Here are 10 possible motives for doing what we do. Jot
them down on 10 small pieces of paper so you can shuffle them. Next study them.Ask yourself if you have a motive that is not
listed and you want it on your list.Good. But then eliminate one from this list - so you’ll still have
10.When you have your 10, put them in
order of importance or priority for you. There you go. It’s a self-test. This
is Self-Test# 26 on this blog - which I began back on June 17,
2007. Game: see if you can find all 26 tests.
The title of my homily for this 28th Sunday in
Ordinary Time - YearC - is, “Two Mule-Loads of Earth.”
That’s an image in today’s first reading from 2 Kings 5:
14-17.
Interesting …. Different …. Intriguing ….
Naaman, a Syrian army commander, gets a serious skin
disease.They call all kinds of skin
problems “leprosy”back in those days in
the middle east: B.C. and early A.D..
The story mentions a young Israeli girl becoming a
servant to Naaman’s wife servant. Good story…. She was captured in a raid on
Israel.
The Israeli servant girl upon hearing from Mrs. Naaman
that her husband has skin problems says, “If only he would go down to Samaria
and ask the prophet Elisha there to heal him?”He’s hesitant to do this. He’s
skeptical that it will work. Good story….
He goes reluctantly. He washes in the Jordan 7 times as
told. He is healed and heads from the Jordan to go and see
Elisha to give him a gift .Elisha says, “No - no gifts.”
Well, at that Naaman says, “Give me two mule loads of
earth - so I can bring them back to Syria and use them as part of an altar in
thanksgiving to the God of Israel, the God of Elisha the prophet. Good story.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel - Luke 17: 11-19 - also has a story about
leprosy - 10 people who have leprosy - and they too are healed.
Most preachers for this Sunday will challenge all of us
to begrateful - thankful.This gospel is used every year for
Thanksgiving - taking the time to be thankful.
For a Sunday sermon or homily let me stress 3 messages.
FIRST GRATITUDE
The first would be gratitude - making sure we express
gratitude to God for starters and then to others.
A key word in this Gospel in the original Greek is eucharizein
- eucharist - thanks. Notice it becomes -the word we use the Mass - whose key message
is to come here each Sunday and say to God, “Thank you.”
Luke’s gospel is for the Gentiles, the foreigners. So notice
Naaman in the first reading - the one who is very grateful - is a foreigner -
and notice in the gospel it’s the foreigner - the Samaritan - who is grateful.
SECOND MESSAGE
A second message from today’s readings is a question: how do we treat the stranger or the strange
folks or strange rangers - or the person who doesn’t look right to us.
How dare we do that, but we do that to one another. I
know I do.
People with leprosy had to keep back - stay at a distance.What’s that like?
I remember in one parish a lady asking me if she could
skip Sunday Mass - because kids would stare at her - and sometimes say out
loud,“Mom …. Dad …. What’s wrong with
that lady?”
She had cancer inside her face and she was missing her
eye on that side - along with her right cheek.What would that be like to be that woman?
What’s it like to be overweight - and folks stare at you
and make comments.
I remember a gal saying to me: “My sister has given me
10,000 diets.”
I remember a good friend of mine - a fat priest - saying that
the same thing happened to him. Other
priests called him names etc. along also
with giving him diets. He told me that fat people don’t need reminders that
they are fat. They are calling themselves fat - all day long - every day of the
year.
So this is my second point - how we treat those who look
different than we do?
I remember getting a skin treatment once. The doctor
asked when my slowest time for work was. “I said, January.”So for 4 weeks in January, I had to put this cream on my face. It pulled
out all kinds of pre-cancerous stuff.I
ended looking like a pizza. Red blotches all over my face.
Well, one Saturday in January a lady came into
confession. You could go face to face or behind the screen. I was hoping
everyone would go behind the screen. Well this lady went face to face and
didn’t look atmy face till she was
finished. After the act of Contrition she looked me in the face and her face
panicked.As she stood upI reached out my hand to wish her a peaceful
next. Her hand was hesitant. She was sort of caught and sort of surprised. After touching me she wiped her hands on her
side.
I said to myself, “Great! Now I know how another feels
when they are considered a person with leprosy. I said, “Great.I can use that in a homily someday…
THIRD MESSAGE: “TWO MULE-LOADS OF EARTH.”
I figured out a family builder exercise.
Naaman was doing what we all do. We take souvenirs back
from where we’ve been. Refrigerator Door
Magnets. Knick Knacks, a rock from the Grand Canyon, Lourdes Water, Key chains.
Well everyone in thefamily get a box and go through your house and load the box with
souvenirs of stuff you got when you were on a cruise or what have you: then
show and tell.
CONCLUSION: HOW TO GO HOME
So we come here to Mass to say, “Thanks”. Then go home as
a stubborn sturdy mule- filled with the Love and Power and Grace of
Christ.
October 13, 2019
Thought for today:
“The consciousness of duty performed gives us music at midnight.”
