TEMPTING!

INTRODUCTION

The title and theme of my homily for this First Sunday of Lent is, “Tempting.”

How many times in our life have we said, “Tempting”?

“Tempting.” Haven’t we all said that word out loud or in loud at times?

The second piece of Black Forest Chocolate Cake. Tempting. The affair. The money is just sitting there. The comment – especially when someone is posing or bragging and we would love to cut them down to size. If only they knew, what I know, about them! Tempting. We would love to throw an imaginary banana skin on the floor and see them slip and fall, so all can laugh at them. Uuum tempting!

Tempting. It’s the stuff of comedy. It’s the stuff of tragedy.

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
Every year the First Sunday of Lent has this theme of temptation. Jesus goes into the desert and he is tempted.

This year’s gospel is from Luke. Last year was Mark. The year before it was Matthew. Each gives their particular theology and reflection on what it was like. Matthew and Luke spell it out a bit more than Mark, who is always brief. Matthew and Luke each give three temptations – but they are presented slightly different.

The key is the 40 days. All three, Matthew, Mark and Luke, mention the 40 days. Jesus represents Israel going into the desert for 40 years. Well, Jesus, the New Israel, goes into the desert for 40 days and wrestles with evil and temptations.

Christianity is smart. Lent is a season - a long season - but just a season. The Church knows we can’t sustain the same thing over and over again every day. Too much of the same thing is often too much. The ongoing can make us numb. And so we have vacations and weekends. We need breaks. We need to break the sameness. So we have holidays and holydays. So we have the Sabbath. And it’s good for Christians to attend a retreat once and a while.

So we have Lent – 40 days – a lot of days – but it’s not all days. To be human is to compartmentalize and break things down into weeks, months, seasons. Islam has the month of Ramadan – 30 days of fasting.

Lent is 40 Days. We all got marked with ashes on Wednesday as a community. Now as a community we do penance – but as Jesus said in the Ash Wednesday gospel, do the penance without tooting one’s horn.

So Lent is a time to desert the dessert table. It’s a time of fasting. It’s a time of turning off the TV more – fasting from that a bit. It’s a good time to take walks. Hey, the weather is getting better and hopefully the snow is disappearing.

It's wise to take a lot of good walks away from the ordinary and into the extraordinary within us. Walking is good for the soul.

To walk down deep into the desert of our soul – and maybe it has been deserted – and God is waiting there as the Alone in the alone of all of us.

So Lent is a good time to escape, to retreat, to walk away and walk into the temple of our soul.

Now the big message – the theme of this homily: if you go into the desert of your soul, expect temptations. They are part of the landscape. Temptations come with the territory.

RETREATS – TEMPTATIONS

For 14 years of my life I worked in two different retreat houses giving retreats.

Somewhere early on – on some retreat, someone asked me a question I had never heard before, “How come when I go on retreat, I have a lot more temptations?”

I didn’t know the answer.

Then someone else asked me the same question again. Once more I couldn’t give an answer.

Then I started making 8 day silent retreats at the Jesuit Retreat House in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. On a retreat Frank Miles, a wonderful Jesuit priest, asked me to reflect on Jesus’ temptations in the desert.

It was then I realized that’s part of what it means to become quiet and make a good retreat. What hit Jesus hits all those who go into the desert of self: temptations.

When we go into the desert to get closer to God, surprise, we get closer to the devil.

It’s one of life’s “Uh oh’s.” No wonder people don’t make retreats. No wonder people don’t pray. No wonder people fill up prayer time with words, babble, reading. No wonder people avoid silence (the theme of my homily for last Sunday).

The closer we get to God, the closer we get to the devil.

It brought me back to the great book by C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters. He says it all in there. He tells us how the Devil works.

It’s actually obvious. “Nature hates a vacuum,” as I’m sure you’ve heard. Benedict Spinoza said that in his Ethics, from way back in 1677. Turn off the distractions, and we turn on to other distractions. Turn off the TV and spend that gained time in prayer and the screen of our mind will show lots of things to think about. We have lots of channels and programs playing on the different stations of your mind.

