It’s a girl. We were expecting a boy! The kid can sing. Where did that come from? So and so marries so and so. Surprise! Time ticks. Lots of the normal stuff happens....
Then we hear so and so is cheating on so and so.
Bummer - and the affair changes everything.
Everything. The wedding ring comes off....
The wedding album is thrown out.... Sometimes life is a bummer. Sometimes tires go flat. Sometimes someone gets God out of nowhere. Good thing - because then the next arrives.
Cancer….
Life happens - and "Uh oh’s!" are uttered.
"Now what?" - is the next mutter. There will be a next. That we know. That's how life happens. It does.
[1] Cute Irish slang words for "idiot" "clumsy" and "dummy".
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
March 16, 2016
SHADOWS
Don’t neglect shadows. They
disappear into the deep dark night
and at high noon. But -
BUT - at all
other times - if we stop to look
around and look within - sometimes we can see our shadows climbing up
our back stairs or sliding along the
sidewalk and against our back wall.
Sometimes they make a slight coughing “Ahem!” sound - reminding us they are our past. We have our sins and our secrets - and they have their bad breath aftertaste. Oooh! Calm down, this is the year of mercy and forgiveness and doors that open wide with God ready to give us a big welcome home hug - along with a great big banquet. Enjoy. [1]
The title of my homily is, “Preach the Gospel Brand New!”
That’s something that St. Clement Hofbauer - whose feast
we celebrate today - said. Preach - Make - the gospel as new.
TWO GREAT
FOUNDERS
The Redemptorists had two great founders - one on each
side of the Alps.
For the sake of transparency we are Redemptorists here at
St. Mary’s
The two men never met
- but they could have. Alphonsus’
dates are 1696-1787 and Clement’s dates are 1751 - 1820. Clement became a Redemptorist in Rome in
1784. At the time Alphonsus was an old man in a wheelchair down in Pagani in
the Kingdom of Naples.
Clement then went over the Alps - to Warsaw and then
Vienna - from which we Redemptorists here in Annapolis came from.
WHAT THEY HAVE
IN COMMON: MAKING THE GOSPEL VISIBLE
The title of my homily is, “Preach the Gospel Brand New.”
Both men tried to make the gospel visible…. Brand new -
freshly baked bread.
I can say that because that’s how they saw Christ. That’s
how they saw God - that God became visible in Jesus Christ - beginning as a
baby - then a teenager - then a young man - who walked our streets and talked
our words - and tried to make them flesh.
Both Alphonsus and Clement preached in images and stories
and words that people got.
Both realized that the people of Europe were hungry for
God.
What greater reality for hunger is bread - the desire for
fresh bread….
Give us this day our daily bread.
It’s funny Alphonsus came from the mid upper class and
Clement came from the lower classes. Upper crust and bottom crust.
Alphonsus ended up working big time for the poor - in the
hills - the goatherders who were migrants - as well as small town and village people
whom nobody in the church was rushing to minister to. Clement worked with the
poor - the orphans - but somehow connected big time with the intellectuals.
Clement was a baker - who served the Eucharist to Warsaw
and Vienna and rounded up men to be Redemptorists to feed Europe in Vienna and
Warsaw and other places with Christ the Bread of Life - and also real bread.
Alphonsus was big - big on stressing the presence of Christ in the Bread - the
Eucharist.
Both showed Christ on the cross and in Mary. Christmas
and Good Friday were big time Christ Presence Moments.
CONCLUSION
Today - we Redemptorists hopefully carry on that tradition - preaching and
making the gospel brand new - freshly baked bread.
Just take last night.
I’m standing there in the vestibule here at St. Mary’s -
and I’m watching our St. Vincent de Paul workers - our parishioners serving the
poor - with money and food - gifts from the great generosity of this parish.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And just outside the corridor door I see people coming in and out - making
their holy hour in our Eucharistic chapel. Amen.
March 15, 2016
PRESSURES
Expression sometimes leads to
repression - as well as suppression -
which can lead to depression. Yet
sometimes there are concessions,
because of lessons learned or
someone screamed out an
intercession - and the pressure
ceased and the peace increased.
Then it dawned on me that this is the least or maybe it could be the best
The title of my homily for this 5th Monday in
Lent is, “People’s Lives Matter.”
TODAY’S READINGS
Today’s readings from Daniel and John triggered the following thoughts.
The first reading is the long, long story of Susanna and
how these 2 dirty old men first try to seduce her - and then try to have her
killed - when she rejects their manipulations. Check out Daniel 13. The second story is from the Gospel of John. I
used the same gospel as we had yesterday. It’s the story of the woman caught in
adultery. Check out John 8:1-11. It seems that the compilers of these two readings
hesitate to put these stories out there. They provide options and portions that can be cut. Another comment to make is that these two texts are not in some
Bibles. I suspect one reason might be because they have sex in them. Hello! Sex sells. Hello, both these stories
have a greater impact on folks compared to many other stories.
