SIMPATICO

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Good Friday is, “Simpatico!”

I’m taking this theme from the second reading we heard tonight. [Cf. Hebrews 4: 14-16; 5: 7-9]

The author of the Letter to the Hebrew is describing Jesus – as a great high priest. He writes, “Brothers and sisters: Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.”

Then he writes, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses….”

Then he says that Jesus is approachable.

That’s my basic message in this Good Friday homily. Jesus is approachable, because he can sympathize with us. Jesus is “simpatico.”

OUR EULOGY

Wouldn’t “simpatico” be the one word we all would want in our eulogy? Wouldn’t we want our kids to describe us as approachable – understanding, sympathetic, empathetic – in a word, “simpatico”?

I’ve told at least 2 dozen people over the phone in my life – who live at a distance – and they are looking for a priest to talk to about a problem, “Go to churches in your area for Sunday Mass – and sit there and listen to the priest and watch him – and then ask and listen to your gut, “Could I talk to this guy? Is he approachable? If not, go to the next church?”

Looking back at our life, what principal, what coach, what boss, what teacher, was our favorite?

Of course we would want people that challenged us, people whom we learned from, but I’m willing to bet that one of their key ingredients – if not their best quality – was their ability to sympathize – to understand.

As the State Trooper on the highway approaches us with ticket pad in hand and we were going only 10, ten measly miles, over the speed limit, don’t we hope he or she has simpatico?

Don’t we hope the judge we approach – when we’re trying to get out of jury duty – has 10,000 ounces of simpatico? We gotta get out of this. We have take care of our Aunt Lizzy on Monday, baby sit for our daughters kids on Tuesday, etc. etc. etc.?

I remember I was on Jury Duty in New Jersey and I was in Jury Pool G and they were selecting jurors. We were standing in the back waiting to be called one by one to be one of possible 14 jurors in a case. Members of our pool would go to a seat, sit down, be asked a few questions, and then selected or rejected by the prosecution or the defense. Our occupations were listed next to our name. My name was called. I got to the seat – sat down – and no sooner had my butt touched the chair – did I hear the words, “Rejected” or whatever the word was. When those of us who were dismissed got back to the big holding room, we rejects were talking and someone said of me to our group. “Priest. Automatic reject Father. Automatic. You heard the case. Two guys raped another guy in prison. The prosecution would expect you to obviously be sympathetic.”

That hit me. Of course. That’s what people would hope in confession or whatever from a priest. Smile.

JESUS – SIMPATICO – BIG TIME

If we read the scriptures with this idea in mind, it’s obvious that Jesus was big time simpatico. This is what the Letter to the Hebrews we heard tonight pointed out.

He was born in a stable with animals. He came from a poor village. He reached out to people others were avoiding. He said, “Let the person here without sin, cast the first stone!” when the Scribes and the Pharisees wanted to trap him by bringing to him a woman caught in adultery. [ Cf. John 8:1-11]

That Jesus was filled with sympathy for others hit me as I was putting together this sermon today for Good Friday. That Jesus was filled with sympathy is the heart of the matter.

The word “simpatico” – originally coming from the same spelling word in Italian – then becomes the same word in Spanish, “simpatico,” and “sympathique” in French, and “sympatisch” in German. All have in the word, the original Greek and Latin words “pathos” and “pathia” meaning feelings, emotions, experience.

Good Friday is all about “The Passion of the Christ.”

Jesus cried, screamed, almost despaired, was lonely, felt all alone, needed companionship, these days, these nights, during this week of Passion – when he was celebrated on Palm Sunday, when he celebrated a big meal with his disciples, one of whom betrays him, when Peter, James and John, his 3 best friends, slept when he asked them to stay awake because he need them, when they all run away when he’s arrested, when he imprisoned, beaten, bloodied, crowned with thorns and beaten again and made fun of.

This Good Friday afternoon when he was judged and condemned to death, he didn’t get any sympathy from Pilate or the crowd, who chose a thief over him, screaming, “We want Barabbas!” and then they screamed, “Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!”

As priest I’ve gone through this Good Friday service a good 46 times. Now I’m not sure about this, but I sense, the younger the crowd, the louder the rejection – the older the crowd the more hard it is to say, “Take him away, taken him away! Crucify him.” and to yell, “We have no king but Caesar.”

