It’s a cold December night, But for a change, the stars are out, Sparkling as if recently polished because company is coming. Orion reclines on the horizon As if he really were a god tired of the rut. The wind bullies the trees. I like to think it’s caused by the confusion of angels, Their wings beating at the speed of hummingbirds, Flitting from those who pray for their own needs Towards those who pray for others, then back again, Never getting anything done. But I know there are neither pagan gods Nor confused messengers of light. At the soul of this most beautiful universe There is only the elemental elegance of vibrating strings. And I know it’s true, because, on nights like this, I can feel the sympathetic reverberations in my heart. Yes, I know a wise man would go back inside his house To the warmth of his family and friends And explain these oscillations in terms they might understand, Like the vibrations of the guitar strings he plays As they sing Christmas carols; And failing that, Point to the tinsel which hangs from the Christmas tree With the angel impaled on top, And how the strands tremble as the model train encircles it. To which someone says that it sounds like “Cat’s Cradle,” And everyone laughs and drinks and feels better. But this is not a wise man shivering out here, Watching Orion get to his feet.
I live a city life. My day is measured by Commercial and electronic rulers: the news on
NPR, not nature. Solstice or not, my life is Friends and relatives. In winter, there are special meals with close
friends to acknowledge the holiday season, We can’t ignore lights strung on trees and
decorated store windows, But darkness or light does not make the meal. In December, I lunch with a relative here to see
Xmas and welcome the New Year. Now, after the first, I am sitting on my couch
with another out-of-towner who seeks work to spend ten months having a NY City
experience. The only difference between now and June is the
weather. Up at 8:00. To bed at – More light or less. It’s the people I’m with or
not who determine my day, not the weather.
The title of my homily for December 17th, is, “The Domino Effect.”
It’s won’t be about the square pizza boxes with the round
pizzas inside the box – but those
plastic tiny plastic rectangles – that are used in the game of Dominos.
GAMES, GAMES,
GAMES
For the past 19 years my sister-in-law and my brother’s
daughters get together for Thanksgiving week – with their families. They rent
one of those big, big, houses at Virginia Beach, or Rehobeth, or Deep Creek
Lake or the Outerbanks in North Carolina. This year we had lots of folks
together at Virginia Beach. It makes for a great Thanksgiving Week.
In the generation before that we met as a family – but
just for a few days every year at Thanksgiving in one of homes – one of which
was a big retreat house where I was stationed in San Alfonso, Long Branch, N.J.
– on the ocean.
And one of the things we do all week is play games –
besides Turkey, food, a good walk every day – and talk every night – well into
the dark.
I like to stand there – off to the side – and just watch
our family in progress – and we’ve come a long way from babies.
Over there are 3 people doing a jigsaw puzzle. Over in
that corner are 4 people playing cards: Shanghai Rummy, Over there are 4 people
playing Boggle. Over there are people
playing Monopoly or Clue or what have you. Over there are 5 people playing
dominos.
When we were growing up – we used to say the family
rosary - together. It took about 15 minutes – but it felt like 15 hours. “Ugh!”
at times. We also played lots of card games. That was a lot more fun – and we felt
like we never had enough time.
There was a saying when I was growing up in the 1940’s and 1950’s, “The family
that prays together, stays together.”
Looking back now I would also add, “The family that plays
together stays together.”
THE DOMINO
EFFECT
Today’s gospel – Matthew 1: 1-17 - is how the Gospel of
Matthew opens up. It’s a genesis. It gives
the geneology of Jesus according to Matthew.
Matthew starts
with Abraham and goes to Jesus. He gives
this long list of names in groups of 14. Luke does it from Jesus back to Adam.
I love reading those fascinating names – many of which
are hard to pronounce. We were told: “Just pronounce them with authority and
loud and clear.” For example, Matthew’s list has “Abraham, Amminadab, Abijah,
Asaph, Amos, Abiud, Azor, Achim….” And those are only the names that begin with
“A”.
I hear some priests not liking this gospel when it’s
read. I love it.
THREE LESSONS
Let me give three lessons from this gospel of Matthew.
But first me first talk about “The Domino Effect.”
Someone somewhere along the line must have had a box of
dominos – but nobody to play – so they lined them up on their side – and then
started a chain reaction toppling of the dominos.
What was created was the so called, “Domino Effect.”
Type into Google, “The Domino Effect” and you’ll come up
with this Guinness Book of Records enterprise that people around the world like
to do.
One YouTube will show some young people in Norway trying
to set a domino effect fall of 150,000 dominos. Next someone tried to top that
and lined up 250,000 and on and on and on.
I noticed last night that one domino effect set-up used 4 million, 491,863
domino. That’s a lot of dominos. It took some 90 people 2 months to line them
all up.
It’s all filmed. Check it out. Maybe we could collect all the unused dominos
in Annapolis and find a big hall – and see what we could pull off. I’m sure
they leave different sections separate just in case someone bumps one domino
too soon – and the whole enterprise topples down before its time.
