MAYA ANGELOU

Poem for Today - Friday - June 27, 2014

PHENOMENAL  WOMAN

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me. 

© Maya Angelou

RUMI  

CIRCLES 

Poem for Today - June 26, 2014

Inside water a water wheel turns,
The star circulates with the Moon,
We live in a night ocean wondering:
What are these lights?
You have said what you are -
I am what I am.
Your actions in my head,
My head here and my hands
With something circling inside-
I have no name for what circles so perfectly

© Rumi, translation

by Coleman Barks

Published on July 11, 2012

JUST DO IT!

Poem for Today - June 25, 2014 - Wednesday

IT COULDN’T BE DONE

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,

But he with a chuckle replied

That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one

Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

On his face. If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn't be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;

At least no one ever has done it;"

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,

And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,

Without any doubting or quiddit,

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

There are thousands to prophesy failure;

There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,

The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,

Just take off your coat and go to it;

Just start to sing as you tackle the thing

That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.

© Edgar A. Guest [1881-1959]

PICTURING  IT: 

THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Picturing It: The Birth of John the Baptist.”

Today we celebrate the Birth of John the Baptist. There are only 3 birthday  celebrations in our Church calendar: Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist – December 25th, September 8^th and today, June 24^th.

What to speak on, what to preach about,  in a short 2 page homily?

I like to pick a topic or a theme – that will teach me something – having preached on this feast day – all these years and try to be helpful.

PAINTINGS

Last  night I decided to look at paintings of the scene – so I simply typed into Google, “Paintings: Birth of John the Baptist.”

I expected to find some rich wonderful paintings from the 1500’s onwards – and I was not disappointed.

They are those big classical paintings one sees – with great gold colored ornate wooden frames in the famous art museums around the world. Some paintings were commissioned – by the rich and famous – like the de Medici’s; some hung in churches or were part of elaborate altar pieces.

I read today’s gospel and the other 2 readings – a half-dozen times – along with the commentaries on line under the paintings. I noticed many of the paintings were just picturing two verses of today’s gospel: Luke 1:57-58.

A FEW THOUGHTS THAT HIT ME

The Bible is a rich source for subjects for all kinds of paintings – and John the Baptist is quite prominent in many Christian paintings. That tells me that he is very significant in several ways – connecting us to Jesus and to Mary – at the time of Jesus’ birth – and then the paintings of scenes in the Bible when both Jesus and John are adults and starting out with their preaching and prophetic lives.

The amount of religious paintings tell me that religion was part of the ordinary life of folks of Christians in Europe up to the Enlightenment – based on the subject for paintings before and after that.

Religious paintings are very much the Bible - which is all words – put into pictures – pictures that tell stories.

They also are a valuable look see at what folks were wearing – as well as what beds and pots and pans and chairs at the time of the painting looked like.

Since births were at home, one sees the prominence of women in a birth – especially in this story – especially  because of the age of Elizabeth.

It is a good reminder: when going to the big art museums, make sure to stop to study the classics – because they have stories on the canvas – and see if we can pick out reasons for what’s in the paintings. JacoboTintoretto – in his painting from the 1550’s – has a cat and a chicken – right there on the floor –down front – but I have no clue to the why of their presence in the painting.

Murillo’s Birth of John the Baptist in  - was done  in Seville in the 1660’s. It features  his use of light – very bright light white. We see this strongly in the picture – in the cloths used in washing John the baby. Then there’s a tiny puppy in his painting – and he’s all white. What was Murillo saying? Perhaps the purification rite baptism is being hinted at.

Cute thought: at every baptism – there are while cloths and  candles – but there are also family,  relatives and friends, who take an enormous amount of pictures. So back then without cameras, we have paintings. So there is something in us  - to capture pictures of important events.

CONCLUSION

Check out your photo albums – and slides – and black and white pictures and find any baby or  baptismal pictures of you – and check out who’s who in the pictures – and what has happened to us and them since. Were everyone at our baptism saying what we heard of John in today’s gospel: “What then will this child be?” 

Well, what did we become? What happened? Did we decrease and Christ increase?

Did we become a chicken or a car or a cute little puppy dog?  Did we bring light – especially the light of Christ to our world?

