THE BIG PICTURE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “The Big Picture.”

It helps to see the big picture – to have a vision – a plan – to scope out the whole scene.

A rather large priest once told me, “Whenever you are at a buffet restaurant – don’t get on the line. Step back and look at everything. Then walk around and check out the whole territory. They often put the best stuff at the end of the line – because people have their plates full by then. Then get your plate, get on line and go for the best.”

Life is a cabaret. Life is a buffet line. Life is a smorgasbord. Choose well. Okay, sometimes life is a card game – you have to play the cards you’re dealt. So study who’s at the table. Look at faces. Watch finger tapping. Discard the bad cards – if you can. Play well.

The title of my homily is, “The Big Picture.”

TODAY’S READINGS

I think that’s a good theme for today’s readings on this Second Sunday in Lent.

In the first reading from Genesis, God gives Abraham the big picture – that he will become a great nation. Then he tells Abraham he wants him to relocate – to move. That’s the first step in the plan. Move.

Concerning Abraham, we’ll hear this theme over and over again. It was a difficult plan to see. It was difficult to believe he would be a great nation, when he and his wife didn’t have any children yet.

The second reading from Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy continues that theme as it talks about God’s design. Timothy is also called to follow God’s plan – to move forwards with the strength and grace that comes from God – through Jesus Christ.

And in today’s gospel, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain and is transfigured before them. They are given a great vision – a great view – the big picture. Then he leads them down the mountain – telling them to keep the vision quiet. To keep our mind focused and our mouth shut is not that easy.

MOUNTAIN’S, PLANES, TALL BUILDINGS

We’ve all had experiences of being on mountains or in a plane or in a tall building – and looking down and seeing everything in a big perspective.

We’ve all stopped in our car to look at a map – unless we have the guidance of GPS – The Global Positioning System – that uses 24 or more satellites up there to help us to see where we are down here.

If you use Google, and you haven’t downloaded Google Earth yet, do it. It’s neat. Then just type in your zip code or any zip code and the screen spins the earth and takes you to downtown Annapolis – or downtown San Francisco. For example, I put in 21401 and I can see our parking lot at St. Mary’s church and gardens and my car – or any place on the planet – from way up or up close.

Neat. It helps to see the big picture.

LIFE

But of course life is lived in the valley.

Life is the iddy biddy – the walking up and down the supermarket aisles with a hand written shopping list – sometimes a kid in a shopping cart reaching at stuff you don’t want him and her to touch or take. Then when you have everything you need and you get to the front of the store, you notice every check out lane is five deep.

The coach calls time out. There are 5 seconds left in the game. Your team has the ball. You’re behind by 1 point. He or she designs the big play on an erasable board. Then it’s time to get back on the court and the team to execute the design – to make the right moves.

It helps to see the big picture.

THE CROSS

It’s no accident that the cross is on top of churches and in churches – around necks – and along the highways of life.

Christ sees the big picture from on top of Calvary.

Christ on this enormous cross up here sees this whole church.

We too see a lot more when we are on the cross.

We too see a lot more when we are suffering.

We see a lot more in the hospital or on vacation – if we stop to look.

We see a lot more about a person at their funeral.

It helps to see the big picture.

Lent is a good time to step back – to take long walks – to look at our life – to see the big picture.

We see a lot more at 25 than we saw at 15.

We see a lot more at 50 than we saw at 25.

We see a lot more at 75 than we saw at 50.

We know a lot more about marriage or a job or kids or neighbors or friends in time – but not at the time. We all know hindsight is better than 20 / 20 sight.

We all know the old saying about the 6 people in a marriage: "The she, she thinks she is; the she, he thinks she is; the she, she really is; the he, he thinks he is; the he, she thinks he is; the he, he really is.” Try saying that ten times fast.

Then there is the better and the worse, the sickness and the health, death and sometimes we part.

We learn life when we move. We learn life in steps and stages – unless we stop seeing and stop growing.

We can become myopic. We can get tunnel vision. We can be dumb. We can give up. We can die, before we die. We can have eyes that don’t see, ears that don’t hear and have a heart and a mind that can become closed. Step back. What have you put on your plate?

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

One of my favorite books is, The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck. It was on the best seller list for years.

Lots of people read it. I’m sure many of you have it on your bookshelf – or in the attic, garage or cellar in a cardboard box.

If you haven’t read it lately, read it again this Lent.

Everyone who has read it knows the first line, the first paragraph, in the first section of the book after the introduction: “Life is difficult.”

Everyone who looks at or makes the Stations of the Cross knows that’s the meaning of the 14 Stations of the Cross: Life is difficult.

The book has so many examples that trigger good thoughts.

Today I’d like to refer to the example of the two generals. It’s on page 76. That’s easy to remember: 76 trombones – or 1776.

“Imagine two generals, each having to decide whether or not to commit a division of ten thousand men to battle. To one the division is but a thing, a unit of personnel, an instrument of strategy and nothing more. To the other it is these things, but he is also aware of each and every one of the ten thousand lives and the lives of the families of each of the ten thousand. For whom is the decision easier?”

Then M.Scott Peck answers his own question: “It is easier for the general who has blunted his awareness precisely because he cannot tolerate the pain of a more nearly complete awareness. It may be tempting to say, ‘Ah, but a spiritually evolved man would never become a general in the first place.’ But the same issue is involved in being a corporation president, a physician, a teacher, a parent. Decisions affecting the lives of others must always be made. The best decision-makers are those who are willing to suffer the most over their decisions but still retain their ability to be decisive. One measure – and perhaps the best measure – of a person’s greatness is the capacity for suffering. Yet the great are also joyful. This, then is the paradox. Buddhists tend to ignore the Buddha’s suffering and Christians forget Christ’s joy. Buddha and Christ were not different men. The suffering of Christ letting go on the cross and the joy of Buddha letting go under the bo tree are one.” (p. 76)

CONCLUSION

Hopefully, we’d all like to be the second general – to have the big picture.

How to have the big picture?

One answer: make a good Lent.

How to make a good Lent?

Some answers: Take good walks. Sit in quiet churches. Sit under the tree of the cross. Visit cemeteries. Drive with the radio off. Walk along the water in the Naval Academy or Quiet Waters Park. Read obituaries. Better: read autobiographies – or biographies. See the big picture of one’s own life by reading about another’s life. Write your own life – or your parent’s biographies. Take out your family pictures. Sort them out. Study them. Who’s next to whom? Who’s missing? Who’s up front? Who’s in the back? Sometimes looking at lots of individual pictures will give us the big picture. Or just look in a mirror. Look deep into your own eyes. Pause for a few moments of quiet. Then ask, “Hey you. How’s it going on in there?”

See the big picture. Are you enjoying being on the great buffet line of life? Are you making good choices? Are you choosing the best stuff to put on your plate?

LENTEN PRACTICES

Lord, this Lent,
let my good example be loud
and my ego soft and silent.
Let my sacrifices, prayer,
fasting and Lenten practices
be for your honor and glory,
as well as the lifting up
of the spirit and life
of my neighbor. Amen

© Andy Costello, Markings Prayers

PRAYER FOR LENT

Come Holy Spirit
during these 40 Days of Lent,
lead me like you led Jesus,
into the wilderness, to the mountains,
to the temple, to those places within me
that I need to go to face those temptations
in my life that I need to face and overcome.
Give me words, Sacred Words,
like you gave to Jesus,
so that I might challenge and face
my hungers and my needs,
my demons and Satan, the tempter within.

