MIXED UP

INTRODUCTION


The title of my homily is, “Mixed Up.”

A theme that hit me as I read today’s readings was this: We are a mixture – a mix – a blending – a combination of so much. So the title of my homily is: “Mixed Up”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel is a mixture of three stories – a story about a man with a field in which he planted wheat – but an enemy came and mixed the field with weeds. The second story is about a mustard seed which someone planted in the earth. The tiny seed, combined with earth, sun and water, becomes a large plant – big enough for the birds of the air to dwell in its branches. And the third story is about a woman mixing yeast with wheat flour to make loaves of bread.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from Wisdom tells us that we have within us strengths and weaknesses – power and hesitation – and even though God is a God of power and might, God is also a God of forgiveness and lenience.

TODAY’S SECOND READING

Today’s second reading from Romans tells us that we are a mixture of inner whining and groaning – and in the mix of our groanings, there is the Spirit of God interceding with inexpressible groanings trying to help us.

MIXTURES

Life exists because of mixtures – mom and dad, seed and egg.

Life exists on this planet, because we have earth and water, lots of water. The sun is just in the right spot – at the right distance – to be the only place in our solar system we know that supports life right now. But obviously and unobviously, to exist our planet needs moon and stars and a mixture of lots of other unknowns for us to be alive at this moment – here and now.

Life is a mixture. For us to exist, our parents met wherever they met – and their parents met wherever they met – the stuff of story and puzzle and pinching ourselves for being alive.

That’s why I love to quote the old saying from Groucho Marx, “If our parents didn’t have kids, chances are we won’t either.”

Life is a mix of millions and millions of different circumstances. If one was missed, we wouldn’t exist.

Life is intricate, complex – surprise and serendipity.

MAKE A FEW POINTS AND GET OUT OF THE PULPIT

Let me make a few points and get out of this pulpit.

Yesterday, working on this sermon, the theme and thought of mixture hit me. Then the question: where does one go with this theme?

After a mix of lots of thoughts, I came up with these four points.

1) IN CONTROL AND OUT OF OUR CONTROL

The first point that hit me was this: there are things in life that are in our control and there are things out of our control.

We’re driving our car, but we’re not driving that other car. He or she might be on their cell phone, or they have been drinking, or they didn’t service their car, or what have you, and they cause an accident and tie up traffic forever. We can do our best, but there’s the rest that’s out of our control.

In the first gospel story today, the farmer was in control of what went into his field: wheat. But the enemy planted the weeds.

I like to picture the human brain as a field – in which lots of things are planted.

What’s planted in your field?

Imagine what’s in the brains – what’s deposited, what’s saved in the long term memory banks of everyone of us here in this church?

Everyday – memories are triggered – scenes from long ago. Someone mentions Toronto or New Orleans or a blood drive or a car accident, and immediately we have recall – and if we’re the type who cuts people off in the middle of their stories, we say, “That reminds me of the time I was at a convention in New Orleans.” Then someone else cuts in and says, “I went to a convention once in Denver for Tupperware.” And on and on and on.

Everything we see is planted in our memory. Some of what we see is in our control. We can take the remote and click elsewhere. While at the computer there are scenes and sites we can avoid. More and more men are planting on the hard drive of their memory pornography. Not smart. It can become an addiction. It can damage respect for women – and another can come upon it by accident – for example children.

But there are lots of scenes that we can’t control. How do we deal with that? We might have to accept the message of the gospel. We can’t go into a brain and wipe out what we have experienced. We need to make peace with our past – and make better decisions to control what can be controlled in our future. Everything sticks. Garbage in – garbage in. Beautiful music in – beautiful sounds within.

Take gossip or simply talking to another about another. When we are the speaker, there is that moment – that key moment – when we say to ourselves, “I don’t have to say this.” But if we choose to speak, to tell the story about another’s affair or drunk driving crash, that only we know about, then the other hears it – and they now see that person in a different light.

If I said to you, we have a speaker coming up at the end of this Mass and she is going to tell you about a program to help people with AIDS from indiscriminate sex and prostitution and she’s been there and done that, you will not be able to hear her without the comments about her that I just made. I just made that up, but it’s now in your memory.

So point one, some things are in our control and some things aren’t.

