style. I can do that every day with my presence. However there is a catch - as on the beach at Galilee - we have to be instruments of his peace. Where there is hatred, we have to sow love, injury pardon, doubt faith, despair hope, darkness light, sadness joy. Do these, sow these, and we'll all have a great day. Amen.
The title of my homily for this 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time is, “Taste Death.”
Today’s 3 readings have a lot to talk about - and think
about - like marriage, and divorce and children: family. I’d like to reflect on
a tiny comment in today’s second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews - which we were taught was probably a homily
- and a very long one at that.
The comment was “taste death” - which I made the title of
this homily.
Taste death. That’s a November theme more than a today
theme - November when the leaves have died - but not without a flair of bright
red colors before they fall to the ground and crumble. November is All Souls
Day and a time to remember our dead. Not October…. However, I spotted those 2
words that hit me last night as I began working on this homily: “Taste Death.”
Here is the comment in context: “Brothers and sisters: He
‘for a little while’ was made ‘lower than the angels,’ that by the grace of God
he might taste death for everyone.”
The author is saying that God for a little while - became
lower than the angels. Then in Christ Jesus God became one of us - human - and
God tasted death for everyone and like every one of us.
Rembrandt
I don’t know about you - but that means a lot to me -
that God knows - not only what it is like to be human - but that God knows -
what it means - to taste death.
WHO’S ON YOUR
LIST
At some point - at various points in our lives - we taste
death.
Our own - when we have an operation coming up - as well
as those around us.
Whose death have you tasted? What death cards are tucked into the edge of
pictures in your bedroom? Does anyone
have a prayer book - that has grown fat with the years - with death cards from
wakes and funerals we attended?
Is anyone here like the man I met in a parish in a small
town in Ohio? He said his wife had died 6 years and 234 days ago - and he was still
counting.
Evidently, he never forgot his wife. I have never forgot
that comment. I’ve often wondered what that love story was about.
When we’re young - death is not in the picture - death is
not in the front windshield of our car - or our rear view mirror - even after
there is a story about neighborhood teenagers who were killed in a car
accident.
These deaths in Oregon will not have their impact on
other college kids - like they’ll have on college presidents and some teachers.
I was never a soldier - sailor - marine - or air force
person. So I don’t know what it means to see war or training for war or have
been in battle or bombing or what have you. Yet
- like everyone - I feel the horror of those who die while trying to immigrate to a safer place
for family stability and a decent life.
So that comment from our Second Reading triggered the
question what’s it like to taste death.
FIRST DEATH
Poets talk about first kiss, first mystery, first death.
For me it was Jimmy Hennessey in our grammar school class
- probably around the fourth grade. I
remember the silence and the sadness - wearing our school uniforms on a long
line to Jimmy’s front parlor to see him in a casket but it didn’t hit me like it hit his family -
especially his parents.
When my nephew Michael died suddenly of cancer when he
was 15 - and his parents only had 4 days’ notice - it was then I looked back to
what Jimmy Hennessey’s parents must have gone through.
With death there is a lot of looking back - and looking
back for a long time.
Then there are all these other thoughts and feelings that
hit us.
Regrets - the missed opportunities - sometimes the hurts…
buried with the buried person. We’ve all heard in sermons - sometimes with
guilt - Paul Tsongas’ comment: “No one
on his deathbed ever said, "I wish I had spent more time on my
business."New York
Times,Jan. 14,
1987
I’ve read that the first death we experience is the key
one - after that - the first death enters into how we experience the second
death - and on and on and on. I sense that is true at times - and not true at
times. It’s an all depends.
I sense that there is a lot of Deja vie when it comes to
a viewing in a funeral parlor.
My first real experience
was my dad’s death - when I was 29. I discovered the great gratitude I felt
that as priest I could do my father’s funeral - and help my mom and our family.
