A TASTE OF THE KINGDOM

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily or reflection for this 31^st Tuesday in Ordinary Time is: “A Taste of the Kingdom.”

LIKE BEING IN A SUPERMARKET ….

At times - Jesus is like those folks in Giant or Safeway - Wegmans or Grauls - who stand there - usually in the back section of the supermarket - and they have a tray of tasty delights - samples - on aluminum foil. “Want to try one!”

It’s a bite of beef wrapped in bacon - with a special sauce - or a new cookie - or caramel covered popcorn or what have you. Try it! You’ll like it.

Try it and buy it.

JESUS - TRY IT

Jesus stands there inviting folks to try the Kingdom. Try loving your enemies. Try not judging - or throwing rocks. Try going the extra mile. Try turning the other cheek. Try settling differences while on the way with others - especially those we don’t like. It’s easy to forgive those we get along with.

Jesus gives us a taste of the Kingdom. Its entrance has a narrow door - and most seem to  take the broad way. 

Jesus is saying, “Take a peek. Sneak into the Kingdom. See yourself walking in discipleship with Jesus. Feel the change in your face skin - with a neat smile - an ease that surprises you - that makes you feel beautiful inwardly and outwardly.”

Taste and see.

TODAY’S FIRST READING: ROMANS 12: 5B-16B

Paul tells us in today’s first reading - “Hey, even though we’re many - we’re one.   We’re one body - even though we are so, so diverse. Don’t think division. Think unity.

Paul tells us we don’t have to have it all - do it all. We can work together and watch how that works - how that floats - how that tastes. It really does. Notice some are good at challenging - being prophetic - some are good at teaching - some are good at ministry - some are diligent -  some are very generous - some are great for bringing mercy into messy situations - some are great as cheerleaders.

Taste Paul’s list of important ingredients for the human story: hospitality, providing hope, joy and generosity. And did you notice that last one: “Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty [i.e., the high and the mighty] but associate with the lowly”?

But notice when we hear today’s gospel - spot that Jesus knows the human tendency to make excuses. We think those 3 little words that block and stop so many new life steps:  “But what if ….?”

There is something in us that doesn’t want to taste the Kingdom of God - that doesn’t want to really be in the Kingdom. 

The block might be laziness, fear, suspecting there’s no fun - it’s all bleak - if we seek the Kingdom of God.

TODAY’S GOSPEL - LUKE 14:15-24 - EXCUSES, EXCUSES

So we make the excuses - excuses - excuses.  In today's gospel, that’s what Jesus is telling us that some people do. 

So Jesus says, okay, I’ll call others into the kingdom.

CONCLUSION

Here’s a mind twisting thought. I used to think that the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame - whom Jesus calls next - were others. Then  I realized it’s me. Jesus is calling me: poor, crippled, blind and lame brained, excuse making, me.

Get a taste of that reverse thinking of Jesus. 

We’re it. Here we are in this banquet hall called “a church”. 

See Mass as a banquet, a meal, a gathering of lots of folks - who are here to be strengthened by our daily bread - served by some folks up here in the back of the store. Then all go forth out the front door of this church - and go back into our world - working together to make the Kingdom come. Amen.

BETTER IS COMING

Quote for Today - November 5, 2013

"Always in black spirituals there's that promise that things are going to be better, by and by."

Maya Angelou, in an interview with Bill Moyers, Public Affairs Television, 1989

BRIDGES  

IN  THE  DISTANCE

There is something about bridges ….

Sometimes they shake - evoking

memories of past moments on the

other side of some place distant  -

down there on the other side

of the inside of something forgotten

or something about another that

we just - really - don’t understand.

They hint at hesitation - or maybe even

the need to stop - or to turn back to

some safer place than going ahead.

There is something about bridges….

We see them just ahead of us -

through the front windshield of our car -

but we also have an eye on what’s

behind - what’s in our rear view mirror….

There is something about bridges ….