Come Holy Spirit
during these 40 Days of Lent,
give me the strength you gave Jesus
to face the great temptations of life:
the temptation to take the easy way out,
like changing rocks into bread,
without working and sweating for our daily bread;
the temptation to reach for power and self glory,
Satan’s kind of power, not God’s power of humility;
the temptation to place myself in dangerous situations,
saying that God will watch over me,
and in the process stumbling,
because I said, “It’s all up to God”
without any decisions coming from me.

© Andy Costello, Markings Prayers

DAILY PRAYER FOR LENT

Lord, guide me
through these 40 days of Lent.

Protect me and direct me:
be a cloud above me this day
and a pillar of fire above me this night.

Remind me to take some moments today to go
with you into the mountains of prayer,
where I might see you transfigured before me.

Enter into my temple this day; walk around;
remind me when I’m too busy buying and selling;
and cleanse me of my idols.

Lord, help me this day to be like you:
a grain of wheat willing to die
so that others might live.

© Andy Costello Markings Prayers

LENTEN PRAYER

Jesus, Temple,
and cleanser of temples,
cleanse my inner temple,
turn me and all my house
into a house of prayer.

Jesus, Passover,
pass over my sins,
but not over my house,
nor my work, nor all
the people in my life.

Jesus, Cross,
hanging high above
all the crosses
of the world,
help me to help others
as they too make the
way of the cross.

Jesus, Grain of Wheat
that died and was buried
in the earth,
help me to die to self,
so as to be like you:
daily bread for others.

© Andy Costello, Markings Prayers

LENT:

BORROWED MISSALETTES

The missalettes were missing—well, not all 500 of them, but that Sunday most of them were missing from the church benches of St. Monica's Parish.

Father Tom, who said the 8 and 9 AM Masses, said he didn’t notice anything different. He usually doesn’t. His nickname in the seminary was, “Sleep Walker.” Most Sundays he puts most of the people asleep. So to be honest, he didn’t even notice that the missalettes were missing at those two Masses.

But Monsignor Curry, he’s Monsignor Exact, he’s Monsignor Precise, he noticed it at the 11 AM Sunday Mass. He notices everything. “What happened to the missalettes?” He was sitting up there in the church sanctuary with his own personal missalette. He even has his name on it. Well, when the second reading moved from page 19 to 20, the familiar sound, “chuuumsshish”—the sound of 400 pages all turning at the same time was not to be heard. And when he was reading the gospel, everybody was looking at him. Nobody was following along with a booklet. They didn’t seem to have one. He got nervous. His sermon was shorter than usual that Sunday morning: 4 minutes and 13 seconds to be exact. Jim Grayson, one of the ushers and an accountant, always timed Monsignor’s homilies. The two of them would often joke about it after Mass. “A little bit long today, Monsignor. 5 minutes and 57 seconds.” And Monsignor Curry would always reply. “Nope! It was 5 minutes to the second. You know me. You know what I always say, `A five minute sermon: exactly five minutes every time and every time right to the point! That’s what people want. No fluff. Solid stuff. People want meat and potatoes. People want substance.’”

So after Mass, after saying “Have a nice day”, with a handshake and only half of a Sunday smile, Monsignor Curry headed back for the church benches. He asked Fred Wilson, the head usher, “Where are the missalettes?” Except for one or two scattered here and there around the church, they were all gone. The other 4 ushers were probably out in the parking lot by now. Fred answered, “I don’t know, Monsignor. I was surprised that nobody was using them either. I thought it was something new you guys just cooked up.”

Monsignor Terence Curry shook his head and grunted, “Uuuum”. Back in the rectory, he caught Father Tom and asked if he knew what happened to the missalettes. He said he didn’t even know they were missing. He caught Father Tim Tames who had the 5:00 PM Mass Saturday afternoon. He said they were there at the 5. The old people were using them. They always do. A lot of them can’t hear that well.”

“Who took the missalettes from the benches?”

Mystery! Well, Monsignor Curry started calling around the parish. On his fifth phone call, the mystery was solved. It was the visiting priest who had the 7:00 Sunday Morning Mass. Mrs. Grimes said, “He told us to take a missalette home. `Nobody would notice it. Steal one. It has great readings for Lent. Use it for prayer during the week. Catholics usually don’t carry Bibles around with them. A missalette is nice and light and easy to carry with you to work or wherever you pray: whether you pray on the bus or in the bathroom or wherever.’ 

The Monsignor jumped in, "He said, `bathroom,’"

"Yes, Monsignor, yes he said 'bathroom.’ He also said, `This year’s Sunday’s readings touch all the basic issues of life. Great Lenten reading.’”

Monsignor Curry was laughing when he put down the phone. He headed back to where Father Tames and Father Walker were. “Guys, you’re not going to believe this. Father Nelson is the culprit. He told everyone at the 7 o’clock Mass to steal a missalette. `Nobody would notice it.’ Surprise! Everyone took him at his word.”

Father Nelson was the visiting priest. He had a wedding of a niece the day before and stayed over at the rectory that Saturday night. He had volunteered to take a Mass the next day in case someone wanted a break. They gave him the 7:00 AM Mass and he was gone by 10:00 that Sunday morning. 

It was a busy parish. Sunday Masses were on the hour: 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00, and 11:00. There was also a Mass at 5:00 o’clock on Saturday evening. Being an exact man, the Monsignor liked easy to remember and exact times for Masses—on the hour. “Have them in and have them out, all in 45 minutes and they’ll love you for it. And if you don’t, they’ll be cursing you because the parking lot will be a disaster. So don’t preach too long. Keep your eye on the big clock in the back of the church. That’s why I put it there.”

Then the Monsignor added, “We’re going to have to call up the missalette company first thing tomorrow morning and order 500 more. Isn’t that funny? I never heard anything like this before in my forty-five years of being a priest.”

That afternoon the word was all around the diocese. “Almost 500 missalettes stolen!” The Monsignor, well, all three priests, called their friends, and then their friends called their friends. “Stories like this don’t make the diocesan paper,” one priest said. “All we ever get are pictures of the bishop and the bishop standing there giving people awards!”

The story could have made the local evening news, but it didn’t. However, that afternoon the word also got around the parish. Most people laughed. People envied those who were at the 7:00 o’clock Mass. Those who took a missalette were saying things like, “That’s a good one! And I thought I was the only one who stole one. I guess everybody picked their moment to sneak a missalette into their inner jacket pocket or into their pocketbook, hoping their neighbor wouldn’t see them. I suppose people were trying to figure out all through the Mass the best moment to make their move. Probably, by the time for the sign of peace, most people decided that the best moment for the steal would be when they got back from communion. That’s the time most people close their eyes for a few moments of quiet prayer.”

Now, if most people hadn’t stolen a missalette, and if the story hadn’t been so public, what happened next, probably wouldn’t have happened. People with the stolen property actually began to use what they stole. They began to use the missalettes for prayer that Lent. The story reinforced what Father Nelson had said. “The Lenten Readings this year are great readings for prayer.” Everybody loved his offhand comment, “For Lent this year instead of fasting or abstaining from chocolate chip cookies or chocolate layer cake, fast or abstain from too much talking or too much television. Every day take a 15 minute prayer break. Find a quiet place at work or at home. A lot of people tell me that they use the bathroom for prayer. `It’s the only place in our house where I can get any privacy.’ So read the missalette; pick out just one of the Lenten readings at a time; pray with it. Great stuff. Great Lenten reading.”

Father Nelson was right. As he said in his sermon, the Sunday readings for this Lent, Year A, were loaded with food for thought.