SUFFERING AND SINS – MISTAKES AND MESS

Suffering and sins, mistakes and mess, make us more sympathetic – or can make us more sympathetic.

I often reflect on the quote I heard 40 years or so ago, “Suffering enters the human heart to create there places that never existed before.”

I always remember Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story where one woman says to another woman – a woman who is very proper and very priggish, “You know you ought to go out and commit a really good sin and then you might understand the rest of us.”

How many women have told me they have much more sympathy towards those who had an abortion after their moms or daughters told them that they had an abortion?

I remember hearing a priest give his A.A. talk and in it he told about all the mistakes he made in his life and I said to myself, “If I ever got messed up, here is the first priest in the United States I would call up and head to see.”

How many dads have told me that they became much more understanding of men who are gay, after their sons came to them and told them they were homosexual?

The Letter to the Hebrews says Jesus our High Priest went through it all – all except sin – but he can sympathize with our weaknesses – so let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

TONIGHT – THIS GOOD FRIDAY

Tonight – this Good Friday evening – stand under this gigantic cross and understand why well over a billion people in our world – still hang with him.

Tonight as you come from all parts of this church to kiss the cross of Jesus – know it’s the person who died on this cross – we’re centering in on – the one who died in excruciating pain. This is the Christ – this is the one whom we can always go to for sympathy – simpatico – love – passion – the one who knows our feelings – our passion – our passions.

Tonight, let us realize the more we unite with Christ, the more we will leave this church – and become simpatico with all the rest of us poor slobs and sinners in this world of ours. Amen.

THEOLOGY AND THE TRINITY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Theology and The Trinity.”

This Sunday is called, “Holy Trinity Sunday,” so obviously some comments about God and God as Trinity are called for.

Let me take 10 minutes to make 5 points. Check your watches. However, as we all know, sometimes 10 minutes feels like an hour and sometimes an hour feels like 10 minutes.

FIRST POINT: EVERYONE HAS IDEAS ABOUT GOD

Everyone has thoughts, ideas understandings, “figuring”s, about God.

What are yours?

If I asked you to give 5 thoughts – 5 understandings about God – what would they be? You’re allowed to have doubts as we heard in today’s gospel from Matthew (Cf. Matthew 28:17.)

Even atheists have thoughts about God. God doesn’t exist.

Theology means “words about God”. Everyone is a theologian – more or less – because everyone has words about God.

How have our inner words of and with God developed, changed, grown through the years?

Have you ever heard someone say something about God and you found yourself saying, “I don’t agree with that.” or, “That’s not my God.” or “That’s not my creed.”?

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Can everyone be right and nobody’s wrong when it comes to God?

What are your ideas and inner words about and with God?

SECOND POINT: ORIGINS – GOD IS OUR ORIGINS

We can assume that everyone in the world has a mom and a dad. As Descartes said, “Cogito, ergo sum.” “I think, therefore I am.” If I can think, I am here.

Well, then, if I am and I’m here, therefore I had to originate from a mom and a dad. That’s the way it works. See a person – see a mom and a dad.

We don’t say, “I believe you had a mom and a dad.” We know another has a mom and a dad.

We might have been adopted or what have you – but we still know we had parents.

Even if we know our parents, we might not know them as much as we would like – and hopefully we can get to know them better as life goes on.

Why don’t we apply these basic thoughts to God?

In my third year of college – in a philosophy course on God, called, “Theodicy,” I made a life changing move in my mind. I stopped believing in God – and I moved to saying in my mind, “I know there is a God.” I don’t say that to trigger a tiny tinge of the sensational, but with the hope you’ll think of the significant moments in your life when you had breakthroughs in your thoughts about and with God.

So I don’t believe in God, I know there is a God; just as I don’t believe you had parents, I know you had parents.

I was in my early 20’s when I took that philosophy course – and that realization has stayed with me ever since.

It is basically “The Watchmaker Argument for God” and it made sense to me.

And way before that moment in college, I remember when I was around 10 years old, I opened up the back of an old watch I found in a top drawer. It was stopped. With the back off, I wound it up by the stem. Amazing – tick, tick, tick – all those parts were moving. Amazing. It just didn’t happen. I wound that watch up. Also as a kid, I knew I didn’t make that watch. A watchmaker did. So when I see the stars and the deep night sky – also having gone to Hayden Planterium in New York City as a kid, having seen the Star War movies as well as 2001: A Space Odyssey, having seen the Moon Landings on TV, picturing the heavens all moving in wonderful sync, I say, “Wow! God! Universe Maker!” People coming into this church for the first time look at the ceiling, at the stars up here, and sometimes I’ve heard them go “Wow!” The hope is all will look out each night at the real thing and say, “Wow, God, wow!”