Sometimes we have to learn to accept that weeds are part of life.

2) DON’T EXPECT TO GET WHAT YOU DIDN’T PLANT

If you want mustard, don’t shake the catsup bottle on your hot dog.

If you want mustard, don’t plant tomato plants.

If you want wheat bread, don’t buy rye bread.

If you want to enjoy your kids’ kids, spend time with your kids when they are kids.

3) CHECK THE INGREDIENTS ON THE SIDE OF THE PACKAGE

Too often people who feel mixed up - and angry - don't step back and think. Think of Auguste Rodin's statue, "The Thinker!" Sit there and think. Think about life. Think about reality. Think about yourself and the others in your life. Compare!

Since life is a mix, it’s smart to step back and see what the ingredients are – to read what’s on the side of the package.

If you want to love yourself in a healthy sense, find out who you are. The old saying written in Greek on the wall of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi still makes sense: "Gnoti seauton” ["Know yourself!] Step back. Self reflect. Learn from each experience! Learn to accept reality. If we are 5 foot 9 and 54 years old, the odds are we’re probably not going to grow to 6 foot 2.

If you want to get married, find out about the person you’re marrying. Talk. Communicate. Clarify. Check more than their smile.

The old sign in Roman markets – in Latin, “Caveat Emptor!” [“Let the buyer beware!”] also makes sense. It too contains great wisdom.

Read good books. Mix with good people. Walk away from people who drain. Okay, sometimes we can’t. We didn’t pick who sits with whom at the wedding banquet. Plant good stuff in the great field – called the human brain – located on top of our shoulders.

I keep reading a book with the title, “A General Theory of Love,” by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon, three psychiatrists, brain researches and teachers in California. It’s a marvelous mix of philosophy, science, religion, poetry, etc.

On page 148 in a section called “The Big Picture” it states, “Everything a person is and everything he knows resides in the tangled thicket of his intertwined neurons. These fateful, tiny bridges number in the quadrillions, but they spring from just two sources: DNA and daily life. The genetic code calls some synapses into being, while experience engenders and modifies others.”

There it is: nature and nurture.

There it is – the things we have control over and the things we don’t.

There it is: the serenity prayer – to change the things I can change, to accept the things I cannot change – and to pray for the wisdom to know the difference.

Read the ingredients on the side of the package.

In other words, I look like my parents and brother and two sisters. My two sisters would add, “Unfortunately”. So we all have had a great mix of similar and so many different experiences. It’s what makes family picnics interesting.

4) WE’RE A MIX OF SIN AND GRACE – NEEDING REDEMPTION

We’re mixed up. Looking at our life, we have to give ourselves and those around us, mixed reviews. Nobody bats .1000. The only person I heard of who hit over .400 was Ted Williams. [Okay there is also Rogers Hornsby, George Sisler, Ty Cobb and others.]

We strike out. We pop up. We hit into a double play and end the inning. We make errors. Our spouse doesn’t live up to our expectations. Neither do we. We have good days and bad days. We know our nicks and scars on close inspection. We didn’t deliver on our childhood dreams. We tried. Sometimes we gave up. We’re better that we thought we could be, but there are days we’re worse. It’s called marriage. It’s called life. It’s called being a human being.

We’re fields with wheat and weeds. We’re grapes that glisten in the sun and look beautiful in the morning dew – but sometimes we’re crushed, but hopefully we’re the type of wine, someone will like.

We need redemption. Jesus, God and Human, what a great mix, who came and said it’s okay to fail, to die on the cross, as long as we rise from our small and big deaths.

Today we Redemptorists celebrate our feast day, The Most Holy Redeemer – Jesus, who received mixed reviews – Hosannas and death threats – but lived life to the full - and Resurrection forever.

We, unlike Jesus, make mistakes. We need Redemption, Healing, Forgiveness, getting back up after the falls.

In Eugene O’Neill’s play, Annie Christie, one of the characters says, and I think speaks for all of us, “We’re all poor nuts and things happen, and we yust get mixed in wrong, that’s all.” (Eugene O’ Neill in Annie Christie [1922]. Act. IV)

So we’re a mixture of right and wrong, wheat and weeds, sin and grace, good days and bad, but as Christians, we would add, "There’s more than just saying, 'That’s all'. " There’s always more than, "That's all!" or "That's it!" There’s Christ walking down our streets – knocking on our doors - entering our lives – sitting down to table with us - mixing with us at each Eucharist, and then walking with us into the weeks of our life.

