August 29, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“As the global expansion of Indian and Chinese restaurants suggests, xenophobia is directed against foreign people, not foreign cultural imports.” 

Eric Hobsbawm  [1917-2012]

WEIGHTIER  

THINGS  OF  THE  LAW

  

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 21 Tuesday in Ordinary Time - and the Feast of St. Augustine is, “Weightier Things of the Law.”

That’s what Jesus points out in today’s gospel. Then he tells us what  they are: judgment, mercy and fidelity.

Let me present these 3 choices and then give some quotes from Saint Augustine for each. Today is his feast day.

FIRST: THE ART OF JUDGMENT

The first of the 3 is judgment - “KRISIS” in Greek. It’s an art - a skill - to be able to make smart, healthy, life giving  judgments.

It means decision. It refers to crucial moments - junction moments in life. Do I turn right or left - or do I go  backwards or forwards?

We have the power to make judgments - choices. We make judgments with our conscience on laws - to do what is right - to do what is better for me, myself and I and  for all.

So we have the ability to judge what is right in everyday life.

We’re talking here about making judgments to do the right thing for others. That we be fair with each other.

So we need to use our brains to avoid doing the bad thing.

Here is a quote from St. Augustine telling us what we should be doing with our life. “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”

Every day we have threshold moments.  We’re walking towards a door - and there are people moving towards that same door as well. Some people open the door and let others go in first. Then others - it seems - have no awareness of others. They come to a door - walk right into a room  - without any awareness of other people heading for that same door.

The same thing happens in parking lots moving around and then out of the mall or church parking lots or where have you.

Every day we have to make judgments about what to do. We make those judgments based on all kinds of training, experiences, education, upbringing. In Jesus’ time the Jews had well over 600 laws in the books and Rabbi’s talked about which ones had the most weight.

Recall in the scriptures, how many times Jesus was asked about laws and which one were the most important. He said they were two: to love God with our whole mind, soul,  strength and will and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Golden Rule is right in there.

SECOND - DOING MERCY

The second reality or gift or skill we should have in our soul  is mercy. In today’s gospel the word  “ELEOS” in Greek appears.  It’s having compassion and caring about others - especially when they are hurting.

It’s the gift of understanding - forgiving - bending - accepting others - especially in their weaknesses. We need to forgive. We need to be kind to others.

So we’re walking down the road of everyday - and there is someone in need.  What do we do? Do we stop to help the other? Or do we keep moving forward - passing them by?

There are a lot of folks who are hurting - not just the mugged and robbed.

The Good Samaritan story is a billboard - a scream - a hMMMM - to stop and show mercy to the person beaten up by life - not to keep the rule of “I have to get to the gym or church or play bridge.”

I found a telling quote from St. Augustine,  “In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me.” 

To me that could mean we can  discover God in the love others show us when we  are wounded - whether it’s a doctor who gives her or his life - in trying to heal folks - or to drive those who can’t drive any more to the doctor.

Augustine noticed that people were amazed at great spots of nature - but miss the great beauty of themselves and others.

I think of the Grand Canyon. Years ago, like so many people, I got to see the Grand Canyon. It’s a great rift - a great cut in the earth.

I ended up walking it from top to bottom - and up to the top of the other side. It was 27 miles from the North Rim to the South Rim. I did it  in a day - 5 AM till 7 PM.

Question. People are amazed at the Grand Canyon. But do I see the great cuts and canyons in others? Do I see the great carved out holes in other people - and go “Wow!”  When I see their predicaments, do they bring out in me a feeling of wanting to help them? If I stop to be with them, do they say down deep, “Someone knows my holes and hurts.”

Augustine put it this way: “We go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and we pass by others without wondering.”

THIRD: FIDELITY

Fidelity is the last of the 3 matters Jesus describes as weightier matters of the Law. Our gospel text uses the word, “PISTIN” in Greek, for fidelity. It  is ongoing presence, ongoing trust, ongoing conviction that God is with me and I am with God.

So it’s important to make that act of faith that God knows and loves me.

Augustine wrote, “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”

Augustine stressed that we do that for each other. Love the one you’re with.

The call is to be present to the other person as God is present to us.

He said somewhere, “Hear the other side.” I know I’m guilty of not listening to the other person - only the stories they trigger in me.

Augustine said that he was late in loving God. It took him a while. It takes a while to read his Confessions. It can take us a while - quiet, meditation, reflection, to discover we’re too wrapped up in self and we’re missing God and others.

