POWERFUL SCENES,
POWERFUL MOMENTS
POWERFUL MOMENTS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Powerful Scenes, Powerful Moments.”
What have been the powerful scenes, the powerful moments of your life? Everyone has them: what are your’s?
Lent is a serious time – a time to reflect on the powerful scenes and the powerful moments, not only in scripture – but also in our lives – and to connect the two.
These moments can be teaching moments – scenes that contain life’s lessons – some bitter, some sweet – important insights not to be missed.
A small moment of insight that I learned in life was from the life of Robert Coles – a remarkable Harvard child psychiatrist – who has written amongst other things on The Spiritual Life of Children. * If I remember correctly, on a TV documentary he once said, “I was talking to Anna Freud and she suggested that I go back and look at my notes that I had taken while interviewing kids many years ago.” He said he did just that and was amazed at all the things he saw now and missed back then.
What I got out of that simple story was the power of taking time to do homilies, prayers and reflections on the scriptures of my own life.
As priest I’ve gone through the Sunday scripture readings every year since 1965 – and every time I read these texts I’m hit with new stuff. Sometimes I’ve looked at sermons from way back when and I go, “Oooh!”
So too the scriptures, the stories, the powerful scenes and the powerful moments of my life.
Suggestion: Take a rosary – use just one decade – 10 beads – and finger the 10 beads and come up with the 10 most powerful scenes and moments of our life.
Next: can we say a “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit” for each of those moments?
It might take a car ride alone, a week, or all of Lent to do this. Jot them down - and read them 10 years from now as well - and I'm sure you too will see a lot that you missed.
TODAY’S READINGS
Today’s readings have 3 powerful scenes, 3 powerful moments.
Today’s first reading in Jewish tradition and literature is called, “The Akedah” or “The Binding.”
Abraham is called upon to take his own son, Isaac, up a mountain, tie or bind him down, then sacrifice, burn, make a holocaust of him. Wooo! I’m sure you felt an “Oooh! when you heard today’s first reading. Why was Abraham going to sacrifice his son? Because God said so. Then God says, “Stop!” The test is over. Abraham passed the test. He was willing to sacrifice his first born son from Sarah because God had said so – the son of the promise that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sands on the seashore.
Powerful scene. Powerful moment. Jewish and Christian theologians have wrestled with this story ever since. But not only theologians, philosophers like Kierkegaard and Kant and Dirida and others have joined in the discussion.
The story triggers serious ethical questions.
Today’s second reading talks about God the Father not sparing his own Son. Isaac was not killed on that mountain. Jesus, the only Son of the Father, was killed on the mount of Calvary.
Then, surprise, even though Jesus was killed – was sacrificed – was wiped out, his descendants are now well over 1 billion.
Today’s gospel has a 3rd powerful scene, 3rd powerful moment: Jesus taking Peter, James and John up a mountain – just like Abraham taking Isaac up the mountain in today’s first reading, and Jesus is transfigured before them. It’s a powerful scene of light and voice and amazement. We are told that Jesus is the beloved Son of the Father. We are told to listen to Jesus. Then Jesus on the way down from the heights of the mountain tells his disciple to listen to him: “Don’t tell anyone what you saw up there until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” They listened and didn’t tell anyone about what Jesus said till after he had risen from the dead.
Powerful scenes. Powerful moments.
QUESTION REPEATED
What are the powerful scenes, powerful moments of your life?
Are they sorrowful or glorious, joyful or light bearing - or all of the above?
Some say that Abraham’s test was a powerful moment in world history – when the author or authors of this ancient story – a story with a very primitive idea of God – were trying to put an end to child sacrifice – a practice that existed in our world at that time.
What are the powerful scenes, powerful moments of our time and our lives?
In my last year in college, in a course on ethics, it came to debate time. The professor picked a series of ethical topics and randomly divided us by two for the issues he wanted us to cover. Randomly he also told one of us to be for an issue, one against it. A classmate from Paraguay and I were given the issue of Capital Punishment. Ray was told to be for it; I was told to be against it.
It was the luck of the draw. I often wondered if I was given the job of being for it, would I have been for it ever since? I don’t know.
Ray gave his presentation first. After finishing, our professor said, “Good job. Next.”
I lost the debate because just as I was getting into my presentation, our professor stood up and yelled, “Costello sit down. You’re wrong. We need Capital Punishment.”
I’ve thought about that moment at various times in my life – and recently with the issue of Capital Punishment here in the state of Maryland. Why are people for it? Why are people against it? Is it random – or have people thought it out? I have kept up my reading and research on the issue all through the years – and am more strongly against it now than when I first was asked to research the topic in college. I know it’s a hot button issue and just like my college professor who yelled, “Costello, sit down!” some of you might yell inwardly, “Costello shut up. We need Capital Punishment!”
I’ve learned life has its “Hot Button Issues!”
My mother was killed in a hit and run accident. It was a horrible scene and a horrible moment, but our family realized pretty soon, it would not be smart to let this ruin the rest of our lives. In fact, we believed that my mother would not want it so. We hope the driver learned from the tragedy. We forgave him. We certainly learned an awful lot – stress on the awful.
What have been the powerful scenes, the powerful moments of your life?
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY
Divine comedy and divine tragedy are part of life. Sometimes we laugh; sometimes we cry. Sometimes we do both.
Life – like in the rosary has joyful, sorrowful, glorious and light bearing mysteries. What are your joyful, sorrowful, glorious, and light bearing moments and scenes – the mysteries in your history?
