Reflections By The Bay

Saturday, February 22, 2014

DON'T CRUSH

ANOTHER'S DREAM!

Poem for February 22, 2014
Continuing Black History Month

DREAM DEFERRED

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Friday, February 21, 2014

TALK IS CHEAP

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 6^th Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Talk Is Cheap!”

We have heard that message all our lives - and we’ve said that all our lives.

How many times have we heard dozens of people describe someone else: “He talks a good talk - but he’ll never do anything about it.”

How many times have we said the following - in loud - silently - inside our brain: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve heard you say that before.”

Then we add our own little twists of the message - like, “The proof is in the pudding.” The proof is in the emptied dish washer. The proof is the garbage taken out. The proof is in the cleaned garage and the washed car for the other.

It’s a theme in the folk wisdom of every culture.

I didn’t have time this morning to look up Aesop’s Fables and see if he has a fable with this as the moral of the story: “Talk is cheap!” - but probably.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

We have - as they say - the heart of James’ message in today’s first reading.

James says: “We say to another. ‘Best of luck. Stay warm. Hope you get something to eat.’ Then we do nothing.”

He’s saying: “If that’s our song and dance - and we say or think we have faith - we’re kidding ourselves.”

Faith is footwork. Faith is time consuming. Faith costs. Faith calls for action - service.

We’re aware of kids saying, “I was just about to do it,” but they never do, do it.

So that’s James’ bottom line: “Faith without works is dead.”

Mouth without follow up - is hot air.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Isn’t that what Jesus is saying in today’s gospel?

His message is giving: Giving one’s life. I like it when we use the word “time” - giving one’s time - bummer.

I don’t know about you - sometimes the phone drives me crazy - because it usually means - someone wants me - and that means time and many times I tell myself, “I just don’t have time.”

Well, what else does Jesus mean but that - when he said in today’s gospel,

“Whoever wishes to come after me

must deny themselves
take up their cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save their life will lose it,
but whoever loses their life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it.
What profit is there for one

to gain the whole world
and forfeit their life?
What could one give in exchange for their life?”

Jesus says that 100 different ways.

For example, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the 3 who bypassed the man who needed help on the road, had their reasons in their mind - why they couldn’t help the man who was beaten up.

So another word for gospel is inconvenience.

CONCLUSION

So we come to Mass to hear the secret of life. It’s dying to self. It’s giving one’s body, one’s blood, to others. It’s saying to everyone - Here I am take me - and then letting people take our time and presence.

Or as Mother Teresa told her nuns, “Let the people eat you up.”

Or as Nike says it, “Just do it.”

FAMILY

Poem for Today - February 21, 2014
Continuing Black History Month

THE IDEA OF ANCESTRY

Taped to the wall of my cell are 47 pictures: 47 black
faces: my father, mother, grandmothers (1 dead), grand-
fathers (both dead), brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts,
cousins (1st and 2nd), nieces, and nephews.They stare
across the space at me sprawling on my bunk.I know
their dark eyes, they know mine.I know their style,
they know mine. I am all of them, they are all of me;
they are farmers, I am a thief, I am me, they are thee.

I have at one time or another been in love with my mother,
1 grandmother, 2 sisters, 2 aunts (1 went to the asylum),
and 5 cousins.I am now in love with a 7-yr-old niece
(she sends me letters in large block print, and
her picture is the only one that smiles at me).

I have the same name as 1 grandfather, 3 cousins, 3 nephews,
and 1 uncle. The uncle disappeared when he was 15, just took
off and caught a freight (they say).He's discussed each year
when the family has a reunion, he causes uneasiness in
the clan, he is an empty space. My father's mother, who is 93
and who keeps the Family Bible with everbody's birth dates
(and death dates) in it, always mentions him. There is no
place in her Bible for "whereabouts unknown."

Thursday, February 20, 2014

HERE AND HEREAFTER

poem for today - February 20, 2014
Continuing Black History Month

An Old Jamaican Woman

Thinks About the Hereafter

What would I do forever in a big place, who

have lived all my life in a small island?

The same parish holds the cottage I was born in, all
my family, and the cool churchyard.

