THE  KEY!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, is, “The Key!”

Key: just a 3 letter word – one that is simple, clear, and a word we use and hear often. Key ….

·       “Does anyone have an extra key?”

·       “The key to the problem is …”

·       “The key to success is …”

·       “The key to a man’s heart is …”

·       “The key to a woman’s heart is …”

·       “What should I key in on?”

We get the reality. We know what a key is.  We get the metaphor. We know what the image signifies.

When you hear the word, “key,” what pops into your mind? Any memories? A lost key…. A found key…. The first time your dad handed you the keys to the car. 

I remember one of the first books we were presented with in our novitiate for growth in spirituality: Keys to the Third Floor, by Philip Dion. Later on I noticed the same title to a Super Mario computer game.

Once I learned something by accident – something I never heard in pastoral counseling classes. It’s this: when you’re sitting with one person who wants to talk to a priest and they take out their car keys – they want to get out of there. It’s obvious – but it took me a while to realize that. If people do that during homilies, I still haven’t seen that. Smile.

Keys: someone recently told me that a boss said, “The number of keys a person has is in reverse proportion to the amount of power they have.”

Is that true? I don’t know. I have to think about it. I have to ask others if they agree with that.

Key: something that opens a door or gate or closet or cabinet or desk drawer.

Key meaning:  clue, cue, secret, hint, lead,  tip-off, crack, opening, sign, signal, door, unwrap, unblock, uncover, unlock, explain, expose, interpret, translate, solve, spell-out, clear up, shed light on, decipher, indicate,  earmark, differentiate, feature….

Key….

COMMON EXPERIENCES

We’ve all had the experience of being locked out. We’ve all felt left out of conversations and decisions at times. We’ve all experienced locked doors and gates and rooms. It might be we’re trying to move up in a company or a government job. It might be trying to get a job in the first place – and we just don’t know why we’re not being hired. What's the key that I'm missing? Or it might be a group we’d like to be a member of – and nope - we feel ignored or locked or blocked out.

We’ve all had the experience of trying to figure out, “What’s really going on here?” We’ve wondered – “How do I reach my teenage daughter or my 22 year old son?” We’ve wondered: “How do I get to first base with this person?”  “How do I get so and so to open up the door?” "Or open up their mind or heart?"  We don’t have a key…. or a clue what to do. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

TODAY’S   READINGS

To come up with a homily for this Sunday, I do what I always do: read the readings out loud and look for a key to the readings.

The first thought that hit me from today’s readings was from the gospel - Matthew 16: 13-20. It's the question Christ asks each one of us, “Who do you say that I am?”

If you want to go that way, you will have a really good key question to wrestle with this week.

This week ask yourself: “Who is Christ to me?” Have I changed my answers to that question down through the years?  Getting to know Christ is to enter into the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God – as Paul puts it in today’s second reading - from Romans 11: 33-36. And listen to how Paul concludes today’s short second reading: “For from him and through him and for him are all things.”

That’s one homily thought….

Then I saw a second homily thought in the second half of today’s gospel. After Simon Peter answers Jesus’ question on who he was – by saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,”Jesus says to Peter amongst other things, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

To have the keys is be the one who is in charge – to be the papa – the father figure – the pope – the boss. 

Notice statues of Peter.

When people get to Rome, they visit the big basilica of St. Peter’s. On the right we’ll spot the big dark bronze statue of Peter. He has keys in his hands – but most notice his right foot. Compared to his left foot – which is back a tiny bit and you can still see the individual toes – the right foot is worn smooth. The tradition is to rub it or kiss this 13^th century statue – perhaps by Arnolfo di Cabio.

If you can’t get to Rome,  check out our dark wooden mahogany communion rail which has all the apostles. Some have with missing limbs and symbols – probably from cleaning and being bumped down through the years.  Peter is right down there just off the center – the one with the key in one hand and a book in the other.Notice that his right foot is visible – with all his toes. I’ve never saw anybody rubbing or kissing it. That would be too tricky - and it's kind of dusty. His left foot can’t be seen – probably a practical trick by a sculptor or carver.