Today’s first reading is not far fetched. People in this world do crazy things. These children – these men and women – who wear vests filled with explosives and kill themselves to kill others – are at times supported by their families. Crazy. Insane. And supposedly some are doing this in God’s name.
Too bad they don’t reflect upon the call to bring life and not death into our world. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that person, instead of killing themselves and others, became a person willing to sacrifice his or her life to be like Gandhi and to try to change the world by non-violence?
Take the horror of abortion. The one life killed stops a whole line of possible life to come. We pinch ourselves because our mom and dad gave us this great gift of life. Thank you, mom and dad.
One of the lessons for me on abortion has been that I have met people – men more than women - who are pro life – who sometimes don’t seem to have the sensitivity or the caring love for the horror someone who had an abortion has gone through. I have squirmed during some sermons and comments from the pulpit or from seeing posters in church vestibules that in my estimation would have people walk out of that Catholic Church never to return. I personally don’t think this is the best way to end a culture of death. I am well aware that others see this differently. Obviously, those who are pro abortion – don’t seem to see what those who think abortion is wrong are seeing. One great paradox for me is that some complain that Pope Pius XII and Christians didn’t speak up and march against the Holocaust – the killing of millions of Jewish people during the Nazi regime in Germany – as well as other genocides – and then when we speak up against abortion we are thought to be ignorant and wrong. Hopefully, when people look back at our time – say from 2109 – they will say we protested and stopped the killing of unwanted babies by abortion back in our century.
So my last life learning has been we all have life’s learnings – and once a mind is made up, a mind is made up. I have learned that we’re all pretty stubborn – and yet we are called to live together. That doesn’t mean I can stop doing home work on life’s issues. It does mean I have to stop seeing the spots I see in other people’s behaviors and logic and as a result I might be missing the log jam in my own logic and sinfulness.
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is: “Powerful Scenes, Powerful Moments.”
Lent is a good time to look at them.
What are your life learnings? As you look at the powerful scenes and powerful moments of your life, what have you learned?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Painting on top, "Abraham Sacrificing Isaac", 1650, Laurent de LaHire. Tap your cursor on the painting to get a better close up.
* Robert Coles, The Spiritual Life of Children, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1990, pp. 358. I would recommend this book to not only those who teach children, but also to parents.
I’ve thought about that moment at various times in my life – and recently with the issue of Capital Punishment here in the state of Maryland. Why are people for it? Why are people against it? Is it random – or have people thought it out? I have kept up my reading and research on the issue all through the years – and am more strongly against it now than when I first was asked to research the topic in college. I know it’s a hot button issue and just like my college professor who yelled, “Costello, sit down!” some of you might yell inwardly, “Costello shut up. We need Capital Punishment!”
I’ve learned life has its “Hot Button Issues!”
My mother was killed in a hit and run accident. It was a horrible scene and a horrible moment, but our family realized pretty soon, it would not be smart to let this ruin the rest of our lives. In fact, we believed that my mother would not want it so. We hope the driver learned from the tragedy. We forgave him. We certainly learned an awful lot – stress on the awful.
What have been the powerful scenes, the powerful moments of your life?
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY
Divine comedy and divine tragedy are part of life. Sometimes we laugh; sometimes we cry. Sometimes we do both.
Life – like in the rosary has joyful, sorrowful, glorious and light bearing mysteries. What are your joyful, sorrowful, glorious, and light bearing moments and scenes – the mysteries in your history?
Today’s first reading is not far fetched. People in this world do crazy things. These children – these men and women – who wear vests filled with explosives and kill themselves to kill others – are at times supported by their families. Crazy. Insane. And supposedly some are doing this in God’s name.
Too bad they don’t reflect upon the call to bring life and not death into our world. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that person, instead of killing themselves and others, became a person willing to sacrifice his or her life to be like Gandhi and to try to change the world by non-violence?
Take the horror of abortion. The one life killed stops a whole line of possible life to come. We pinch ourselves because our mom and dad gave us this great gift of life. Thank you, mom and dad.
One of the lessons for me on abortion has been that I have met people – men more than women - who are pro life – who sometimes don’t seem to have the sensitivity or the caring love for the horror someone who had an abortion has gone through. I have squirmed during some sermons and comments from the pulpit or from seeing posters in church vestibules that in my estimation would have people walk out of that Catholic Church never to return. I personally don’t think this is the best way to end a culture of death. I am well aware that others see this differently. Obviously, those who are pro abortion – don’t seem to see what those who think abortion is wrong are seeing. One great paradox for me is that some complain that Pope Pius XII and Christians didn’t speak up and march against the Holocaust – the killing of millions of Jewish people during the Nazi regime in Germany – as well as other genocides – and then when we speak up against abortion we are thought to be ignorant and wrong. Hopefully, when people look back at our time – say from 2109 – they will say we protested and stopped the killing of unwanted babies by abortion back in our century.
So my last life learning has been we all have life’s learnings – and once a mind is made up, a mind is made up. I have learned that we’re all pretty stubborn – and yet we are called to live together. That doesn’t mean I can stop doing home work on life’s issues. It does mean I have to stop seeing the spots I see in other people’s behaviors and logic and as a result I might be missing the log jam in my own logic and sinfulness.
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is: “Powerful Scenes, Powerful Moments.”
Lent is a good time to look at them.
What are your life learnings? As you look at the powerful scenes and powerful moments of your life, what have you learned?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Painting on top, "Abraham Sacrificing Isaac", 1650, Laurent de LaHire. Tap your cursor on the painting to get a better close up.
* Robert Coles, The Spiritual Life of Children, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1990, pp. 358. I would recommend this book to not only those who teach children, but also to parents.