Augustine wrote, “You have created us for Yourself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in You.”

Augustine wrote, “To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.” 

Augustine wrote, “Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?” 

Fidelity - faith - is breaking out of self and into the life of God and others.

CONCLUSION

So there they are 3 weightier matters that matter.

Put them in your basket.

August 28, 2018

TENSION

On a scale of 1 to 10 

how much tension 

do I bring into the rooms 

and conversations I enter? 

That’s the first time 

I ever heard that question? 

How in the world could 

anyone answer that question? 

Don’t know, but ask my 

brother-in-law or sister 

or my neighbor or the 

best man at my wedding. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

August 28, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“When any organizational entity expands beyond 21 members, the real power will be in some smaller body.”

 C. Northcote Parkinson  [1909 - 1993]

FOR  THE  SAKE  OF  TRANSPARENCY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for you teachers for this new high school year - 2018-2019 - is, “For the Sake of Transparency.”

I don’t know when this principle or mantra or slogan became a value - used at meetings and brought up and into relationships.

I don’t know if teachers and school staffs pause before a new school year and look at what they are thinking - hoping - wondering about for this new year a-coming.

We’ve been here before - but some days are different than other days. We  go through some of the same doors each day - but some entrances are different than other entrances.

Not every day is the same.

There is the last day of school in June and the first day of a new school year in September.

What do teachers think about the day - the weeks after - a school year ends.

How was your day is not the only question in life?

How was this school year that just ended?

What will this new year of school  be like?

When I’m watching some of these pre-season football games and a team has a new coach, how does the coach see this team, this new season. If he was on some other team and he was cut, what did he learn from that experience - and how will he see a new year - a new coaching experience?

In other words what were our learnings.  A new year can trigger that question. 

For the sake of transparency what are your thoughts right now.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“For the sake of transparency” is one of my favorite quotes.

Do you have any favorite quotes?

I don’t know what this day for teachers and high school staff will be like - but if you have some small group sessions - share your favorite quote.

If they have any coffee breaks, share your favorite quote.

For the sake of transparency, this is where I’m coming from.

One of my favorite quotes is: “The power is in the coffee break.”

One of my favorite quotes is from Kojak, “Talk to me.”

One of my favorite quotes is from Kojak, “Who loves you, baby?”

One of my favorite quotes is from Kojak, “Do you want a lollipop.”

If you watch NCIS you know that Sloan, the therapist, offers lollipops as well.  “What color do you want?” For her it’s a psychological test.

One of my favorite quotes is, “Be who you is, because if you be who you ain’t, then you ain’t who you is.”

For the sake of transparency,  let me state that again, “Be who you is, because if you be who you ain’t, the you ain’t who you is.”

For the sake of transparency we can also say, “Be where you is, because if you be where you ain’t, then you ain’t where you is.”

I don’t know where you are right. Sometimes it’s hard getting back into the swing of things.  I went to bed too late last night - I was watching the movie, “The Pelican Brief” so I found it difficult getting a homily for this morning.  

One of my favorite quotes is, “The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of the other person.”

That’s true in a school, office, place of work, and classroom, and our families and our groups.

It’s a new school year, for the sake of transparency, a possible resolution could be, “Let’s see each other in a new way.”

Our theme for this new year is all about seeing.

The blind man or woman in the gospel prays, says, “Lord, that I might see.”

For the sake of transparency, it’s hard to see people. Their weight, color, age, language, clothes can block us from seeing and sensing the other.

For the sake of transparency, it’s easy to judge others - and we can’t see through the other to see their mind - heart - and personality.

We haven’t read their autobiography. They haven’t told it to us - so we make them a biography - our reading of the other - and we don’t listen to their audio autobiography of themselves.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel - Matthew 23: 13-22 - has Jesus seeing through the Pharisees - those who want to appear goody goody and the scribes - those who could read and write and thought that made them better to a degree.

For the sake of transparency religious leaders can be hypocrites - actors - trying to change everyone to their way of thinking and being.

For the sake of transparency, Jesus says guides can be blind guides.

For the sake of transparency - Jesus said we can go for the gold - but we get caught up in the glitter - and miss out on what and who are the real gifts in the room are.

Jesus says, “We swear to ourselves, we have it right - when we are all wrong.”

