The title of my homily for this 30th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Groaning Pains and Growing Pains.”
I’m taking that title and that idea from today’s first
reading from Romans - when Paul says, “We know that all creation is groaning in
labor pains even until now; and not only
that, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we also groan
within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”
GROWTH IS
PAINFUL - IT MAKES US GROAN
Last week we were up in New Jersey for a big meeting. We
had the main speakers giving us the state of where we are speeches - what we
need to face - changes that we have to make - where we’ve been and where we’re
headed. We are aging and getting few new guys - unlike our provinces in South
America, Africa and Asia.
Some stuff in life is tough to hear - and hard to face.
As I’ve heard from the aged population of this parish,
getting old can be tough - and bring about whining and groaning.
As Bernie Bernsten used to say, “Old age is not for sissies.”
Last week - and in many big meetings in the past, I
discovered that I learn the most in one to one conversations.
For example, one evening - after a big meeting was over -
I was having a casual conversation with a classmate. He was telling me about
what happened to him in our high school minor seminary. They had them back
then.
He said there were 3 years in his life - when he was 15,
16, and 17, that his legs were killing him - all the time. He had been a really
short kid - but during those 3 years he stretched - he grew - till he was 6
foot 2. There was nobody there to tell
him about growing pains. This was the
first time I ever thought about physical growing pains. I don’t remember ever going through that kind
of pain - or if I did, I didn’t know what was happening.
That conversation was last Wednesday and I’ve been
thinking about it ever since.
It’s an obvious theme:
no pain no gain.
All growth comes with suffering and stretch.
Hunger teaches more than a full belly.
I went to a minor seminary for high school, so I never
had the dating experience. Teenagers must learn a lot of stuff - or they can learn a lot
of stuff - from rejections, break ups, being dumped. I didn’t have that
experience.
But we had the experience of making or not making the
team or the play or the choir or what have you.
We had the experience of friends dropping out of the seminary and not
deciding the life we were hoping for.
The priesthood is an automatic job. Get ordained and you’ll
have work to do. So I never had the experience of job searching, interviews, or not making a job. However, come to think about it, my dream was Brazil
and I never got that assignment.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel talks about A mustard seed - being planted
- and like all seed, it has to be broken, stretched, and struggle through hard
dirt and earth.
Today’s gospel talks about bread making. The flour and
the yeast has to be mixed and mushed, crushed and kneaded together, then baked
and burned to become bread.
Life - so too us.
Learning is tough work.
Experience can be the best teacher - that is, if one
learns from their experiences.
Difficult experiences - we probably should say - are the
best teachers.
Learning in classrooms can be great experiences -
especially if we get tough teachers. Then there is the struggle with books and
study, listening and homework, mistakes and learning from our mistakes.
We can learn from comparisons - comparing one teacher
with another teacher - comparing one classmate with another classmate.
We can learn a lot from the classroom called others -
experiencing acceptances and rejections - experiencing that others think, see,
do, want differently than us.
I learn more from a sermon that flops in my opinion -
than one that is soft and sweet.
I like to write - and I’ve had more rejection slips than
acceptance letters.
Writing is the hard work of rewriting - improving the
text - learning from rejections.
CONCLUSION
So that’s my homily thought. Growth comes with groaning.
Come to think about it, didn’t Jesus say all this much better than what I just
said in John 16:21, “A woman in childbirth suffers, because her time has come;
but when she has given birth to her child she forgets the suffering in her joy
that a child has been born into the world.”
The title of my homily for this 30th Monday in Ordinary Time is, "On Carrying Baggage."
What are we carrying when we come to church or come to anywhere?
What does our baggage weigh? What does our baggage look like?
TODAY’S GOSPEL
In today’s gospel, here is a woman who is carrying a spirit
for 18 years and it’s wearing her down. It drains her strength. She can’t stand
tall. It's bending her in half.
Jesus sees her when he's in a synagogue teaching on a sabbath. Jesus calls her and puts his hand on her and heals her. She stands tall and
thanks God.
Can we see ourselves as this woman?
What are we carrying? Is there anything we’re carrying
that’s wearing us down? Is there anything we need to dump? Is there anything we need to let go of? Is there any stuff we’re carrying 18 days, 18 months,
18 years?