We know they can help us to get

to a new place in a relationship -

or a situation - so we don’t make

the U-turn. We reach out to the other

with a call or with a handshake -

that ancient bridge made of flesh

and hope. We talk to ourselves:

"Maybe we can make the crossing

and arrive at each other - at their

elsewhere or their take on something -

a place we’ve never been to or

we’ve never realy understood - 
but maybe this time we can bridge 
the difference and arrive at place 
called 'Understanding! or 'Peace!'"

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2013

PROTECTORS

Quote for Today - November 4, 2013

"Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of good will: Let us be 'protectors' of creation, protectors of God's plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world."

Pope Francis. I found this quote on page 112 in Forbes Magazine, dated, April 15, 2013

Picture on top - taken from on line for the Christian Science Monitor.

Video - seen my millions - on YouTube

AMAZEMENT AT

THE ALL IN THE SMALL

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Amazement At The All In The Small.”

It’s a thought that hit me from the opening sentence of today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom. Here it is again: 
            “Before the Lord 
              the whole universe 
              is as a grain from a balance 
              [or a scale in the marketplace] 
              or a drop of morning dew 
              come down upon the earth.”

That’s an intriguing - as well as an amazing - comment. I think of it when I see that morning water glaze on the front windshield of my car. I think of it when I see one of those tiny little hour glasses - better minute glasses - you see in kitchens for timing eggs - or those little plastic ones that tell us how much time one has in a board game.

Sand and dew …. being compared to our universe.  

I’m sure you heard the comment by the scientist, Carl Sagan, who said, “If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe?” I was always amazed at that comment - when I see apples or an apple pie - as well as why Carl Sagan didn’t believe in God as I believe.

We don’t know how far out the universe goes. This comment, this text from the Book of Wisdom, was written probably around 150 to 175 B.C. What was their sense of the size of the universe back then? What will telescopes 50,000 years from now - or space adventures - show us - how big this universe - or universes are?

We’ve all seen tiny grains of sand in our shoes or a single lady bug on a blouse or one of those tiny book bugs in an old book - just moving and moping along.

How does God see? What does God see? Does God see me - when there are around 7.2 billion people in the world - and billions have gone before us - and billions are to come?

Does God see me? Does God know me? Is God amazed at me?

The title of my homily is, “Amazement At The All In The Small.”

Does God know how many grains of sand there are at Rehoboth Beach, Maryland - or specks of dust there are in the Smithsonian in Washington or blades of  grass there are in Camden Yards?

I would hope my homily evokes amazement - at life - at God - at creation - and we praise God - give God the glory for life - for the all - the small as well as  the big all around us.

ANTHONY DRAGONETTI

I like to use the example of a short guy, a man I met,  named, Anthony Dragonetti, of Trenton, New Jersey. He’s now long dead.  I was in his house once after giving a Communion Breakfast Talk  in his parish - Saint Joachim’s in Trenton, New Jersey. We were sitting  in his living room. Off to the side was a cabinet of Boehm Birds. They were porcelain birds about 6 to 8 inches high on glass shelves.

I asked him what they were and he said he made them - at Boehm Birds near Trenton. He stood up, opened up the glass door of the cabinet that held about 15 Boehm birds. He took one out and handed it to me to check out. It was light, colorful, realistic. I asked him how much one of these cost. He said, “That particular one sells for about $1400.”

I nervously handed it back to him immediately.

I’m sure we’ve seen small bird figurines in homes worth that - or worth about $4 dollars.  Which one is more important: the 4 dollar one or the 1400 dollar one? Would it make a difference if we knew the back story on how each bird got there in the first place?

As I handed it back to him I thought of Jesus’ words, “You are worth more than a whole flock of sparrows.” I added in my brain: “You are worth more than a whole cabinet of Boehm Birds.”

A short time after that I was driving past a November corn field and a whole flock - a couple of hundred real life little birds - were making spins and turns - in an afternoon sky - turns more amazing than the Blue Angels over Annapolis.

Amazement…..

Sometimes I walk down a street and I see a dead bird - not that often - but a dead bird - and it amazes me. What happened? Do birds hide when they are to die of old age or what have you?