CONCLUSION

Let me conclude by saying: "In this sermon I tossed out a few seeds, some of which might stick. Jesus would add, 'Some will miss.' – but that’s another gospel and another sermon. I'm assuming, I'm presuming, some of what I said, will mix with the mix called you. Go figure."

WHO SAYS SO?

“There are some things you just don’t do to another person?”
“Who says so?”
“Well, there are some things you just know without needing any explanation.”
“Who says so?”
“Well, there are some questions that really can’t be answered. People just know.”
“Who says so?”
“There, that’s one of them?”
“Who says so?”
“Sometimes you just can’t win.”
“Who says so?”

© Andy Costello,

Reflections 2008

GROAN

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Groan.” G R O A N – [Spell it out] – Groan.

MAKE SOME GROANS

Unnnnnhhhnn. Oooooooh. Aaaaargh. Oh no.

Uggggh. Rrrrrrrrrrr. Uhhhnnnnnnnn.

We make those sounds when we see all those cars in front of us, backed up for miles in a traffic jam we weren’t expecting. Uhhhh. Oh no. Uhhh. We’re never going to get to the shore.

We make groan sounds when it rains on our parade or snows on our surprise party for our parents, and it’s icy, icy, icy or messy, messy, messy.

It’s the sound folks make in the Midwest when they come home to their flooded home or the folks in the far west make when they come back to their burnt out home.

It’s the scream folks make when they get the news that a loved one is killed in Iraq or Afghanistan or anywhere.

LETTER TO THE ROMANS

It’s a word in today’s second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans. He writes, “We know that all creation is groaning [sustenazei] - in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we also groan [stenagomen] within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies”

Groan.

To be human is to groan.

To be of the earth is to groan.

Deep down underground, underneath the earth’s crust, there are the tectonic plates that shift and slide, creep and creak, rub and rasp and make underground sounds when they buckle, rift, fault, break. When the earth quakes, monitors, just like the heart monitors on a patient in an intensive care unit a hospital – go up and down. They write in crooked lines that things are moving – shifting and at times there are great groans, great earthquakes – bursting volcanoes – what have you and all those in it’s path better get out of the way.

Deep in each person, underneath the smile, underneath the crust called our skull, there are deep groans. You can hear them when kids are going the wrong way or a spouse is dying of cancer or a marriage is breaking apart and little kids are being pulled this way and that. If you take a seat in the corridor in any nursing home and just sit there all alone, you’ll hear groans, screams, mutterings, calls, the cries of inmates, the groans of the aged.

IMAGES OF ST. PAUL

St. Paul uses the image of a woman in labor pains – groaning – and finally a child is born into our world. He says the same thing happens at the end of our life – as we leave this womb and go into the next life.

Death has powerful and sometimes scary groans.

DEEP PRAYER

St. Paul uses this same reality of human groans – as a symbol of prayer. Deep prayer is deep groaning.

If you want to grow in prayer, just sit there and monitor your groanings, your whinings, your gripes. Get in touch with your inner sounds. Monitor them. Write them down. Sometimes you can hear your values being walked on – stepped on. Ouch!

What bugs you? What burns you? What angers you? What frustrates you? What rubs you like strong sandpaper the wrong way?

Tell me your groans and I tell you where you’re hurting? Tell me your cries and I’ll tell you who you are?

CRIES … BUT SILENT

I have a whole book called, “Cries … But Silent.” [1981] It’s out of print now, and I always thought it was my best book. It simply was the cries I heard people tell me as a priest. I would listen. They would cry. And sometimes, I would say, “Can I put what you just said into a poem? It won’t have your name on it or anything that could identify you in it. But it might help someone else.” If they hesitated, I’d say, “Okay, no, no problem.” Confidence – keeping confidence is absolutely sacred – as in the Seal of Confession – as in the when someone goes to a counselor. Breaking confidence is a sin. Haven’t we groaned when someone broke a secret. Sacred trust is very, very important. So I was very sensitive to this and I always asked. Sometimes people would say okay.

