The title of my homily for this 14th Monday in
Ordinary Time is, “Steps.”
FIRST READING
In today’s first reading from Genesis 28: 10-22a, there is mention of a stairway to heaven.
It’s also called Jacob’s Ladder.
In a dream Jacob sees a stairway that rests on the ground
- and its top reaches to the heavens. He sees God’s messengers going up and
down on that staircase.
METAPHOR OR
IMAGE
In various religions and philosophies - the ladder or
steps or a staircase has often been a metaphor of growth - a step at a time. We've all heard teachers, coaches, parents, urge us to be better, climb higher. We've all heard the cry, "Excelsior!" I love it that it means, "Excell!" - but it also means wood shavings that served as stuffing for matresses. To me the laugh is, when striving for greatness, be aware of being humble and not being inflated while climbing the top step to receive the first prize for winning it all. Jesus put it this way, "The first shall be last!" When his disciples wanted to be on his right and left in the kingdom, Jesus warned them about wanting to be great. Rather strive to serve others. [Cf. Matthew 20:21-28.]
So steps and striving for holiness is great - but sometimes the silent secret is to step down or into the background. I have a collection of these various steps in my work in
teaching spirituality. CLASSIC 3
STEPS: PURGATIVE, ILLUMINATIVE, UNITIVE WAY
The class 3 steps are the so called: Purgative,
Illuminative and Unitive way.
We clean out the room. We fill it with food. We invite
God or others in for communion. The
first step in growth is cleansing ourselves of sin or bad habits. The second
step is taking on the positive after cleansing ourselves of the negatives and
then comes the third step: union with God. [1]
JOHN CLIMACUS -
30 RUNG LADDER
In Eastern Orthodox Spirituality one finds the famous
John Climacus and The Ladder of Divine Ascent. John Climacus was a 7th
Century Christian monk on Mount Sinai.
It has 30 steps. The first 7 steps present 7 general
virtues to climb for a richer ascetic or spiritual life. The next 19 steps deal
with overcoming vices and the corresponding virtues to acquire. The next 4 are
the higher virtues that help us reach the top. The top rung - Love - Agape - is
beyond prayer and stillness and apathy.
Check it out on Google and look at the pictures of angels
helping people to climb that ladder and demons shooting arrows and trying to
pull people off the ladder. [2]
GUIGO II - THE
LADDER TO PARADISE - 4 RUNGS
Check out Guigo II, a Carthusian monk - who died either 1188 or 1193 - who wrote about the 4 step method of prayer - that has been taught in
many retreat houses and conferences on prayer. He called it The Ladder to
Paradise [Scala Paradiso or Scala Claustralium]. Guigo II starts with Jacob’s ladder in
today’s first reading and says this is a good way to pray:
·Lectio
- Read the sacred scripture
·Meditatio
- Think about what you read
·Oratio -
Pray, talk to God about what you’re thinking - what hits you.
·Contemplatio
- Become quiet, let it sink in, deepen. [3]
ALCOHOLICS
ANONYMOUS
Many people have heard about the 12 Steps of Alcoholics
Anonymous. [4]
I remember someone talking about the 12 steps that led up
to Dr. Bob’s house in Akron Ohio. It’s
true but I don’t know if they were in the original house.
Since
the number 12 is key to the program, there are 12 steps leading to the front
door of Dr. Bob’s home.
I
did find the following in some notes about Dr. Bob’s house on 855 Ardmore
Avenue in Akron, Ohio. “The original house had 11 corner slats in the floor of
the dining room and 13 in the living room and now there are 12 in both rooms ….
This change was made as a labor of love by another one of the volunteers at the
home.”
Here are the 12 Steps. They are also used for other
addictions, food, drugs, sex, etc.
1.We
admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become
unmanageable.
2.Came
to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3.Made
a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him.
4.Made
a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.Admitted
to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our
wrongs.
6.Were
entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7.Humbly
asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8.Made
a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them
all.
9.Made
direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would
injure them or others.
10.Continued to take personal inventory and when we
were wrong promptly admitted it.
11.Sought through prayer and meditation to improve
our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge
of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12.Having had a spiritual awakening as the result
of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice
these principles in all our affairs.
THE 8 SECRETS
OF HAPPINESS
I’ve been working on a book entitled, “The 8 Secrets of
Happiness.”
I’ll get it done some day. I put a lot of work into it
already, but I’m not rushing - because I have other books in progress and there
are already many books on happiness.
CONCLUSION
The idea behind the image or metaphor of steps or ladders
is to get higher, better. When I was doing a lot of work in spirituality I noticed that the key noun after the verb, "is" is "way" - as in road, path, steps, climb, movement...." As in Spirituality is a way to ...." Robert Frost features the word "road" - as in "The Road Less Traveled [Cf. M. Scott Peck's, best seller The Road Less Travelled" - or Two roads diverged in a yellow wood." Taoism - pronounced in English "dowism" - has at its root the word "tao" meaning way. Buddhism talks about the 8 fold path. Today I'm stressing the image of steps.
The title of my homily for this 14th Sunday in
Ordinary Time [B] is, “A Prophet’s Impact.” [Make impact gesture]
This Sunday - next Sunday - and the Sunday after that - we’re
going to hear from 3 Jewish prophets - of the Jewish scriptures: Ezekiel today,
next week Amos, and the week after that, Jeremiah.
