The title of my homily for this 14th Tuesday
in Ordinary Time is, “Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind.”
We’ve heard that saying from today’s first reading. We
get it, or we think we get it, but we don’t really think about it. Words can be
like the car in the other lane - flying by us or we are flying by them. It’s
there. It’s gone.
It’s a saying that shows up here in Hosea 8: 7.
We’ll also hear it again in Proverbs 22: 8 - “the one who sows injustice reaps disaster.”
Then there is Galatians 6:7, “Don’t delude yourself into
thinking God can be cheated: where a man sows, there he reaps: if he sows in
the field of self-indulgence he will get a harvest of corruption out of it; if
he sows in the field of the Spirit he will bet from it a harvest of eternal life.”
Great quotes. I believe each clarifies the saying that
much better.
You reap what you sow.
Spoil your kids, you spoiled your empty nest years.
What goes around, comes around.
Do nothing - expect nothing.
Do dumb things - expect dumb results.
Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
HOSEA
Hosea the prophet reads the riot act to the kings and
princes and tribes of Israel. He tells them, “You’re flirting with danger. When
you pray to silver and gold idols, don’t expect the real God to show up when
you need him.”
Sow the wind, expect the whirlwind.
You’re planting grain that has no ears - so don’t expect
flour.
POLITICS AND
THE PULPIT
Take the example of politicking from the pulpit. Now that’s
a tricky topic.
It’s a fact that the scriptures - especially the prophets
- and then the Books of Kings, Samuel and Chronicles bring in history and
politics and what have you.
The other day I heard someone say that they want us
priests to speak up about the current political drama that’s going on. Yet I also know that if one does, one gets
complaints about politics from the pulpit.
Basically, I let America
Magazine speak up on these issues. There is a chance to write letters to the
Editor or to cancel one’s subscription - if one disagrees with an editorial or
an article and one has time to study it.
I know that I slip at times and let my bias, my
positions, my political perceptions slip out - and every time I pay for it - by
a comment someone makes to or at me on the way out of Mass. When will I ever
learn?
I’ve heard people say: “Don’t make the church pulpit a
bully pulpit - unless people have a chance to speak up.” If they can’t speak up in church when they
disagree with the preacher, they will be speaking up in the parking lot or on
their cell phones or Facebook.
So what’s your take on November coming? I’ve noticed that names come up in every
conversation or coffee break that goes longer than 15 minutes.
STEP BACK AND
WATCH
Perhaps the wisest stance is the stepping back and
watching stance - that is - if one is able to keep calm, cool and recollected.
Statistics scream out that negative campaigning in the
short run gives a candidate more bang for his or her dollar - or rant or rave
or scream or scheme.
However, In the long run, the truth will win out. There
are video tapes. There are ways to check sources. There will be biographies
about each candidate coming out in 10 years.
CONCLUSION: TIME
WILL TELL
In the meanwhile, we’ll keep on hearing the ancient
proverb in various forms: “When they sow the wind, they shall reap the
whirlwind.”
Hot air is hot air. Balloons burst. The air dissipates
and disappears and we discover there is nothing inside. And Dorothy wakes up - at home - in Kansas.
Monday, July 4, 2016
TOUCHING HIS CLOAK
INTRODUCTION
The title for my homily this Fourth of July is, “Touching
His Cloak.”
WHO TOUCHED US? MATTHEW 9: 18
- 26
In today’s
gospel a woman says to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be
healed.”
She does and she is healed.
The young girl whom all thought dead is healed as well.
In this homily I want to touch upon, “Who touched us? Who
healed us? Who helped us? Who got us to where we have gotten?
FOURTH OF JULY
It’s July 4th and today we celebrate a national holiday. We
celebrate the day the Declaration of Independence was signed by some brave
people.
Four were from Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone and
Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Annapolis.
This morning I sat down and read the
Declaration of Independence. It’s only 1,458 words.
As I read it, I was touching history.
I could touch the words. They could touch
me.
And I got in touch with the grievances of
those who decided to revolt.
I read about the British practices and
policies which they declared unfair.
It was like the time I read a whole book, Paddy’s Lament - by Thomas Gallagher. It got me in touch with world history. It got
me in touch with why the Irish rebelled against the British in the Easter
Uprising and gained their freedom - for most of their counties. That book gave
me an understanding that I didn’t have before. It got me in touch with the
horror of unjustice and genocide.