I have looked

up at the stars from my front verandah and have been afraid

of their pathless distances. I have never flown

in the loud aircraft nor have I seen palaces,

so I would prefer not to be taken up high nor

rewarded with a large mansion.

I would like

to remain half drowsing through an evening light

watching bamboo trees sway and ruffle

for a valley-wind,

to remember old times but not to live them again;

occasionally to have a good meal with no milk

nor honey for I don’t like them, and now and then

to walk

by the grey sea-beach with two old dogs and watch

men bring up their boats from the water.

For all this,

for my hope of heaven, I am willing to forgive my debtors

and to love my neighbour ...

although the wretch throws
stones at my white rooster and makes too much noise

in her damn backyard.

A. L. Hendriks: ‘An Old Jamaican Woman thinks about the Hereafter’ from On This Mountain and Other Poems (Deutsch). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Picture found on line.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON'S

CREATION ACCOUNT

Poem for Today - February 19, 2014
Continuing Black History Month

"The Creation"

And God stepped out on space,

And he looked around and said:

I'm lonely -

I'll make me a world.

And far as the eye of God could see 5

Darkness covered everything,

Blacker than a hundred midnights

Down in a cypress swamp.

Then God smiled,

And the light broke, 10

And the darkness rolled up on one side,

And the light stood shining on the other,

And God said: That's good!

Then God reached out and took the light in his hands,

And God rolled the light around in his hands 15

Until he made the sun;

And he set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.

And the light that was left from making the sun

God gathered it up in a shining ball

And flung it against the darkness, 20

Spangling the night with the moon and stars.

Then down between

The darkness and the light

He hurled the world;

And God said: That's good! 25

The God himself stepped down -

And the sun was on his right hand,

And the moon was on his left;

The stars were clustered about his head,

And the earth was under his feet. 30

And God walked, and where he trod

His footsteps hollowed the valleys out

And bulged the mountains up.

Then he stopped and looked and saw

That the earth was hot and barren. 35

So God stepped over to the edge of the world

And he spat out the seven seas -

He batted his eyes, and the lightnings flashed -

He clapped his hands, and the thunders rolled -

And the waters above the earth came down, 40

The cooling waters came down.

Then the green grass sprouted,

And the little red flowers blossomed,

The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,

And the oak spread out his arms, 45

The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,

And the rivers ran down to the sea;

And God smiled again,

And the rainbow appeared,

And curled itself around his shoulder. 50

The God raised his arm and he waved his hand

Over the sea and over the land,

And he said: Bring forth! Bring forth!

And quicker than God could drop his hand,

Fishes and fowls 55

And beasts and birds

Swam the rivers and the seas,

Roamed the forests and the woods,

And split the air with their wings.

And God said: That's good! 60

Then God walked around,

And God looked around

On all that he had made.

He looked at his sun,

And he looked at his moon, 65

And he looked at his little stars;

He looked on his world

With all its living things,

And God said: I'm lonely still.

Then God sat down - 70

On the side of a hill where he could think;

By a deep, wide river he sat down;

With his head in his hands,

God thought and thought,

Till he thought: I'll make me a man! 75

Up from the bed of the river

God scooped the clay;

And by the bank of the river

He kneeled him down;

And there the great God Almighty 80

Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,

Who flung the stars to the most far corner
of the night,

Who rounded the earth in the middle of his hand;

This Great God,

Like a mammy bending over her baby, 85

Kneeled down in the dust

Toiling over a lump of clay

Till he shaped it in his own image;

Then into it he blew the breath of life,

And man became a living soul. 90

Amen. Amen.

(from God's Trombones, 1927)

From The Heath Anthology

of American Literature,

Volume Two, Second

Edition, 1053-1055.

__________________________________________________

Here's my creation account from my book, Cries .... But Silent

CREATION ACCOUNT

In the beginning

all was God.

In the beginning

all else was silence,

all else was darkness.

And God burst

through the dam

of silence and darkness

with his word,

“Let there be light!”

And God’s power,

and God’s spirit

exploded into creation.

Molten lava,

red rivers of fire,

huge stones and planets

rolled down the dark hills

of space, down the empty

halls of the universe,

crashing, splashing,

noise and sound.