FIRST LESSON:
THE GIFT OF LIFE
The first lesson from the Domino Effect for me is to
realize all the people that are part of my line – to get me into existence for
my turn at life.
Just like today’s gospel, someone begat someone – and on and on and on down to
me.
Pinch yourself.
Each of us is like just one domino – on a long, long, long, long, long line of
dominos.
I love to quote the comment by Groucho Marx.
“If your parents didn’t have any kids, chances are you won’t either.”
Pinch yourself – in a prayer of Thanksgiving for the gift
of life.
As priest I get nervous that I didn’t have any kids – yet
a priest is called “father”. That teaches me that it’s not just our parents who
parent us. Teachers, coaches, aunts, uncles, priests, ministers, rabbis, all
contribute to our upbringing. Yet that domino thing hits me every time. My line
stops with me. “Uh oh!”
SECOND LESSON:
THE GIFT OF FAITH
I notice family members who have dropped out of the
practice of our faith.
I am a Catholic because my parents were Catholics in Ireland and I assume their
parents were Catholic and back and back and back and back and back.
I wonder what if someone way back way back dropped out –
and then came back again. Or was their one convert way back when?
I wonder about the larger number of Catholics who have
given up their faith – or dropped out of going to Mass, etc. etc. etc. Are they
stopping the Domino Effect of faith for people to come?
THIRD LESSON:
THE LITTLE EVERYDAY INTERACTIONS
The third lesson concerns the little everyday
interactions we have with each other.
Smiles beget smiles; scowls beget scowls.
Random acts of kindness beget random acts of kindness.
I remember seeing as a kid a cartoon about the Domino
Effect.
A general calls in a Colonel – and yells at him. The
Colonel then goes out and yells at a Lieutenannt – who then goes out and yells
at a Captian – who then yells at a seargeant, who then yells at a private – who
then goes out and yells or kicks a dog – and the dog then goes and starts
chasing and barking at a car.
Is the angry person a long line of angry people – and we
are just seeing one angry person?
I’m sure from time to time we’ve all experienced the Domino
Effect in traffic, in school, at home amongst brothers and sisters.
CONCLUSION
Give this stuff some time and some food for thought.
Amen.
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL
Poem for today, Wednesday, December 17, 2014
MIRROR
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful ‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
The title of my homily for this 3rd Tuesday in Advent is,
“Who Said, ‘You Can’t Change Your Mind’”?
Sometimes people get mad at others – when they change their mind
about something. Their memory is like a
video or recording device and they dig up a comment the other person made years
ago. They blurt out a comment, “Wait a minute, 5 years ago you said just the
opposite.”
Who said, “We can’t change our mind”?
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel – Matthew 21: 28-32 - tells the story of 2 sons – both of
whom change their minds.
One said “No” to his father – but then changed his mind and said “Yes”
in his mind and did what his father asked him to do in the first place.
The other said “Yes” to his father’s request – and then did “no” with
his feet – walking away from his “mouth” yes.
Change: it happens.
LET’S GO TO THE
VIDEO TAPE
Werner Wolf – a TV sports guy here in Maryland and then New York and
then the nation used to have a one liner: “Let’s go to the video tape?”
He was doing what coaches and teams were doing all the time.
“Let’s go to the video tape?”
When I take my afternoon walk through the Naval Academy I notice near
the sports field these guys with video cameras up on portable towers filming
the practices. Then I’m sure that coaches and staff study the film and then
point out to players – moves that help – and moves that don’t.
I was once doing a baptism of a grandnephew. During the ceremony with
the whole family watching, I dropped the
book into the baptismal font. Everyone laughed. I didn’t. Then when we got back
to my niece’s house, one of the older kids invited everyone to the big tv for
the showing of the baptism. When we came to the moment of the humble of the
ceremony book into the water, this kid says, “Let’s go to the video tape?” And
they showed it over and over and over again.
I assume everyone who knows us has a whole library of video tapes that
they play over and over again – especially of our bad stuff – how we pick on so
and so – and how we are always so nice to so and so.
I was on a high school retreat with some of our seniors last week. High school kids often are giving replays of
their teachers mannerisms, quirks, behaviors, favorites, etc., etc., etc.
Just listen. Just watch.
I’m sure when you come to church – you see scenes – you’ve seen before –
over and over again. I’m sure you hear sermons or examples you’ve heard before.
A key New Testament word is “metanoia”. It’s in today’s gospel – and
it’s often translated “repentence”.
Various scholars say that’s a horrible translation.
Then they add that the word “repentence means a lot more than that. It means for
starters “a change of mind.”
Then a change of behavior – for the better – that comes from a change of
mind.
I would assume that change is a difficult process.
It starts with seeing – Let’s go to the video tape – and then seeing how
what we say and do impacts others – and then we see options – other ways of
seeing and doing life – then choosing the more loving behavior and then to do
it and then seeing how others react for the better because we’re nicer, more
giving, more understanding, more loving.
CONCLUSION So today's gospel story of the son who said, "No!" and then did "Yes" can be our story as well. Amen.
