  25: 1, 8-17 sounds good on paper.

The book of Leviticus announces a Jubilee. Every 50 years the horn - the trumpet - shall sound, shall resound, shall echo and re-echo through the land of Israel. It’s a time of Jubilee  - a Day of Atonement - when everyone can get their land back - for a different price or a cheaper price than assumed - so too the cost of food - so too the cost of everything.

Slaves are to be freed. Debts are to be forgiven.

QUESTION

Does everyone need a time of forgiveness - when the slates are cleaned - when sins are erased - when hurts are loaded on barges and shipped out to the deepest part of the ocean and dumped - with rocks tied to them - so they will sink to the bottom of the ocean?

A JUBILEE YEAR FOR CATHOLICS

From time to time in the Catholic Church there have been Jubilee years. You might remember that the year 2000 - was called a Year of Jubilee - when doors in Rome were opened  - that had been sealed.

Jubilee years and jubilee celebrations were pretty much forgotten in the Catholic Church till Pope Boniface VIII called for the year 1300 to be a year of Jubilee. Indulgences were given. Forgiveness was stressed. Pilgrimages to Rome were called for.

They pretty much were called for at different times after that - sometimes every 50 years, sometimes 25 years. Pope Urban VI called for one every 33 years to make it like the length of Christ’s life.

What would it be like if the Catholic Church announced forgiveness of all sins - without having to go to confession - just get to Mass - and thank God for the forgiveness? Years back when churches announced “General Absolution” - churches were filled - till that was squelched.

I remember reading an “Uh oh!”  suggestion for the Jubilee Year of 2000: what would it be like if all those divorced - didn’t have to go through an annulment practice - just from this day on - you’re forgiven?

What would it be like to get a spiritual “Get out of Jail” free card?

Speaking of jails, because of costs and no money, I understand California is going to simply release lots of prisoners - soon.

SOUNDS GOOD ON PAPER

All this might sound good on paper for some, but the devil is in the details - and the implications.

Next - any of us  who have made serious mistakes - and have been forgiven - know how hard it is to actually be forgiven - in the reality of the heart?

As I was reading up on the Jubilee year - as mentioned in today’s reading from Leviticus, I noticed that different scholars have said that there is no evidence that this really ever happened - especially regarding land.

What would it be like to have someone knocking  on our door and saying, “We’re moving back - like right now.”

What would be like if farmers and merchants had to deal with giving the land a break - no planting and pruning for this year? It’s a jubilee year. Sounds good on paper?

CONCLUSION: THEN THERE’S REALITY

All of us know the reality of making a mistake - saying, “I’m sorry!” - hearing “You’re forgiven” and then a year or twenty years later the other brings back a past mistake - in a argument or discussion or conversation.

All of us know the reality of making a mistake and we’re the one who can’t forgive ourselves - like our whole lifetime.

Looking at today’s gospel - Matthew 14: 1-12, what would it be like to have been Herodias and her daughter - and Herod in today’s gospel who have John the Baptist killed - beheaded - and have his blood on their hands for the rest of their lives?

We go through life with our scars and our reminders of our mistakes. At some point we have to learn to let the blood of Christ heal us.


Forgiveness sounds good from the pulpit. Forgiveness sounds good on paper. 
FORGIVING  FRIENDS 

Quote for Today - August 3,  2013



"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend."

Anonymous

Comment: Try that on for size. Does that fit?

Friday, August 2, 2013

ME, MYSELF AND I






Quote for Today - August 2, 2013


"It is said the average person speaks eleven million words yearly - one-half of these are I, my, and mine."

Anonymous

Thursday, August 1, 2013

PARADISE! 
FOR GOD, 
IT'S THE HUMAN HEART 

Quote for Today  - August 1st, 2013





"The human heart is, 
so to speak,
the paradise of God."

St. Alphonsus de Liguori [1696-1787]

Hit Full Screen to see whole dance floor.