THIRD POINT: THEOLOGY AND SUFFERING

Figuring stuff out about God is what theology is all about. To become a priest I had 4 years of theology after college.

Then I had a whole life time as a priest to discover even more about God. My first big discovery after ordination is that many people discover “There is a God” from suffering.

In trying to keep this sermon to 10 minutes, let me sum up this third point about how people often come to God through suffering with a poem called “Fever” by John Updike who died recently.

FEVER

I have brought back a good message
from the land of 102 degrees.
God exists.
I had seriously doubted it before;
but the bedposts spoke of it with utmost confidence,
the threads in my blanket took it for granted,
the tree outside the window dismissed all complaints,
and I have not slept so justly for years.
It is hard, now, to convey
how emblematically appearances sat
upon the membranes of my consciousness;
but it is a truth long known,
that some secrets are hidden from health.

FOURTH POINT: THEOLOGY AND MAPS

Of my 5 points this is the most important point – and if this doesn’t grab you, this homily entitled, “Theology and the Trinity,” flops.

After I got ordained I discovered the writings of C.S. Lewis – who wrote a long time before I was ordained.

When I had to sit down with someone who was interested in becoming a Catholic, I checked out various catechisms. This was before the R.C.I.A. program. By trial and error, headiness and head scratching, I found C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity great.

As in everything, the teacher learned more than the student.

C.S. Lewis wrote a lot of books. Many folks are familiar with The Chronicles of Narnia or The Screwtape Letters. I became very familiar with Mere Christianity.

It came out in 1943 and it was basically some radio talks he had given and then put into print.

If you want some clarity for your theology, C.S. Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity, is a good place to start. It’s a thin paperback – 190 pages still being sold in Borders, Barnes and Noble or on line, or check the library. It’s worth owning your own copy. Mark it up big time.

Let me give one example from this former atheist that has helped me immensely.

In Book IV of Mere Christianity, “Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity,” in the chapter entitled, "Making and Begetting,"* C.S. Lewis tells the following story.

He was giving a talk to some members of the R.A.F, the Royal Air Force, when “an old hard-bitten officer got up and said, ‘I’ve no use for all that stuff. But, mind you, I’m a religious man too. I know there’s a God. I’ve felt him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that’s just why I don’t believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about him. To anyone who’s met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!’”

C.S. Lewis then says, “Now in a sense I quite agree with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of colored paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only colored paper but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single isolated glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America.”

C.S. Lewis then says that theology is like the map.

People are deeply moved by God experiences whether at the ocean or on a mountain or at Mass or while visiting Christ in our Eucharistic chapel. They might have the kind of experience that the old R.A.F. guy had in the desert.

C. S. Lewis says that pious feelings are nice – but if you want to get further, then you need a map.

Theology is the result of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people who brought up – talked about – their experiences of God. Theology is the result of Theologians dealing with God questions over a long period of time.

FIFTH AND LAST POINT: WHAT’S THE WATCHMAKER LIKE?

My last thought is a question: “What’s the watchmaker like?” This is where faith really comes into the picture.

I can figure out with reason that the Creator of this Universe likes math and movement – complexity and diversity – beauty and a lot of everything. There are millions and millions of mosquitoes. Why so many God? Why so many? They are ruining my picnic. And when it comes to “Why” questions, when it comes to suffering and surprises I don’t like, then I have to begin to rely more and more on faith.

And the big “WHY” questions are usually people questions – relationship questions – family questions. Why is so and so, so UGGGGROWLGROWLGROWLURRRZZHRZ!!???!!!!

Surprise the great Christian revelation is that God is Three Persons – who is One God – so in love with each other – that they wanted more in the Union. Hint. Hint. We are made in the image and likeness of God and when we three, when we are 3, 6 billion and are in union with each other and God, then we really are in the image and likeness of God.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Blessed Trinity. We can figure God out by reason – that God exists by reason – but what God is like calls for faith. Prayer is necessary.

We as Christians believe Jesus came to tell us what God is like: a Father, A Son, and A Holy Spirit – and they are love – every expanding love – that wants to bring us into the expansion.