One person said that when she began to reflect on Jesus’ three big temptations in the desert, she saw that they were down deep temptations that she too had to face in her life: trying to live by bread alone without any word from God, looking for the quick magical fix instead of the struggle to work things out—especially when it came to communicating with her husband and her teenage kids, and the ever present temptation that we all have of forgetting God, and trying to go it alone as if we were God.

A few said that they could relate to Peter, James and John when they went up the mountain and experienced the transfiguration of Jesus. They had been on a great Lenten weekend retreat and they didn’t want to leave. The retreat house was in the mountains and they all experienced Jesus in a new way. Prayer seemed much more exciting than the daily grind of everyday life back in the valley.

A few teenager boys—each the youngest in their family—loved the story of God calling David, the youngest in his family, to be the one who would save the people.

Others found themselves wishing they were like “The Woman at The Well.” Surprise! While they were praying, they found out that what happened to her, happened to them in prayer. They met Jesus on the bus or during their coffee break or wherever they grabbed fifteen minutes for prayer.

Three groups, each with about six people, actually formed discussion prayer groups to look at the readings together. They all showed up at their meetings proudly displaying their stolen missalettes. They began their session with a prayer from the missalette. Then someone would do just one reading. They would discuss it. Then they would pray with it for a while—all in an hour. It was so rewarding that they planned on doing it every Lent. Someone even suggested trying it for next Advent as well. That was nixed. “Let’s see if we can do it for this Lent first and then see if the same energy and enthusiasm exists next Lent. Before we start talking Advent, let’s see if this is manageable. You all know the history of small groups in this parish.”

It was later found out that Father Nelson was the last person to hear the story. He was from out of state, so he didn’t know any of this for over a month. When he called his sister for Easter, she told him the whole story.

“Ooops,” he said. So he called up Monsignor Curry to apologize. “To be honest, Monsignor, I didn’t realize what I was saying that morning. I just threw in that thing about stealing a missalette to tell people to really listen to the Lenten readings. I didn’t think people would actually take a missalette. I’m really sorry! I’ll send you a check for what they cost.”

“Send me a check! Hey,” Monsignor Curry blurted back, “we made money on the deal!”

“What,” said Father Nelson back over the phone. “Made money? I don’t understand?”

“Yeah! Someone told me that you mentioned at the end of your homily, `By the way, if you feel guilty about stealing a missalette, throw an extra dollar in the collection this morning.’ Well, I had Jim Grayson of our financial committee check it out. He’s an accountant and a stickler for numbers. So he looked up what was the average income for the 10:00 o’clock collection for the past 5 years other than Christmas, Easter, July and August. Sure enough the Mass that you said that morning brought in $2756.16 over the average collection. Who said Catholics are no longer motivated by guilt?”

Silence. “Father Nelson are you still there?”

© Andy Costello, U.S. Catholic, March 1993

ALONE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Alone!”

“Who’s there?”

“Just me.”

“Are you alone?”

“Sometimes.”

As I reflected on today’s readings – by myself – alone – many themes and thoughts hit me.

What themes and thoughts hit you as you heard today’s readings for this First Sunday of Lent?

THREE READINGS

Today’s three readings have serious issues to think about.

As I looked at the various reading materials for Lent I noticed that the articles and booklets suggest fasting from trivial pursuits – no not the game – and then use 5 or 10 minutes of that saved time for reflection and prayer on the Bible – the Holy Scriptures – sometime during your day.

Grab your Bible. Find a quiet place where you can be alone. Read a passage or story or short section of scripture. Think about it. Talk to God in prayer about what your thoughts are.

When you’re reading and reflecting, you’re alone. When you move into prayer – you are no longer alone. “The Lord be with you.”

That’s doable. And today’s three readings have heavy questions to think about. In fact, all the readings for Lent are very challenging.

As I sat there with today’s 3 readings, the thought of being alone hit me.

FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from Genesis – is great stuff. It uses part of the beginning of the Second Creation Account. (Cf. Genesis 2:5-25) We know the First Creation Account where God creates the whole universe and the whole world from a distance – one day at a time – and on the sixth day, male and female he made us. (Cf. Genesis 1: 1-2:4.) The Second Creation Account is much earlier literature. It’s more primitive – more earthy. And it gets its hands on issues we need to face.

In this earthy, second, more primitive creation account, God is all alone and forms man out of the clay of the ground and blows into his nostrils the breath of life. Now God is not alone. This new person, Adam, is now part of God’s story.

Then God plants a garden in Eden, where he places this man that he has created. Then God makes the various trees grow and they are delightful to look at – and they have good fruit on them.

We can picture the whole story. It’s like we’re at a play and the curtain opens and the story unfolds.

Next comes the twist – the turn – the possibility of tragedy or comedy – the reality of good and evil – and choice – freedom of choice. This is good story telling.

The storyteller wants us to hear the story, so we can hear our own story.

In the middle of the garden there is the tree of life – as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In movies, plays and novels, this is what is called, “Foreshadowing.”

You know the old rule. It’s called Chekhov’s Principle, “If there is a gun on the wall in act one, you have to use it by act 3.”

So the two trees are in the story for there for a reason.

Today’s first reading tells us all this and then jumps to the snake. It jumps from Genesis 2:9 to 3:1 – leaving out the great text, “It is not good to be alone.” It leaves out the great story of God creating all the animals – cats and dogs, “Bow wow!” and “Meow!” – birds and wild beasts – but none were suitable. The man was still alone. So God cast the man, “Adam” in Hebrew, into a deep sleep, and while he slept God created woman out of the man’s rib and wow was he surprised when he woke up. Bill Cosby in his renditions of these great stories in Genesis loves to say, “Adam went, ‘Wooooman!” and that’s where the word “woman” comes from. In using word plays, he’s close to what the Hebrew words are doing.

You know this folk tale – about the woman being formed from the man’s rib. You’ve heard it at many weddings. It’s good story.

Back to today’s first reading – the part that comes next – that we heard today. The woman is all alone and the snake sneaks up to her and asks, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?”

Notice she’s naïve – and the snake is most cunning. She tells the snake, "We can eat of the fruit of all the trees – except the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. If we do, we shall die.” Then the sneaky move by the snake, “You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who will know what is good and what is evil.”

The woman takes the bite – and the snake was right. She now knows good and evil.

Hasn't this happened every time we took forbidden fruit? When we realize what we did or what another did to us, how we hurt another or ourselves or vice versa, haven't we said to ourselves, "Now I know evil?"

Notice the man, Adam, is no leading man. Notice he’s presented as the follower – stupid – and goes along for the fall. This is good story telling – certainly getting a laugh every time – with women elbowing their husbands in the ribs – as the story is told.

“Then,” the text says, “their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.”

Great story. It’s the human story. It’s an eye opener.

Relationships, marriages, trips, vacations, adventures, conversations, jobs, life, all start so beautiful – then the temptations – then the wrong moves – then the cover ups.

SECOND READING

Today’s second reading from Romans gives Paul’s deep reflections on this.* Here are a few short comments - and obviously, shallow comments, compared to the depth of what Paul is saying here. However, I hope I catch the main points.

Those who fault Paul from some of his women statements, please notice he puts all the blame on Adam – for bringing sin and death into the world – into the story.

Paul gives us the bad news first.

Then comes the good news, the good story, “Godspell,” in Old English, “gospel’ in later English: Christ, the New Adam, the gracious gift from God, comes and overflows into our world.

The Old Adam brought sin and death; the New Adam brings grace, gift.

The Old Adam brought condemnation; the New Adam brings acquittal.

The Old Adam was disobedient; the New Adam is obedient.

The Old Adam messed it all up for us; the New Adam can make all things right.

