THE PAUSE THAT
CAN MAKE US A SAINT
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “The Pause That Can Make Us a
Saint.”
TO BE HUMAN
To be human - means we pause.
To be smart - means we take time out - when needed.
It’s wise to say, “Give me some time.”
It’s wise to say, “Wait a minute. Let me think about
this.”
It’s wise to say, “Wait a minute. Wait a moment. Wait.
Let me think about all this.”
That’s what I did - so as to prepare this homily - this
sermon - these comments.
I paused and thought about what might be helpful for
today.
A retreat day is a pause.
The junior retreat which is coming up - is a pause.
The Kairos Retreats are a pause.
PAUSE WORKS -
OR CAN WORK
Years ago - when a kid was being bad - parents might
spank them.
They figured the kid was being dumb - but he or she would
/could feel hurt - on their back side - and maybe then they would think before
they act.
Someone else said, “Wait a minute. Pause. Think about
it. Wouldn’t it be better if the kid was
punished by being asked to sit in the corner - or ‘Go to his or her room’. Maybe then they would pause and think about
what they did to others - or that they lied - or were not being cooperative.”
Someone else said, “That didn’t work for my kids - but a
good spanking did work.” Others said,
“That never worked for me nor for my kids - but the silent treatment often worked.
What works for you?
Pause and think about your life.
PAUSING -
TAKING TIME OUTS IS A SKILL
Taking time outs is a skill.
In sports you only have so many time outs - and if you
challenge a call - and they look at the video tape - sometimes the coach who
screamed - ends up losing a time out.
A pause - a time out
- a thinking about it - can help.
PRIEST IN ERIE
PENNYSYLVANIA
A significant moment in life happened one Sunday morning
in Erie, Pennsylvania. I was preaching at all the Masses for a weekend - about
attending a week long parish mission in that parish.
Evidently the pastor forgot to tell a “helping out”
priest for the 9 AM Sunday morning Mass that I was going to be preaching. He came into the sacristy about 8:40 AM and
asked who I was. I said, “Oh I preaching
at the 9 AM Mass about attending the upcoming parish mission.”
His face tightened up and he turned and walked out.
I immediately said to myself, “Uh oh. I guess the pastor
didn’t tell him that I was preaching this weekend.”
He came back at 5 to 9 and told me, “Sorry. I didn’t know
that you were preaching.” Then he added,
“I have a short fuse, so I learned to walk away when I am about to explode. So
I just walked around the block two times.”
After Mass he told me that he had been in Atlanta the
night before and didn’t get back till 10 PM - did a little work on a
homily and then got up that morning at 6
AM to finish his homily. If I knew you were preaching I would have gotten a lot
more sleep.”
I said, “Ooops. Sorry.”
Well, his homily to me was, “Instead of losing it, walk
away from explosive mistakes and catch one’s breath.”
Translation: “Pause!”
SAINTS
Ginny asked me to talk a little bit to you about saints.
So let me talk about the power of pause in the lives of a
few saints.
The priests in this parish are Redemptorists.
Our founder, Saint Alphonsus de Liguori was a lawyer.
Once he lost a big law case and he went into the pits.
We were taught that he missed a key thing in his study in a law suit about
land. Later on we heard a theory that the other side bribed someone and got the
case settled in their favor. This is what killed Alphonsus.
So his life went into pause mode. He went into his room
and cried a few days. Depression sunk in.
In that devastation, he decides to become a priest.
He becomes a priest, works his butt off, becomes sick, so
to recover his friends suggest he take a vacation down on the Amalfi Coast. He
does and while there, someone tells him there are goat herders up in the hills
above Amalfi - that no priests seem to care about and what have you.
He checks out the story and discovers folks up in the
hills who could use a priest much more
than folks in Naples.
That pause at Amalfi changes his life. In 1732 he forms a
group of priests and brothers who are to go to places where there are no
priests.
That’s how we got to Annapolis. There were no priests
here before 1853. Jesuits would come up at times and say Mass at the Charles
Carroll property.
The second saint would be a guy named Saint Clement
Hofbauer. He paused and looked at the need for priests in Vienna Austria in the
1780’s - who were not in control of the state. He paused and looked at his
life. He went down to Italy and he and a buddy, Thaddeus Hubl, said they would go to the first church whose
bells they heard on a Sunday morning. They went to a Redemptorist Monastery and
the rest is history.
They were ordained in 1785 and went back to Vienna - but
couldn’t get through the red tape to be priests in Vienna - and under control
of Emperor Joseph, so they went to Warsaw and started our community up
there. They grew and grew but were
booted out of Poland.
So Clement went back to Vienna and started us up there -
and we steadily grew - but with a lot of struggle. Clement died in Vienna on
March 15, 1820.
In time the bishop of Cincinnati wrote to Vienna and
asked if some of our priests could come and help the Germans there. There was a
shortage of priests.
Sure enough in 1832 six Redemptorists came to the United
States and the rest is history.
The next saint would be Saint John Neumann who came to the United States to
become a diocesan priest in New York. He was ordained on June 25, 1836 and was sent
way up to churches near Buffalo New York.
He worked hard - but he paused. He realized he wanted
companionship and community - so he
joined the Redemptorists and was professed on January 16, 1842.
Next would be an almost Saint, a priest name Blessed
Peter Donders. He wanted to come to the United States as a missionary - but
that didn’t work at first - but someone told him about Surinam in South
America. He paused and thought about it - and that’s where he was sent -
arriving in Paramaribo on September 16, 1842.
Then someone in Rome said, “Let’s let the Redemptorists
do the whole place, so Peter Donders would have to go back to Holland.
He was working hard with people who had leprosy, with
Native people besides Parish work. So he
became a Redemptorist in 1867.
PAUSE
All these men had to pause to look at life and people in
need.
If you want to be a saint, I’m suggesting in this homily
to pause and look around you.
From time to time, pause to look at mom’s face or dad’s
face or a teacher’s face and watch how they are doing. Then approach them from
time to time and ask them how they are doing. Ask them can you help them with
their work.
From time to time pause to look at how other kids in the
bus or car or van are doing. Learn faces. Ask folks how they are doing.
From time to time, if you have great chocolate chip cookies or what have you
and dare to share with them.
I think about my dad. He was the quietest person I ever
met.
As I look about on my life, that’s a regret that I didn’t
talk to my dad enough. But as I look back I realize he said a lot without
words.
Every Sunday he took us to the park. He did that to give
my mom a break from us four kids.
I noticed that we complained.
But I noticed that my brother did the same with his 7
daughters. He would take them to DC on Sunday morning to give his wife, Joanne,
a break. And they complained. And I noticed they have done the same with their
kids.
Pause. Giving oneself or others is a wonderful break to
give people.
Pause. Stopping to look at one’s life is a smart move.
Pause. Looking around when you pause is a smart move.
CONCLUSION
I have a theory that God is the great pause.
He created this great big world of ours and now he’s
pausing to see how and what we’re doing with his gifts. Amen.