Now that’s where mystery appears and that’s where faith is called for.

And that’s why we read the scriptures and come to church – week after week after week – with the hope that our knowledge of this mysterious Three in One God keeps growing.

And that’s why we don't just come to church alone – but most of the time we come with each other.

And after we die, there is going to be a lot more – and God has that map. Surprise.

*C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, page 135-137

WHAT DO I DO,
WHEN I DON’T GET
WHAT I WANT?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “What Do I Do When I Don’t Get What I Want?”

What do I do when I don’t get what I want?

We know what some little kids do. They scream. They stomp their feet. They make a scene. “I want my mommy and I want her now!” “I want ice cream and I want it now – just like the ice cream cone that kid there has!”

What do we big kids do when we don’t get what we want – and when we want it – like right now? “Where’s the heck is the waitress?!!!”

TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel [Luke 10:38-42] gives the first of the two famous Martha-Mary stories in the Gospels. The second story is the one when their brother Lazarus dies and they send for Jesus. [Cf. John 11]

Let’s look at today’s gospel story of Jesus visiting Martha and Mary.

It seems – based on the first reading – that the theme for today’s readings is hospitality. I began reflecting on that – and I’ve preached on that using these readings. [Cf. Genesis 18:1-10a]

Then the thought hit me about what do I do when I don’t get what I want?

My first answer is: it all depends.

It all depends on the situation – how much time I have – and it all depends on what it is that I’m not getting.

In today’s gospel Martha feels stuck doing the hospitality. Luke puts it this way: “with much serving.” Mary is just sitting there at Jesus’ feet listening to him – doing little serving.

Whenever I hear this story I have many wonderings and questions:

Would Jesus sing a different tune if Martha sat there at Jesus’ feet as well – and nobody served him?

Why didn’t he say to Martha, “Sit down. Relax. Let me serve both of you?”

When did Martha say to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” I can’t picture Mary sitting there as Martha said that out loud to Jesus. I assume this is a small house. I assume one went to the bathroom outside.

Did Martha make an angry “Huh!” sound when Jesus said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”?

What were conversations like between these two sisters every evening before and after this experience?

If Mary heard what Martha and Jesus said – at that moment – or afterwards, did she and Martha ever talk about it? Did they ever laugh about it? Did they ever argue over it? Or did they remain silent about it?

Is the purpose of this story that all of us have both a Martha and a Mary in us. We need to work, but also need to be reflective and contemplative?

How did Luke get this story? He wasn’t there.

What is Luke trying to tell us – by putting this story in his gospel? There is a rule when reading scripture called the “No Smoking Sign Rule”. If it’s there, it’s there for a reason – just as we know someone was smoking where someone put up a no smoking sign.

Was the scripture professor I had in the seminary correct when he wondered if this story was put in the scriptures because women in the early church were trying to take over – and the male preacher might tell this story – and then preach his homily by saying, “Women! The better place in the church is to sit and listen – like Mary sat silently listening to Jesus. And remember Jesus said Mary chose the better part compared to Martha.” And then our professor gave us texts from the Letters of Paul that might support this theory. [1]

And my last question and wondering: What would a parish community be wondering about on a Sunday morning as they heard this gospel story of Martha and Mary?

I would assume that one key message is that we practice hospitality to the guests who come to our home. Sometimes the hosts have to team work – one sitting and talking and listening to the guest, the other getting food and drinks ready in the kitchen. That message would tie in well with the today’s first reading where Abraham and Sarah show hospitality to three travelers – three strangers – getting them water to bathe their feet and food and drink – waiting on them as they sat under their tree outside their tent. Reread that first reading. It sounds like a great cook-out.

And one of them before leaving blesses Abraham by saying, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son.”

Good message, but I was still intrigued by the question: What do I do when I don’t get what I want?

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU DON'T GET WHAT YOU WANT? [2]
How do couples deal with wanting a baby and they don’t have one?

How do we deal with rejection and lack of hospitality?

How do we deal with not having anyone who is willing to listen to us – especially a spouse or family member?

How do I deal with people at work who seem to be on an eternal coffee break and I get stuck with their work?

How do people deal with being out of a job and can’t get one anywhere?

How do people deal with rejections in relationships?

How do people deal with cancer and sickness and the reality called “death”?

Do I become Buddhist and say, “All suffering comes from desire – wanting an outcome – remove that desire – and there will be no suffering.”