In Genesis the story takes place in the garden; in Paul the story takes place in every human heart. Each of us commits our own original version of the old original sin. Each of us is called to hear the call that Paul heard – to meet Jesus on the roads of our life – especially as we move towards evil – and to have an eye opening conversion and a new take on life in our fall.

GOSPEL

Today’s gospel continues and develops these thoughts.

The setting is the desert – a total contrast to the setting for the first reading: the garden.

Instead of food everywhere, there are only sand and stones. Moreover, Jesus fasts for 40 days and 40 nights. There are no trees with fruit. There is no tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That will come at the end of the story – the end of the gospel - where the great tree, the cross, will be the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil – the great tree which we stand under and hear the words not from the devil, but from Jesus, “Take and eat!” (Cf. Matthew 27:32-56; Matthew 26:26-29.)

Back to the desert, back to the beginning of the story. Jesus is all alone in the desert. He has left John the Baptist and his Father's Voice and the crowd that he was surrounded with in his baptism. (Cf. Matthew 3:13-17)

Then come the temptations – just like in the Genesis story. The devil is called, “The Tempter”.

Jesus knows good and evil – and resists the devil and his three big temptations.

The different gospels present these temptations in various ways. Jesus was the one there – all alone – except for, “The Tempter.”

It’s up to us to read them and see what they trigger within us.

What are our three big temptations?

I like the theme that everyone has to take time to be alone – to find deserted places – to take long walks, find quiet chapels or churches, quiet car rides, go fishing, and deal with the great temptations of life.

I spent 14 years of my life working in two different retreat houses – and met lots of men and women who made an annual retreat. At one retreat house, San Alfonso Retreat House in New Jersey, I noticed men – not there for retreat – who would pull up into the parking lot in the back – facing the ocean – and just sit in their cars for 15 or 20 minutes – and just be – and then head for work or home.

Where do you go when you just want to be - just want to be alone?

What are your temptations?

When alone – we see them better.

So sometimes, it’s good to be alone – and obviously at other times it’s not good to be alone.

At times I see Matthew’s 3 temptations that Jesus faced in the desert to be the temptation for stuff, splash, and power or control.

1) Stuff is good. We need homes and gardens, bread and wine, apples and apple trees, but there’s more to life than stuff.

2) Splash and flash – are not good. By that I mean faking it – making a splash – instead of substance. The devil asks Jesus to jump from the temple top and the angels will catch you and the crowd will go “Wow!” – and they’ll all follow you – The Great Wonder. I know that temptation: when preaching to give splash instead of substance. A father or mother or anyone can use splash and flash with their kids and really not be there.

3) And the third temptation – the temptation for power – for many is the temptation to control – to want to control everything – spouse, children, life, basically not being able to let go - not being able to put life outside our hands – and into God’s hands and cooperation with others. This last temptation is a big temptation: making ourselves the only one on the planet – being all alone - making ourselves a god with a small “g” – as if we are the only person there is. Now that’s a powerful – as well as a very lonely temptation.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily for today is, “Alone”.

I’m suggesting that all of us fast from something we’re spending too much time with – and use that gained time for some scripture reading or little book reading 5 or 10 minutes each day during Lent and then turning that into prayer - not being alone, but being with God.

Okay, if you’re married – and you’re in the same place in the garden with your spouse, bite into the same reading together and see what that tastes like and then do some praying together – rib to rib. Amen.


*Cf. Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, Oxford University Press, London, Oxford, New York, translated from the Sixth Edition by Edwyn C. Hoskyns, reprint 1972; Vincent Taylor, The Epistle to the Romans, London, 1955; Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J., “The Letter to the Romans” page 830-868 in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1990.

LENT:
LET’S GET SERIOUS

INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Lent: Let’s Get Serious.”

I don’t know about you, but to me Lent is much too soon this year. I haven’t even finished my Christmas cards yet. And I would like a little space to continue celebrating the Giants' Super Bowl victory. Yet, I know the start of Lent is based on the Passover Moon – but we could go the way of the Eastern Christian Church – and that would make it a bit later. But here we are, it’s Ash Wednesday, and it’s time to start Lent.

Lent: Let’s Get Serious.

ASHES

First of all they rub it in our face with ashes that we are going to die one of these years.

There are two formulas that can be used when priests, deacons or ministers put the ashes on your forehead:

“Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.”

“Remember, you are dust and into dust you will return.”

I always use the second formula. To me it has so much more impact.

However, I don’t like it when a baby gets ashes. To me they are too young for, “Remember, you are dust and into dust you will return.”

Yet, the moment is real serious when we receive the ashes.

The clock is ticking. The calendar pages keep turning. Our skin begins to wrinkle and wear out at some point.

Remember, we are dust and into dust we shall return.

As we get older, we experience going to more funeral services and quietly following a long line of cars to a cemetery.

Remember, we are dust and into dust we will return.

ASHES: GLIMPSES OF REALITY

We get glimpses of reality whenever we start to see ashes and smoke, crumble and wear, nicks and break.

The cookie crumbles.

Yesterday’s newspaper becomes the lining of the bird cage today.

The brand new band aid we put on the cut finger that morning has picked up dirt and stretch marks by the time we go to bed.

The little kid is enjoying the wonderful licks of a chocolate chip ice cream cone – and then the moment of insight – the sight of the cone getting smaller and smaller. The kid is discovering “The End” is not just what happens at the end of cartoons. The joyful licking taste and sound of an ice cream cone can’t go on forever. And sometimes there is the horror and the tears when a kid drops the whole cone or pop on a red brick Annapolis sidewalk – and the whole enterprise has to be thrown into a garbage pail.

The pet dog, cat, bird, or fish, dies.

The steering wheel, the upholstery, the carpet of what was once a brand new, beautiful car – starts to wear thin, fade a bit.

A classmate or best friend or neighbor – who is younger or in better shape, dies.

Remember you are dust and into dust you will return.

Lent: Let’s Get Serious.

PRAYER & FASTING

Lent: a time – 40 days – for the big two serious spiritual practices: prayer and fasting.

Prayer: not babbling – but communication – communion – taking time to sit or walk and talk and be with God: listening – really listening – reflecting on what’s going on in our life and the lives of those around us.

Prayer: not praying to be seen by others – but to be seen by God.

Fasting: not for the sake of feeling good about ourselves or for bragging rights – but to use the 40 days of Lent to step back and take a slow look about cutting back on compulsive eating or talking or watching TV or being on the computer or just doing nothing.

Fasting: to then use the gained time for family time – to concentrate on a different person in the family each week of Lent – or to walk more – to read a good book - to discuss what we’re reading with a spouse or a friend – or to help others – or visit the unvisited – to do quality work at work.

Fasting: from yak, yak, yak, without thinking about what we’re saying.

Fasting from gossip or destructive criticism – moving more to listening to those around us – what they are saying or not saying.

Fasting: turning off unnecessary lights – saving electricity – picking up litter – making our lawn and surroundings brighter – making this world the beautiful place God made it to be.

CONCLUSION

Lent: Let’s Get Serious.

We get the Ashes today because we’re announcing to each other and to the world, “We’re Christian and we’re about to get serious especially for the next 40 days. Today is February 6th – Easter is March 23rd, this year. We can do it. We’re loud about it today with the symbol of Ashes on our forehead – but for the next 39 days, calmly and quietly, we’ll do good things and do them well and do them for the right reason – with a smile on our face instead of ashes. Amen.

LENT

Lent:
Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday,
life to death,
death to resurrection.

Lent:
Christ the grain of wheat
cut down, ground down,
becoming bread, becoming food, communion -
Christ always wanting union with us,
Christ dying to be within us.
Lent: a time to look at life -
to realize we are called to be like bread,
nourishing and feeding others.