Surprise. Something else would happen. Someone entirely different would come and say, “You were talking about me in that poem, in that piece you wrote.” If they said that, I knew I was touching a universal groan.

THREE POEMS
Let me read to you three examples to show you what I mean about groans – the groans I’ve heard people tell me that I turned into poems with their permission.

MISS SUITCASE

Kept in the closet,
Stuck in the basement
of planes,
While you fly first class.

Forgotten,
Used,
Forgotten again,
Abused,
Shoved under beds,
Banged around.

Well, someday soon
You’re going to
stand there
stupid,
At your airport merry-go-round,
waiting for me.

And me,
Sir Prize,
I’ll be on another flight

BROKEN

It broke
as he tried to clasp it
around her neck,
standing there behind her as usual,
making up her eyes in the mirror
before the party --
and without turning she said,
“Stupid!” with her eyes
into the mirror ,
and he made up his mind
it was finally broken.

LID

A nervous violence
flowed within him,
below his locked mouth,
his tight jaw.
You knew it was there.
You could hear its noise
from time to time,
like a cab going over
a loose manhole cover
in the middle of the night.

Groans? What are your groans? What are your gripes? What causes ripples and agita in your underbelly?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel we have the Parable of the Sower – and it tells us there are 4 types of people. It’s a test? Which one of the four types of seed am I?

I have a life of Christ that I have been writing on and off for years now. I picture Christ as a teenager – slipping out of the carpenter shop in Nazareth and walking out of town from time to time. He climbs a slight hill. He sits down leaning against a tree. He looks down at a field below.

Down below there’s a farmer planting seed. He notices how some seed misses, but most make it into the good ground. The farmer finishes and heads back to his home. Jesus on his way back to Nazareth stops to see some the scene up close. He notices how some seed landed on the hard path. Some landed on rocky, horrible soil. Some landed in good soil, but soil busy with thorns and thistles. Some landed on good soil.

Years later when preaching he discovered preaching is like farming. You toss the seed. You tell the stories. Some folks are hard like the road. Some folks are shallow. They have no roots. Some folks have depth, but they have too many thorns growing in their schedules. And some folks are good soil. They get it. They understand the word and bear fruit a hundred or sixty or thirty fold.

It’s the thickheaded ones, it’s the shallow ones, it’s the talented, but too busy ones, who caused Jesus the groans – the inner screams. But he kept preaching, kept sowing, kept knowing what Isaiah had said centuries before. My word – like the rain, like the snow, comes down and waters the earth – giving bread to the one who sows. My word is never empty.

CONCLUSION

Thanks to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, 4 great sacks of seeds, Jesus’ words keeps being planted in human fields – and keep bringing forth results.

And Jesus big screams – his powerful groans – from the cross are still being heard – and people seeing Christ on the Cross – the great symbol of Christianity – say within with a softer groan, “Thank you Jesus, you know what I’m going through. You have ears that hear and eyes that see. Thank you. Thank you.”

SPIRITUALITY & RELIGION

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Spirituality and Religion.”

Do you have a minute? Better, “Do you have ten minutes?”

I would like to address an issue that has been appearing in the news more and more. And if it’s appearing in magazines and TV, etc., I assume it’s appearing in your thoughts as well.

So I decided to pull together some first draft comments about “Spirituality and Religion”. Maybe we’re on the same page or maybe you’re somewhere else or what have you.

COMMENTS

You hear things like, “Spirituality is increasing; religion is decreasing.”

Or, “I go to church – but I get my spirituality from nature or music or exercising or reading or Yoga or breathing or Quiet Waters Park.”

Or, “I’m spiritual, not religious.”

Or there is the bumper sticker that Martin Marty, a Lutheran theologian, quotes in an article entitled, “Religion Makes Hospice Calls.” The bumper sticker he spotted said, “Spirituality doesn’t make hospice calls.”* Not true, but there is a tiny hint of something there.

CLEAR OR CONFUSING OR BOTH?

Spirituality and Religion: what are we talking about?

These are two vast topics that take in libraries of books and weeks of workshops and many Ph. D’s. They intermingle, don’t have to be contradictory, but can be confusing or vague at times.

How does one describe religion? How does one describe spirituality?

Can you give me nine minutes?