So when people pray, I say, expect distractions. You don’t have to go to confession about them. They are part of the landscape of prayer.

So Lent is a retreat – a 40 day retreat – into the desert of self – and expect temptations.

Jesus retreated into the desert and had great temptations.

What are your temptations? What are your 3 biggest temptations?

THREE POINTS

So on this first Sunday of the 40 days of Lent that started with Ash Wednesday, when Ashes, our mortality, is rubbed in our face, the readings get us to face our temptations.

Luke talks about 3 temptations. Each First Sunday of Lent I wrestle with how to make sense of these 3 temptations. This year I found myself wording and working on them this way:

First Temptation: The Easy Way Out or Laziness!
Second Temptation: Give Me the Power and The Glory!
Third Temptation: Taking Risks or Risky Behavior

In this homily let me spell out these 3 a bit more. The second one, “Power” is not that difficult to understand. The first one, “The Easy way out” is a bit foggy and the 3rd one, "Risky Behavior” is not as clear as I would like. Sorry. It’s not you. It’s me.

1) THE EASY WAY OUT

The first temptation to reflect upon is, “The Easy Way Out.” To take the easy way out. To not do anything. To sit back and be lazy.

Jesus is hungry and the devil tempts him to change a rock, perhaps the shape of a loaf of bread, into bread.

That’s the temptation to wish we could just snap our fingers and solve our problems – or let someone else do all the work.

However, to have our daily bread, we have to go and work.

To have our daily bread, we have to buy the wheat seeds. We have to dig the soil, plant the seed, and then water it. Then wait. Then water. Then wait. Then water. Then we have to harvest the wheat. Then we have to crush it and make meal and flour – or however bread is made – then bake it and then slice it or break it.

Bread takes work and time.

Or okay, you’re not into baking, you buy packaged bread at the supermarket. You still have to get out of bed each day and get to work to earn your daily bread.

So too all the work in raising kids.

Things don’t just happen. We have to make things happen.

Life is the long struggle – but the temptation is to cut corners. The temptation is to avoid work. The temptation is laziness. To duct tape life. Sloppiness. Procrastination. To bury our talents in the ground. To put things off. To do nothing. To waste a life.

So that’s the first temptation – to be lazy and let things happen instead of making them happen.

2) GIVE ME POWER & THE GLORY

The second temptation is to seek power and glory for ourselves – instead of using our powers and gifts to serve one another.

We have wonderful gifts and powers:
· the power of speech,
· the power of listening,
· the power of imagination,
· the power of money,
· the power of sex,
· the power of being a male,
· the power of being a female,
· etc.

How well do I use my powers and do I use them to build others up or to build myself up.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Give God the Glory!”

Power is tricky.

There is a temptation to Lord it over others – to act like God – out of laziness – or feelings of inferiority – or knowing down deep we are not God.

The devil asks Jesus to give him the power and the glory.

We’ve all heard the saying from Lord Acton of England, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Power is sneaky. It needs to be watched.

Those of you who are married know the power of sex. Do you use it well – to embrace, to help, to love one another?

You who are well married know that the word “intercourse” means to talk, to communicate, to use the language of love – that it’s not just a physical moment – but it’s a 24-7 communication – that love making needs to include working and walking with each other – cooperating and eating and sharing and communicating with each other. You know that using or withholding sex can be a powerful weapon – instead of a way of expressing our love for one another.

Money is power – the so called “God Almighty Dollar” – and it can be used to help or hurt folks.

A car has power – how well do I drive?

Alcohol has power – it can help folks relax in moderation – but it can also powerfully destroy human beings and wrap people around a bottle.

Power is tricky.

Look at the problem of priests who abused people. As I listened to people who have given us workshops on this, I kept on hearing that it is an abuse of power.

As I reflected on today’s gospel and the phrase in it that we all know, “The Power and the Glory” – I wondered about Graham Greene’s book by that title. I hadn’t read it in years. So I did a bit of research on it. It’s a powerful story of a priest – the so called, “Whiskey Priest” and his Calvary, his cross, his being hunted in Mexico at a time no priests were allowed. I remember reading it slowly and so much hit me – his dealing with redemption and pain and suffering. It’s a good read for Lent.