A prophet speaks up. A prophet challenges us. A prophet
calls us to be better. A prophet calls us to be honest with each other. A
prophet calls us to be in touch with God. A prophet calls us to justice,
fairness, and to be a voice for the voiceless. A prophet calls us to be a
keeper - to be our brother and sister and the earth’s keeper.
A prophet gets killed - because when he or she speaks up
- sometimes we want to kill them. Their words can feel like they are made of
sandpaper or razor blades.
TODAY’S
PROPHET: EZEKIEL
Today’s prophet is Ezekiel - a very challenging and
fascinating character.
If you have a Bible at home that’s handy, go to the
prophet Ezekiel and just flip through the chapters - just reading the headings.
Don’t read from Chapter 1 to Chapter 48 - straight through.
Like reading a magazine or Reader’s Digest, just pick and choose what hits you as you page
through its content.
Like chapter 2, “The Vision of the Scroll.” Ezekiel is
told to eat - EAT- the scriptures.
Chew on them. Digest them. We become what we eat. Great image. Make these words
and images our own.
Like chapter 12 he does a mime of being someone who is
packing their bags - and getting out of there. My mom used to do that when we
were kids. When we were fighting or driving her crazy - she would go to the
closet, take our her coat, put it on, grab an empty suitcase and head for the
door. The 4 of us would try to stop her and cry, “Mom, no, don’t go.”
I’m the youngest of four and I didn’t know this was fake
till my early 30’s. The other 3 knew it was a game - and it worked.
You might stop at chapter 16 and read the allegory of the
girl. When she was born she was dropped in an open field and left to die -
covered with blood and after birth. God says that He came along and picked her
up. He washed her and cared for her. She grew up. In her teenage years, she ran
away from God - and really messed up. God came along and rescued her again. And
God provided her with the best food, clothes, jewelry, and she became a queen. And once more she messed up
becoming infatuated with her own beauty. She became a prostitute and on and on
and on - and God was with her all the time and kept on welcoming her back. So
too Israel.
That’s a good way to read Ezekiel. That’s how to be
challenged by Ezekiel. In chapter 37 he says we’re like a dead skeleton -
laying in a field in a valley with all kinds of dead skeletons and bones. Then God sends his breath and his word calling
all of us who are dead - back to life.
And surprise there is resurrection and new life, here and
hereafter.
A PROPHET’S
IMPACT
Today’s first reading ends with these words, “And whether
they heed or resist - for they are a rebellious house - they shall know that a
prophet has been among them.” [Ezekiel
2:5]
In today’s gospel we heard about how Jesus was rejected
by his own home town.
And at the end of his life - his crucifixion - his death
on the cross - we see him paying the ultimate price for being a prophet - for
speaking up - for challenging us: being killed by the mob.
BAPTISM
The next time you’re at a baptism, notice the 2 anointing’s with
oil.
The first one takes place early on - when someone -
usually a baby - is anointed in their neck, voice box, Adam or Eve’s Apple -
sometimes while screaming. The second one takes place after the water being
poured over the person’s head. The baptized
person is anointed to fulfill 3 calls in life: to be a prophet, to be a priest and to be a king or queen.
I like that moment. I like to rub it in.
First the call to be a prophet - that is to scream out
for fairness - justice - awareness of the other ones.
I like to say that kids know about fairness - especially
when they scream for their piece of cake - their seat in the car - their turn
on the ride - what time they have to go to bed.
The number one cry of the prophet is: “It’s not fair.”
Read the pope’s new encyclical on our earth or the big
document of Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes. Both are crying out for fairness on how we
treat one another - and how we care about each other - and our home, the earth.
The other two anointing’s are that all of us are called
to be priests and kings and queens.
Priests: all of us - men and women - are called to stand
there each morning and thank God for a new day - and to look on the altar - the
wide plains of creation - and see the round sun and earth and universe - and
all human circles and cells - and offer all up to God the Creator in
Thanksgiving. Hear God say of all, “This is my body, this is my blood, I’m
giving myself and my creations to you. Take and eat. Take and drink. Enjoy your
daily bread and daily wine. Pause each morning to attend that daily Mass - with
the Mass of humanity.
Kings: that’s the word used in the baptismal ritual - but
it’s also queens - and we’re called to see everyone in that light - to honor
each other - starting with the little ones. Not having children of my own, I
first heard someone talk about his majesty the baby - her majesty the baby.
Parents, teachers, care takers, grandparents, serve those little ones - and
hopefully they pick up all that love - so they can follow suit. I’ve always heard about the kind of King
Jesus was - one who washed feet and fed the poor. Now that’s service.
TODAY: PROPHETS
Today I just want to focus on the theme of prophets - and
our call to be prophets.
Who have been the people in our story who were prophets?
Who have challenged us?
To be a prophet is to face the tough stuff - to challenge
ourselves and others to be Christians - to challenge our kids to get to church
- not out of obligation - but because we need folks in our world - who are salt
and light - and love. We need folks at work and coffee breaks to speak the
truth with love and grace.
To be a prophet is to be someone who gives one’s life and
energy for the family and for the human family. Think of all those folks who volunteer
and do scouting and keep organizations that serve others rolling smoothly.
CONCLUSION
These are just a few threads of thought in what it is to
be a prophet.
One hope - when they are talking about us in the funeral
parlor or the meal after the funeral, hopefully some will say of us in so many
words things like this:
·“A prophet has been among us.”
·“A generous person has been with us.”
·“A giver was here.”
·“She could challenge gossip and unfair comments
so smoothly.”
·“Fairness was her middle name.”
·“He made so many significant impacts on my life.”
