HOOKS! 

THE HOOKS 
OF SCRIPTURE 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 19^th Monday in Ordinary Time  is, “Hooks! The Hooks of Scripture.”

Any  of us who have ever “Gone Fishing!” know what a fish hook looks like. You put a worm or a fly or some fish on it - and you drop it into the water below with the hope that fish will bite.

Everyone knows the metaphor: being hooked.

We’ve all said about someone or something, “I’m hooked.”

As in “Hooked on phonics!”  As in “Hooked on chocolate!”

Or as Claudio says to Leonato - so only he can hear - in Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, “Bait the hook well: this fish will bite.” Act 2, Scene 3.

The title of my homily is, “Hooks: The Hooks of Scripture.”

WHEN IT COMES TO THE BIBLE, EVERYONE HAS A FAVORITE BOOK AND A FAVORITE TEXT

By now - especially if you come to weekday Mass, everyone has their favorite book in the Bible and their favorite text in the Bible. 

I hope you do - if you don’t - I hope that comment  - especially the word “everyone” - hooked you to sit down and come up with your favorite book and favorite text.

Have you ever read the Letter to James or Isaiah  or some other book in the library of the Bible and said, “I’m hooked.”   A text grabs you. A whole book grabs you. We’re hooked. We want more!

TODAY’S READINGS

I got this thought about being hooked when reading today’s gospel - Matthew 17: 22-27 - when Jesus tells his disciples to go fishing. Jesus says,

“… go to the sea, drop in a hook,
and take the first fish that comes up.
Open its mouth

and you will find a coin worth twice 
the temple tax.
Give that to them for me and for you.”

I always found that a fascinating text and story. It hooks me. It tells me that Jesus knows how to fish. It also tells me that he knows about temple taxes - and census taxes - and people were taxed big time in his time. So what else is new?

In my 48 years of being a priest I discovered that the Bible readings for Mass are a whole fishing box of hooks. To come up with a homily I read the readings - and see what hooks me. I also know that there’s a dilemma here. I realize that a lot of other people are reading and hearing the same words and something else hooks them - and they are being dragged down river by that hook and I’m off on something else - so they are disappointed because I’m not dealing with what hooked them and what I’m talking about didn’t hook them.  Reality.

Solution. Get a Good Bible - read at will. Get hooked. Have a Bible commentary and look up more info on what hooked you. Or simply type it into Google and see where that takes you. Fascinating. Go fishing. Compose your own homily. Preach to yourself.

Or you can take the whole Gospel  text for the Day and say, “Now what does this text tell me?” Then jot down 1 liners. Today’s gospel tells me about taxes - religious and civil. Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus told his disciples long before it happened that he was heading for Jerusalem to face his destiny - and they had became terrified when they heard him say he would be handed over and killed.  

Or today’s first reading - Deuteronomy  10: 12-22 - has a shining hook. Moses is quoted as saying, “Befriend the alien.” What a sneaky hook. Imagine someone who is screaming about illegal aliens and they read that. And they say, “Oops!” Then they hear Moses say, “for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” Ooops. Imagine someone who is screaming about illegal aliens and they forget their parents or grand parents were from “the other shore” and they made it big in America.

Imagine if that hooked them big time and they backtracked to the sentence before that and they read,

            “For the LORD, your God, 
             is the God of gods,
             the LORD of lords, 
             the great God, 
             mighty and awesome,
             who has no favorites, 
             accepts no bribes;
             who executes justice 
             for the orphan and the widow,
             and befriends the alien, 
             feeding and clothing him.”

That hooks them and the reader starts thinking, “Oh my God, everyone complains about the aliens and those who were without - those who are looking for food and clothing. All the world - in every place - must complain about the stuck and the stranger - the poor and the alien. Why can’t they get a job? Why didn’t they stay where they come from?”*

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Hooked! The Hooks of Scripture.”

Be careful of what you read and what you hear. It can be addictive. It can hook you. It can hurt.



* For the sake of transparency my mom and dad came from a foreign country (Ireland) and besides English spoke a foreign language. 

FRIENDS

Quote for Today - August 12, 2013

"I get by with a little help from my friends."

Beatles song, "A Little Help from My Friends" [1967]

Question: 

Name 3 friends and spell out in words - in particulars -  how they have helped you?

MODELS:

THE 3 STEPS IN 

HOW WE LEARN

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C -  is, “Models: The 3 Steps in How We Learn.”

Today’s second reading from The Letter to the Hebrews talks about Abraham being a model of faith.

Today’s gospel talks about how to be a good disciple of Jesus. How?  Be a model servant.

So this sermon is about modeling. It’s one of the key ways we learn.

People - especially parents - spend gazillions of dollars on education. Maybe it’s wise to look at the most fundamental method of learning: we learn by models. We learn by example. We absorb what we see and hear and notice happening all around us.

After finishing this sermon I said to myself, “Da! No kidding.” I also said this sermon is too simple. However, I don’t and won’t  know about you, but in writing this homily, it helped me clarify  - to put into words - the obvious for myself.