Coming to church is a good time to assess what we’re
carrying and to weigh it all. Is there anything we need to dump? Let it go.
GREEN MONSTER
A bunch of years back, I went to Ireland and France with my two sisters and my
brother-in-law. Well, my sister Peggy had this large green luggage bad. It was like a big green golf bag. In it, she
had 10 pairs of shoes, 10 slacks, 10 this and 10 then. It was heavy -- very
heavy -- and guess who had to carry it? The men. Well, we dubbed it “The Green Monster.”
CLAIRE LAMAROUX
A bunch of years ago I heard a talk by a Claire Lamoroux. She
said that everyone arrives everywhere with their baggage. Some have 10 or 20 suitcases; some travel much lighter.
I'm asking over and over again in this homilyl, How much are we carrying on our journey through life?
MAN WITH THE
BAGGAGE
I once saw on television a Sunday morning rendition of the Sermon on the
Mount. When it came to the part about “Enter by the narrow door” they showed a
scene where a man is walking down the street with a back pack and a suitcase in
each hand and another bag around his waist.
He stops at a door. The doorway was narrow. The door was only slightly open. He
couldn’t fit in with all his stuff. He didn't place it on the ground. He shrugged his shoulders, came out of
the doorway and continued walking down the street - bags in hand.
Then a small boy ran down the street and ran right into that house through the narrow doorway.
In the background, you could hear, “Enter by the narrow
way.”
CONCLUSION
Coming to church is a good time to see what baggage I'm carrying - and what I need to let go of.
18 YEARS:
A MEDITATION
[Read theGospel story for today's Mass: Luke 13: 10-17]
This is a simple meditation that I wrote this morning - instead of
a homily for this 30th Monday in Ordinary Time.
Begin by breathing. Become aware of your breathing.
Breathe in through your nose. Hold it. Then breathe out through your
lips. Hold the emptiness - all the way down to your tight
tummy. Breathe in. Hold your breath - tight
chest. Breathe out. Hold the emptiness.
Next: close your eyes. [Pause]
Become silent. [Pause]
Hear the silence. [Pause]
Eyes still closed…. [Pause]
Sitting there - be aware of your back and your
bones. [Pause]
Straighten up - feel your butt on the bench - and your back up
straight - up against the back of your bench. [Pause]
Keep breathing in [hold it] - breathing out.[Pause]
Eyes still closed - picture Jesus standing behind you - putting
his hands on your shoulders. Relax.[Pause]
Next hear Jesus asking you: “What are you holding on to … what’s
weighing you down …. Is there something on your back - in your being -
something that happened to you - something you did or said - 18 months or 18
years ago - or a long time ago?”[Pause]
Then hear Jesus says to you, “Let me take this sin,
this situation, this experience, this memory, this other person -
off your back - and don’t let it weigh you down - keep you down
- hold you down - any longer.” [Pause]
“Let me be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of your world.
Amen.”
October 30, 2017
TODAY
Stop. Be. Sit and see. Sit and listen. Sit and taste the morning of a new day. Tell God, "Thanks for another day." Sip some tea or coffee. Hear God say, "All is good."
The title of my homily for this 30th Sunday in
Ordinary Time [A] is, “Catholic?
Noun or Adjective?
This sermon or homily might be confusing or a head scratcher. You might
find yourself thinking once or twice or more, “What the heck is he talking
about?”
My hope is you’ll do some thinking about what it means to
be catholic (adjective) or a Catholic (noun).
I get this question from today’s readings. But before I get to them, I want to add that I also got this question from C.S. Lewis’s
book, Mere Christianity.
But he applies it to the word, “Christian.” He asks, “Christian: noun or adjective?”
He prefers Christian to be a noun - and one is a
Christian if one is baptized.
C. S. Lewis then says we often use the word “Christian” as an adjective. For example, we say things like, “I wasn’t
being very Christian the other day - on the way I treated a person at work.”
C.S. Lewis would
prefer Christian to be used as a noun. Then if we are going to make a judgment
on a Christian, then we use adjectives like “good… bad … practicing … fallen away…” with the
noun “Christian”.
Next, in this homily I’m thinking of the word, “Catholic” - mainly as a noun. My main hope is
that we be good Catholics.