Well surprise, I found out something I didn’t know. Graham Greene wrote the book in 1940. 13 years later, 1953, a Cardinal Pizzardo in Rome condemned it. Then a Cardinal Griffin in England, condemns it – along with two books other books, his so called, “Catholic Novels”: Brighten Rock and The Heart of the Matter. Evelyn Waugh, a friend of Graham Greene said to him, “Why don’t you wait 13 years to reply?”

In reading about this I noticed the following: Graham Greene meets Paul VI who said to him on the side, “Some aspects of your books are certain to offend some Catholics but you should pay no attention to them.”

3) RISKY BUSINESS

The third temptation is to take unhealthy risks.

The devil asks Jesus to jump off the temple and let the angels catch him.

We need to exercise and eat right. We need to get medical checkups. We need to take care of our health. Smoking and couch potatoing are not smart.

We need to drive carefully and wear seat belts and get our car serviced – and to check our tires.

Common sense instead of a sense of reckless risk taking is the call of life.

We need to be aware of the danger of having an affair – that it can endanger our marriages and our families.

We need to be wise with our spending – keeping within our budget.

We need to pray and have a healthy spiritual life.

And then there is the risk of hell. I don’t know about you, but I don’t worry about hell in the hereafter as much as going to hell in the here and now – thru risky behavior and risky attitudes.

It’s not smart to walk on the edge of the cliff of danger – expecting God to rescue me – or to blame God when we go over the edge.

I remember being stationed with a priest who slowly drank himself to death. We intervened. We tried to get him help – but he resisted strongly. I remember writing a poem called, “Slow Suicide.” In it I was saying you're not killing yourself with one shot, but many shots.

Risky behavior.

Taking risks can be a dangerous temptation.

CONCLUSION

This homily is too long. I went overtime. I didn’t practice what I preached – one of the regular sins of preachers.

So I conclude by saying, these 3 temptations are right there in the Our Father.

The first and third are in the regular part of the Our Father, “Give us this day our daily bread” and “Lead us not into temptation.” The second is found in the old addition to the Our Father which Protestants say right at the end of the Our Father and Catholics say at Mass right after a short prayer.

“For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The 4 paintings on top are Temptation of Christ [1982-2002], by James B. Janknegt

Check http://bcartfarm.blogspot.com/ --- for a look at his religious paintings.

ACTING  SECRETS

February 20, 2010

Quote of the Day:

On acting: “Come to work on time, know your lines and don`t bump into the other actors.”

Spencer Tracy [1900-1967]

ACTING  SECRETS

February 19, 2010

Quote of the Day:


On acting: “Talk low, talk slow, and don’t say too much.”


John Wayne [1907-1979]

THEREFORE
CHOOSE LIFE

INTRODUCTION

Today, the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, has two good readings for our reflection.

Today's first reading, Deuteronomy 30: 15-20, has one of the great texts and the great scenes of the Bible. Moses has the whole crowd before him and says, “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom.”

He then goes on to spell out what will bring life and what will bring death. Then he says, “Therefore, choose life!”

So I would like to reflect on that theme: “Choose life!”
It's the basic theme of Psalm 1 as well as Robert Frost's famous poem, "The Road Not Taken."

GEORGE WALD

Many years ago I was driving somewhere and listening to the car radio. The late Dr. George Wald (1906-1997), a famous Harvard biologist, was giving a lecture on those words from Moses, “Choose life!” He said that is the goal of religion, yet there have been religions that have chosen death - killing people!

He said the choice is biophilia or necrophilia. We know the meaning of the Greek in these words: "bios" being the word for "life" and "nekros" being the word for "dead body" - and "philos" being the word for "love".

I remember Dr. George Wald spoke about the traditional scenario or question, “If you were going to be stuck on a deserted island for a year or for years and you could have only one book, what book would you choose?” I recently heard someone answer: “Boatbuilding for Dummies.” George Wald answered the question immediately and with surety. He said he would choose the Bible. And he loved this text from Deuteronomy: “Choose life!”

The Bible gives life!

