WHAT DO YOU SEE
WHEN YOU LOOK
OUT THE WINDOW
OUT THE WINDOW
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time [B] is, “What Do You See, When You Look Out the Window?”
There are over 7 billion people on this planet.
What do they see when they are looking out the window of
their eyes?
What do they think and feel when they are looking out the
window of their souls - that is, when they are soul searching.
What do I see when I’m walking through a Mall and I see
an old man sitting on a Mall bench watching the world go by?
I walk by and wonder what he’s seeing, who he is, what
he’s thinking, where he’s at. At times I’ve sat down with folks just sitting
there and asked, “How’s it going?” I
love one on one’s in buses, planes, and outside of churches.
How's it going in there?
How's it going in there?
I get that thought all the time - looking over at a
person in the next car on Route 97 - or Route 50 or in Church Circle. Who are
you? Where are you headed? What’s with the face? What’s with the smile?
TODAY’S
READINGS
Today’s readings triggered these questions and thoughts.
I look out my eyes while sitting there in the cushy fat
cat chair during the readings of the Mass and wonder where you are - where anyone in church is - in these hard benches in this church.
Are you a front window - front windshield person - or a
rear view mirror person?
Are you in the past, the future or in the now?
Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
Do you see the restaurant is half full or half empty? Do you say, “Great we’ll get a seat!” or “The food must stink”?
The optimist invented the airplane; the pessimist the
parachute?
Two men looked out prison bars. One saw mud and the other
saw stars.
How do you see? What do you see?
Do you see the smile on the person eating spaghetti or the red sauce on the person’s shirt or blouse?
Do you see the smile on the person eating spaghetti or the red sauce on the person’s shirt or blouse?
In today’s first reading from Amos we hear about a shepherd
- a man who also took care of sycamore trees. God spots him and calls him to
leave all and prophesy - preach - to my people Israel.
In this first reading, Amos is in Bethel. He's at a shrine there. A priest, Amaziah, tells him to
get lost. Go. Disappear. Get out of here.
Prophets get killed or dissed or are told to disappear.
If we met Amos in the Mall just sitting there, would he
have a sad face, mud on his sandals and an ugly taste in his mouth - because he
was eating the pits? Or would he have a dream in his eyes wondering where to go
next - where to prophesy more - even if there will be more rejections?
Hey! Bibles might be on bookshelves - or in hotel rooms -
but most people ignore them. Who wants soul and spirit challenges?
Read the book of Amos to get the rest of his story and
some answers to questions about prophets - and what their challenges are.
In today’s second reading from Paul to the people of
Ephesus, he tells us some powerful optimistic things about ourselves.
God has given us - blessed us in Christ - every spiritual
blessing in the heavens.
At lunch yesterday Father Harrison said to Father Krastel
across the table, “I was cleaning out my room this morning and I found behind
my desk a Christmas gift with your name on it. It’s still wrapped. I have no
idea how it got there.”
Is that us - there are gifts to us - and we haven’t
picked them up yet?
In today’s second reading Paul tells us that we are
adopted by God, chosen by God, we are the hope of God, we have been given the promises
of the Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance toward
redemption as God’s possession.
Amazing vision - amazing gifts - amazing promises - that
could hit us like those people we see in TV ads - that Publishers Clearing
House people are at their door knocking - screaming - you’re about to get a
million dollars - for life. And these are much more real….
Sitting on a mall bench or in a car driving along and
that hit us - what would our face look like? What would our mind be doing?
Would our mouths have a wow shape?
And in today’s gospel, the 12 are sent two by two to go
into our world and proclaim good news and scream out of people unclean spirits.
And they are told to travel lightly. Have just a walking stick, no food, no sack
or back pack, no money - wear sandals - preach repentance - and if rejected -
shake the dust of that house or place off your feet and move on to a new place.
What would it be like to do that with one’s life?
For 8 ½ years before I came to Annapolis, I worked out of St. Gerard’s Parish in Lima, Ohio
with another priest, Tom Barrett. Every week we were in a different small town
- mostly small parishes - and we did just that. But we had a lot more clothes
etc. no walking stick - and we went by car - and Tom knew where every Ihop in
Ohio was.
And one of the best parts of those 8 ½ years were the
conversations we had driving from place to place - telling each other about
what we had just experienced in places like Elyria, Kalida, Leipsic, Napoleon,
Defiance, Hicksville, Holgate, Hamler, Paulding, Payne, Ohio. Payne was very
interesting - because we heard people in Paulding saying things like, “I was in
Payne last week.” Or my cousin in Payne
just bought a new truck.”
ZEN AND THE ART
OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE
I spotted on my bookshelf while working on this homily,
the old book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It’s a complicated book but it gets one
thinking from a complicated man. Robert Pirsig tells the reader some of his
thoughts while driving on a motorcycle from Minnesota thru Montana - to California - first with a couple - and
the guy is very different from him - along with his teen age son hanging on
behind him.
The other guy doesn’t care what’s going on in a
motorcycle engine - there are always mechanics - but Robert Pirsig like to
known how to maintain a motorcycle engine - as well as people - especially himself.
Wow - it’s a chance to read what someone - different from
us - was thinking when he was looking out the window of his eyes - with the
wind of the highway in his face - going 70 miles an hour.
He put his thoughts into a book - that had a record 121
rejects. Imagine that.
CONCLUSION
What’s behind your eyes? What have you seen? Where has
the wind of God blown on you and in you and stirred things up? What have been
your rejections?
Tell them all to yourself. Sit on the beach or the porch or in a mall or
when driving along or sailing along -
tell your life to yourself. What happened? What’s it been like to be you?
Better, talk to each other. Write it out. Show it to
another - and if you’re not listened to - that’s just 1 rejection.
What's going on in your inner life - in your inner room?
When was the last time you were in that inner church - inner sanctuary?