Yet we’ve all heard catholic used as an adjective. We’ve all heard people
describe themselves as a, “Catholic Christian.”
I would hope that
if people use catholic as an adjective - they would also use it as a noun and ask
themselves, “Am I a catholic Catholic?”
CATHOLIC
We all know the roots of the word, “catholic”.
Knowing that we can grasp “catholic” as an adjective as
well as a noun.
“Kata” is a Greek prefix
which means “with”. “Holos” is the Greek word for “whole”.
So a Catholic means being one with the whole world -
being one with all people - being open to all people - thinking universal - thinking global - and if we do that - if we
respect all people - then we’re living up to our name.
Tough task. Tough going.
Difficult to do.
Understanding - labeling oneself as a Catholic is what
I’m saying here. Then add the descriptive adjectives as in, “Fallen away
Catholic.” Or “practicing Catholic.” Then
we say things like, “I am a Roman
Catholic.” Or - when checking into a hospital, we state to the question of
religion: “Catholic.”
I am a Catholic - in case of an accident - please call a
priest.
ST. MARY’S
RECTORY
Last week we priests here at St. Mary’s went up to our
retreat house in New Jersey for a convocation for our Redemptorist Baltimore
Province.
We Redemptorists are growing in South America - Africa -
and Asia - and declining in Europe and the United States and Canada.
Last week I looked around and saw a great cast of
characters. I looked around and I saw a
lot of different shades of brown. I looked around and I saw a lot of people of various ages and
shapes - hair and no hair. I listened to
people with different accents - and different theologies and philosophies and
ways of doing and seeing life.
Take the Redemptorists here at St. Mary’s - here in our
rectory on Duke of Gloucester Street - whom you experience if you come here for
Mass in this parish on a regular basis.
We have Father William Guri from Zimbabwe in Africa. He’s
part time - because he’s going to school to get his doctorate in pastoral
counseling at Loyola of Baltimore.
We now have Father Luyen Dau who came to America from
Vietnam when he was around 17.
When I eat with them I hate to say, “What did you say?”
when I don’t get what they are saying - with their accents.
We now have Father Ronald Bonneau from Vermont. He’s one
of the many French Canadian background folks in New England - people who came
down from Quebec for work, when work was scarce up there. He was working in
Toronto the last few years in our Novitiate. He spent a good bit of his life as
priest in Paraguay.
We have Father Micky Martinez from Paraguay who does most
of the Latino work here - but does some English Masses and a day of Duty. His
first language is Guarani Indian in Paraguay. Spanish is his second language -
but he also speaks English and Italian and maybe more languages.
Father David Verghese is of India Indian background. His parents
are doctors from India. They settled down in South County, Maryland. Most
Indian Catholics are in the Kerala area of India.
There’s more. We have Father Olive who is in residence.
He’s of French and St. Thomas, Virgin
Island background.
Father Pat Flynn is still on our roster - but time will
tell if he gets back - with his health problems. He’s from South Africa - with
Lebanese and Irish roots.
Father Tizio is from Brooklyn with Italian background -
his dad coming from Sicily.
Father Eric Hoog is of Hungarian background and
Philadelphia background. He has worked in the Islands of the Caribbean - as
well as a Naval chaplain all over the world.
Father Joseph Krastel is from Baltimore and is of German
Background. He has worked up here the United States and down in the Caribbean.
Father Charlie Hergenroeder is of German ancestry and is
from Baltimore. He has worked in Brazil and up here in the States.
And I’m from Brooklyn, but my mom and dad are from Galway
- on the water - Ireland - and they spoke Gaelic - but didn’t teach it to us.
I mention all these names and a tiny bit about who these
men are - because it’s so varied - as in an group of people.
I consider it a blessing that I have been stationed with
and met so many Redemptorists of lots of different backgrounds. It’s an
education living and working with people of such diverse background. That’s the
heart of my talk today.
I think it has made me more catholic - adjective.
Driving up to New Jersey for that big time meeting we had last week, Father Joe Krastel and I stopped at the rest
stop on 95 just before the Delaware Memorial Bridge. I said to Joe, “If anyone
wants to see how America is, just grab a seat at this rest stop and look
around: Chinese, Latino, Gringo, and a lot more people of all kinds of
backgrounds: Muslim, Red Neck, folks in
wheel chairs - young, old, trucks,
buses, Lexus and Smart Cars.