Lent: a time to look at life.
Life is all about borrowing and lending;
life, the gift of life lent to us from God the Creator.

Lent:
beginning in Winter
ending in Spring --
snow slowly melting,
Spring finally springing,
sun shining again -- more and more,
rain getting warmer, thank God.

Lent:
looking at the outside changes,
feeling an urge to work with our lawns, gardens,
plants, what have we,
as well to do some inside changes,
feeling the urge to do some Spring cleaning
of our cellar, garages

Lent: then the urge to do some
spiritual Spring cleaning, change,
conversion in our inner garden, room,
celler, attic, garage,
looking at possible new changes in our life.

Lent:
the ugly lawns and soggy fields of winter
thawing, melting, needing raking and cultivation,
needing change, needing conversion,
the need for Springtime in the lawn of my soul.

Lent:
the season of hope,
hopefully,
because of Jesus,
the Risen One
always walking in the Garden of our soul.

Lent:
a chance to reflect upon life -
life that began with Adam and Eve,
formed from the dust and the clay of earth --
earth, humus, and in death
we will return to that earth
from which we came.

Lent:
making an exit, an Exodus
from the flesh pots of Egypt
and heading for the Promised Land,
leaving the pig pods of the Far Country,
heading home with a sorry confession
of stupidity with selfish sentences,
only to feel the embrace of the Loving Father.

Lent: 40 days.
Life: days becoming years,
60 years, 70 years, 80 years, 90 years,
will any of us make it to 100?

Lent:
a 40 day by day journey,
a step by step approach to
Our Father who art in heaven.

Lent:
a time to fast from Alleluias.

Lent:
ashes on the forehead
reminding us that we and dust,
and into dust we shall return.
Remember,
because of Christ,
there's more, the Eternal More,
restoration, rebirth, resurrection.
Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

ASH WEDNESDAY

Ashes,
Ash Wednesday,
the beginning of Lent.

Ashes,
a sermon without words.
Ashes thumbed
into our skull.

We get the message.

We know about ashes:
burnt letters,
burnt homes,
loved ones who have died
and turned to dust or
were cremated.

September 11, 2001.

We know about Lent.
We know the practices
we need to practice:
more prayer, more penance,
more charity, more awareness,
more listening, learning,
more passion, more compassion,
all leading to more life.

Ash Wednesday,
ashes, grey silty ashes,
rubbed into our skulls,
rubbed onto our skin.

Ashes,
a reminder,
“Remember,
you are dust
and to dust
you will return.”

Ashes,
a call to,
“Turn away from sin
and be faithful to the gospel.”

Ashes
are a painful reminder
that we are not God.

Ashes,
telling us
eventually everything
and everyone falls apart -
except God.

We look in the mirror
and see that we age,
our skin flakes and wrinkles.
Or we look at those
much older or much younger
than us, and we feel the urge
to use the remaining time
of our life
better and better,
wiser and wiser.

Ashes,
also a sign of hope,
reminding us of new life.
Out of what was will come
what will be.
Soon, we shall see,
Spring, Easter, resurrection
and the greening of new life.
Amen.

© Andrew Costello

LENT:
MORE OR LESS

Less noise, more quiet,
Less self, more prayer,
Less food, more fasting,
Less ignorance, more reading,
Less talk, more listening,
Less television, more family,
Less coldness, more warmth,
Less anger, more patience,
Less gossip, more reverence,
Less selfishness, more openness,
Less blindness, more awareness,
Less envy, more complimenting,
Less jealousy, more generosity,
Less sitting, more exercise,
Less fear, more fortitude,
Less hesitation, more courage.
Less me, more them, O Lord,
Less me, more You, O Lord.
Amen. Amen. Amen.

© Father Andy Costello, CSSR

WHEELCHAIR

QUARTERBACK

[This is a story for the Young People's Mass on the 4th Sunday in OT A. It comes out of reflections on today’s Gospel text - the Beatitudes - and especially the Second Reading, Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians – 1:26-31 – where he talks about the surprising kind of people God calls. Like the Beatitudes, we see that God thinks differently than us. It was also triggered by reflections that in this same hall at St. Mary’s our kids put on a variety show last Friday evening. Tonight's Super Bowl also enters into the picture.]

Every year the kids in High School # 73 put on a play for the rest of the school. Every year this play goes well. The teacher in charge of the play picks the prettiest and brightest girl to be the leading lady and the best looking and sharpest boy to be the leading man.

Every year the kids from the school – well not all – as well as the parents of the kids in the play – come to see the play. The parents of the leading lady always give her a bouquet of flowers after the play is over. And everyone claps politely and everyone celebrates with smiles – and a week later life is back to normal – and most people have forgotten the play.

But not this year. This year there was this new high school teacher and she was asked to do the annual high school play at High School # 73. The former teacher, who had always done the school play, had retired last June after teaching there for 36 years – and having directed 36 plays.

Well, the new teacher had never produced or directed a play before. In fact, this new teacher had never been in a play in her life – because when she was in school, she wasn’t the prettiest or the brightest kid in the school or her class. She was always just a quiet kid – who liked to sit off to the side – preferably in the back of classrooms – but she listened and she learned. And by listening and watching, she learned lots of things about life.

Here was her chance. She knew the other teachers knew this was a lot of work – a lot of work after school – when they wanted to get home to their families or do some shopping or what have you. She knew she was being stuck with the job – because new teachers are given volunteer jobs other teachers really didn’t want.

The new teacher, Miss Lisa, wasn’t married – wasn’t dating – so she said, “Yes! I’ll give it a shot.”

First she had to find a play – a play with lots of different parts – because she wanted to give lots of kids a chance to be on stage.

The play she picked from out of about a hundred different plays was called, “Wheelchair Quarterback!”

She picked it because as she read the play, she thought of a neat kid in the junior class who was in a wheelchair. She pictured him perfect for the part.

The play is about this kid in a wheelchair who was a genius as a quarterback – but obviously couldn’t play – being in a wheelchair.

But he ended up being the mastermind for the team’s undefeated season – that is, till they met a team in the state championship high school game. This other team was nicknamed “The Giants” – because they were so big and so good – so fast and so powerful.

The kid in the wheelchair in the play was named Pete – and the quarterback’s name in the play was named Jake.

The play went like this: Pete spends all his extra time – studying films of the teams his high school football team were to play. He would come up with perfect counter plays for Jake the quarterback based on his study. When all the other kids in the school were doing this and that and going here and there after school – Pete stayed in school studying video tape of the next team his team were to play. After studying film and planning plays, he would teach them to Jake. He would watch Jake practice them – and then in the games pull them off – often surprising the other team.

In the play, that’s how the team won every game till the State High School Championship Game.

In real life, Miss Lisa, the new teacher, approached the junior kid in the wheelchair. His name was Ted. She asked him if he would like to be in the annual school play. His hands immediately grasped the two stainless steel arms of his motorized wheel chair and he nervously replied, “Me?”

Miss Lisa said, “Yes! You’d be great. Now before you answer, ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, I want you to read the script of the play and let me know what you think?”

She knew kids who weren’t in a wheelchair could play the part. Just put them in a wheelchair. But why not Ted? Why not give him a chance to star?

That afternoon and after supper Ted read the script. And as he read it, energy, juice, fire, surprise, desire, welled up in him.

Around 7:30 that night, as he finished reading the script for the play, he raised his hands in victory and said to himself, “Yes, I can do this.”

He told his parents and they said, “If you think you can do it, do it!”

