INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 6th Sunday in
Ordinary Time [C] is, “Get It Right.”
The gospel readings for these early Sundays in Ordinary
Time - this year we’re listening to Matthew - are from the Sermon on the Mount. That’s found in Chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew.
In preparing this homily, I noticed that one commentator
said: the main theme of the Sermon on the Mount is righteousness.
Can I translate that to: “Get It Right.”
I don’t know if I can, but I decided to do just that for
this homily.
It gets me thinking about that comment we hear from time
to time: “Get It Right.”
How many times have we heard parents, teachers, coaches -
even our inner monitor say: “Get it right.”
MOTIVE
It that a key life motive: to get it right?
Ever since I was in my late teens, one of my life
questions has been motive.
Another does something. Another says something. I notice their behavior. I hear their comment. I think about what was
said or what happened and my mind says, “Motive!”
That’s been a lifetime question for me.
How about you?
What are your lifetime questions?
Motive.
So I’m asking, Is getting it right a lifetime motive?
That’s my beginning question in this homily - but I hope at the
end to get beyond that.
Does every one of us want to get it right?
Does every one of us want to look like we know what we
are doing? Does every one of us not want to look or to appear stupid or dumb?
Is that right?
I don’t know. I want to think about this. And I know I
learn the most by working on a sermon or a homily - with a question that hits
me.
I want to get it right.
I don’t want to look dumb - or unprepared.
So maybe that is a lifetime motive. Maybe that’s one of life’s top 5 motives.
I don’t know, but I want to think about this.
TODAY’S
READINGS
Today’s first reading from the wisdom in the Book of
Sirach says we have the power of choice. Choose the commandments - and you’ll
be choosing wisely. Choose life not death. Choose good not evil. Choose water
not fire.
Choose water not fire. I don’t get that one, but I’m
assuming he’s saying, “Keep cool! Don’t get burnt. I think that’s what that Sirach means - but
I’m not sure. Is covering one’s a or b a subdivision of getting it right?
Today’s second reading from Paul’s First letter to the
Corinthians tells us to choose God’s Wisdom not the surface wisdom of our age.
Paul is telling us to go deeper. Go underneath.
Find the hidden, mysterious, revelations from God - the stuff eye has
not seen, ear has not heard, heart is not aware of, the stuff God has prepared
for those who love him.
Is that Paul’s way of saying, “Get it right?
Today’s gospel reading tells us some really inner wisdom
- that gets below the law, underneath even the smallest part of the law. The
law says not to kill or get angry, not to yell nasty names at our brothers or
sisters, not to commit adultery or to lust - but to face motives - inner
motives. On the surface, a marriage or a
relationship or a family, can look great, but shake the deepest stuff out on
the table with each other and we’ll begin to see there is a lot more work to be
done - to have not just a right marriage or family - but it a great family.
So it takes work to get things not just right - but
better.
So when someone is setting the table, we wonder on what
side to put the second fork - or the smaller fork - or glass or napkin. We
might actually say, “Is this right?”
Is Jesus saying, “Good.
But isn’t the purpose of eating - having a meal - having a supper - having a family Mass together - celebration, relationships, love, serving,
laughing, listening, talking to each other?
Is that right?
I go crazy as priest when people say you said a word
wrong or different - or you added something or forgot something - in the Mass -
this meal of Jesus - this last supper - this eternal banquet. The rubrics are
there to guide us - but am I right to accidently change something on the spur
of the spirit or the moment - like eating the meal with the small fork and the
pie with the big fork - or the potatoes with the soup spoon?
Am I right to think that way? Is the other wrong to think
I’m wrong?
Of course they are right.
I LOVE THE
RABBI STORY
Once upon a time there was a rabbi who was known to be
the best marriage counselor for 200 miles around.
His wife couldn’t understand this. She lived with him.
But whenever she went to market, dozens of women would
say to her, “You are the luckiest woman in the world - married to such a wise
rabbi. He really helped our marriage.”
One day, while in the meat market, a lady said to her. “My husband and I are
having marriage problems so we’re going to see your husband, the rabbi,
tomorrow afternoon at 1, so say a prayer for us.”
The next morning, the rabbi’s wife said, “I’m going
shopping tomorrow afternoon after lunch.”
He nonchalantly said - without thinking, “Yeah, good,
okay.”
She spots a couple coming up the front walkway and she
says to her husband, “I’m going out the back door.”
When he goes to the front door - she, instead of going
out the back door, slips into his study and hides behind the drapes.
The couple come in. The rabbi greets them. The rabbi
says, “Who wants to go first.”
The wife says, “Honey you go first.”
He goes into the rabbi’s study. He tells the rabbi
everything. The rabbi listens and says, “You’re right. But do me a favor. Don’t
tell her.”
The man says, “I knew it. Thank you.”
The rabbi then invites the wife into the study.
He listens to her carefully. At the end he says, “You’re right. But do me a
favor. Don’t tell him.”
She says, “I knew it.”
They both leave by the front door - walking down the path
holding hands - with a great smile on both their faces.
He closes the front door and there she is, his wife.
She says, “You hypocrite. I was hiding in your study and
you told the husband he was right and then you told his wife, she was right.
How could both of them be right.”
The rabbi paused and said with a great smile on his face,
“You’re right, but don’t tell anybody my secret.”
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is, “Get It Right?”
Is that the secret of life?
Or is it deeper?
Is it, “Do it better?”
Is it, “Are you missing anyone?”
Is it, “Are you loving enough?”
Is it, “The ability to say, ‘I don’t know. I might be
wrong. But don’t tell anyone?”
General Omar Bradley once said, “We have
grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the sermon on the mount.”
Is that right?
He also said, “I am convinced that the best
service a retired general can perform is to turn in his tongue along with his
suit and to mothball his opinions.”
Is that right?
Smile: should old priests follow that last bit of advice
- mothballing opinions that might not be in the gospel?