Jesus says, there is a garbage dump - right there in  Jerusalem - and it’s called Gahanna - translation  “hell” - because it stinks of burning garbage and dumped stuff - and that’s where we can be living.

Get out of hell - and be free.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading is from 2^nd Thessalonians - written and sent some time around 50 to 100 AD - the year of the Lord.

It’s more gospellly than today’s gospel - in that it gives more good news.

It has some good stuff for this new year.

This new year be peaceful with each other.

This new year be thankful for each other..

This new year have faith - may it flourish

This new year - check out how you judge - judge with God’s judments.

This year bring about the kingdom of God here at  St. Mary’s.

This year - we’ll have sufferings of different sorts - help each other with them.

This year, have a good purpose.

One of those can be, to be transparent - open - clear with and to each other.

CLOSING

Today is the feast of St. Monica - mother of Augustine - who really got messed up in his head - but he  was smart.

For the sake of transparency, she stuck with him - prayed for him - and then for the sake of transparency - he gave the world his inner stuff - his confessions - so that all of us can be transparent and give our best to the world. Amen.

I  WISH  SO AND SO 

HEARD THIS 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 21^st Monday in Ordinary Time  is, “I Wish So and So Heard This.”

One of the  experiences every preacher has is the following: someone comes up to a preacher or speaker and says, ‘I wish my daughter-in-law heard what you said today.”

THE PREACHER’S REACTION

For starters, it’s a compliment in a way.  Someone heard something and it has a grab of importance for them.

Sometimes the preacher has a second experience.  They say to themselves. I wasn’t preaching to those absent, but to those present. Maybe this person should apply what was said not to others, but to themselves for starters.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel  - Matthew 23: 13-22 - has the first 3 of Matthew’s 7 Woes of Jesus. Scripture scholars like to point out that in Matthew they are a teaching technique. He does the same thing with the 7 Beatitudes in Matthew 5: 3-12.  Sometimes it’s listed as the 8 Beatitudes.

Tomorrow we’ll have 2 more woes and Wednesday we should have the last 2 woes, but we have a feast day on Wednesday,  August 29^th, for John the Baptist - so there is a different gospel for that day.

Question: when we hear these 7 warnings, these 7 blasts, these 7 criticisms, these 7 woes,  of the Pharisees and the Scribes, do we think of others, or do we apply them to others?

If there is anything I learned from the Jesuit Exercises from Saint Ignatius of Loyola, it’s to apply all these readings to self - not others.

I read a Bible text, I put a finger on it, and say, “Now this if for me!”

It’s to see myself in the gospel stories and the scripture texts, not others.

How am I a hypocrite? How am I a Pharisee or a Scribe?

When preachers are preaching and everyone listening is screaming inwardly at the preacher, “Practice what you preach!” it would great if the preacher knew what everyone was thinking about him at that moment.

Ouch!

It’s a good sign - in a way - if the person being corrected - at least said the following, “Do what I say, don’t do what I do?”  If they say that much, they might have half of the problem correct.

The Pharisees and the scribes were always trying to correct others - and they didn’t look into the proverbial mirror - at themselves.

As preacher I know I’m guilty of doing  this at times.

Sometimes after I finish a homily, I go through it and change all the you’s to we’s or I’s.

SPECK OR 2 BY 4

Jesus  knew this and said all this very clearly when he said, “Remove  the 2 by 4’s in your own eye first - instead of spending your energy seeing the tiny specks in your brother’s eye.”

People even did this to Jesus when he challenged him by yelling back at him, “Physician heal yourself.”

People got this message when they dropped their rocks when Jesus said at them, “Those without sin, cast the first stone.”

Jesus told us to stop judging each other.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

In today’s first reading Jesus tells us what to see in the other.

See the good stuff. To live with peace  and in “grace” with each other.

Here in 2 Thessalonians, we are called to be thankful for the others around us.

We’re  called to  have faith - a faith that is growing.

CONCLUSION

I’m not  saying in this homily that we can’t say something to another.

Today we’re celebrating the Feast of St. Monica who challenged her son Augustine to straighten his life out.

She succeeded - her tears and her prayers worked  - and we have the great St. Augustine.

August 27, 2018

JUST FOR A MOMENT

You bad mouthed me 

in public - just a blast 

of words - but I’ll be honest - 

why not - your comments hurt. 

So if you want to talk 

to me in private - just for 

a moment - but I’ll be honest - 

I’ll forgive you - either way. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018