Miss Lisa, also had to get actors to play the parts of football players. Each football player she asked, said, “No!” They thought, “Real men play football on muddy, cold fields. Real men don’t play football on stage in warm auditoriums.” So she asked boys who never had a chance to make the football team if they would like to play the part of a football player in a play – on stage – and these kids jumped at the chance.

Surprise. They started lifting weights. They started running on their own and the football team guys couldn’t figure out what was going on with these other guys – as they bulked and muscled up.

It was the same with the cheerleaders. The regular cheerleaders didn’t want to be seen with these guys who never played sports etc. So Miss Lisa asked other girls if they wanted to be cheerleaders in a school play. Two dozen girls jumped at the opportunity.

Surprise this whole new cheer leader team – 24 girls – began working and working and working at cheers that would end up being better than the regular cheer leader cheers. Moreover they all lost weight and got into great shape as they practiced and practiced. And when they finally put on the play, when they cheered their cheers during the play, they received standing ovations at least three times at every performance. And at the end of the play, all 24 cheerleaders got flowers from their parents. Their parents never knew their daughters had so much talent – and always envied the parents of the real cheerleaders at home football and basketball games.

To play the part of quarterback, Miss Lisa picked another junior, this big 6 foot 3 kid – named Wilber - who was all computers and no sports. He also started to work out because several times in the play, he had to throw a football through a tire on a rope hanging from a fake tree on the stage in front of everyone. He practiced, practiced, practiced – and was able to do it every time. He wasn’t even nervous when he had to do it live – in front of his parents – and the rest of the school – during the 4 nights the play, “Wheelchair Quarterback” was being performed.

The play was the biggest hit play in the history of High School # 73.

Miss Lisa got all kinds of congratulations and compliments – especially from parents. She became the envy of the other teachers. She also became the teacher who was the favorite teacher in the school. If you ever asked kids: “Who is your favorite teacher?”, the answer was always: “Miss Lisa, obviously.”

Ooops. I better tell you more about the play.

Well, in the play, High School # 73 lost to the other team, the team nicknamed ”The Giants”, in the high school state championship game of the season. They were almost undefeated.

But that wasn’t the end of the play. This play had a happy ending.

Winning or losing wasn’t the main message of the play. The main story of the play was that Jake, the quarterback in the play, received over 100 offers for college scholarships. But he wouldn’t take any offer – unless that college also offered an athletic scholarship to his buddy Pete in the wheelchair.

This was unheard of. No college wanted to give up an athletic scholarship for a kid in a wheelchair, so Jake said “No” to all 100 offers.

Then a college they had not heard from called and offered scholarships to both Pete and Jake – and they went on to work wonders all through college and into the pros – and they even made it to the Super Bowl. No it wasn’t the Giants and the Patriots. That was a real game years and years ago, way back in 2008, when the Giants won that one. This one was the Giants against the Colts – long after Eli and Peyton retired – long after Eli made the Hall of Fame before his brother made it – and years later both Pete and Jake went into the Hall of Fame together – and Tom Brady and Eli, now older men with pot bellies – both asked Pete and Jake for autographs.

That’s how the play on stage ended.

In real life, Ted, the junior in the wheelchair and Wilber the expert in computers and throwing a football through a tire, ended up being great friends for life – both going to the same college and both starting their own company together - and both having a great memory of a great play they stared in, called, “Wheelchair Quarterback”. Amen.

CHOOSE
YOUR MOUNTAIN

[This is the year of the Gospel of Matthew – Year A – when Matthew will be the gospel we hear at most Sunday Masses in Ordinary Time. Today’s gospel presents the Beatitudes right there at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1 to 7:29.) I like to contrast the Sermon on the Mount with the scene in the Book of Exodus when Moses goes up the Mountain – Mount Sinai – and comes down with the Ten Commandments and many other Laws. (Exodus 19:1 – 24:18). The following imaginary reflection tries to get into that message and that contrast.]

I don’t know if you know this, but when we die we’re going to arrive in this big open place. It’s like an enormous parking lot. The light will be very bright. We’ll be rubbing our eyes because we just came out of the dark of death. We’ll be standing there in shock. Hey, we just died. And we’ll be wondering, “Where am I?”

And as we are standing there waiting and wondering, other people who have just died start to show up in this same place. And all of us will be standing there quietly — wondering, “What’s going on?”

Now this open space – that looks like a big open airport parking lot – will be very quiet. Nobody is saying anything. Hey, we’re all scared. And right in the middle of this gigantic parking lot we see a little booth. Instinctively we know this is a important place — because we spot someone inside the booth. He has a beard and it looks like he’s wearing a robe. And it looks like he’s reading a newspaper.

Now when there are about 60 of us standing there – nervous and slowly getting our bearings, the guy in the beard and toga or robe who has been looking out the booth window on a regular basis – as if waiting for something, suddenly folds up his paper and walks outside the booth.

He then signals all of us to come towards the booth. Just then we see two buses – one red – and one blue – coming towards the booth as well. We’re watching all this and saying, “Interesting.”

Then we gather around the guy from the booth – the guy with the robe and the beard and the newspaper. We can read the name of the newspaper: Heavenly Times.

And he says, “Welcome. Congratulations! You’ve made it. My name is Peter. Let me tell you what’s next.” We breathe a sigh of relief. “Phew! We made it.”

Then he says, “Now you have two choices. One: all those who have kept the Ten Commandments or who have tried to keep the Ten Commandments in their life, can take the Blue Bus right there to the Mount of the Ten Commandments.”

And all at once, without even hearing the second choice, everyone heads for the Blue Bus – which has on its destination message: “Mountain of the Ten Commandments.”

Everyone is so happy we made it. Wow we made it to heaven.

Nobody stopped to ask Saint Peter what the second choice was.

And off we go. We’ve arrived.

The bus driver, Saint Christopher, gets on the loudspeaker and he too says, “Welcome.” We pull out of the big parking lot – and start heading up this 8 lane highway.

Then he says, “Up ahead you can see a big mountain. It’s the Mountain of the Ten Commandments. It’s where you’ll be living.”

We look out the windows and he continues, “Now, here’s how it works. I’ll drive you through all the neighborhoods and you can have any mansion that has a vacancy sign on the front lawn. There are always plenty of places that are available. Just jot down the address and street of a place you’d like and I’ll get you back there.”

Soon we see mansions – perfect mansions on both sides of the street. The lawns are putting green perfect. The flowers, trees, birds, the weather – everything is perfect.

And people began jotting down street and mansion numbers – checking with others – who picked what?

St. Christopher says, “Every house is great. The hot water is just right. The cold water is always nice and cold. Everything will be just the way you want it. And if you want things changed, just ask. Anything you want.”

We all pick our place. We move in and in time everyone discovers the food is perfect. The restaurants are perfect. The mansions are perfect. Everything is perfect. Hey, this is the Mountain of the Ten Commandments. Nobody is breaking any commandments here. You don’t have to lock your door at night. Nobody is stealing. Everybody is perfect. It’s heaven.

Yet, even though everything is perfect, something starts to bother us.

While we are playing pinochle, poker, or bridge or Dominos, while we are in our perfect swimming pools, while we are enjoying heavenly movies at night with coffee and chocolates without worrying about not being able to sleep, enjoying a heavenly breeze, we scratch our head once and a while and say to each other, “I wonder what that other mountain is like, you know the one we heard about just after we arrived up here. What was it called again?”

And nobody knew what it was called.

So finally we get up enough nerve to telephone St. Peter and ask, “Hey the day we arrived here, you gave us two choices. I live on the Mountain of the Ten Commandments. It’s a great mountain. It’s a great neighborhood. Everything is perfect. I have no complaints. It’s everything I ever wanted. I’m happy. Content. But is there any chance I could visit the other mountain? What was it called again?”