And we hear that same message about receiving the key to the house in today’s first reading as well. Isaiah says of Eliakim, son of Hilkial, “I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.” [Cf. Isaiah 22: 19-23.]

Matthew’s gospel tell us that Peter was told by Jesus, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

To me this is a key church text – because it’s evidence that Peter has the first place  in the church between 80 and 90. Those are the dates scholars place the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew comes after Mark’s Gospel [64-69], but before the year 110,  because Ignatius of Antioch knows of the Gospel of Matthew – and he’s as early as 110.[1]

So for starters a second homily thought for today is how we see not just Christ, but also how we see the pope.  A key to Christianity  - at least according to the Catholic Church – is how we see the Pope. Who do you say the pope is?  And then his successors. So starting with Peter, our first pope or papa, there have been 266 popes.

Looking at that list of 266, there have been some winners and some losers, some saints and some sinners, some scholars and some soldiers.

Number 266 – Pope Francis seems to be doing well. I’ve only read one life of him so far: Pope Francis, Untying the Knots – by Paul Vallely. On the cover is a review from the British Catholic Magazine, the Tablet: “Read this book, forget the rest.”

Having written lots of obituaries, having preached at lots of funerals, having met lots of people, it’s my experience – that it’s difficult – very difficult -  to answer the question: “Who do you say, I am?”

When it comes to Christ I can answer the question from the scriptures and the creeds and prayer. But I know my answer will be very different from the day I meet Jesus Christ, please God, in eternity when I die.

What this pope is like – or any pope is like – is a very difficult question to answer.

Who would know him: his family, people he has worked with, who? Who would know the key to understanding his personality?

Paul Vallely in his biography of Francis - makes the point that a key to understanding is his strong interest in a painting of Mary - entitled "Mary Untier of Knots." When he spotted that painting - he was handed a key to himself - that he was the type of person who needed to untie a lot of knots. [2] 

So that leads me to my third and final point for the homily

START WITH SELF

Before answering the questions – whom we think Christ is, whom we think a pope is, perhaps sit down this week and answer the question: who do I say I am?

What are the key ingredients that make me up? What have been the key moments of my life? Whom have been the key people in my life?

After doing that – ask spouse or family or a close friend – one to one: “What do your think are the keys to me?” “What do you see makes me tick?”  “What the keys to open me up – and see what’s happening inside?”

Some answers might hurt? Some answers might be wrong? Some answers might be challenging? Some answers might be eye openers? Some answers might be life changers?

And maybe someone in return might ask right back at us, the question Jesus asks in today’s gospel, “Who do you say, I am?”

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “The Key.”

If you don’t have your keys in your hands right now, maybe there’s a key to some deeper spiritual growth here in this homily. Amen.

NOTES

[1]  Benedict T. Viviano, O.P, "The Gospel According to Matthew," in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 631

[2] Paul Vallely, Pope Francis Untying the Knots, pages ix -xii

TURN

Poem for Today - August 24, 2014

THE LOCK 

AND THE KEY

Doubt is the lock,

Faith is the key.

Hate is the lock,
Love is the key.

Body is the lock,

Soul is the key.

Ignorance is the lock,

Light is the key.

God’s Heart has no lock,

Man’s mind has no key.

© Sri Chinmoy

MARRIAGE RENEWAL READING

Poem for Today - August 23, 2014

LOVE

I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.

I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.
I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can’t help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.

I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple;
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.

I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means,
After all.

© Roy Croft

This reading is 

often read 

at wedding 

ceremonies
as well as at
anniversaries.

FRIENDSHIP

Poem for Today – August 22, 2014

LOYALTY

He may be six kinds of a liar,

He may be ten kinds of a fool,

He may be a wicked highflyer

Beyond any reason or rule;

There may be a shadow above him

Of ruin and woes to impend,

And I may not respect, but I love him,

Because—well, because he's my friend.

I know he has faults by the billion,

But his faults are a portion of him;

I know that his record's vermilion

And he's far from the sweet Seraphim;

But he's always been square with yours truly,

Ready to give or to lend,

And if he is wild and unruly,

I like him—because he's my friend.

I criticize him but I do it

In just a frank, comradely key,

And back-biting gossips will rue it
If ever they knock him to me!