THE BIBLE AS A WEAPON

Yet I would add that some people take texts from the Bible and slam others with them. Or they put people in hell. Or they use Sacred Texts to go around killing people in the name of religion.

QUESTIONAIRE

If you were stuck on a deserted island for a year and could only have one book, what book would you choose?

Or before answering that answer these questions:

Looking at your life, what gives you life? What gives you death aches?

Looking at your vacations, what vacations give you life, what vacations give you death? I did an evaluation on my vacations once and changed my vacation plans.

Looking at your Sundays, your Sabbaths, what ones give life? What ones kill you?

Looking at your evenings, what gives life? What brings on death?

QUESTION MARK???
The question mark is shaped the way it is for a reason. The purpose of a question is to hook us?

Some people avoid questions and they are all answers.

It’s good to start Lent with questions. Where am I? What’s going on? Why am I doing what I’m doing? Ooops – before that question: What am I doing?

Am I happy with my use of time? Do I have enough time? Who, where, what, is getting my time and my life?

This Lent do I need to go for more or less – emptying or filling?

Once, while wondering about all this I asked myself, “What am I going to do for vacation this year?” Then I asked myself, “What does a good vacation look like for me? What were my best vacations?”

I ended up deciding on vacations that included lots of walking and time with friends – hiking – camping – away from gadgets – were the best vacations in my life. I have fond memories of vacations in the Rockies in Colorado, the White Mountains in New Hampshire and part of The Long Trail in Vermont.

I also reflected on what kills me: too much sugar, that is before I found out I have Type 2 diabetes, getting to bed too late, not saying “no” enough, working too much, not taking my day off, not exercising, poor planning, putting off mail, etc.

It then hit me to ask the opposite question: What gives me life?

I jotted down answers: when working, work, when playing, play, when praying, pray, when eating, taste what you’re eating, when with friends, be with friends.

These simple questions got me – not all the time – but sometimes to be a better listener, not to look at my watch, to take more walks, to enjoy more sleep, to read smarter, and to laugh more.

These simple questions got me – not every time – to bring Jesus in the playground of my life – and I could hear him saying, “Study people: Notice old people don’t get as upset as younger people. Notice children – they know the importance of older people and relationships.

This is the stuff of wisdom. This is the stuff of prayer. Prayer often starts with good questions.

ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA
St. Ignatius of Loyola [1491-1556], the founder of the Jesuits, was off on the paradox of life and death - pain and gain. At times what seems to give life sometimes kills us; at times what seems to kill us, can bring life.”

This paradox – became his principle of discernment. This paradox gets us to ask the simple question: In the long run, is this going to kill me or give me life?

It’s a cliché to say all this. Yet this message of death & resurrection seems to be lost in the shuffle at times because it’s so simple and so basic.

Jesus says in today’s gospel [Luke 9:22-25] that if we want to be his follower we must let go, deny our very self, take up his cross each day and follow in his steps.

That does not sound like choosing life.

Yet we know it’s true. We know that to master a sport, we have to do a lot of sweating and practice. To learn to master the piano, we must do a lot of practice.

Those who look at the pain and not the gain or the end result often avoid the pain and get nowhere.

CONCLUSION

So the message is obvious: “Therefore choose life!”

Choose Jesus, who said of himself, “I have come that you might have life and that you might have it to the full.” (John 10:10)

We who have chosen Christ, have chosen life.

Too often we haven’t. As the old saying goes, “If you are happy, let your face know it.” If you are alive, let us see Christ in you and your behaviors.

Teach remedial reading skills. Feed the hungry. Listen to the lonely. Work hard. Surprise! You’ll find yourself more alive almost immediately!

Die to self so others can rise.




This is a sermon I gave for some Thursday after Ash Wednesday

WE WANT 

OTHERWISE

Quote of the Day -  February 18,  2010

"And that's the way it is."

Walter Cronkite [1916-2009]. His sign-off sentence on CBS Evening News

SILENCE!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Silence!”

In T.S. Eliot’s long poem, entitled, Ash Wednesday, he writes, “Where shall the word be found, where will the word / Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence.” [Ash Wednesday, 1930, V.]