“Yes, sure,” St. Peter says in response. “I was wondering when you were going to ask. Everyone always asks eventually.”

“Oh,” we sort of mutter.

St. Peter continues, “Just flag down a Blue Bus from outside your house. They usually go by every 23 minutes. Take that bus down the mountain to the big parking lot you arrived at. And then take the Red Bus up to the Mount of the Beatitudes. No problem.”

“Mount of the Beatitudes? Never heard of it,” we say?

“You’ll see,” Saint Peter replies.

Sure enough we spot a Blue Bus going by and we flag it down. And we see some other folks on the bus and we begin talking with them. They too said they were wondering what this other mountain was. They too called Saint Peter. They too said, “What’s this Mount of the Beatitudes?”

The bus driver was St. John Neumann and we say, “I know a church named after you.”

He says, “Great!”

He drives us down to the big parking lot and the tiny booth. He smiles while listening to all the conversations. While going down we see three buses filled with folks going up to the Mountain of the Ten Commandments.

When we get to the booth, it isn’t Saint Peter in the booth reading the paper – but someone who looks like him.

A man gets out and says to everyone, “My name is Andrew. My brother Peter is usually here, but I’m taking his shift right now.”

And he adds, “I understand from Peter that all of you want to see the Mount of the Beatitudes. Just get on the Red Bus there.’”

And about 35 of us got on the Red Bus – which is marked, “Mount of the Beatitudes.”

The driver was Saint Mathew and he smiled as folks started to speculate what the Beatitudes were.

Someone said, “I know there are 8 of them, but I never memorized them.”

Someone else said, “We had them read out at our wedding and I’ve been at several weddings where that was the gospel, but I’m not sure why we picked them and really what some of them mean.”

Then there was a moment of silence because someone whispered, “They are in the gospel of Matthew and he’s our driver.”

And Mathew added with a great smile in his voice, “And guess what? 15 of you had the Beatitudes read at your funeral?”

Silence. That brought a long loud “Uh oh!” silence.

“Well,” someone finally had the courage to ask Matthew what they were. And he said, “They are 8 Blessings of Jesus that I gathered from my travels – when I trying to line up what Jesus taught. They are 8 attitudes – and if these become your attitudes, you’ll be at peace.”

“Oh,” the questioner said sheepishly.

Then Mathew said, “Okay, just around this curve, you’ll see the Mount of the Beatitudes.”
Once more we all became very quiet.

And Mathew gave us a bus tour of the Mount of Beatitudes.

Every home looked full. There were no “Vacancy” signs on the lawns.

And the homes didn’t look like much – in fact, some looked very tiny. There were no mansions over here.

Yet there were lots of folks walking the streets.

Some of us on the bus were wondering, “Why would anyone want to live over here?”

Yet as people kept looking out the bus window, we said to themselves, “Everyone has such a beautiful smile on their face. They seem to be enjoying heaven too.”

One person whispered very loudly, “How in the hell, OOPS, how in the heaven, could anyone enjoy this place compared to the Mount of the Ten Commandments?”

Well, nobody asked Matthew to stop. Nobody got off.

The Red Bus went back to the big parking lot and everyone headed for the Blue Bus to get back home to the Mountain of the Ten Commandments.

Surprise! From time to time all of us took the Blue Bus down to the parking lot and then the Red Bus to the Mount of the Beatitudes. Each time we went, we’d have new questions.

And slowly we got answers – because we could get off the Red Bus and walk around. Slowly we got to know the folks over there. Some were Christian. Some were Moslems. Some were Jews. Some were “nothing” - just as the folks on our side had been.

Then surprise, everyone discovered that most of the folks living on the Mount of the Beatitudes said they had lived on the Mount of the Ten Commandments when they first got to heaven. Then they moved over here.

That explained the ongoing, “Vacancy” signs on the Mountain of the Ten Commandments. We knew you can’t die in heaven.

People slowly moved to the other mountain – which was not much of a mountain. It was really only a big hill. Certainly it was not an impressive mountain like the Mountain of the Ten Commandments.

And people who moved over to the Mount of the Beatitudes discovered people who lived there, lived the Beatitudes in a deep, deep way.

And they discovered that some people had started living a few of the beatitudes while on earth. These were mainly the people who skipped the Blue Bus and took the Red Bus as soon as they arrived here.

These were folks who, when on earth were poor in spirit – not a degrading or dehumanizing poverty – but a poverty that gave them solidarity with all those who stuck on earth.

These were folks who, when on earth were there for others who had big losses or deep suffering.

These were folks who, when on earth were meek – and not filled with self importance.
These were folks who, when on earth, always hungered for what was right – and were willing to speak up and face the consequences.

These were folks who, when on earth, showed mercy and kindness to everyone.

These were folks who, when on earth, were clean of heart.

These were folks who, when on earth, were the peacemakers.

These were folks who, when on earth, were thought of as nuts and dreamers – and as a result they were insulted and falsely accused.

And on the many Red Bus rides around the Mount of the Beatitudes, people loved it when they got Saint Matthew as the driver. Someone said to him, “Well it takes time to grow in wisdom, age and grace – even in heaven.” And Mathew said, “Good line. But Luke used it first.”

Slowly, everyone grows in wisdom, age and grace.

Slowly, everyone moves to the Mount of the Beatitudes.

Slowly, we realized what purgatory and heaven are.

[P.S. This reflection leaves me a bit quesy and uneasy - because it leaves out so much - like meeting God in the Resurrection - as well as our family - while at the same time it continues my wonderings about life after death. - that I touched upon in recent sermons. I have a sermon somewhere that uses the refrain from St. Paul, "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, what things God has prepared for those who love Him." (Cf. 1 Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4.)]

I’M DYING TO FIND OUT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “I’m Dying to Find Out.”

Do you have any questions about the other side of death that you’re dying to find out about – but not yet? What happens after we die?

SACRAMENT OF THE SICK

Two months ago at a meeting of the priests and deacons here at St. Mary’s, we talked about picking some Sunday in the new year to preach on the sacrament of the sick at all the Masses.

We said: “Pick a gospel where Jesus does some healing – and use that as a launching pad for speaking on some key points about the sacrament of the sick.”

So we chose this Sunday – because besides preaching and teaching, it mentions Jesus going around healing the sick.

Yesterday, I sat down and put together half a sermon on this – only to say to myself, “It’s somewhat clear, but something is missing.” Then the thought hit me about a question I think about from time to time: the “I’m dying to find out” question. I believe it’s connected to the sacrament of the sick question.

Like everyone there are times I think about death. Like everyone who gets older, thoughts about death come more often than when I was younger. Like everyone getting older, my body isn’t what it used to be. No kidding!

So let me go there – and let me tie this into the sacrament of the sick.

EXTREME UNCTION

When I was a kid, the sacrament of the sick was called, “Extreme Unction”. Unction means an anointing.

When you were seriously sick and you saw the priest arrive at your house or hospital bed, you knew you were dying. We saw this in movies and in real life. “Call for the priest.”

When I was a kid, they used to hand out a card for your wallet with the printed words, “I am a Catholic. In case of an accident, please call a priest”. Then there were the jokes: “I am a Catholic in case of an accident.” Or the one, “I am a very important Catholic. In case of an accident, please call a bishop.”

Or the one about the icy, messy night and this guy is in a serious car accident and the police arrive before the ambulance and the guy is stuck in the car and he says, “Can you call a priest?” And the priest comes out on the icy, messy night only to find out the guy is Jewish. So the priest asks him, “Why did you ask for a priest?” And the Jewish guy says, “I wouldn’t bring a Rabbi out on a night like this?”