LIVES MATTER -
PEOPLE MATTER - WE ALL MATTER
As you know the slogan, “Black Lives Matter” - has been
appearing on signs at rallies and as headlines in newspapers and magazines -
ever since 2013.
Black Lives Matter.
You can see it as a sign on our neighbor church - next
door - The Unitarian Church. If you come in their driveway - off Bestgate
Road - the entrance without having to use the light - you can spot a sign that
says, “BLACK LIVES MATTER.”
In this homily I want to stress all lives matter.
As you also know T-shirts and signs have been announcing
for years now - babies, life, in wombs matter.
As you also know all lives matter - women, men, young and old - all people matter.
I still don’t know why people have objected to the Black
Lives Matter movement.
SAVE THE WHALES
It’s been my philosophy through the years to be in favor
of all movements that push the value of animals - from whales to snail darters.
I like it when I see the sign at the end of movies, “No animals were killed in
the making of this movie.”
I’m always hoping
that people will then make the leap - if the snail darter is valuable - so too tiny
babies swimming in the womb. In fact, I
am in favor of pushing the value of all kinds of subjects and objects -
especially when they are connected to human beings and human life.
This would include sensitivity to people’s property - and
the earth’s sidewalks - avoiding dumping and littering and graffiti.
People’s cars and property value. The minds and ears and
hearts and minds of children matter - in our use of language - especially being
aware of their presence - when we’re speaking.
I know I’m a hypocrite in this - because I love
shoot-em-up movies.
Still all lives matter.
Comments about people’s weight, height, wrinkles, color, look, religion, matter.
It’s quite a job to practice this value in our everyday life - with the way we treat waiters and
waitresses - or if one a waiter or waitress - on how they serve others.
Obviously the Black Lives Matter movement wants to
stress, “Enough with the killing of so many black men and women.”
JESUS CHRIST
If there is any message that Jesus is off on, it’s the
value of human beings.
Stop to help them when they are wounded or beaten up
along the way.
Hear the cries of the poor.
Jesus noticed folks nobody else was noticing - children,
the blind, the lame, the deaf, the crippled. He felt the touch of a woman’s
hand who tugged on the tassel of his cloak.
Jesus went crazy with the Pharisees who used people to
make themselves look better.
Jesus was off on people who were off on the Law and not off on the purpose of laws [to protect and benefit people].
This is a central message of Jesus.
The Sabbath was made for us - not vice versa.
If you ever feel in your belly that something is wrong
with the priest or politician or person at the podium - that they seem to be in
this for themselves and not for the others in the room - don’t do a guilt trip
on yourself for judging. That happens. Maybe you’re on
the money.
The preacher can be preaching to get “Wows!” or “Attaboys”
without any thought about how they are helping the listeners.
The big leader in pro-life work could be in it for
enhancing their own life - their own image - their own prestige - and they are
not really thinking of babies at all.
CONCLUSION
Let me close with a story that I heard years ago that
taught me this lesson loud and clear.
I attended a workshop on how to work well with people -
in organizations.
The workshop used the methods of Walt Disney - that his teams use in their
theme parks.
The person teaching us said that it’s the plan that
everyone in Disneyworld or Disneyland knows how to jump into any job in the
place. Obviously that’s a broad
generalization - but the idea was for everyone to be aware of everyone working
on visiting the theme park.
Awareness of people was key. If a customer has a sick
Down Syndrome person - each person on staff will know what to do next.
At the workshop I was on they told about a hospital which
wanted to have that same awareness - for everyone - from the front desk to the
surgeons. Well the volunteers who moved people from the curb into the hospital
in a wheelchair or from the hospital in a wheelchair to a car at the curb when
the patient was leaving, the following exercise took place.
All the volunteers were to split up into two’s.
One person was to sit in a wheelchair and the other person pushed his
partner all around the hospital. Then they switched from pushing to being in
the wheelchair.
Then they met in a big group and discussed the experience.
Well, two people reported that the wheelchair pusher used the person in the
wheelchair to open swinging doors. Just pushing them as if they were a bumper.
Oooh.
I would suspect something like that happens all the time
- people pushing pictures of their grandkids on us - because they want to prove
they are valuable - with no thought of their grandson or granddaughter. Amen.
March 14, 2016
NORMAL?
Who me? Normal? What’s normal?
Breathing, eating, bathroom, sleep
sometimes, some work to do, emptying
the dishwasher - but wondering why
the others don’t do it. After these,
what’s normal? Desire, some fears,
some hopes, some complaints - but
they differ? Abnormal? I’m abnormal
when I have no friends, acquaintances,
no one to ventilate to, no delights, no
favorite food and daily moments, no
wonderings about God. Yep, I think it’s
abnormal to have no wonderings about
God - why what is what and why: why is
why? Me normal? Ask my friends?