Do I become a Stoic and tough it out? Be reasonable – and don’t let my emotions run my life. Stoicism is worth looking at. A lot of people down through the ages have practiced it. It’s might rain on your picnics or your wedding day. Traffic sometimes gets very snarly. Some drivers are always on their cell phones. Better get used to life. Stoicism taught that you can be sick and happy at the same time. Stoicism taught that you have to learn to accept all people as equals – even slaves – because all are children of God.

Do I become a complainer like Martha and try to get my way?

Do I become philosophical and say, “What difference does this make 20,000 years from now?”

Do I become theological and say, “God’s will be done?”

Do I become a skeptic and say, “What is God’s will? Does God want suffering? Does God really zap people?”

Do I follow the Talmud and say, “Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I don’t know.’?”

Do I say this is life – this is the cross – I want one thing and someone else wants another thing - and we have a cross here – two plans intersecting and both are different?

Do I say this is why people sometimes avoid people and stick with things – because things we can control – so in some homes there are 4 people watching television in 4 different rooms. This way we all get what we want – our program – and all 4 have their own clicker.

Do I realize that I don’t want to be like Tom Hanks in the movie “Cast Away” or like Robinson Crusoe – all alone on an island? Do I realize I don’t want to be like Vinnie in “My Cousin Vinnie”. I need others – and therefore there are consequences. I have to learn how to deal with people who are different than I am. Thank God. Some people are like Martha and some people are like Mary.

Do I see that different personalities, different opinions, different options, different ways of doing and seeing things is what makes life what life is: interesting, a struggle, electric at times, challenging, demanding communication, unprogramed, unsure, and life giving? If I knew how the movie ended, how the story unfolds, how my life is going to go, boring, boring, boring.

CONCLUSION

I wanted my sermon to go another way, but this is what I came up with in the time I had. So I guess one answer is to do one’s best and then get moving and get out the pulpit. Amen.


Painting on top: Martha of Bethany by Vincenzo Campi

Check: http://www.Bible-Art.info/Martha_Mary.htm




FOOTNOTES

[1] I don't remember the texts that our professor was referring to - perhaps 1 Corinthians 14: 34, "As in all the churches of the saints, women are to remain quiet at meetings since they have no permission to speak; they must keep in the background as the Law itself lays it down. If they have any questions to ask, they should ask their husbands at home: it does not seem right for a woman to raise her voice at meetings." It might also have been 1 Timothy 2: 11-15, "During instruction, a woman should be quiet and respectful. I am not giving permission for a woman to teach or to tell a man what to do. A woman ought not to speak, because Adam was formed first and Eve afterwards, and it was not Adam who was lead astray but the woman who was led astray and fell into sin. Nevertheless, she will be saved by childbearing, provided she lives a modest life and is constant in faith and love and holiness." How's that for a footnote! I dare anyone in 2010 to bring that up at a Parish Council Meeting or what have you. I find the New Testament amazing for the speaking out and presence of women in lots of situations that seem so radical compared to what Bruce J. Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh write about in their Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels [Augsburg Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN, 1992] Read their commentary on today's gospel, pages 348-349. For starters they report that a woman would not be doing the welcoming [Martha] and a woman would not be sitting there listening to a man [Mary]. Listen to these words by Malina and Rohrbaugh, “The private world, a household, was the domain of women. It was a closed sphere marked off by inviolate boundaries, which commanded absolute loyalty of all members. It was both a social and economic unit, in which women were responsible for childbearing, clothing, food distribution, and other tasks needed to run the household. Women had little or no contact with males outside of their kin group. Since a woman's honor was determined first by her virginity and secondly by her loyalty to her husband, no breach of either was tolerated. Any breach would publicly shame all members of the kin group, who will be most keenly felt by the males who represented the family in public.” [p. 348] I didn't grasp this world till I read a book about Afghanistan, "The Bookseller of Kabul" by a Norwegian journalist, Asne Seierstad. She spent 3 months in the woman's world of the home of the bookseller. If the world of women that I was reading about in Kabul is anything like the world for women in the time of Jesus, then Jesus and Christianity was extremely revolutionary. In the meanwhile the title question of this homily is very relevant: "What do I do when I don't get what I want?"





