Saturday, May 19, 2012

GREEN  LASTS


Quote for Today May 19,   2012




"We trample grass, and prize
             the flowers of May;
Yet grass is green, when
             flowers do fade away."

Blessed Robert Southwell, Scorn Not the Least (16th Century)

Friday, May 18, 2012

THE  URGE  TO  CONNECT 



Quote for Today - May 18,  2012

"Most people don't mind suffering in silence as long as everyone else knows about it."
WHAT  DO  YOU  SEE?



Quote for Today  - May 17,  2012

"The Church is a house with a hundred gates; and no two men enter at exactly the same angle."

G.K. Chesterton  [1874-1936]

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

CONSEQUENCES




Quote for Today - May 16,  2012

"A  word rashly spoken 
cannot be brought back 
by a chariot and four horses."

Chinese Proverb

Tuesday, May 15, 2012




COMING  AND  GOING

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 6th Tuesday in the Easter Season is, “Coming and Going!”

These readings after Easter are filled with the human reality of coming and going.

So what? That was my next thought as I said that. So what?

Paul is coming or going. Jesus is coming or going.

We come to church; we go from church. We come to work; we go from work. We get into the car; we get out of the car. We go into the house; we go out of the house. We take the first sip of chicken noodle soup; we take the last lip of the chicken noodle soup.

Life moves on. Clocks tick forward. Calendars change  their pages - month to month, year to year.

It hit me just yesterday: another school year is almost up - there are graduations again - and then there’s another Summer Bible School coming and on and on and on.

So what?  Once more I heard myself saying just that. Then a key question: are there any lessons to learn about all these comings and all these goings?

BE  IN  THE  NOW

The lesson I came up with is not to become stale - not to get stuck in feeling that life is the same old, same old, same old. 


I was thinking: here we are at Mass - again this morning - and we’ll do this again tomorrow morning and we did it yesterday morning. How does one do the same old same old and make it new - fresh - actual?

I have noticed in many sacristies a sign - right near the door of the sacristy: “Priest of God celebrate  this Mass as if it is your first Mass, your last Mass, and your only Mass.

I read somewhere that that sign is in every sacristy of  The Missionaries of Charity - Mother Teresa’s community.

I know when I read that sign I say Mass a bit more attentive that day.

That tells me that attentiveness, awareness, pausing before doing, can help someone be more aware of what they are doing - even though they have done what they are about to do a thousand times.

I learned from listening to a CD talk by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, not to eat a bag of potato chips - but to slowly eat and savor every single potato chip in the bag. It’s the difference between stuffing and enjoying. It’s the difference between eating with one’s fingers  than eating fist full’s of potato chips. This is easy to forget when the Orioles have based loaded and might be able to beat the dreaded Yankees.  That simple message from Thich Nhat Hanh  taught me to try to eat all meals and snacks that way. It’s difficult, but it’s worth it. He calls it mindfulness.

I learned from a Broadway Musical that some people are into the show and some people are just going through the motions. 


We’re not supposed to judge, but I’ve been at Masses where the priest simply seems to be going through the motions. I can fake it with the best of them - but I have to warn myself, this isn’t something you fake or be mechanical at. It’s real. 


The Broadway musical where I learned this lesson was a revival of No, No Nanette. I went up to New York and Broadway with the staff we had at our retreat house in New Jersey. The seats we got were horrible. They were off to the side looking down into the orchestra pit. 


Surprise! What I remembered more than the show was what I began noticing in the pit. One violinist had on his music stand, not the music, but the New York Post or the New York Daily News. As everyone turned their pages, he kept on reading that paper. Obviously he knew the score by heart. I've never forgotten that scene.  I don't want to do life like that violinist.


CONCLUSION

That scene got me wondering: how do opera and country western singers do the same song the 500th time? 


Did Jesus tell the Prodigal Son story a second time in the next village? If he did, did he make it better? Did  he change the happy ending of the father welcoming him home and with the twist that the older brother  refused to forgive his younger brother?  


How about those who flip hamburgers in Wendy’s or those who say “Hello” to customers in Giant when the 83 person comes to their register?  


Does an “I love you” or a “Thank you” ever become mechanical? 


