The title of my homily for this 3rd Friday in
Ordinary Time is, “Slow and Silent.”
Much of life is slow and silent.
That’s not us at times - especially when we are running
and rushing, gabbing and gossiping - doing life - like we see people doing mad shopping
every year on TV - on Black Friday - or how some people do Super Bowl Sunday.
Slow and Silent - that’s more like the pace of people
driving the streets of Heritage Harbor - or moving along on the corridors a
nursing home.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel gave me this thought and theme - as well
as the title of this homily: “Slow and Silent.”
Jesus tells two parables….
The first tells the story of the farmer spreading seed on
the dirt of the earth.
Listen to Jesus again:
"This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear,
then the full
grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe,
he wields the
sickle at once,
for the harvest has come." [Mark 4: 26-29]
Listen to Jesus again in his second parable for today:
"To what
shall we compare
the Kingdom of
God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that,
when it is sown
in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds
on the earth.
But once it is sown,
it springs up
and becomes the
largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky
can dwell in
its shade." [Mark 4:30-32]
The plant world can teach us these lessons.
Slow and silent - plant life is inching upwards and
outwards and rooting downwards.
Slow and silent - like the snow most of the time.
Snow falls slowly - well not always - and the yard
becomes white.
Paint peels slowly - so too rust - so to milk going bad.
So too skin - the slow wrinklingof our
skin.
So too cancer - the creeping slow killer.
Band-Aids lift, lose their grip, itch, and silently
scream, “Change me!”
Bread rises slowly….
Wine ferments gradually.
So too love - and the 25th and 50th
anniversary happens.
So too the slow of sorrow and of death - hopefully 4 score and twenty at least
for all of us.
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is, “Slow and Silent” - the way
Jesus’ words slowly make their way into the fiber of our being and our
thoughts.
February 1, 2019
Black History Month Thought for Today: “I could fall in love with a sumo wrestler if he told stories and made me laugh. Obviously, it would be easier if
someone was African-American and lived next door and went to the same church.
Because then I wouldn't have to translate."
Maya Angelou
Thursday, January 31, 2019
THE COLOR GREEN
In 1947, I saw my first major
league baseball game - aged 7 -
with my dad and my brother.
Coming up out of the dark tunnel
at Ebbets Field - underneath the seats - I saw Dodger Blue - but
