PICKING A CHURCH
March 22, 2012
Quote for Today
"Ask yourself, 'What kind of a church would ours be if everyone was like I am?'"
Someone
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
THE CRY FOR FREEDOM
INTRODUCTION
As I read the readings for today - this Fourth Wednesday in Lent - the human cry for freedom is the theme that hit all my buttons.
The first reading from Isaiah talks about prisoners being released. The Gospel talks about the dead being released from the tombs.
I have been stopped by those Eastern Christian Icons of Jesus descending into the realms of death at Easter and releasing the dead. That’s how I read the words of the Apostle’s Creed, “… suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven,….”
FIDELIO - BEETHOVEN
When I read today's words from Isaiah 49: 8-15 - about prisoners: “Saying to the prisoners: Come out! To those in darkness: Show yourselves!” I recall the Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio”. The plot is simple - basic - universal - and has appeared in 1000 variations - before and after.
Florestan is imprisoned - unjustly. Lenore, the woman who loves him, disguises herself as a young man "Fidelio" and gets a job in the prison to try to free him - to get him out of the darkness - and bring him back out into the light - to break his chains.
Beethoven evokes the feelings those who have watched all those plays that portray people who are trapped - stuck - caught in situations where they are crying for freedom. It could be Les Miserables or The Shawshank Redemption - or A Christmas Carol - or The Natural - or Big - or the story of anyone who is trying to lose weight or what have you.
REDEMPTORISTS
Being a member of the Redemptorist Congregation in the Catholic Church - having Psalm 130 - “Out of the Depths I cry to you O God” as the place where we have our motto and foundational text: “With Christ there is copious redemption” (Copiosa Apud Eum Redemptio) - I am moved every time to promote FREEDOM - when I sense someone is in the depths of despair or the pits of problems!
It's the cry of every heart - la voz de la humanidad - that Waltraud Meier as Lenore and Fidelio - sings in the You Tube piece at the top of this reflection.
EVENING NEWS
We watch the evening news - with the hope of hearing Good News - to find out about an experience about someone who is freed - trapped in a coal mine cave in - or to hear Good News that unemployment has dropped another 2 percent - because we know people who are out of work. We hope for a story about someone who is freed from abuse - or a war ends - or a person who had been in prison wrongfully convicted is released from prison - and on and on and on.
As priest, unfortunately, I hear about darkness. I keep on hearing what we heard in last Sunday’s Gospel - Bad News from John 3 - when Jesus says, “… that the light came into the world, but people prefer darkness to light….” I keep on hearing about people hiding in the dark addicted to porn or alcohol or drugs or stealing or envy - and on and on - and they are crying to be redeemed - to be freed - to get out of those prisons - and the Good News is that like Lenore in Fidelio, Jesus disguised himself as one of us and came into our prison to help us to escape - to remove the chains - to set us free.
CONCLUSION
Beethoven's Opera, Fidelio, ends with Schiller’s Ode to Joy.
Joy to the World - the Lord has come.
Joy to the World - Christmas and Easter - the Lord Jesus came as a baby and came again an the Risen Lord after death to help us rise to new life - and keeps on coming to those who cry for freedom through and with and in Christ. Amen.
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On Top: Waltraud Meier - a mezzo-soprano singing in Valencia, Spain.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
WATER
INTRODUCTION
I would like to babble a bit about water this morning - just two pages - drip by drip, drop by drop. Today’s readings for the 4th Tuesday in Lent flow with water.
The first reading from Ezekiel 47: 1-9, 12, always triggers images to flow in my imagination. What would it be like to stand there at this temple that has flowing water everywhere. We’ve all seen modern buildings and museums that have water walls. Whenever I see one I stop I to listen to the sound of the water hitting flowing from top to bottom. How do they do this - engineer wise?
And today’s gospel tells of the pool at the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem in the 5th Chapter of John. It’s called “Bethesda” in Hebrew. It’s a healing pool. I’ve wondered if there is any significance in the mention of the man coming there for healing for 38 years. I’m sure with 2000 or so years of pondering these gospel texts, there are various understandings.
PONDERINGS ABOUT WATER
What’s are your water stories? What are you experiences, your ponderings, thoughts, wonderings, memories, feelings about water?
Much of my life, I’ve lived near water - and it’s been a blessing - and as I said in a St. Patrick’s Day homily, my parents grew up right at the edge of Galway Bay in Ireland.
I’ve been blessed to have been stationed for 12 years on the Hudson River in upstate New York - and I walked down to it thousands of times. I didn’t have a room with a river view all the time - but you knew the river was there. I lived on the Jersey Shore - on ocean front property - with an ocean view room - for 7 years. I lived on a lake in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin for 1 year. I lived near a stream, a small one at that - in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania for 7 years. And you might know that the word “hanna” is an Native American Tribe’s word for “stream” or “river” as in Susquehanna. For going on 10 years now, I live here at Annapolis - with a window view of Spa Creek.
What about you and water views and ocean, lake, river, experiences?
I love to quote the following from Moby Dick by Herman Melville, “Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded forever…. Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he not grasps the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and ocean. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.”
“Meditation and water are wedded forever….”
What are your meditations and reflections on water?