RELIGIONS

The four big religions of the world are: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Most people belong – at least in name – to one of these four groups. Christianity has about 2.1 billion members, Islam 1.5 billion, Hinduism 900 million, Buddhism, 376 million. There are many other “religions” and each group, as we know has branches and divisions – and there are interconnections.**

I’ve often heard people say, “It’s all the same.”

We are and we aren’t.

I’m tempted to ask, “How do you see Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity as the same?” I don’t ask, because most of the time, it’s neither the time nor the place to talk. It’s a wedding reception and people are drinking or what have you. I assume they are saying, “We all believe in God, gather to pray, and are trying to lead a good life.”

Since we’re here together in church today, I assume we are Christians following Jesus Christ – proclaiming our belief with our creed each Sabbath and each day by our lives.

We are Catholics, but at times there are Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. here at Mass. Welcome to all.

We have all heard people say of the different communities in Christianity: “After all, we’re basically the same.”Yes and no. We Christians have similarities, but we are different.

And we Catholics can be very different – from parish to parish, from Catholic to Catholic, from bishop to bishop, from pope to pope, and sometimes we can be very much the same. At times we hear about the so called, “Catholic Vote”. Is there such a thing?

The stuff of the different religions is the stuff of talk and thinking.

Sometimes we bring up the two “no no’s”: religion and politics. They are two out of the five big topics of conversation – the other three being the weather, sports, and #1, other people.

RELIGION

Let me move the microscope further away from different religions and get back to the topic of religion in general.

There are two definitions of religion in the singular that I like.

First definition: “Religion is recognizing God and acting accordingly.”

Translation. At this moment in my life, do I believe, accept, live, assume that there is a God. If I do, do I act differently than if I didn’t believe in God? Does recognizing God, accepting God, make a difference in my life?

When I say in the Our Father, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done!”, do I really say that with great meaning and significance and does my prayer then play out in my life?

Each person has to ask themselves from time to time:

Am I an atheist – someone who does not believe there is a God?

Am I an agnostic – I used to believe in God, but I don’t know any more?

Am I a drop out?

Am I sleep walking – a feeling I often have?

Am I indifferent?

Am I just going through the motions?

I believe in God, but what are the questions about church or different religions that I have?

If I really believe there is a God, if I recognize God, and this makes a difference in my life, then am I a religious person?

If I join or am part of a group, what group is it?

If I am a member of Christianity, that means I have been baptized and follow Jesus Christ.

If I am a member of a group within Christianity, what group?

If I am a Catholic, am I a member of a parish and go to a parish church, but what impact does it have on my life?


I overheard someone describing our parish this way, “We have 15,000 people plus in this parish.” Then they said there are another 15,000 Catholics in this area who are Catholic, but who don’t come to church – or they are not registered – or they are Easter and Christmas, funeral and wedding Catholics.

So what does it mean to say, “I am part of a religion or I am religious”?

Which religion?

My first point would be to make a decision where I stand with my religion. What do I say if asked at a hospital or if someone is taking a poll and asks me, “Religion? ________”

If I say "Catholic", then further questions arise. Couples getting married here at St. Mary’s and most Catholic parishes, are given a questionnaire and one of the questions is religion. Then comes the question about attendance. "Ordinarily, Sometimes, Seldom, Never."

We could add other questions., "What is a good Catholic?"

Or we could ask questions like, “Agree or disagree? I think that I am a good Christian, but I don’t see myself as a practicing Catholic, etc.”

Second definition: “Religion is what I wrap my life around?”

This definition makes everyone religious, because we all wrap our life around something or someone. The word religion has the root word for “ligaments” in it – cords, bands, fleshy strings that keep the human body together.

This second definition is much broader – vaguer – but it can be very challenging. It asks questions like: "Where do I spend my time? Who is my God? What is my center? What’s important?"

SPIRITUALITY

That’s a few talking points about religion. Here are a few talking points about spirituality. Do you have 4 minutes?

I taught courses on spirituality for 9 years to future Redemptorists. And as every teacher knows, the teacher learns a lot more than the student. And as every teacher knows, it takes the teacher at least 4 to 5 years to figure out and really understand what he or she is teaching. I was blessed to figure out some stuff about spirituality in 5 years – and then I had 4 more years to develop this stuff.