[2] At times I can be flippant and shallow - when it comes to dealing with big questions. If anyone wants some heavy duty food for thought on the question of this homily, I recommend re-reading M. Scott Peck's classic, The Road Less Traveled - especially chewing on and discussing the specific cases and people he writes about.

WHERE  ARE  YOU 

IN  THE  PICTURE? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Where Are You In The Picture?”

I thought of group photos and class pictures when I read today’s gospel - as well as pictures of people standing there in newspaper pictures in The Capital - for example being honored as part of a local organization.

In today’s gospel, James and John - as Mark tells us - went up to Jesus with a request.

Jesus asked them, “What do wish me to do for you?”

They answered, “When you come into your glory we want to sit - one on your right and the other on your left.”

Gospel commentators like to say that these two brothers - James and John -  had no clue at times what Jesus was about. They were fishermen - called by Jesus - into quite a public life - going about with Jesus - crowds wanting to touch the tassel of his cloak - thousands wanting to hear his stories and his teachings. Jesus was famous - and they were touching the tassels of that fame as they moved around Israel. That’s quite a contrast from emptying fish from nets and then selling those fish at the Lake of Galilee.

They were like these followers of rock singers and I’ve read that some big time athletes have posse’s - 20 to 35 followers - who are always tagging along with the rich and the powerful.

James and John had no idea - what Jesus meant when he said, “You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

They said, “We can!”

So Jesus said, “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

Mark tells us that the other 10  became indignant at James and John when they saw and heard all this happening.

GROUP PHOTOS

When you’re in a group photo where do you like to stand?

I’ve often heard, “If a person knows their picture is in the paper or if someone shows us a picture that we know we’re in, the first person that we look for in the picture is ourselves.”

Is that true? 

I don’t know - and is it more today - now that everyone has a camera on their cell phone?

OKAY, NOW WHAT?

I got that thought and those questions and observations when I read today’s gospel.

Is it enough for a sermon?

You be the judge.

You be the judge of yourself.

I believe one of Jesus’ messages is emptying ourselves of too much self.

I read somewhere that the two things that help people get out of themselves is marriage and having kids. In both those situations we have to think of others - much more than self.

I like the Hindu message about ego: EEEEEEEEE-GO.

Today’s first reading talks about this mysterious character in the Old Testament called the Suffering Servant.  Here in Isaiah we have several of the Suffering Servant songs.

Isaiah was thinking about how some people are picked on. Isaiah was getting himself thinking about how we bully and demean and put down other human beings.

This is what happens to people at times when they are crushed by life - and how do we deal with such struggles. It could be divorce, being cheated on, having family disasters and our last name is run through the mud.  It can also happen to those who are saints - servants - givers - and others feel small in their presence - so they try to put them down.

This is what happened to Jesus - when the Pharisees were forever criticizing him - and they and the scribes wanted to get him.

In today’s second reading, is the author of Hebrews saying that is why Jesus was able to have sympathy with us  because he was pushed into our weaknesses.

MAKING THIS PRACTICAL

To make this practical let’s do what Jesus did.

He stressed being the servant - the giver - the go-fer - the last and not the first.

We go into the restaurant with family or friends. At the door we can step back and let others who are coming out come out ahead of us - and we can hold the door for our party.  We can take the lesser seat if some are lesser seats. We can get the waiter or waitresses name. We can say to someone who hasn’t said a word, “Hey Jack you haven’t said anything about this, what’s your take?”

In every conversation, someone says something, and it triggers something in us, and we take over the conversation. Or we can put ourselves last and be the listener.

In driving, in coming out of parking lots, there are lots of opportunities to put others first.

In being handed the meat loaf - if that’s the way the meal goes - we can say to ourselves, “I hope I get an end piece - but so does Joe or Sally - so we leave the piece we want for someone else.

In pictures, we can make sure folks are not blocked out - and everyone gets the chance to be out front.

CONCLUSION

I think there is a doable message here - helping others out of the shadows and come into the light.

Jesus was PC - Pre Camera. DaVinci in his last supper painting puts Jesus front and middle center - but maybe at that dinner he was off to the side - and maybe James and John were center cut - and surprise Jesus was off to the side.

I'M  GLAD

Quote for Today  - October 4,  2012

"The repercussion of one person living in stubborn gladness are incalculable."