This past Sunday I got a call to visit someone who is dying. The woman’s son wanted to get his mom to the hospital because he said she was dehydrated. I saw a new born baby in the pediatric emergency section of Anne Arundel Medical Center a few days before that. The diagnosis was that the little guy was dehydrated.
A lady in the parish gave me a copy of a book by Masaru Emoto, The Hidden Messages in Water. I found the book dripping with delicious comments.
For example, this Japanese doctor of alternative medicines says, “We start our life being 99 percent water, as fetuses. When we are born, we are 90 percent water, and by the time we reach adulthood we are down to 70 percent. If we die of old age, we will be about 50 percent water. In other words, throughout our lives we exist mostly as water.” [pp xv]
If that is true, then Masaru Emoto stresses that it be smart if we have good water in our system - not just out there - but also in here - in our bodies. Stagnant water is dead water. Flow. Go. Move. Move it. Make our bodies flow.
Masaru Emoto in this book tells about his work with crystals - frozen water. Lots of people ridiculed and reject his theories and ideas. I found them fascinating. He worked for years freezing water to make crystals. Then he studied the photographs of them. If while freezing them you played Beethoven or Tchaikovsky or heavy rock music, you’d get different, very differently shaped crystals. Classical music had more beautiful crystals. The experiment that really seems weird was the one where he took a piece of paper and wrote words on it and then taped that sign to the water he was freezing. If the word had good vibes, you got beautiful crystals. It the word had negative vibes, you got definitely strange crystals - broken and disturbed. For example a sign with the words “Love and Gratitude” had most beautiful Chrystal formations - and another with the negative comment, “You fool” produced an ugly crystal.
He said, “Water has vibrations.” He added that the whole world has vibrations.
CONCLUSION
As I pondered that I realize that this is not strange. Everyone of us has a pulse - a beat - a bounce in us. Hook us up to machines in the hospital and our family around the bed hopes those numbers are right.
How about bread, wine, spinach and ginger ale? Do they all have vibes?
How about us? I preached to the kids yesterday at 4 sessions for confessions - one of my favorite questions: “What happens when you walk into a room?” Do you get an “Oh yes” or an “Oh no” vote.
What vibrations did Jesus give off when he walked into a room or at the pool at Bethesda? What does he give us today? Maybe he’s been waiting for us for 38 years? Maybe Christ wants to give us wine made from water. Maybe Christ wants us to go forth and give glasses of cold water to each other. Amen.
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Picture in the middle: Tobyhanna Falls, Monroe County, Pennsylvania
Front Cover of Masaru Emoto's book, The Hidden Messages in Water, Beyond Words Publishing Company, 2001
Monday, March 19, 2012
THEIR KID AFTER YOU?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this feast of St. Joseph is, “Would anyone name their kid after you?”
I thought of that as a title and a theme for a homily on this the feast of St. Joseph.
I’ve never been in on the naming of a child - yet I have baptized many a child. To me a significant moment happens when the priest or deacon asks the parents, “What name do you give your child?”
I’ve heard stories where priests have erupted a bit when they heard the name the parents were going to give the child and the priest didn’t like the name. Grouch! Grouch! “It’s not a Saint's name!” Or “It has to be the name of a Saint!”
As far as I know the priest or deacon can’t do that.
Moreover, I sense that people today give as much care to the name they want to give a child as they did in the past - maybe even more today - with parents having fewer children than past generations.
That’s been my experience - hearing parents saying they take a lot of care in selecting their child’s first name - as well as their second name - if given.
I’m asking in this homily, “Would anyone name their kid after you?”
IN THE PAST
In the past some kids were named after a parent - especially a dad? Is there an equivalent for "Junior" for a daughter who receives the same name as her mom?
In the past some kids were named after a grandparent - with a first name or a second name.
In the past some kids were given the name of a saint - and sometimes if the child is born on a Saint’s day - that name is given the child. Martin Luther was named after Martin of Tours. He was born on the feast of St. Andrew, but was baptized the next day, the feast of St. Martin of Tours. I was born on the feast of St. Andrew Avellino - so I got the name Andrew - and then my father added Jackson - because there was a story told in Ireland that Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States might have been a Catholic, if there were more priests in the United States - as in the United States south.
ST. JOSEPH
Since today is the feast of St. Joseph, I think of various people I’ve known and met who were named Joseph because of St. Joseph. I’ve thought of all the kids who had the power to choose a Confirmation name and how many chose Joseph. They looked at the lives of the saints - in search of a Saint they liked - and chose Joseph because he was a man of courage and strength - a protector. I like the image of Joseph representing all those strong foundation type fathers - dads - who are quiet - but always there. That’s how I see Joseph - and to name a child that - praise God.
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is, “Would anyone name their kid after you?”
Wouldn’t that be a great compliment?
I guess the main message for this homily then would be: “So act that people who know you - would name a child after you!”
I’ve only had one kid named after me. It wasn't a relative. Don't my nieces like me? Don't they think "Andrew" is a great name? Smile. It was a kid named Andrew Fredholm - who was born on June 20, 1965 or that was the day Charlie Fredholm and his wife adopted him. Charlie was the kid next door - when growing up in Brooklyn New York.
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