So when folks talk today about spirituality, my ears perk up. When folks says, “I see myself as spiritual. Religious, no.” I am sitting there with my baggage and my background.

I just listen. I know that being spiritual or trying to be spiritual can mean so many things. It could mean they are trying to be good persons, but they just don’t see church as helping them to be good persons or they find in church some deep springs of spirituality.

I told you this stuff can be quite complicated and unclear.

SOME TALKING POINTS ABOUT SPIRITUALITY

Let me give 3 talking points about spirituality.

Do you have 3 minutes?

1) I hold that everyone has a spirituality.

When Jack walks into the room, he walks in with his spirit – his personality – his flavor. It’s the same with Jill. It might be a wonderful spirit, or it might be an ugly spirit. Just mention any person you know – and their spirit comes flying right at you – even if they are in Ocean City right now or in the south of France right this minute. When you hear the name of the priest who has the Mass or when you see a priest walk down the aisle and you didn't know who was on for this Mass, you give that priest a vote, an “Oh good” or an “Oh no” or “We’ll see!” vote. Relax! People don’t just do this for priests. They do it to you as well. So # 1, everyone has a spirit, a spirituality. What is yours like?

2) There are all kinds of “public” or “big” spiritualities.

Each spirituality has specific nuances or “attraits” as they call them. Clings. Specifics.

Let me explain.

For example, there is a spirituality called “Franciscan Spirituality.” If a person is in a Franciscan parish or school or they make a Franciscan retreat, they will hear about some of the stresses of St. Francis of Assisi and his followers. They will hear about the importance of simplicity, don’t get stuffed with stuff, a love for birds and creation, a sense of Jesus as Lord – that God became one of us as a baby and died as one of us on the cross.

For example, there is a spirituality called “Redemptorist Spirituality” and if you listen to us Redemptorists enough, you’ll hear the same songs and same tunes from us through the years: the importance of prayer, the importance of Mary, the Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, seeing Christ in the Eucharist, etc., being aware of the poorest amongst us. Our founder St. Alphonsus wrote over 100 books and those traits I just mentioned are in his writings and his followers.

There is also Buddhist Spirituality, Hindu Spirituality, Muslim Spirituality, Carmelite Spirituality, Jesuit Spirituality, Native American Spirituality, African Spirituality, Australian Spirituality, Filipino Spirituality, Humanistic Spirituality, Eco spirituality, feminine spirituality, masculine spirituality, and on and on and on and variations and arguments about each. Each would have its stresses, groups, writings, meetings, practices, etc., etc., etc.

3) Each of us is a mixture of all kinds of spiritual influences.

We are the spirit, the attitudes, the outlook, we picked up along the way from parents, friends, school, parishes, experiences, etc. I love the words of Ulysses in the poem by that name from Tennyson, “I am part of all that I have met.” I also like the comment by the Greek poet, George Seferis. When asked, “Who influenced you?” he answered, “Don’t ask who influenced me. Does a lion know what lambs he ate?”

However, I am a lifetime devotee of the examined life. I think it’s very important to figure out who has influenced us, what has influenced us, and pick out the best, and go for more of that. I learned that from the Jesuits! It’s called discernment. And if you listen to my sermons, you’ll hear me say at times. “I have homework for you.”

CONCLUSION

I just talked ten minutes on “Spirituality and Religion.”

Spirituality – developing a healthy and joy filled spirituality is obviously important. Religion – growing in our spiritual roots is obviously very important as well.

Both don’t have to be in conflict with each other. In fact, those who drop their religion with the idea of developing their spirituality might be missing out on the rich treasures of spirituality in religion.

This week, take time to do some home work or heart work to pull together your thoughts on these two realities – and pray to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit to fill your life with their Spirit so you can bring the spirit of their love to all the rooms you enter. Amen. ***
____________________________________________________________________

NOTES:

* The Life of Meaning, Reflections on Faith, Doubt, and Repairing the World, by Bob Abernethy and William Bole, and the Contributors to PBS's Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, pp. 191-193

** Two people asked me after my homily, "What about Judaism?" Type in Google, "World Religions" and then look for statistics in the menu. I just gave the numbers of the 4 highest. There are many more. For example, Sikhism has 23 million, Judaism has 19 million, and Baha'i has 7 million.