Martha Beck, O Magazine,  p. 67, September 2011




St. Francis of Assisi - Today is his feast day. He lived from around 1181 to 1226. His repercussions are still felt today. I'm never heard him described as glad - but I also never heard him described as not glad. As i reflect upon his life that's the theme that hits me: gladness. Joy to the world the Lord has come - once more to me - and I share that joy to the world. This does not mean that someone is glad about suffering - and suffering came to Francis - but underneath it all I sense and see in Francis of Assisi a stubbornness - a gladness - a joy - a peach - in both seeing the cross and seeing the birds of the air. "Oh how they sing!"



Picture on top: a fragment of a fresco in the lower part of the basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.

WHO  WERE  YOUR  TEACHERS?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily on this feast of St. Mark is a question: “Who Were Your Teachers?”

To come up with a short homily  for today - for this feast of Mark - I looked at my bookshelf - for something on Mark or the Gospel of Mark. Surprise! At first instance I saw mostly books on John - a few on Luke and a few on Matthew but almost nothing on Mark.

Then I spotted a green book entitled, “The Journeying Self: The Gospel of Mark Through a Jungian Perspective” by Diarmuid McGann. He was an Irish priest from the diocese of Rockville Center in Long Island, New York.

[1942-2015]

WHO WERE YOUR TEACHERS?

He begins by telling his readers who his teachers were. I found that interesting.

He talked about his mom and dad first - then his three brothers and his one sister. Next came a scripture professor in Ireland - Father P.J. Brophy - who loved scripture - and that was the teaching and that was the learning he received. It was nothing very specific or particular about the Bible - just his love of scripture.  Next came the Jesuit Father Teilhard de Chardin and lastly were his professors at Iona College in New York.

Just reading that much - not even getting back into a book I read years and years ago - I asked myself - what did I learn from my mom and dad - brother and two sisters?

When couples are preparing for marriage that is a key question: family  of origin.

How has our family of origin effected/ affected us?

Diarmuid’s dad was the extravert - and he learned what it’s like to live in the shadow of an extravert - a bigger than life person. My dad was just the opposite. My mother was also more the introvert.  My brother was the extravert.  Diarmuid’s mother was more the introvert and she learned from suffering. She broke her neck in a car crash as a young woman.  She stayed with her oldest son in his difficult days and as well as his sister who has hospitalized for a few years.  Mom knew and learned from suffering - like her blindness coming on her in her old age.

MY TEACHERS?

Who have been my teachers?

One of the teachers who influenced me was also a scripture professor -

Eugene McAlee.  When it came to the four gospels,  he didn’t like Matthew. He didn’t give us that much on Luke - only Mary’s stuff - in the beginning there. He gave us some stuff on John - but Mark was his gospel.

And instead of taking Mark from the beginning - he taught us method. He taught us that we have the rest of our lives to learn the gospels.

He taught us the Greek side of reading the Gospels.

He taught us that Mark was precise. Mark was not poetic. Mark was details - lots of details - specific.

Mark was Joe Friday - “Just the facts mam.”

So Mark would be one of my teachers.

Mark starts off with Jesus as an adult. He challenges us right off the bat - to be face to face with Jesus the Son of God. He’s present in our midst.  Do I have an adult to adult relationship with Jesus?  Mark talks about the kingdom. It’s in our midst. Do we sense that every day - that I’m in the Kingdom and what a way to live every day?

Matthew - Mark - Luke and John? I like John first - because he was the poet and I like a poetic approach to life.  I like Luke next - because he was the story teller - and I like story tellers.  I too like Matthew least - because he can be too strict at times - especially compared to Luke - who was big or mercy and forgiveness - the message of Pope Francis - big time.  

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Who Were Your Teachers?”

Name some names - and what did you learn? What does that say about you?

What’s your favorite gospel? What does that say about you?

What do you know about the gospel of Mark?  He has many of the same stories about Jesus but tells them in his unique way. What does that tell you about Mark?

MURDERING, MAIMING, AND MINIMIZING THE INNOCENT

The title of my homily is, “Murdering, Maiming, and Minimizing the Innocent.”

Today - December 28, has the feast of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents. It has many possible messages. Bastin, Pinckers and Teheux in their God Day By Day Spiritual Reflections on the Readings of the Day,  Volume Four, write, about this text, Matthew 2:13-18, “Are they symbolic, those children who were massacred in Bethlehem? Or course they are, but we should not forget that symbols are always rooted in human realities, and the reality here is that of human suffering - people dying of hunger, the bitter complaints of exiles and the silence of frightened prisoners.” [Page 84]

With that in mind I put together this reflection for today.