I never make diagrams of him,

No maps of his soul have I penned;

I don't analyze—I just love him,

Because—well, because he's my friend.

© Berton Braley

STILL LIFE

A Poem for Today - August 21, 2014

FOR POETS

Stay beautiful

but don’t stay underground too long

Don’t turn into a mole

or a worm

or a root

or a stone

Come in out the sunlight

Breathe in trees

Knock out mountains

Commune with snakes

and be the very hero of birds

Don’t forget to poke your head up

and blink

think

Walk all around

Swim upstream

Don’t forget to fly

© Poem by Al Young

Painting on top:
Still-Life With Insects
and Amphibians, 1662,
by Otto Marseus Van Schrieck

THE EYES

HAVE IT

The eyes have it.

We have these other senses: taste, touch, smell and hearing.

Along with sight – they are the classic five.

Still the eyes have it.

At least I think so…..

Then there are these other senses various scientists have come up with: a sense of balance, pain, a thermal sense, that is, having a sense of hot and cold – as well as having a kinesthetic sense – that is, sensing the energy that comes from motion and tensions.

Still the eyes have it.

At least I think so.

Coaches tell players – coaches yell to and at players – using these two fingers – pointing towards one’s eyes, “Keep your eye on the game – on the ball  - on the scene – on what’s happening.”

The eyes have it.

One piece of advice for you for this year: “Keep your eyes on your kids.” Whether your role is good cop or bad cop, keep your eyes on your kids.

This past year I read an article in some Sunday newspaper magazine – which said that many people when they are talking to other people – don’t look the other in the eye.

When I read that, I said, “Oh my God, that’s me.”  When I am talking with someone, when I begin thinking as I’m talking, I tend to look elsewhere.

How about you?

Well,  ever since reading that, I found myself working on that.

So if you want one recommendation from this short presentation tonight, or one piece of advice for this coming year:  as parents – keep your eyes on your kids – look them in the eye. Watch where they go, watch what they are doing. When communicating “about last night” – look them in the eye and see if they can look you in the eye.

What color eyes do your kids have?

For Mother’s Day –  a long time ago – I saw an ad in The New York Times about restoring a picture of your mom for Mother’s Day. Well, my mom had this neat picture of herself  as a young lady. She’s  around 20. She’s living in Boston at the time. Well, I borrowed the picture – assuming nobody would notice. I take it to Macy’s to get the picture improved as a gift for Mother’s Day. In the picture she is sitting. Standing next to her is a cousin with her hand on my mom’s shoulder.

I asked the person at the counter in Macy – if he could remove the lady from the picture.

“Piece of cake,” he said.

This was years and years before computers and digital cameras and Photo Shop.

Then the guy said, “I can colorize this black and white photo if you want.”

I said, “Great!”

Then he said, “What color are your mom’s eyes?”

I didn’t know – so the guy gave my mom my color eyes.

When my sister saw the picture – she said, “Mom doesn’t have greenish brown eyes.”

Message: look people in the eye.

The eyes have it.

When seeing your kid – especially when they are acting stupid – see their whole life.

Picture the first time you saw your kid – a tiny baby in the hospital.

The eyes have it.

In our office, just down the corridor outside this church, a gal named Ann Marie works. Well, she just had a baby the other day – Alice Marie. Still in the hospital, this afternoon I held Ann Marie’s new baby – now 7 pounds 4 ounces – in my arms.

Stupid me didn’t look Alice - the new baby - in the eye – I didn’t know the content of this reflection till tonight – when I worked on this talk after supper. But actually Alice’s eyes were closed the whole time.

But I did notice her mom and her dad’s eyes – and the smiles that went with those eyes – experiencing this first child of theirs.

Imagine all – the all – that is going on in their brains – right now – the stuff seeing their tiny baby is triggering.

As someone said, “The eyes are the windows of the soul.”

The eyes have it.

Picture the times you saw your kid in her first musical or play or game.

Picture the times your kid looked up to see you seeing them on the field of play.

Picture their eyes looking at your face – approval or disapproval – with their report card – and their marks.

Are you the type who sees the one D and misses all those A’s and B’s or C’s?