*** Reread today's readings. Judaism has given us these rich texts that nourish our religion and our spirituality. Today's first reading is from Zechariah 9:9-10. There is always hope. Christians can see Jesus as King and savior come riding towards us on an ass. What a fascinating vision, what a fascinating and humbling way to arrive at the peace table! Today's second reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans, 8:9, 11-13, voices the challenge to let our spirit be meshed and matched and married to the Spirit of God. And today's gospel presents a great vision from the Christian scriptures - the call from Jesus to "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." For those who see religion as a burden, Jesus is saying, what Christianity is saying is this, "Our religion is not primarily a set of rules and regulations, teachings and warnings, but a relationship with Jesus. Wrap your life around him!"

THE CLING OF BEAUTY

The rain remained on the green grass
just long enough for me to stop walking,
to gaze down, to be amazed at the cling
of beauty – and to remember your beauty
still remains, still clings, long after the rain,
long after the grass fades. It helps me see
why marriages last and what Isaiah longed
for after seeing too many dry blades of grass
pointing angry fingers at the sky for rain.

© Andy Costello,

Reflections, 2008
Cf. Isaiah 15:6; 45: 8

JULY 3, 2008

TENTH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE DEATH

OF FATHER BERNARD HARING,

REDEMPTORIST

Today, July 3, 2008 marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Father Bernard Haring, CSs.R. He died in the Redemptorist Community House in Gars-Am-Inn, Germany July 3, 1998. He was 85 years old.

Go to Google and type in, “Bernard Haring”. Be prepared for lots to read – and see where it takes you.

I met Father Bernard Haring once – just a hand shake and a “Hello” in a group setting. It was in the early 1960’s. He was invited to give a series of lectures in our major seminary, Mount St. Alphonsus, Esopus, New York.

The 1960s – what a tidal time to be in school? I was getting the old and the new – and both would help me all through my priesthood in understanding the old and the new! I was in my early 20’s – experiencing the wonderful excitement of theological dialogue and questioning.

Bernard Haring’s arrival at our seminary was a major event. Lots of energy was flowing. I knew his name – fragments of his ideas – and not much more. I knew that he had written The Law of Christ. It was in English. I was not studying Moral Theology yet, but many of us read some of it for spiritual reading – and I found it a breath of fresh air.

I sat and listened as he spoke. I watched and wondered.

Looking back it was the moment that I discovered the power of story and personal example.

The first life learning was an incident that Father Haring told us. He was on the Russian Front during World War II. Orthodox Christians heard there was a priest in the area and they wanted their children baptized. Rules and regulations said, “No.” He had to make a decision. He said, "No" at first. Then he realized one had to say, "Yes!"

I have in my Blog a homily about key scripture texts in one’s life. It was from Father Bernard Haring’s comments that I grasped my life long and my life time Bible message. It's Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens and you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Instead of pushing Biblical texts in other’s faces to win arguments, I learned that Galatians 6:2 is the text to wear on one’s heart – and not on one’s t-shirt. To me it sounded very much like what Jesus was saying in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite walked by the man who was half dead. They kept their law. The Good Samaritan stopped to help the man. He broke his law and followed a more important law. (Cf. Luke 10: 29-37.)

The second life learning that happened during that week’s talks went this way. In a Question and Answer period after one of the talks a priest said, “Because we are attending this conference, we don’t have to say all of the Divine Office.” It was something like that.

After lunch I headed to my room for a half-hour siesta, a wonderful custom we had inherited from our European roots. As I was closing my shutters, I looked outside. There was Father Bernard Haring outside walking along alone saying his breviary or prayers or Divine Office.

To me, prayer is to be a joy – not an obligation – a want to – not a have to – not a sin if we don’t do it, but a grace and a connection with God if we do take the time to pray.

Besides, The Law of Christ, Father Haring went on to write another 3 volume Moral Theology series, Free and Faithful in Christ. It came out in English in 1978. There it was: the stress on a relationship with Christ and each other based on love more than law.

He wrote many, many articles, around 100 books, and gave talks everywhere around the world.

I was lucky to see him in person that one week in the 1960’s – from a short distance.

Thank you, Bernard Haring.