MOM 

 IN MEMORIAM

Poem for Today - Tuesday, June 24, 2014

WHEN ALL THE OTHERS

WERE AWAY AT MASS

In Memoriam M.K.H., 1911-1984

When all the others were away at Mass

I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.

They broke the silence, let fall one by one

Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:

Cold comforts set between us, things to share

Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.

And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes

From each other’s work would bring us to our senses.

So while the parish priest at her bedside

Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying

And some were responding and some crying

I remembered her head bent towards my head,

Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives –

Never closer the whole rest of our lives.

© Seamus  Heaney

GUESS  WHY I  DID IT,

BECAUSE  I DON’T EVEN

KNOW WHY I DID IT.

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 12^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Guess Why I Did It, Because I Don’t Even Know Why I Did It.”

How many times have we said something like that – especially after we did or said the wrong thing – to the wrong person at the wrong time?

JUDGING  MOTIVATIONS

In today’s gospel – Matthew 7: 1-5 - Jesus gets into the great topic of  judging others – especially their motivation.

In today’s gospel, Jesus gives us some great stuff on how we see each other

Jesus said to his disciples, “If you want to avoid judgment, stop passing judgment.”

Then he adds in his own way – what  psychologists  often say: “You’re projecting your motives onto another.”

We spend a lot of energy – on issues of judging motives.

We do a lot of judging. We might not say it out loud – but we say or think inwardly, “I know why you did what you did.”

Jesus says that the verdicts we predict on others  boomerang back on us.

Jesus also says that the measure we measure others by – will be the measure we’ll be measured by.

 In other words, what goes around comes around.

If that’s true, why not judge with mercy – the great theme of  Pope Francis – and we’ll be judged with mercy?

Jesus is saying we spot the specks and the splinters – in others eyes or skin – and miss the planks in our own.

I love it that Pope Francis - in his trip down to Southern Calabria the other day [June 21, 2014]  – had a tiny splinter in his finger  - and someone spotted a doctor in the hospice he was visiting who  removed it. I wonder it that incident will appear in a sermon on today’s gospel.

Jesus is saying here that we spot the spaghetti spot on the other person’s shirt – and miss the rip in the seat of our own  pants.

Jesus is dealing here with Pharisees – who spent their lives going around as life’s police – or judges.

Jesus is saying check yourself out first.

Jesus is saying: retire from the judge’s bench. Take off your judicial robes. It doesn’t pay to be a judge.

WRAP UP

The title of my homily is, “Guess Why I Did It, Because I Don’t Even Know Why I Did It.”

It’s so easy checking out  one another – cleavage or klutziness – length of skirt or length of sad face – or what have you – and it’s so easy to avoid our own territory – or look in the mirror.

If we did we’d find out many things.

One: we might realize,  “Hey, I don’t even know why I did that – or said that.”

Two: we might say, “Sorry – at times I don’t like myself – or I don’t want  to visit my motivations, so it’s easier to pick on you.”

Three: We might realize and say, “To be honest – I don’t know how God is – whether he’s tough or tender – God Cop or Bad Cop – Strict or Lenient Judge -  but maybe if I spend some honesty time with Him, I’ll find out God, our Father is as Jesus advertises Him to be: a God of mercy and a God of forgiveness.”

BACKGROUND PEOPLE 

:Poem for Today - Monday, June 23, 2014

KITCHEN MAID WITH SUPPER

AT EMMAUS, OR THE MULATA

—after the painting by Diego Velàzquez, ca. 1619

She is the vessels on the table before her:
the copper pot tipped toward us, the white pitcher
clutched in her hand, the black one edged in red
and upside down. Bent over, she is the mortar
and the pestle at rest in the mortar—still angled
in its posture of use. She is the stack of bowls
and the bulb of garlic beside it, the basket hung
by a nail on the wall and the white cloth bundled
in it, the rag in the foreground recalling her hand.
She's the stain on the wall the size of her shadow—
the color of blood, the shape of a thumb. She is echo
of Jesus at table, framed in the scene behind her:
his white corona, her white cap. Listening, she leans
into what she knows. Light falls on half her face. 

© By Natasha Trethewey