When I read the declaration of Independence
today, I got me in touch with a gripe the colonists had with the British that
comes up at various times in our history. It is the attempt to stop immigration
to this country.
For example, it states that the King, “has endeavoured
to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the
Laws for Naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage
their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of
Lands.”
Those who have that gripe today - need to
read the Declaration of Independence. They need to go to Liberty Island and
read Emma Lazarus’ poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty. They need to go
to Ellis Island and ponder the photographs and the stories of how the United
States became the United States - because of immigration.
For the sake of transparency, my parents
were immigrants and they spoke another language, besides English.
I didn’t like the Declaration of Independence’s take on our native Americans, but other
than that, I was in on their take on grievances against the British.
Reading, meeting, experiencing life - we
get in touch what we like and dislike, what we sense is right and what is
wrong.
It’s good for our psyche and our soul to
have historic days like today - to keep us in touch with who we are and where
we come from.
LOU GEHRIG
I noticed on line today - that on July 4th,
1939, Lou Gehrig gave perhaps the
greatest sports speech yet. It was labeled the Gettysburg Address of Sports. It
was only 453 words long. They don't have the whole speech on line, but they do have the most memorable line, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the planet."
Lou Gehrig is also first generation
American - his parents Henrich and Christina Gehrig were immigrants from
Germany.
The comment about his short speech,
comparing it, to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. got me to go and read that as well. Like Lou
Gehrig’s speech it too is quite short: 278 words - compared to Lou Gehrig’s
speech which was 453 words long.
I knew that speech was somehow connected to
July 4th - only to discover it was given that November 19, 1863 -
but the Battle of Gettysburg was from July 1, 2, 3, 1863.
I began thinking about how important short
speeches are. They touch us a lot more than long, long speeches. That’s a
message for me to hear. I remember hearing the Everett who gave the main
memorial speech that day at Gettysburg, spoke 2 hours and his speech was 13,607
words.
TOUCHED
In this sermon or homily on the Fourth of
July I’m wondering - because of gospel I read - about who touched us.
Obviously, being an American makes us proud - and thankful - for all those who
built our country - all those who served our country - all those who still
guide and guard our country.
What touches us?
What leaders touch us?
It’s easy to be negative and find public figures who keep
the talk shows going. Who are the positive leaders? I’ve met folks who talk
about civic leaders who impressed them.
At 18 - this was in the late 1950’s - I was in Washington D.C. and they had the
U. S. Senate hearings on labor racketeering and my brother Billy brought me to
see the action. Up front were Bobby and John Kennedy and I remember when they
were leaving the room, I reached out and touched Bobby Kennedy’s sleeve. And
when he was killed, it did a number on me.
What life experiences have touched us?
What words of Jesus touch us?
What touching Jesus moments in Holy
Communion have changed our lives?
What did our parents, others, who were
they, who touched us and changed our lives?
Who touches us the wrong way.
Do we have the loving touch of Jesus?
Do people who touch our lives discover
healing.
CONCLUSION
I stood at the
Lincoln Memorial in D.C. and also the Vietnam wall and I was touched. I’ve
heard the Lou Gehrig line about being the luckiest person in the whole world -
and was deeply touched.
Great people
touch our lives.
Is there anyone
who met us and they were touched for the better - because of our words and
because of our goodness? NOTES: Picture on top - Woman touching the cloak of Jesus - found in the catacombs of Marcelinus and Peter, Rome.
July 4th, 2016
DEPENDENCE DAY
Happy Dependence Day!
It’s a great day when we realize
we depend upon one another.
We needed a mom and dad
for a ticket to ride…. this great
planet we’re going around and
around on - over and over again.
Happy Dependence Day!
It’s a great day when we realize
we depend upon all those who
have gone before us - all those
inventors, all those immigrants,
all those imaginators - and all
those who made us who we are.
Happy Dependence Day!
It’s a great day when we realize
we have a great model here in the
United States - stress on united -
in hopes that by some July 4th in
the future, we’ll have a real
United Nations, a real United World.
Happy Dependence Day! Okay, you want me to say, "Happy Interdependence Day!" Not yet, sorry!