THREE  STEPS

Learning has 3 steps: Awareness, Decision, Practice:  A D P

For children that second step - Decision - is a tricky one.  The decision might be made for them. They might not be given a choice. This is how you hold a spoon to eat your cereal. This is what you do with your toys. You put them back in the toy box. You don’t hit your sister on the way into the restaurant. You hold the door for us older people. We go to church on Sunday as a family.

Many times, we are not aware that this world we're in is a classroom. Every day is a learning experience. Every day we're picking up things. So children in Vietnam learn to speak Vietnamese - just by being there.

Kids and adults around the world without thinking start singing some sort of “Happy Birthday,”  if someone else starts signing it - after announcing it’s so and so’s birthday.

Awareness - Decision - Practice - A D P - 3 steps.

1) BECOMING AWARE OF WHAT WE ARE BECOMING AWARE OF

It ‘s good to become aware of what we are becoming aware of.

The little kid becomes aware of the other little kid with an ice cream cone - and says, “Mom, dad, can we get ice cream?”

Awareness.

Advertising is all about making people aware of Levi jeans and Taco Bell and Dodge Trucks.

People are dressing for success and notice and awareness every day of their lives. “Hey! Look at me!”

People are meeting at conference tables every work day - on how to make people aware of their products.  Marketing is major!

We try to market ourselves and our interests and our will - what we want -  every day of our lives as well.

It’s good to be aware of the signals we're getting and the signals we are giving off.

It’s not good to be blind.

It’s not good to go through life sleep-walking.

2) DECISION

At some point in life - it’s good to step back - and make some key decisions.

Who’s pushing my buttons?

Do I really want what I’m about to put into practice?

Do I really want to eat all these French fries?

Do I really want to watch this TV program with all these commercials?

The remote has a mute, off-on, and channel switching buttons.

What are my options? What are my choices? How free am I?

What are my commitments? What are my responsibilities? What have I already agreed upon. Can we renegotiate.

3) PRACTICE

Am I practicing what I preach?

Am I all talk - and I’m actually contradicting myself with the practical ways I live my life?

Oh that’s what a hypocrite is? It’s a phony? It’s living a lie.

It’s easy to talk the talk. It’s difficult to walk the walk.

This third step: the practice - is worth looking at.

St. Paul is the one who brought up the question: why do I tell myself I’m going to do this and I go out and do the opposite every time? Lord, why do I do that?

People addicted to food and porn and booze and pills - have ever been thankful that even a Saint knew this about being a human being. We can be a bundle of contradictions.

Wisdom figures - those with Ph. D.s and those with burns and cuts on their hands from work in the kitchen or the factory - have always said: “The proof is in the pudding.”

Well married spouses have always related to the song line, “Don’t talk about love, show me!”

How many people have taken up the trombone or tuba or piano or step master or jogging or walking - and lasted two weeks with their resolution?

Everyone over 40 gets the old story and old  saying: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Answer: Practice! Practice!  Practice!”

So practice - the 3^rd step in the learning process is the proof we’ve somewhat figured out numbers 1 and 2, the awareness and then the decision.

TODAY’S READINGS

So today’s 3 readings follow these three steps. They  try to make folks aware of certain things - then choose from our consideration of what we’ve become aware and then to put into practice - what we have become aware of and what we have chosen.

So the Jews - as we heard in today’s first reading - are told about the Passover - how their ancestors knew about the covenant and the oaths included in it - and how things fell apart and they were punished when they failed to choose it and put it into practice -  and blessed when they did.

In the Second Reading Abraham is placed on a pedestal - and we’re told about his faith - to be aware of this man’s faith - and how we chose God each time and put into practice his faith.

In today’s gospel we are made aware of  how to be a good disciple of Jesus. Don’t be afraid. Give alms. The real treasures are in heaven.  Be ready to meet the Lord whenever he comes. And not to be a sleepy, lazy - bullying or obnoxious servant.

CONCLUSION

In this homily I’ve tried to outline the 3 steps in the learning process:

                          Awareness, 
                          Decision 
                          and then Practice. 

A D P - Life is an All Day Practice.

The obvious deeper message is this: we are called to be models - examples. Then when people see us - without knowing it - they imitate us and we imitate them.

The obvious practical message is: we impact each other by the smile on our face, the kind word, the forgiveness we give to those who blew it, the admitting when we make a mistake, the courtesy we give in the parking lot after this mass, and wait, before we get there: the by just being here for Mass together we are saying a lot to each other. Amen. 

RELIGION

Quote for Today - August 11, 2013

"I do occasionally envy the person who is religious naturally, without being brainwashed into it or suckered into by all the organized hustles. Just like having an ear for music or something. It would just never occur to such a person for a second that the world isn't about something."

Woody Allen, Rolling Stone, 1987

Question: What is that something for you?

MUSIC  THERAPY

Quote for Today - August 10, 2013

"Truly there would be reason to go mad were it not for music."

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky [1840-1893]

BEETHOVEN

Quote for August 9, 2013

“What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.” 

Ludwig van Beethoven

BACH: MASS IN B MINOR

Quote for Today - August 9, 2013

"Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass?"

Michael Torke [1961-  ]