THE PRESENCE OF PEOPLE,
IN PEOPLE, PLACES
AND IN STUFF
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “The Presence of People, in People, Places and In Stuff.”
Rings and things …. Places and spaces….
COMMON EXPERIENCE
I was wondering if you have had the following experience.
You’re in some place - any place - and you sense the presence of people - from
the past - being in this spot - where you’re in right now - in this present
moment.
When I see chairs, sometimes - I get the thought, “I
wonder how many people have sat in this chair….”
Like, sometimes, we see a bunch of little kids pushing
and trying to all together squeeze together into one big Lazy Boy lounge chair.
Like sometimes I sit in a church bench or pew - [I prefer
the word bench to pew] - and think about all the people who have sat in this
spot and I unite myself to their prayers in this spot right now. That’s a nice prayer - that’s a nice way to
have or receive communion - with the body of Christ.
Like sometimes we’re in our house and there is the chair
our mom or dad from long ago - and long dead - used to sit - and their presence
crowds that chair - in this present
moment.
Like - there are roads - especially in Pennsylvania -
when I’m driving - and I see a long low
lying mountain up ahead of me and I picture Civil War soldiers heading to Gettysburg
or somewhere - and I wonder what it was like that day - heading towards battle
and possibly death - and tough climbing up that hill ahead to get there.
Like I see carvings in trees or initials in sidewalks
where teenagers from long ago are
telling the world in a carved tree or in fresh cement - that J.L loves
M.T. We go to Malvern for the high
school retreats and I open up a drawer in a small dresser in the room I’m
assigned and there in pencil on the wood I read a message: “Jane, St. Elizabeth’s,
February, 1997.”
Kilroy was here.
I can’t count how many people have come up to me at St.
Mary’s - and pointing towards the front of the church - they say: “We were married
here 25 years ago this year.”
Where have you been? Where do you feel present again from
way back?
In every restaurant, who has sat where we’re sitting? Who
has used the silverware, the menu, the plates we’re using.
In 1984 - I went to a small restaurant in Rome with
Father John Ruef. The owner came over
and said to me: “You’re sitting in the seat that Pope John Paul II used to love
to sit in when he came here to eat when he was Cardinal Karol Wojtyla.”
During this Mass close your eyes and be in the presence
of all who celebrated Mass and sat in the bench you’re in right now.
When I drive by Parole I think of all the Civil War
Prisoners who were on Parole there.
History, ambiance, memories, are everywhere.
Someone on TV said the other evening that people live in
12 different houses in their lifetime?
Have you ever gone back to the street of your childhood and felt the
presence of so many people from 12 or 25 or 50 or more years ago.
Look at your hand and pray for peace for all those whose
hand you have shook. You can do this with lips and hugs, etc.
You hear a song - and it was your love song at 22!
TV commercials - songs - movies - move us - to remember,
to tear, to get in touch with.
CONCLUSION: TODAY’S
GOSPEL
Today’s gospel gave me this theme for this homily.
I was in Israel once - in January of 2000.
That first night we got our hotel rooms in Capernaum on
the Lake of Galilee. We didn’t unpack.
We walked out of the Palestinian Hotel we were in and walked about 2
blocks to the water. I stood there at the water’s edge and could feel the
presence of Jesus in that spot. Looking out on the lake, I said to myself,
“Jesus was here.”
And I felt his presence in so many places on that trip to
Israel: in Nazareth, Jericho, Nazareth, on the mountain, at the place of the
beatitudes, in Jerusalem on the way of the cross.
To be human is to do this. Welcome to the Human Race. Welcome to the
human place. We’re all here.