Recently I found out
that when my dad was a young man - single - in New York City he had to take a
train out to Pittsburgh to get his brother - also single - who had died in a
construction accident. He had to take the body in a casket to Portland Maine
for a burial where his 2 younger sisters were buried - both of whom were nuns -
who died of TB. I wish I had known these stories better so that I could have
talked with my dad while he was still alive. I would have said, “What was all
that like? What were your feelings?
Maybe that
sentence in today’s second reading hit me because I had a tough funeral right
here in this church at 9 AM yesterday morning.
As priests we
experience death big time. Father Flynn and Father Krastel spend all kinds of
time with the sick and the dying at the hospital. How does that affect them -
and us. What about those who do hospice and work and life with cancer patients.
I assume the key
is not to become cold to death - but personal, real - and like the God text I
mentioned in our Second Reading: never to forget what it’s like to taste death.
Families taste
death - and friends of the family feel it as well.
It is our call to
help each other when death hits home. I
don’t know how many wakes and funerals I’ve met folks who simply said, “We’re
neighbors.”
THEN THERE IS THE METAPHOR OF DEATH
Then there are
all those deadly experiences called “Life”.
Families taste
the metaphor of death - divorce, silence, screaming, hurt.
It’s hard to bury
our feelings - especially resentments and bitterness.
Today in Rome the
Synod on the family begins. It has been in discussions for two years now and
they will spend close to 3 weeks on all
kinds of topics - divorce, wonderful families, broken families, remarriage,
communion - helping people trying to pick up the pieces and start again.
We are people of
faith - believing and hoping in life - after death.
How as church and
society can we help people rise from a marriage that died and people have been
burnt - for all kinds of reasons - sin, stupidity, selfishness, immaturity - or
just simply, “I wasn’t thinking at that time in my life. Or we tried and tried,
but it just didn’t work.”
At the opening Mass
at that synod on the family in Rome today, I assume they will have today’s
readings - and the preacher will talk about divorce and marriage from today’s
first and third readings.
I assume nobody
will preach on death - but that’s what hit me.
You heard today’s
readings. What hit you.
You witnessed the Pope just coming to our
country. What did his visit say to you?
I thought it was a huge moment of grace for us Catholics - and I hope
you are encouraging any family members who have dropped out, “Come home. You’ll
be welcomed.”
CONCLUSION
I hope all of us
these next 3 weeks will have our own family synod and we will do all we can to
avoid what kills family life - and put into practice what gives life to our
relationships and our families.
Of course we
taste death at times. Taste resurrection and new life as well.
The title of my homily for this October 2nd,
Feast of the Guardian Angels is, “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
It’s the title of the wonderful 1946 movie, “It’s a
Wonderful Life.”
It’s on TV every Christmas for at least the last 50
years. And I've often heard high school kids like you say, "I love that movie! It's part of Christmas in our house every Christmas."
It’s a wonderful life.
It's listed as one of the top 100 movies of all time. I've seen it listed as #11.
Hopefully every one of us says at least once a month,
“It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone of us went home
today and said to our parents, “It’s a Wonderful Life!” and then added, “Thank you.”
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone of us said to one of our
teachers, “It’s a wonderful life. Thank you for
being part of it.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every one of us said before
we went to bed every night, “It was a wonderful day God. Thank you.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone of us said every
morning as we woke up, “It’s another day God, wonderful, thank you.”
As you know - the movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life” is on TV every Christmas season - at least 10 times. It’s the story of a very generous
guy named George Bailey - who works in Bailey Brothers Building and Loan.
George helps all kinds of people and is loved by the whole town - except for Mr.
Potter.
In every story there always seems to be an antagonist - someone who goes against the protagonist - the
good gal or guy.
George’s Uncle Billy brings $8,000 to the bank to deposit
it. He’s distracted - thinks he deposits it - but doesn’t. Leaves the money
there in the bank and Mr. Potter the bad guy finds it - but hides it - and
George is in trouble.