Creation had begun ,

bursting, splattering seed

into the empty holes

of barren time.

“Let there be life!”

And the fertile egg

of earth began.

And in time

the naked baby

came forth

crawling towards

the Father,

standing, falling

rising, trying

again and again

to stand up to the Father.

And gradually

it too learned

the words,

“Let there be light!”

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

THE I DON’T GET IT PRAYER

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 6^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “The I Don’t Get It Prayer.”

Sometimes it takes courage to say to God or to others - but especially for starters to ourselves: “I don’t get it.”

And I think it’s a good prayer: “I don’t get it God. I just don’t get it.”

Hey, sometimes it takes courage to say, “I don’t get it.” when we’re in a group and everyone is laughing at a joke that someone just told - but we don’t get it.

We don’t want to look or sound stupid in a group or in a relationship, but to say, “I don’t get it” contains the message: “I would like to get it. I want to know what you’re saying or doing.”

I think it’s a compliment when someone says to me after Mass, “Your homily…. I didn’t get it.” It tells me that I’m not a growler - or someone to be feared. I get that. And it’s a challenge to try to be clearer.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel - Mark 8: 14-21 - ends with Jesus asking a question to his disciples in the boat, “Do you still not understand?”

They don’t get it.

Sometimes it takes time to get it.

Sometimes it takes a life time to get it.

Sometimes it takes the cross to get it.

Sometimes it takes a lot of living to understand life - to get it.

Sometimes it takes a life time of receiving communion to get the bread - the giving of his body and blood to us - and we in turn to give our body and blood to each other - when we are in holy communion - or trying to be - with each other.

Jesus’ disciples had seen Jesus feed the 5000 as well as the 4000 - but here they are worried about their stomachs and food - because they only have 1 loaf with them on the boat.

They don’t get it. They don’t get who’s in the boat with them - Jesus the bread giver and the bread winner.

For starters Jesus is saying, “I don’t get it - that you don’t get it.”

Well, I get it that. I’ve noticed it’s not understanding is an ongoing theme we often hear about as we listen to the gospels.

Mark is getting at that message here - but the Gospel of John is THE gospel that really brings out what Isaiah said, what the prophets said, and what Jesus says in today’s gospel: “People have ears that don’t hear, eyes that don’t see, and hearts that are not open for new life.”

We’re slow learners.

So the prayer: “The I don’t get it prayer.”

FIRST READING - FROM JAMES

Today’s first reading from James 1: 12-18 talks about how stupid we can become. We just don’t get it. We set ourselves up for problems by walking right into temptations. At some point we need to get it - those moments that are set ups for anger or gossip or what have you. We dance with the devil and set ourselves up for trouble.

Then when we get overwhelmed with problems and sins, we become stupid again and again and we then ask, “How come I keep falling into sin?” Or “How come God places temptations in front of me.”

We’re saying, “I don’t get it God - how life works.”

And if it’s a prayer, we might hear God say in return: “Hey - you gotta do some work!”

CONCLUSION

Mark in his gospel story today might be saying: “Life is like a boat ride across the waters - and Jesus is in the boat. You’re not alone. Get it? Don’t forget to get with him.”

In this homily I’m saying: “When we say, ‘I don’t get it to God or to others - but especially to ourselves, that’s a good time for “The I don’t Get It Prayer.”

DON'T FORGET

TO SAY, "THANK YOU!"

Poem for Today - February 18, 2014
Continuing Black History Month

FLORIDA ROAD WORKERS

I‘m makin’ a road

For the cars to fly by on

Makin’ a road

Through the palmetto thicket

For light and civilization

To travel on.

l’m makin’ a road

For the rich to sweep over

In their big cars

And Ieave me staudin’ here.

Sure,

A road helps everybody!

Rich folks ride --

And I get to see ‘em ride.

I ain’t never seen nobody

Ride so fine before.

Hey, Buddy, Look!

l’m makin’ a road!

“Florida Road Workers” by Langston Hughes: from The Panther and the Lash by Langston Hughes. Copyright 1967 by Arna Bontems and George Houston Bass. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Painting on top: Walter Durac Barnett