INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this Thursday in the Third Week of Advent is, “How Was It?”
In the second half of life, do we all look back on our life and talk to ourselves
about how it was?
Then
it’s nice if there is somebody – or somebodies - who are willing to ask us,
“How was it?”
“How
was what?” we counter.
“Our
lives" comes the answer.
How was our life?
And
then they listen – they hear us out!
BRENDAN
I
remember I ran into a guy – Brendan - a
confrere – a Redemptorist – whom I sort of accidentally asked, “How’s it
going?”
I
didn’t know he had just come back a week
earlier from a 4-month Sabbatical at Notre Dame in Indiana. He had just made a continuing education
program for priests.
I
had time. He had time. He talked. I listened.
So,
he told me all that he had experienced – side trips – football games – books –
experts – learnings.
And
he said at the end: “Thanks for asking. You’re the first person who did.”
I
learned from that moment – seeing Brendan’s face and hearing his enthusiasm. So from then on: whenever I heard of a guy who took a Sabbatical, I’d ask, “How Was It?”
I
made that part of my life – to do that.
X
As
I thought about that - I realized I still have a beef about something that used to happen during the 8 ½ years I was in Lima, Ohio.
Myself and another guy used to do parish
missions out of Lima - working as a preaching team - working in lots and lots of parishes.
We’d
get back from a parish mission and show up for breakfast the next morning – and
one guy there would never ask, “How was it?” Instead he would be reading the
morning newspaper – as if we had never left town.
That
was one of those inner gripes – we never say – moving around in our inner cage.
Grrrrrrr! Gripe!
BARREN
These
thoughts hit me when I read today’s two readings.
In
both readings the word “barren” appears. Two women are without children – the
number 1 answer women answer with when
asked “How was your life?”
Out
come the pictures. Out come the stories.
So,
Samson’s mom – didn’t have Samson yet – to tell the world about her Rockyesque
like son. So too Elizabeth didn’t have her son John the Baptist yet – to brag
to the world about.[Cf. Judges 3: 2-7, 24-25a; Luke 1: 5-25]
We
who have chosen celibacy – we who have not had children – hopefully we are not
barren. We have life to talk about. I always like to ask teachers: “Did you ever
have a student – whom you knew was going to become a star – and he or she became a star?”
ERIK
ERIKSON
I
have always liked Erik Erikson’s 8 stages of life.
I
have asked thousands – stress on thousands of people: “Did you write your
autobiography yet?”
At
funerals of older folk, I like to repeat a quote I once heard, “When an old
person dies, it’s as if a whole library has burnt down.”
Imagine
the autobiographies in this room – hopefully one or two written down - and all the rest are at least a talking or audio books.
Erik
Erikson’s 7th stage of life is Generativity vs. Stagnation.
What
have I done with my life?
Now
this can be a dangerous topic – because sometimes some people never got the opportunity to star? It could be health reasons or what have you.
But
for those who had the opportunities - hopefully we can all make a decent account
of our stewardship.
CONCLUSION
So
hopefully, with the grace of God we have not stagnated.
And
the added beauty of it is, if we have stagnated, we can all change and come into the
garden – in the last hour. Amen.
So the title of my homily was: "How Was It?"
Maybe that’s what God asks us when we walk into – the banquet hall –
as well as all those who will be waiting for us.
“How was it?”
Knowing
me I’ll say, “How was it?” That’s not the question. It’s, "How is it here?"
