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YOUTH AND TRAGEDY

Quote for Today - August 11, 2012

"The deepest definition of youth is, life as yet untouched by tragedy."

Alfred North Whitehead [1861-1947],  Adventures of Ideas, 1933



Discussion points: 

Name the 3 most significant tragedies in your life?

Name some specific learnings from each tragedy?

Ask another who knows you what they think are the tragedies of your life?

Don't interrupt the other in the telling. Give them time. Give them a week or a month. You can ask them why they think the way they think - and how they saw you reacting, recoiling, recovering, resenting specific tragedies. Don't invite yourself to tell them what you think are their key tragedies - unless the other invites you.

Do you agree with Whitehead's thesis?

If you didn't bring faith into your comments and learnings, what would that be like looking at each tragedy?

WILLING

TO DIE TO GIVE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for the feast of St. Lawrence is, “Willing to Die to Give.”

Having read the readings and reflecting on the life and death of St. Lawrence, I wasn’t sure just what title to give to a homily for today.

I toyed with the words, “Dying”, “Giving,” and “Willing.”

So I settled on the sentence, “Willing To Die To Give.”

Am I willing each today to die to myself by giving to others of me, myself, and my time and my life?

TODAY IS THE FEAST OF ST. LAWRENCE

St. Lawrence the Deacon was willing to die to give his life for others and for Christ.

He didn’t just die for a theology or an ideology. Those who killed him thought the Church had treasures to be grabbed - and so they grabbed Lawrence to get the gold. We’ve often heard that St. Lawrence pointed out: “Yes we have treasures. They are the poor.”

We’ve all heard the Early Church teaching that “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

Dictators have often hesitated to kill leaders who opposed them - lest they make martyrs of them.

So St. Lawrence, one of early deacons in Rome, died for the cause of Christ. He gave his life for his community.

He knew Jesus’ words, “Greater love than this no one has than to lay down their life for their friends.”

Lawrence knew the words of today’s gospel, that the grain of wheat must die - otherwise it just sits there. But if it’s planted in the field - it will die and rise bringing forth a harvest of wheat for our world.

Lawrence knew the words of today’s first reading from 2 Corinthians 9:6,  “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Lawrence was burnt to death - and the joke we hear every year - is part of the our Church Tradition. He supposedly said to his torturers who had him on a cooking grill. He said, “Turn me over! I’m done on this side.”

TITLE OF MY HOMILY

The title of my homily is, “Willing to Die to Give.”

Each day we are given the seed of 24 hours. What do we plant with those moments of time?

Each life has talents to give - and we have energy to burn - for whom and for what? If we give, if we’re willing to make sacrifices, if we’re willing to be unselfish, then life becomes better for those around us.

This message of being willing to give - to die to oneself to give - is at  the center of Christianity. This is  the meaning of Christ. This is the meaning of the cross - here big time in this church with our big cross - but we also see the cross at the beginning and end of a rosary, on walls. It’s the sign made on us at baptism. It’s the gesture and the sign we make each time we come to church.

We see it in the Eucharist - the result of wheat seed that died - by being planted in the soil - and we benefit from that death - because the wheat grew and was harvested and made into flour and made bread.

CONCLUSION

Let me close by pointing out that this vestment I’m wearing is red - the color of martyrs. That’s obvious, but what you can’t see is that this vestment has sown on the inside the words, “In memory of John Ginley.”  He was a New York Fireman who died on the job at the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11^th. He and his 3 brothers - used to come on retreat with their dad - all firemen - to our retreat house at San Alfonso West End N.J. - when I was stationed there in the 1970’s.

We have in our midst and around the world, people who are willing to die by giving of themselves each day. Question: Am I willing to die each day - so that new life is given to the world each day?

O O O O O O O 

PAINTING ON TOP: "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," disputed Caravaggio painting.

JUST DO IT!

Quote for Today  August 10, 2012

"This is the Thing that I was born to do."