We are surrounded by amazing sights all around us.

Do we see how God sees? Do we see what God sees? Do I see what’s all around me?

BABIES  - YOUNG AND OLD

Aren’t we amazed at babies’ fingers and toes?  Aren’t we amazed at 75 year old marathon runners?  Aren’t we amazed at painters and violinists and music makers?

Yesterday afternoon I noticed the tears in a bridegroom’s eyes at his wedding when an aunt read out the name of his father who had died 4 or 5 years ago of cancer - and his dad wasn’t bodily present at his son’s wedding today. 

Yesterday morning I noticed the tears in a widow’s eyes  - during the funeral of her husband - who just died of cancer.

Do we see another’s tears? When was the last time I shed a tear? What happened? What was it about? Did anyone notice it? Did I talk to anyone about what was happening?

Tears - drops of dew - a grain of sand - a babies pinky or little toes - the wrinkles in a great grandmother’s smile as we celebrate her 95^th birthday …. Do I have a sense of amazement at the all in the small?

DANNY DEVITO - A LITTLE GUY

I always loved the scene in the Danny DeVito - Billy Crystal movie, “Throw Momma From the Train” when Owen, Danny DeVito - asks Billy Crystal if he wants to see his coin collection. Surprise he opens up a floor board and takes out a box of regular coins - nickels and quarters and a penny. He tells Billy Crystal where he got each coin - change from a day with his dad when they got a hot dog - change from a moment with his dad took him to see Peter, Paul and Mary - or Martin and Lewis and his dad gave him the change. 

It gives a completely different take on life and coin collections - and the small things we have and have saved.

What mementos do I have around my house that remind me of my dad and mom, brother or sister or who have you?

Next time we’re visiting someone in a nursing home or regular home - ask them about their little stuff - and see their sense of amazement - and catch your amazement at the stuff people save and collect.

ZACCHAEUS - THE LITTLE GUY IN THE TREE

If we hear the gospels carefully - we’ll notice that Jesus noticed the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. Jesus noticed that someone  touched the hem of his garment to be healed. He noticed merchants in the market place - who were generous and who were not.

In today’s gospel he spots a little guy in a tree and Jesus invites himself into that little guys house for dinner. Amazement.

And then there are those who see the small - but miss the big picture - because they are picky-picky-picky about things like that - and they blast Jesus for eating with sinners. Horrible.

A message that could be - without my parents - obviously - but also without God - this me would not be me.

A message could be - that Jesus wants to sit down and eat with little old me.

A message could be - to be amazed that Jesus knows me - little old me - and he doesn’t mind my sins or shortcomings - just my willingness to be generous and to grow - and help the poor - and can I say that I can express amazement tog God as I say to Him, “Do you mean to say, ‘You know I exist?’” and hear his loud, “Yes,” his loud, Amen.”

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Amazement At The All In The Small.”

Mass is a good time - to see the round - thin - small piece of bread - held up for all to see and to see Jesus  the giver of all  good things - the Lord of Universe and kingdom to come - in it - and in me when I am in communion with him. The small can be all.

To requote and reframe an earlier quote from this homily: “If you want to make bread, have Eucharist, from scratch, you must first have God the Creator of the Universe.”

Mass is a good time to express amazement - and gratitude - and a sense of giving God the glory for it all - in the small and the tall, in the   big and in the little - amazed that God is aware of it all - no matter how small we can be. Amen.

NATURE IS NEVER 

A STALE DONUT 

WITH A HOLE IN IT

Quote for Today - November 3, 2013

"What nature delivers to us is never stale. Because what nature creates has eternity in it."

Isaac Bashevis Singer, in an article by Richard Burgh, New York Times Magazine, November 26, 1978

DEATH

Quote for Today - November 2, 2013 - All Souls Day

"I've always been worried about my damn soul - maybe I worry too much.  But you carry in one hand a bundle of darkness that accumulates each day. And when death finally comes, you say, right away, 'Hey buddy, glad to see ya!'"

Charles Bukowski, Los Angeles Times, November 3, 1987