That’s the movie. George realizes when he can’t come up
with the money and people in town will go down - so he wants to commit suicide. He wishes he never existed. ANGELS
In the meanwhile an angel appears. Angels don't have bodies - yet we picture them - with robes and wings and angelic smiles. Angels are messengers. You might have heard about a question philosophers used to ask in the middle ages, "How many angels can sit on the head of a pin?" If angels are messengers - we can say that there are millions and millions and millions of messages flying around us right here, right now in this church. Cell phone messages, iPhone messages, radio messages, millions and millions of messages are flying around our pin heads all day long - and we can hear some of them if we have a receiver. Some messages - hopefully most messages are angelic, wonderful, encouraging, but there are also demonic, gossipy, evil, ugly messages as well. I'm sure you've heard in religion class there are good angels and bad devils. They fly around whispering messages into our consciousness.
Listen to the good voices. Chose good choices. Today is the feast of our Guardian Angel or Guarding Messenger. I would like to describe our Guardian Angel as the whisper, the voice, to see life as wonderful and make it wonderful for those around us. In the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, it’s Clarence - an angel - who is sent to save George - and he
does - showing George all that would have happened if didn’t exist.
Without ruining the movie any further - but I will ruin it at the end of this homily. I take that back, you can't ruin this movie. Well George discovers
he is loved - that he is necessary and that “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
It’s a wonderful life.
BAROMETER
I like to use the image of the barometer. It tells us the
weather - what’s going on in the atmosphere.
I like to ask folks to come up with a barometer for their
marriage, for their job, for their life.
I think the statement, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a great
barometer.
Kids like to write words on their hands. It could be the
name of the person they love or an answer for a test.
I think the statement, “It’s a wonderful life.” It should be
written on our hand and if someone asks us the secret of life, cheat, and
read the answer on our hand and say, “It’s a wonderful life.”
Clarence taught George Bailey that message.
There are people out there who say every other day, “It’s
a horrible life.”
I was reading the papers this morning to see if they have
come up with the motive of this guy who killed those folks in Oregon at a
community college. I’m willing to bet that he walked around thinking, “It’s a
horrible life.”
BEING WONDERFUL
I would like to say that the call of life is to be wonderful and how do
you do that? Answer: make life wonderful for those around us.
How do you become wonderful: each day see all the wonders
that surround us.
When someone sees us, do they say, “I want to sit with
that person at lunch.” “I want to be
next to that person at a game.”
I want people who come to my funeral to say, “Andy was a
wonderful person - a wonderful priest.”
I hope every teacher here has that as their goal, “I want
to be a wonderful teacher.”
Does any teacher want to be a loser - a disaster? Of course not.
Well, to a wonderful teacher, student, person, priest,
principal, you have to do what Jesus kept stressing: be welcoming,
understanding, serving, giving, forgiving, caring to and for others.
A WONDERFUL GUY
I did a funeral yesterday of a wonderful guy. His funeral ceremony - and the eulogies - spelled and yelled that out loud and clear. About a
month ago his wife asked me to go see him with her in a nursing home. He was basically shut down
- from a rare form of Parkinson’s disease.
On the way to the nursing home, I asked how they met. I love that question. Well, his wife told me that she
was on a date with this other guy and she spotted Jerry.
She said to herself, “What a wonderful guy!” and she
asked him if he could go on a date with her. Being a wonderful guy he asked the former boyfriend if he
could. The guy said, “Yes.”
In the drive to and from the nursing home she told how
wonderful a husband he was for 50 years this year. She told me that he did
great things in his life in the Aerospace Industry - developing materials for
going deep out into space and coming back home. She told me how much she wanted to see him at the nursing home as much as possible - because she loved him so much.
No she didn't sing the song, "Wonderful Guy" but those were her sentiments.
CONCLUSION
A barometer of a wonderful person is to be a person that
others want - in their life - at their
table - in their conversations - on their teams.
Remember the movie, My Cousin Vinny. Vinny is a disaster
as a lawyer for his nephew. He falls asleep in the courtroom. He can’t figure
out what to do. But surprise, he comes around and becomes so great, that his
nephew’s friend dumps his lawyer and says pointing to Vinny in the court room, “I want him.”
Be so wonderful that people say of us, “I want him.”
