Be aware!The video cameras are on and they are watching.
The Lord God gave us the following orders: “You can eat
from any of the trees from the garden,except the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.”
And Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.
Be aware! The video cameras are on and they are watching.
Every once and a while video cameras catch people
cheating, sneaking, taking what doesn’t belong to them.
And we laugh - as long as it isn’t us.
Over in the high school- in the corridor - someone spotted a small gift from a dog. The
spotters said, “Hey we just got new video cameras. Let’s check out whose dog
did this.”
They watched - and sure enough - it was Pepi - one of the
priest’s dog. Someone stopped to start talking - and Pepi - used to moment to
drop a gift to the main corridor.
Be aware!The
video cameras are on and they are watching.
[Short reflection for today, February 13, 2019, the 5th
Wednesday in Ordinary Time.]
February 13, 2019
DEW
Dew on tulip petals,
dew on morning grass,
dew on my shoes in the garden,
dew can be impatient,
dying to get back into
the sky, into the rain,
into the ocean, complaining
how boring it is to be clinging
to a tulip or it can be calm
and it can wait its
turn
to get moving again
seeing these moments
like patient subway riders standing on the platform,
“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has
not solved one yet.”
Maya Angelou
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
February12, 2019 -
Black History Month Thought for Today:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou
HOW FAR ARE OUR LIPS
FROM OUR HEART?
INTRODUCTION
The
title of my homily for this 5th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “How Far Are Our Lips From Our Heart?”
When
it comes to religion and spirituality, this is a very important question.
It
could also be a very important question for all our relationships.Are we really talking to each other, looking
the other in the eye, giving the other ear service and not just lip service?
ISAIAH
I’m
taking this message from a quote from Isaiah that Jesus mentions in today’s
gospel.
Jesus
quotes Isaiah 29: 13,
“This
people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.”
Listen
to how the Jerusalem Bible translates that same text into English.
“Because
this people approaches me only in words,
honors
me only with lip-service while its heart is far from me,
and
my religion, as far as it is concerned, is nothing
but
human commandment, a lesson memorized….”
When Isaiah and Jesus use the word, “heart”,what do they mean?
By heart Isaiah and Jesus mean what we find all through the scriptures when
we hear people using the word “heart”.
Our heart is our center, our command center, who we are
down deep. Of course the heart is a pump, but in human understanding we know
all about what one’s heart means.
We’ll see it full speed ahead this Thursday, Valentine’s
Day.
It’s our red blooded feelings plus our cold blue brain.
It’s the whole me that is the total me.
So Isaiah - and then Jesus - is saying, “We can mouth an
“I love you” with our lips, but we can be 5,000 miles away.
We can be with each other - and really be somewhere -
else.
Haven’t we all seen a preacher preaching - andwithout thinking - he looks at his watch. We
don’t know - but he might have just given us a dead giveaway. His might be giving a
memorized - outside his heart homily.
So too the prayers at Mass - so too - all communication -
all receiving communion - with Christ and each other.Do we have real presence - being there with
all our heart.
IT’S HARD TO BE WITH IT.
Today’s first reading is part of one of two creation
accounts in the first book of the bible, Genesis.
We can hear it - and not hear it. Our brains and our minds can be in the middle
of this afternoon right now.
Creation is still going on. It’s ongoing. - but it’s
difficult to be present to the whole of the universeunfolding - as it’s happening.
The cook doesn’t always have her heart in her cooking.
Imagine if an artist was right here - with a big canvas -
and he starts painting a picture of flowers, or a garden, or a whole street, or
the planet.
Watching we could become mesmerized by the beauty being
created right in front of our eyes.
Still someone might yawn. Someone might look at theirwatch. Someone might unpocket their cell phone to check a text.
Or the artist might be somewhere else - because this is
the 65th time he has done this same painting.
Or our eyes and our mind could be totally in sync with
all of creation.
OR WE COULD BE TOTALLY OFF ON THE WRONG THING
In today’s gospel Jesus spots the Pharisees off on the
picky, picky, little nonsense stuff and miss the whole of religion and life.
The example I always like to keep in mind is the moment
we went to see the musical, No No Nanette on Broadway. It was a Wednesday
Matinee and we couldn’t get good seats. We were off to the side up in those mini
balconies - looking down on the front of the stage - as well as the orchestra
pit.
Well, surprise, surprise, I missed much of the musical
watching a cellist playing his instrument - but really reading the wholeof the New York Post, Sports Section
included, all through his playing. He had it down.
It seemed to me that the other musicians were into the
show, into the music, but not this guy. He was into his paper.
I am glad what I saw that day.
It became a valuable lesson for me
When I’m into the Mass, I want to be into the Mass - and into
the readings - and into the prayers
I want there to be less there 1 millionth of an inch of space between me and Christ.