Back then the sacrament was called, “Extreme Unction” – a description by Peter Lombard who died in 1160. The stress was preparation for death. The stress was an anointing for the journey into eternal life. The stress was forgiveness of sins – to become clean, purified, for the journey to meet God – to experience the Beatific Vision – seeing God as God is. We get cleaned up for important meetings.

I am dying to find out what that will be like – but not yet.

So the main stress from the 12th century till the 20th century was preparation for death. We see this in theologians like St. Albert the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure and Duns Scotus. The Council of Trent – 1545 – 1563 – did not say that danger of death was a condition for validity – but in its discussions, it talked about this sacrament “only to be for those who have come to grips with death.”

Preparation for death was the main stress. Then the Second Vatican Council changed the stress from death to life. People are living longer. People have hospital stays and recoveries more frequently. Make it a sacrament to help people who are seriously sick – or people who are going to undergo a serious operation or treatments – to bring God into the picture – to bring prayer and faith – the presence of Jesus into the process of healing as well as getting older.

Many people have been helped with this different stress – that the sacrament is for the living who are seriously sick. Some people only see this sacrament as an immediate preparation for death. I see it as both.

How do you see the sacrament of the sick? It’s for you. It’s one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church?

Most priests in the United States have this green book. They keep it in their car or on a shelf right inside their door. It has prayers for sick calls in it. Priests also keep this little metal cylinder for the sacred oil - for this sacrament of the sick right next to the ritual book. Then right with the oil and the book is a small gold pyx or box for bringing communion to the sick.

In this parish Father Pat Flynn is tremendous. He visits the hospital almost every day and takes most of the Catholic sick calls at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The rest of us are very, very grateful for his dedication to this ministry. The priests in parishes in this area and the Eastern Shore just over the bridge are very grateful that St. Mary’s does so much for Catholics who are in Anne Arundel Medical Center. It makes their life easier – especially with the shortage of priests – and distances to travel.

Father Pat also organizes a wonderful group of lay people who visit Catholics who register as Catholics at the hospital. They visit them and bring them communion and check if they want to receive the sacrament of the sick. They also do this in nursing homes as well as for the homebound. This is a great parish.

At present only a priest can anoint someone with this sacrament – because the church wants to also provide people the possibility of the sacrament of reconciliation or confession – and only priests can hear confession. Various people are pushing for deacons to be able to administer this sacrament of the sick. They anoint people when they baptize. Many deacons do hospital work – but the church has not made that change.

We would like to stress this weekend that if Father Flynn or one of us provides this sacrament during the day – we don’t have to go back the next day or that night if a person gets worse. We don’t want to appear lazy or unconcerned for the pastoral care of people – but the work load of being a priest can be very heavy. That’s why Father Pat Flynn goes during the day in the first place.

We are also aware that part of the sacrament of the sick is the help and assurance it gives to those around the sick bed – the family and friends of the sick person – as we all pray together for the sick person or the dying person.

Now let me say a few words about the mystery of death.

Even though there has been a change in the stress of this sacrament from death being very imminent to a help and comfort for the living – to get through a serious illness or operation – I still see a deep connection between this sacrament with death.

BEING A FATHER OR A MOTHER

Most of you have the great life experience of being a parent – bringing a child or several children into the world.

I miss that. Those of us who have not been parents can only imagine what it’s like to be a parent.

Becoming pregnant – the news – the holding each other – the comments – the congratulations – the wondering what it’s like – the days becoming weeks, becoming months – as the mother to be sees her body change. The beauty of a pregnant woman – one of the world’s great scenes – along with a full moon on a clear night on the ocean – fall colors – the Alps, the Grand Canyon.

Then the birth of a child – coming out of the dark into the light. “It’s a girl!” “It’s a boy!”

Then all the moments that follow. Ah sweet mystery of life.

DEATH MAKES LIFE WHAT LIFE IS

Life is such a powerful reality – because we have a death day besides our birthday – whether we acknowledge it or not.

Life is such a powerful reality – because we don’t know our death day.

Life is a mystery, because life has term limits – because we don’t know the ending of the story – the last chapter of the book – as well as the question, “Is there a sequel?”

I’m dying to find out – but not yet.

Why did God do all this the way God did all this? I’m dying to find out – but not yet.

It’s the same with love. If the other person had to love us – if the other person couldn’t say, “I want to leave” or “I want out” – or “It’s over!” relationships would not have the tremendous power and significance they have.

As priest I have not experienced births – like parents have – but I have experienced deaths.

Powerful stuff. Painful stuff. Mysterious stuff.

In July of 1966, just after I had full faculties as a priest, I was helping out for two weeks in Monticello, New York. The phone rang at 12:30 in the night. I dressed and drove quickly to the local hospital. Two brothers from Paterson, New Jersey, were driving too fast after going to a bar after going to the track, and crashed.

I asked the nurse in the emergency room if the person under the brown sheet of the wheeled stretcher just below me was alive. She didn’t say a word. She just pulled back the sheet and I saw a man’s face. It looked like someone shot him in the face with a shot gun. It was from the horrible car crash.

I anointed him and said some prayers over him because he had just died and then went to his brother Ray who was the driver. – very banged up – drunk – and a mess – and I anointed him before he went into surgery. The next two weeks I visited Ray every day in the hospital – not knowing what I was doing.

That was the beginning of lots of experiences of death – not just family deaths – but painful – as well as deaths that were blessings.

I saw first hand the importance of the church’s presence, Christ’s presence, prayer’s presence, in moments of deep pain – especially death.

I sat with various people in the parish – one to one – and heard them tell me their thoughts about death – which for each of them was only a short time to come.

I said to them, “You’re lucky! You’re going to know before me what’s it like after death. I’m dying to find out. If there is nothing, we’ll never know. I pause after saying that – letting that sink it – but if there is something, then you’ll soon know. You’re lucky. You’re blessed. Then I say, “It’s our Christian faith that Jesus will take us across the dark of death – into whatever is next.

Then I ask them to tell me their faith stuff. To me it’s often just like the pregnancy stuff – all the wonderings before the birth of a child.

Then I say: the baby doesn’t know the great mystery on the other side of the womb – parents waiting for them with great smiles, amazement, joy, kisses, hugs, celebration. I see the moment after the womb of the tomb the birth into eternity and God welcomes us into his smile, his eyes, his love, his embrace.

The dying person sometimes talks about worries of mistakes in one’s life – if they haven’t accepted forgiveness yet.

Then I try to anoint people with the words of the scriptures. All our sacraments are a mixture of symbol, scripture and prayers. When it comes to what happens after death, Christ for the most part doesn’t talk about a scale – where our eternity depends on whether our good outweighs our bad. Like the Good Thief, we can steal heaven at the last moment. We can enter the Garden at the last hour. Yet, why wait till then to live the great life of Jesus’ Kingdom, Dream, Vision?

I would tell dying people scripture words like the ones we heard from Isaiah in both the first reading and today’s gospel. I would say something like: “Picture all the people who die each day – completely in shock like a new born baby – but in reverse – moving from the lights of life and finding themselves in the dark on the other side of death – and suddenly they see a great light – the Great Light – God.”

Thomas Merton has a great poem on this – which he wrote just after Ernest Hemingway died. If I remember correctly, he pictures people climbing this big staircase in the dark – heading for the light.

Or I would tell folks the words of Luke 15 where Jesus tells us the three great stories of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son – when found, brings great joy to God the Finder. Amen. I’m dying to find out if I’m right about all this – but not yet.