In our lifetime we’ve seen the slaughter of the unborn - the Holy Innocents.

In our lifetime we have seen the slaughter of millions of children, women, men in the Holocaust.

In our lifetime we have seen the murder of all kinds of babies, children because of race and religion issues in Serbia, Macedonia, and the former Yugoslavian countries.

In our lifetime we have seen the same thing happen with the slaughter of so many in Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, in so many other African and Middle East countries.

In our lifetime we seen the Killing Fields in Cambodia and so many other places on the planet.

In our lifetime we have heard about various many priests and bishops who were not protective of young people in the sexual abuse stories in the Catholic Church.

In our lifetime we have heard how kids can get shortchanged in education - which can be a ladder out of poverty.

In our lifetime we have seen some rich get richer because of scams and skim offs and manipulation in the markets.

In our lifetime we have heard lies and “claimed innocence” when it comes to public people - in sports, the arts, politics - who try to explain ways out of living a life of lies, cheating, and misbehaving -  giving bad example to the young.

In our lifetime we’ve seen and heard people whose ethics and truth telling seems to have disappeared and they have walked in the dark and not in the light as we heard in today’s first reading from 1 John 1: 5-2:2.

In our lifetime we have heard people show little concern for the many migrants and their children who are “pitchforked” - as one preacher put it - from one place to the next.

In our lifetime we have heard politicians - and dictators - and elected officials -  concerned more about the polls and their numbers than the number of people who are suffering, starving and homeless.

In our lifetime we have heard people criticize prophets, priests, preachers, writers, world leaders, who have preached the Catholic Church’s Social Justice and Human Charity teachings - or have only been selective when it comes to these issues - with no concern for the hurting and the humbled - but only for their agenda.

In our lifetime we have seen and heard people who claim innocence when it comes to caring for our earth - not being aware of the health of all - for example poor children in West Virginia, Kentucky, China - whose lungs are damaged because of earth dumping and disregard of the reality of carbon emissions.

In our lifetime we have heard people screaming at children - hitting children - hurting children - with no concern for what they see with their eyes and hear with their ears.

September 15, 2017

MATER  DOLOROSA 

You see her statue in many churches,

with swords stuck in her body like a

bull in a bullring - before the fall.

You see her face on the evening TV

screen - holding her dead child in her arms

with a scream on the skin of her face.

You see her face on the face of mother

nature - our planet - Mater Dolorosa.

There is suffering, suffering, everywhere.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017
Today, September 15, is the feast of
Our  Lady of Sorrows. Should they
have switched it down to September 11?

HOW WOULD YOU SCULPT OR  PICTURE OUR LADY OF SORROWS  OR THE PIETA? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “How Would You Sculpt or Picture Our Lady of Sorrows or the Pieta?”

Teachers and parents, aunts and babysitters, know that little kids love to draw with crayons or sculpt with clay. They don’t say, “I don’t know how to draw!” They just do it.

How would you sculpt or picture Our Lady of Sorrows or the Pieta?

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows - Mater Dolorosa - The Pieta. It follows the feast of the Holy Cross. Like the 13th station of the cross following the 12th station. The sorrowful mother is holding her dead son.

QUESTION

How would you sculpt the scene?

Michelangelo did 2 pietas. We all know the famous one in St. Peter’s. It’s in the back. When you come into St. Pater’s look to your right. There it is. It traveled to the United States for the New York World’s Fair in the 1960’s. It was the one that was banged up by a guy with a sledge hammer.

Then there is the other one that is tall and thin. It’s in Florence.

How would you  paint the scene?

There are all kinds of paintings of Mary, the Mother of Sorrows. There is the famous icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help

MY ART

I would sculpt Mary holding a globe and the globe would have people on it. It would be a globe of people. I might even build into the globe 14 television monitors  - each having scenes from around the world of people suffering. I would have about 5 minutes of tough world scenes on each TV monitor. I’d show car and plane crashes. There would also be TV news clips which feature stories about killings, torture, rapes, corruption, bishop cover ups, stealing. Just watch the 10 o’clock evening news.

QUESTION

Why is Mary so popular? Why are there so many pietas? Why are there so many pictures of Mary? Suffering is so universal. So real. So much pain.

QUESTION

How would you sculpt the Sorrowful Mother?