In reading his biography on Google, I realized we had a few similarities. We both have the same birthday ... different years of course. He had three sisters who became religious. My dad did as well - and I have one sister who is a nun.  I also found out that he too wanted to go to Brazil and he too never got that assignment. And we are both Redemptorists - who like St. Alphonsus proclaimed a Moral Theology of the love of Jesus Christ.

What I have not experienced yet is attacks. He experienced throat. cancer. Worse, he experienced what theologians in our church often experience: theological attack.

We had a wonderful priest in our major seminary nicknamed, “Teddy."  Father "Teddy" Meehan  used to joke that he was sent into exile a few times like St. Athanasius in the Early Church. But it wasn't because of his theology. It was because he spoke up for students.  Teddy was sent to the Virgin Islands – not bad - but he would be brought back to teach Early Church History by popular demand. As we studied Church History – and as we went through the 1960’s, I discovered the history of the Catholic Church contains a history of attempts to silence its theologians and its thinkers and those who speak up.

St. Thomas Aquinas (1224 or 1225- 1274) was investigated. Excommunication threats went flying. For those who don’t believe this, simply find a copy of The New Catholic Encyclopedia – and look up in Volume XIV, “Thomas Aquinas” and “Thomism” or in Google type in "Thomas Aquinas".

When I was studying in the major seminary, 1960-1966, we experienced Vatican II taking place. We became familiar with attempts to silence people like John Courtney Murray, Yves Congar, Karl Rahner, Henri de Lubac, Francisco Marin-Sola.  Surprise they were some of the  people who had a great impact on the Council. There were also attempts to silence those who were “conservative”.

If there is anything I learned about Catholic thought and theology, it's this: expect this dynamic to continue. Or as Yogi Berra would put it: "Expect deja vu all over again."

We'll experince reading on page 5 of some Catholic newspaper that the official church apologizes for how it treated Galileo (1564-1642) way back when. Then we'll read on page 9 mention of some theologian being silenced or investigated today. Sitting there I put the paper aside and wonder if this person will be exonerated 200 years from now and someone new will be attacked.

Marie Joseph Langrange (1855-1938), a Dominican, struggled for years to move the Catholic Church forward in Biblical studies, founding the famous Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem. He too had to deal with attacks for years – but eventually the Catholic Church woke up and put him on the Pontifical Biblical Commission and his cause for being named a saint was started after his death.

Yves Congar, theologian, also a Dominican, was attacked, investigated, silenced and banned. Besides having a profound impact on Vatican Council II, he was made a cardinal before he died.

I found on the Internet the following very interesting comment: “Joseph Ratzinger, later Benedict XVI, was declared to be under suspicion of heresy by Pope Pius XII and the Holy Office.  His book, ‘Introduction to Christianity' was banned because of heresy by Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski."

I guess it’s life. Get used to it. Father Haring was in World War II as well as in the theological wars. Pope Pius XII attacked him and John the XXIII and Paul VI praised him. When I was at that series of lectures he gave at our seminary in the early 1960’s, some Redemptorists were praising him; some were attacking him.

Life.

St. Alphonsus, the founder of the Redemptorists, was criticized by some for being too strict and by others as too lax.

Life.

I find the same story in the Gospels – in the life of Jesus. He was loved as well as attacked.

So if I read anything in the writings and life of Father Bernard Haring, it's the presence of Jesus - and that includes sin and the cross - but especially the call to love - to bear one another's burdens - to trust one another - instead of screaming "No" and negative labeling each other when we're different from each other.

In the meanwhile, let's all smile, laugh and love life, as I saw Bernard Haring doing.

AFTERWARDS

You surprised me.
when you came over and asked,
“What’s happening?”
And you actually listened
to what I had to say.
Then, afterwards,
it’s always afterwards isn’t it,
I caught myself
talking to myself and asking,
"What’s happening?”
And I actually listened
to what I had to say to myself.
Then, afterwards,
it’s always afterwards, isn’t it,
I realized,
I need to ask others,
“What’s happening?”
and actually listen to them and
not spend my time looking over
their shoulders to see
who else is in the room.
I’m here. You’re here. That’s enough.
Thank you.
But I didn’t realize this till
afterwards.

© Andy Costello,

Reflections 2008