T. S. Eliot in that same poem has the prayer, “Teach us to sit still.”

THIS HOMILY, THIS LENT

In this Ash Wednesday homily for this Lent, I’m making the suggestion to myself and to others to become more quiet as a Lenten practice.

Now there are many things we can do for Lent. We can do do’s and we can do don’ts.

As the poet, T.S. Eliot, indicated in his Ash Wednesday poem, maybe we’ll hear the word more if we practice more silence and quiet in our lives. Maybe we’ll hear God more and each other more.

I don’t know about your life, but I’m feeling the need for more space and quiet in my life and I don’t even have a cell phone. Does that make me a Neanderthal? However, when I’m on duty, I carry the duty cell phone with me – so I know what a cell phone is.

We begin Mass and movies and lectures now with the announcement: “Would everyone please check their cell phones and put them on quiet.”

That’s easy compared to putting our inner chat, chat, chat, on quiet.

But cell phones could be a visible way of becoming more reflective.

Looking around I see lots and lots of people on cell phones – on the street – while driving – while eating.

Today’s Baltimore Sun in a front page article says young people from 8 to 18 years old – according to a study – spend on the average 7 ½ hours per day with electronic devices: TV - 4 hours 29 minutes; music and audio devices (iPods, etc.) - 2 hours and 31 minutes; computers -1 hour and 29 minutes, video games 1hour 13 minutes, etc. etc. etc. [Feb. 17, 2010]

The plus side could be parents had it easier during these locked in snow days. That’s young people, but what about all people?

Like food – electronic devices can be great – enjoyable – but like too much food – we can become fat and bloated with our intake.

I’m suggesting fasting – make fast exits from too much chat, chat, chat, games, games, games, computer, computer, computer, text, text, text, twitter, twitter, twitter, TV, TV, TV., E-mail, e-mail, e-mail.

Someone e-mailed me today saying she heard robins. Can spring be near? Do people with things in their ears hear the twitter of robins?

Lent is a good time to fast from too much – and reflect on our life.

The hope for Lent is that we do something to improve our lives as Christians and the lives of others during these 40 Days of Lent. Jesus went into the desert – alone – into the quiet – and heard God his Father as well as life’s big temptations – big time – and he came out of the desert after 40 days a changed and charged person.

The hope for Lent is that we do something to improve our world – our homes, our places of work – our places of recreation – our neighborhood – starting with ourselves.

One suggestion: Silence – a very difficult experience at times.

There is something in us that doesn’t like someone doing this to us: “Silence” [Finger of lip gesture] or the dreaded word, “Shush!” or the angry words, “Shut up!”

Lent is a good time to become silent, to shush, to shut up.

If you are here in Annapolis, drop into church or the Eucharistic Chapel when it’s quiet or if there is a church near where you work – drop in for some quiet time.

If you have a quiet place in your home – if you have a good place to hide – hide and pray. Do you have a man cave or a woman shrine?

You heard Jesus say in today’s gospel, “But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And the Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

Jesus was talking from experience. He often escaped to quiet places.

This Lent take long walks by yourself. This Lent enjoy quiet time.

Think about Pascal’s intriguing comment, “I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, our inability to sit still in a room.” Pensees [1670], # 139

Try leaving your cell phone and your worries in another room.

We are living in a world of increasing calls and interruptions.

CONCLUSION – THE RESULTS

The results of silence can be peace – insight – understanding.

The results of silence can be we’ll hear a lot more after silence.

The results can be we’ll discover an old a new novel – or a non-fiction book or the scriptures that has great insights for our spiritual life.

Enough. Silence. I better practice what I’m preaching.

REPENTENCE

February 17, 2010

Quote of the Day:

“Repentence is not self-regarding, but God-regarding. It is not self-loathing, but God-loving.”

Fulton J. Sheen [1885-1979], Peace of Soul, 1949

Picture is part of the background painting behind the main altar in the main chapel of Malvern Retreat House, Malvern, Pennsylvania. Picture includes St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Maximillian Kolbe, Frederick Ozanam, St. Martin de Porres.