Are you the type that uses the pronoun “you” or “we” when a kid gets mostly “D’s” in his or her report card. “What can we do to work on improvement here? What can we come up and be eye to eye with?”

The eyes have it.

Picture a father’s face when he walks his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day – or a mom sitting there in church – watching her son’s face on his wedding day.

See the tears that form in those eyes.

The eyes have it.

See your kids’ faces when they see the face of their first child – making you a grandmother or grandfather. Oh my God, how time flies.

The eyes have it.

See your kids not seeing your face – or anybody’s face – but just the face of an iPhone – at supper or at the breakfast table.

I love one of Harry Chapin’s songs when he talks about his daughter and catching her eye – eye to eye – at one super special moment – and then she’s back to the dance of life – she’s back to her make-up and things.

The eyes have it.

This year look your kids in the eye. Don’t yell at them: “Look me in the eye when I’m talking to you.”

But look into their eyes – at least one moment each day – and notice by doing this that there is no escape – we are family.

Remember those days when you sat with him or her in a soft chair and you stared him or her in the eye – and asked this little 7 month old baby – “What’s going on in there? Hi! And your eyes are 3 inches away from each other and then you rub tips of your noses with each other.

I realize those childhood – eye ball to eye ball moments – lessen – as kids move towards the slow separation in becoming themselves – and kids start saying those dragged out, “Daaaaad!” or “Mooooooommm!” sounds.

It’s then parents have to spot those possible eye-opening moments – like the two of you are alone in a car. Your eyes are on the road. Your kid wants to put on different music – and wants to be somewhere else . You’re not looking into each other’s eyes. Your kid can’t escape – you’re going 55 miles per hour – and you see this as a moment to ask, “How are you doing?” Or “Hi what’s going on in there? I hope you have at least one moment every week – when you have an opportunity to be with each other – to talk to each other – I to I. 

Be aware! I’ve heard kids say, “I haven’t really talked to my dad or my mom – she or he – is always somewhere else.”

Instead of face book – or iPhone – have an eye to eye look into each other’s soul.

Ooops forgot to add: Don’t forget to let your kids see you doing this with each other.

The eyes have it.

Life each day has a roll call.

Our name is spoken by God and by others: ______

Then we have a chance to respond:  “Present” or better, “I’m here.”

It’s then we have a chance to say to God and one another: “I love you!” “I’m here for you!” “I’m listening. What’s happening with you?”

The eyes have it.

So that’s my thought for this evening. Thanks for listening!

Oops that’s another sense – hearing. I’ll save that for another talk.

[Presentation: St. Mary's High School - Orientation Evening for Parents of New Students - August 20, 2014]

After last nights - presentations at St. Mary's Church - as parents and staff headed for Marian Hall, various people saw the following rainbow with their eyes - and out came the cameras. Here are 2 pictures sent by Christine Bervid -  with the names of the great picture takes below each picture.

[Taken by Katie Petrides]

[Taken by Jimmy Ellis]

WORLD WAR POEM, #3

Poem for Today - August 20, 2014

THE  BATTLE OF THE SOMME (1916)

They lie, such twisted flesh, so many numbered dead
in mud long bitter day, stained this earth blood red.
For King young lives were laid. for god and glory bound
hope that bloomed, called victory, broken on the ground.

Sky, long filled with flame, shell and killing bomb
so began this hell, The Battle of the Somme.
Seven days of thunder, deep German trenches shelled
to wrest this muddy waste, the enemy strong held.

Battle cry ' Advance ' from throats a bloodied roar
curse this bitter day, curse this bitter war.
Twenty miles or more, so young, they marched to hell
towards the trench bound foe, beneath the killing shell.

Bullet screams of anger, torrent death of steel
ripped the waiting flesh, with biting thoughtless zeal.
They fell, they fell so many, still they marched and more
heaped they lay unmoving, this graveyard battle floor.

Torn amidst the twisted wire, grotesque their dying fall
till left the fields of carrion, where only wounded crawl.
Battles end now came, a million more they lay
blood that soaks this earth. God I curse this day.

© Black Narcissus

-        Barry Hopkins