Samuel Daniel [1562-1619], Musophilus  [1599], Stanza 100


Questions:

Have you ever said to yourself in private the quote given above?

If someone asked you, "Why were you born?", what would be your answer?

Did you ever say the above quote - but later learned to take it back?



Image on Top: Samuel Daniel, Front piece engraving from the Civile Ware [1609] by Thomas Coxson. 

ARGUMENTS

Quote for Today  August 9, 2012

"You don't have to attend every argument you're invited to."

Submitted to Guildposts - August 2012 - by Brenda Ashford

ILLUSION

Quote for Today  August 8,  2012

"Rob the average person of their life-illusion, and you rob them of their happiness."

Henrik Ibsen [1826-1906] The Wild Duck, Act. V.


Questions:

Is that line from one of Ibsen's play true for you - based on your observations about life - self and others?

If it's a life illusion, could someone know it before their end? 

Are there little illusions - besides big illusions - besides the big, big life illusion Ibsen might be referring to?  Have you experienced the unmasking or the discovery of some illusions - name them?

ALONE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 18^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time  is, “Alone!”

Last night I noticed the word “alone” in a sentence from today’s gospel: “When it was evening he was there alone.”

What thoughts and feelings does that word "alone" trigger for you? How do we deal with being alone at times?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Sometimes in the gospels we notice Jesus going it alone. It seems he needs space.  He disappears - hides - prays - needs to be all alone.

We also notice in the gospels that Jesus sometimes wants to be with others - to pray with others - to have companionship.

Sometimes he wants to be with others. When Jesus sent his disciples out, he sent them out two by two. When he climbed the mountain of transfiguration, he did it with 3 of his favorite disciples: Peter, James and John.

The Transfiguration scene was yesterday’s gospel. Today’s gospel has Jesus going off alone into the mountains.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how good am I at being alone. 

The obvious answer is, “It all depends.”

A COUPLE OF QUOTES

Someone said, “Solitude is being alone when you want to be alone; loneliness is being alone when you don’t want to be alone.”

Is that true for you? Has that been your experience?

I noticed a quote yesterday from Anton Chekhov, “If you are afraid of loneliness, do not marry.”

Is that true? 

Answer: “It all depends.”

Sometimes it’s nice to take a good walk all by oneself - alone - and sometimes it’s good to take a good walk with others.

Which is worse: to be a shut in or to be shut out?

Answer: "It all depends."

GOD IN THE INNER ROOM

Epictetus [c. 50-120] the first century Roman slave  - who became a Stoic philosopher wrote, “When you close your doors, when you darken within, remember never to say you are alone. You are not alone. God is within. Your genius is within. And they don't need light to see what your are doing.”

Jesus said close to the same thing when he told us in the Sermon on the Mount - Matthew 6: 6 “When you go to pray, [don’t pray to catch the attention of others]  - go to your private room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.”

Sometimes when we pray we feel alone - even though we’re in a crowd. Sometimes when we pray - alone or with others God seems absent. Sometimes when we pray with others, we feel so absent from them. We don’t feel connection of community

Sometimes it’s worth reflecting upon Jesus in prayer. When he prayed in the garden the night before he died,  the others were close by - but asleep - and it seems he felt very alone.  We know how alone Jesus felt on the cross - even though Mary and John and others were  down below.

So the answer is: It all depends.

CONCLUSION

One answer for our reflections on what we think and feel about being “alone” is to bring our reflections to both God and to others.

Prayer is sharing.

Prayer is communicating and being in communion with God.

Communication is sharing with friends as well - whether on mountain tops or in gardens or when we’re on the cross.

And sometimes they walk on water and show up at our boat - and smoother sailing is the result. Amen.

SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

Quote for Today - August 7,  2012

"Solitude brings life; isolation kills."


Joseph Roux, Meditations of a Parish Priest, Pt. v. No. 60