“If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be; ‘It seemed a
good idea at the time.’”
Rebecca West,
New York Times,
October 2, 2977
Sunday, August 11, 2019
IS THIS PARABLE
MEANT FOR ME?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C] is, “Is This Parable Meant for
Me?”
It’s the question Peter asks Jesus in today’sGospel.There it is in the beginning of the 3rd paragraph in today’s
gospel in our missalette on page 199:“Then Peter said, ‘Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”
That’s Luke 12: 41.Luke is our Gospel for this year - and if any gospel is the gospel with
the parables - it’s Luke.
So listen up when you come to church - especially this
year.
So when we come to church and we stand for the gospel -
or if we’re present for the readings we ought tobe asking Peter’s question: “Lord, are any of
the readings for today meant for me?”
So once more that’s the title of my homily for today: “Is
This Parable Meant for Me?”
That’s one of the things the preacher is trying to do:
prepare this meat well for these hungry customers.
The preacher’s job is to be a good cook - a good meat
preparer.
In the seminary, during the summer, I used to be on the
hamburger crew. Every Wednesday evening we prepared, grilled and served over 100 hamburgers.
Years later, in our retreat house in New Jersey - where I’m about to
be stationed again - I was in on the steak cooking.We had these big baking pans each with about
25 rectangular sirloin steaks - the size of two fists. On the lawn, near the picnic area, we had a
55 gallon metal drum cut in half - loaded with charcoal - with a grating on
top. Someone came up with asecret for serving over 100 people in quick motion. Put
those pans - each with about 25 steaks - in the oven to slightly warm them up beforehand. Then bring them out
just in time to these large folding tables outside. Then when the boys were ready to eat - they
would line up with plates in hand - and head for the steaks. We the cooks would
toss them on the blazing charcoal fire and the customer would yell, “Raw red”,
“Medium” or “Well done.”
The raw babies would be on that stove for seconds - with
the blazing flame getting better and better because of the fat from the steaks.
Medium and well-done would take a little longer.
Guys would yell, pointing, “I want that one. That one is
meant for me.”
There it is my sermon: “Is This Steak, Is this Parable, Meant for
Me?”
QUESTIONS
In the gospels there are about 33 parables - but often counted in
various other ways.
Here’s my first question for this homily: “Pause and
ponder: which parable in the gospels is meant for me?”
Is there one parable you have wrestled with all your
life?For example: The Parable of the
Prodigal Son, or at times have you felt like the Lost Sheep? Am I the man in last
Sunday’s parable with the barns who is about to rebuild bigger barns and the
poor sucker, Jesus tells us, is about to die that night? How about the Good
Samaritan?How about the 4 types of
people who hear the word of God: the hard cement heads, the shallow, the busy
with lots of projects or pots on their stove, and those with great soil?
So which parable is meant for me?
There’s a whole adult-ed course there.
Get your Bible - get a spiral note pad - do your
homework?Or you can use a computer,
etc.,etc., etc.
List them. Pick your steak. Chew it. Digest it.
Let Jesus feed you as we heard he would do in today’s
gospel. He said if you are a good servant, if you wait on him, he’ll come and
knock on your door, sit you down and wait on you. Yep, that’s what it says in
today’s gospel, in this tricky parable for today. It’s not as clear as last
weeks, but it’s here for our meal this Sunday.
NEXT QUESTION
Looking at your life, what have been the parables that
grabbed you? What have been the novels, the stories, the movies that moved you?
What have been the conversations that have helped convert you, change you?
Who have been the most significant people in your life -
whose questions, challenges, messages, comments - or silent example have made
you who you are today?
What were the scenes you were meant to see?
Once more, the title of my homily is, “Is This Parable
Meant for Me?
My dad took us four kidsto the park every Sunday when we were kids to give my mother every
Sunday a break. I see my brother did the same thing taking his 7 daughters to
museums in Washington every Sunday to give his wife a break. I saw my nice
Jeanie’s husband David doing the same thing with their 3 kids to give her a
break. That was a parable from my dad and my brother and my niece's husband.
I saw a play on Broadway once, The Price. It was an Arthur Miller, of Death of Salesman fame, play.One brother did college. One brother dropped out and became a cop - to
take care of their father. The cop on stage says to the older brother who comes
back for the will and the appraisal and the question about who gets the father’s furniture. The cop brother says to his brother, “You
want the God Almighty handshake from me after all these years and you’re not
going to get it.” It went something like
that and I’ve seen that parable, that scene, play out in front of me many times - in
various ways - through the years - especially as priest - dealing with moments
around hospital beds and wakes and funerals.
That was a parable meant for me.
They are the scenes - the moments - the stories that get
stuck in our memory.
Years ago I went to a Broadway matineewith a group of staff at a retreat house
where I worked - the one I’m going back to. This parable also happened years ago.
The musical, the matinee was No, No Nanette. The plan was
to get the tickets at the door. Someone had called and they were told that
there were plenty of seats - because the play had been running for quite some
time.
Well, we got balcony seats along the wall and all we
could see was the first third of the stage - the up-frontpart.But what we could see was the orchestra pit right down below us - in
front of the stage.
I noticed a violinist playing away in the beginning and
all through the musicalreading The New
York Daily News and then The New York Daily Mirror.The papers fit perfectly on the music stand.
It was a parable.
Someone was doing their job mechanically. What I got out
of it was this. A priest can do mass - homilies - weddings, funerals, baptisms
mechanically like that guy reading the paper while he played - or a priest can
be into the music - into the prayers and the words and the ceremony completely
every time - at least like the other musicians.
I was judging - but it was a parable and I heard it - so
I have never, ever, ever, in the middle of a homily looked at my watch.
I try to do personal.
CONCLUSION
So that’s my homily.
The title was: “Is This Parable Meant for Me?”
And then after that main question I asked two specific questions:
First Question: “Pause and ponder: which parable in the
gospels is meant for me?”
Second Question: “What have been the moments, the movies,
the plays, theincidents, the people
doing or saying something that changed my life?”
P.S. I'm assuming this is my last homily at St. Mary's.
I'm also assuming that I am going to keep this blog going. I started it on June 17th, 2007 - with the help of Norm Constantine from our St. Mary's High School. He encouraged me and set it up.
This piece is Number # 6755.
I'll be on the Atlantic Ocean in Long Branch. New Jersey at our retreat house: San Alfonso Retreat House. I'm tempted to rename it: Reflections by the Waters, but I'll stick, Reflections by the Bay.
Here's a picture of some of us Redemptorists at San Alfonso Retreat House at a recent meeting. Like St. Mary's Annapolis, not a bad place to be stationed.