MAJOR QUESTIONS
How have you been challenged - changed - by the different
people you have met and interacted in your life?
Do we have a narrow or a broad view of who we are
interested in, comfortable with, talk with on a regular basis?
Are we xenophobic - that is scared of people from
elsewhere?
We are citizens of a specific country; are we in favor of our country broadening
itself - taking in a lot of different people from different cultures?
How do we see the Catholic Church [Catholic being used as
an adjective there]?
TODAY’S
READINGS
Now we can revisit today’s readings.
Today’s first reading from Exodus begins with this
message: “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves
in the land of Egypt.
It challenges us to be respectful, decent, hospitable,
towards people we interact with.
Are we?
How many times have we thought and talked about the
immigrant, the alien, the different from us?
What was the tone and themes of those conversations.
Just read the Letters to the Editor in any United States’
newspaper.
If a priest says what Pope Francis says about caring for
refugees, immigrants, illegal aliens, when he voices comments about walling out
people, I guarantee he’ll be blasted as
being political - using the “bully pulpit” and he get turned into the bishop.
In today’s second reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians - perhaps the
earliest New Testament document - we hear how the Early Church - was made up of
folks from many different places - for example, Macedonia, Achaia. We heard Paul saying that we have to learn
how to imitate him. In another letter he says that he’s imitating Christ. [Cf.
1 Corinthians 11:1.]
Read all the letters of Paul - as well as the Acts of the
Apostles - as we hear about how people couldn’t tolerate each other - struggled
with different cultures - and manners.
In today’s gospel we have the moment someone asked Jesus
point blank, “Which is the most important commandment?”
This scene appears in 3 gospels, but each time it’s a
different person who asks Jesus that question.
In today’s gospel (Matthew), it’s a Pharisee, a scholar, who asks Jesus the
question. In Mark it’s a scribe - those
who could write. In Luke it’s a lawyer.
The Gospels mention all kinds of groups in Palestine in
the time of Jesus: Pharisees, Sadducees, Levites, Scribes, Lawyers, Gerasenes,
Romans, Publicans, the Sanhedrin, the Canaanites, etc., etc., etc.
Notice that we all sub-group. We all join our groups for comfort and
protection and security - and the need to be a member of some group.
And sub-groups use all kinds of tricks to wall people in
and out.
And way before the Wall Pusher wants walls on our
borders, St. Paul talked about walls being broken [Cf. Ephesians 2:14], and the
gospels talk about Jesus coming through walls [Cf. John 20:19-21]. And the Book
of Joshua - Chapter 6 - talked about the walls of Jericho come tumbling down.
And our own Robert Frost in his poem Mending Wall - gave us a poem that folks don’t realize sums up both
sides of the wall building controversy, He begins, “Something there is that
doesn’t love a wall.” Then again his
neighbor says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Jesus simply says, “The greatest commandment is to love
the lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment and the second is like it, “You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
CONCLUSION
So a Catholic is one who tries to love God and all people
- all over the globe - all over the world - and if we do, then we’re telling
each other - we’re all into this in Christ Jesus - probably a dark skinned Jew
from Palestine.
And some people didn’t like his message - especially his
own people who crucified him for thinking big picture - round global thinking
like a big piece of bread - white or brown bread?
October 29, 2017
PIANO
The black grand piano sat there closed.
It hadn’t made music for a good 7 years.
Dusted? Yes. Played? No. Then mom died.
The black grand piano stayed - closed.
Dad died 7 years ago. Before he died,
mom only played pieces he loved.
He was her favorite audience of one.
He would close his eyes - and just listen.
The piano was sold - bought - tuned.... The new
owner sat down on the piano stool - ready to
play “Moonlight Sonata” on a summer’s eve.
It was her childhood go to special piece.
She closed her eyes and all she could feel
was death - death and silent music. The black
and white keys were silent and still in mourning.
She prayed a prayer like a prayer before meals.
She began playing. People on the street - a new
audience - stopped when they heard the music.
They were hearing resurrection and religion and sonatas coming
out the open third story window.
