the great grey granite mountains - and people, people everywhere. Check those noses and facial types. See those sizes - and shapes and height - and bellies and wrinkles. Notice those bugs and birds and beasts of all sizes, shapes and colors.
More: we have time to ponder and pray
and wonder about all these mysteries
around us - surrounding us - and then there are the questions: why God, why? Why did You make hippos and birds just sitting there on their backs - and all those different types of trees and leaves? Then there are the hundred, billion, trillion bits of little stuff - invisible to the normal eye - what's with taking care of all that? What are You - some kind of super dooper engineer - or juggler extraordinaire?
(c)
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
WHY CAN’T GOD
BE DIFFERENT
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Why Can’t God Be Different?”
I think that’s a thought a lot of people have.
We started the Letter
to the Romans yesterday and we will have it as our first reading at almost
every weekday Mass for the next 4 weeks.
I’m looking forward to hearing Paul’s Letter to the Romans and see what it
will says to me in these 4 weeks to come. I assume I’m in a different place
than I was 2 years ago when we went through Romans for those readings. I’m interested
in hearing what hits me in the next four weeks.
FAITH
So last night I went through today’s first reading from
Romans. Chapter 1 verses sixteen to twenty five
- reading and wondering what would hit me.
I noticed right there after today’s text begins, one of
the main themes of Paul’s Letter to the
Romans. It’s faith.
And Paul gives us his insight into faith. Faith is
accepting God as God is - not as we want God to be - or how we picture God to
be.
Let me repeat that. Faith is accepting God as God is -
not as we want God to be.
Sound familiar. It’s the same act of acceptance we need
to make in every relationship - because in every relationship the other person
is the way the other person is - not the way we think they are - not the way we
want them to be - but the person is who they actually are.
Want peace? Get that.
Want peace? Accept that. Want an easier life? De-imagine who we imagine
the other to be. This should lead to
listening - stepping back - asking questions - checking things out - and slowly
learning how the other operates.
Get this and we make one key step towards family and
marriage happiness.
Deal with each other the way the other is.
Sorry. That’s the way it is.
I’ve often think and come back to a statement I heard
many years ago: “The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of
the other person.”
We want other people to be other than they are. I live
with all these other priests here at St. Mary’s. Of course I often want them to
be different than they are and I assume they want me to be different than I am.
GOD
We do the same thing with God.
Paul learned that faith is faith in the God, God is.
In today’s first reading he talks about all these other
things we make God out to be - all of which are not God. They are lesser than God. Our minds become
clouded and darkened and we end up messed up - floating around following false
Gods.
SONG BY PATSY
CLINE
I recently listened to a CD of Patsy Cline’s country
Western songs. I like her twang and sound and how she puts her whole self into
a song. Plus I understand the lyrics - loud and clear. This afternoon I’m going
on a 4 day high school retreat and Ginny and the kids play a lot of songs - the
words of which I do not get in the slightest.
And I wonder about Patsy Cline - when will kids discover your songs?
There it is, the human wanting of people to be different
than they are.
I do it all the time.
Patsy Cline seems to have a broken heart in a lot of her
songs - but they still give a lot to think about.
When I was preparing this homily I thought of her song,
“Why Can’t He Be You.” The thought that hit me is quite complex and I don’t
know if I can explain what I mean, but let me try.
In this song she finds herself broken up with someone she
wishes he didn’t break up with her. She’s now with someone new. This new guy
brings her to the places she used to go with the first guy and she sings, “Why
can’t he be you?” This new guy brings her
flowers, calls by the hour, nice, but she sings, “Why can’t he be you?” This
new guy tells her he loves her so, but she sings, “Why can’t he be you?” Her
friends tell her this new guy talks about how wonderful she is, behind her
back, but she sings, “Why can’t he be you?”
She also sings that the first guy didn’t do any of these
nice things - but she still loves him so.
She wants different. In fact, she wants both men to be
different than they are.
Don’t we all?
I suspect a lot of people have a list of all the nice
things they want from God and how they want God to act. Down deep, their prayer
is: “My will be done.”
We see others and
the nice things they do, but it seems God doesn’t do these things we want. So we sing, “Why can’t God be like I expect God
to be?”
CONCLUSION
In Paul’s Letter to Romans God is God and God does as God
does, and happiness is accepting God as God is. Amen.
The title of my homily is, “The Letter to the Romans.”
Today, Monday, October 12 till Saturday, November 7th,
we have on weekdays - for the first reading, The Letter to the Romans.
At times there will be feasts or what have you - and
other first readings will be used. I also know at times other priests switch to
other first readings. Yet in general, we have starting today, 4 weeks of The Letter to the Romans as our first
reading.
Let us make good use of this opportunity. We have these 4 weeks with Romans every other year - for our first reading.
When it comes to preaching I have been finding myself preaching on the
first reading more and more - because I’ve gone through the weekday gospels
every year - forever. So I look forward to what Romans will bring us.
KEY DOCUMENT
We were taught that the Letter to the Romans was a key New Testament document - more
important than others. Like the prettiest girl in the room, this letter stands
out - in the midst of all these other books of the Bible.
The Letter to the
Romans was very important to Augustine, Martin Luther, Karl Barth, Karl Rahner, Ernst Kasemann, Vincent
Taylor, Stanislaus Lyonnet - and many
more people who wrote about its substance and key concepts.
The more we come to weekday Masses - the more we become
conscious of differences. For example, hearing Romans is quite different from
hearing Corinthians and the other letters of Paul.
I hope as you listen to the first readings, you sense
that.
Romans is more theory and theology than the other
letters. It has less particulars - perhaps because Paul had not visited Rome
before he wrote this letter - like he had in the other letters.
ROME IS THE BIG
CITY
Acts 19:21 “… I must see Rome.”
Rome was the big city. And Paul became fixated getting
there - and pondering bringing Christ to the world. He knew Jerusalem was the capital of his
Jewish roots. But Christ was for the masses. Get to Rome. Get to the center of the world at that time. Get to the new beginning
Church in Rome.
The year was around 57 or 58 and Paul was in Corinth when he
wrote this letter.
He first had to go to Jerusalem with some money for the
Jerusalem church - but then he’d get to Rome - which he saw as the center of a
hub - so he had to get there - to get the wheels spinning for Spain and other
Roman colonies.
Paul was brought up and knew tried Judaism - with its
stress on law and control.
He began to discover in Christ grace and freedom and
mercy and love.
It took a while but in Christ he discovered the
importance of letting go and letting God be in control.
AN EXAMPLE
I was listening to Canadian Public Radio the other day
and they had on an interview with a former secret police guy in South Africa.
He had been in on killings and beatings and control.
After Apartheid he had a conversion to Jesus Christ - and
now he drives a big food truck to the poor.
The interviewer asked, “I guess you’re doing all this to make up for
your cruelty - to redeem yourself.”
And the man said, “No basically I’m doing all this because
people need food - and our prayers and our hopes. I sinned. Jesus has brought me forgiveness. Jesus has already brought us
into his kingdom and now we need to
bring his life to everyone - especially those who want a dinner on their table.
CONCLUSION
Amen. So in the next 4 weeks - become more and more
challenged by Paul's words and love for Jesus Christ and Christians.