How about the “Our Father” or “This is my body” - “This is my blood” at Mass - or “Peace!” or coming up the aisle for communion today and hearing “Body of Christ” and going back down the aisle having said, “Amen.”  Will this Passover Meal be any different than every other Massover Meal? 
PHILOSOPHY



Quote for Today - May 15,  2012


"Philosophy asks 
the simple question: 
What is it all about?"


Alfred North Whitehead [1861-1947]

Monday, May 14, 2012


PUT  YOUR  NAME 
IN  THE  HAT


INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Put Your Name In The Hat.”

Today is the feast of St. Matthias - the last of the apostles - unless you let Paul wear that hat as well.

For various reasons, I like this feast.

The first reason is that my dad had three sisters who entered the Sisters of Mercy in Portland, Maine. Two of them, I never met.  They died very early - in their early 20’s. The other, Sister Mary Patrick, whom I met and enjoyed,  lasted for over 50 years as a nun. Sister Matthias was one of the two sisters who died early. I got to her grave in Portland, Maine at least 2 times. So I always remember her on this day: May 14th.

The second reason I like this feast is because of  how Matthias was chosen to be the 12th Apostle - the one to take the place of Judas. He was chosen by lot.


The third reason is a new one.  Two years ago we got to Budapest in Hungary. Having looked at the tour books, a key church to see was St. Matthias Church [pictured right above this].  We got there and checked it out. We said our prayers there - following  the old tradition of making 3 prayers or 3 wishes or 3 intentions or 3 hopes whenever you enter any church, big or small, for the first time.

I learn more about a place after I’ve been there. That’s when I do my homework. I found out that St. Matthias’ church is actually named after Our Lady. So it's not named after St. Matthias, but King Matthias, who was married there twice. Here I was thinking it was St. Matthias the apostle - figuring, maybe they had his relics there or there was a legend or a tradition he made it to Hungary.  So I found out, after the fact, that it had been reconstructed or fixed up a bunch of times on that site. I noticed that when the Turks controlled the Budapest they turned it into a mosque. Later it became a church again. So the lesson was: what I think is true, often is not true. How many times in my life have I discovered the truth of that reality - but only with hindsight?

PUTTING ONE’S NAME IN THE HAT

Now let me get back to the 2nd reason I like the Feast of St. Matthias. I hope I can provide at least one homily idea to chew upon. 

We know Judas had hung himself. Wouldn't it have been a great story of forgiveness if Judas didn’t - and  instead -  he came back and asked the group for forgiveness. Or the story could have been that the first person Jesus appeared to in his resurrection was Judas.

In today's First Reading the apostles and disciples are gathered together. They wanted 12 apostles - because that was Jesus’ plan - so they picked two possibles. Then they drew lots and Matthias was chosen. I looked up how this might have been done. I found a few possibles. Maybe they put the two names on pebbles or papyrus. Then the names were put in a hat or an urn. Then someone pulled a name out of the hat.

From the reading, it seems that it was as simple as that. I’m sure we’ve seen that same scene played out in parish raffles, kids parties, games to figure out who’s on what team or what have you.

CONCLUSION

In case nothing has grabbed you yet, let me provide three quick thoughts  to ponder and pray and think about coming out of this idea of putting your name or pulling your name out of a hat or pot or  bowl.

1) Sometimes being selected at random or out of a hat  can change our lives. So looking back on your life, what have been the things you were chosen for and your life was changed as a result? It could have been being named for a school board, a committee, a parish council, or you were made captain of a team. You name it.

2) We don’t get chosen if we don’t put our name in the hat - if we don't throw out hat in the ring. So we have to do something to be chosen for something in life. As the old saying about the Chinese laundry goes: "No ticki, no shirt." 

3) And this might be the biggest thing we can learn.  How have we dealt with those times in life when we have not been chosen? Our name was in the hat, but we were not selected.  The guy or gal we hoped would pick us said no or chose someone else. We didn’t get the job and we thought we had the best resume. The teacher chose someone we thought was the Teacher’s Pet or what have you. How did Joseph (called Barsabbas, also known as Justus) - the guy who wasn't chosen - but Matthais' name was - how did he deal with not being picked? What happened to him after that? How do we react to being picked - or we feel rejected - or not wanted?