Saturday, September 7, 2013

CIRCLES:
GETTING OUTSIDE
THE CIRCLE
CALLED, "ME"!




Quote for Today - September 7, 2013

"The only war  is the war you fought in. Every veteran knows that."

Allan Keller, N.Y. World-Telegram and Sun, August 1965

Friday, September 6, 2013

THE OLD 
AND THE NEW

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22 Friday in Ordinary Time is, “The Old and the New.”

We hear about both in today’s gospel - new wine, new wineskins, old wine, old wineskins. New cloth, old cloth.  [Cf Luke 5:33-39]

The old and the new.

In today’s first reading from Colossians - we have some mysterious words about Jesus. He is described as the first born of all creation. [Cf. Colossians 1:15-20]

That makes Christ forever old. Yet he is listed as the first born from the dead. That’s the theme of resurrection - which is the forever new. As soon as we die, because of Christ we who believe - we believe he’ll make us brand new all over again.

Bye, bye wrinkles. Welcome in new skin - the skin of a new baby.

It’s a win-win situation.

The title of my homily is, “The Old and The New!”

LIFE IS BOTH

Obviously, we know life is both.

We go into any house and we see the new and the old - and the older we get - the older the old.  Yet there’s always that something new - somewhere - a new TV, a new refrigerator, a new ramp that leads to the car - because of a wheelchair - a brand new metallic red wheelchair.

We spot a novel - the new - but we see the classics on a book shelf.  

We walk into a house and we say, “What’s new?”  And we get the latest news about each other’s family.  We don’t want old news - but after the new news, we revert to telling the old. We tell the old stories about the time we went to Barbados or Barcelona or Boston. We tell the story about how we almost won the state Spelling Bee in 1943. We talk about what our salary was in 1950.

Obviously, life is both the old and the new.

THIS  PLANET

The planets in our Solar System are dated from 5 to 15 billion years old. But what will we know in 4013 that we don’t know in 2013?

How old is old?  How new is new  Maybe new galaxies are being born this very minute, this very million years.

Yet on this old earth, each day mosquitoes and mice are being born - and there is a new song and a new dance and a new procedure for arthritis and aneurisms.  The newspapers give the new - the news - otherwise they go out of business. So too television….

Yet sometimes we love the old - TCM - Turner Classic Movies - present in Black and White - a great movie. I noticed at weddings when the Golden Oldies are played, the Golden Oldies get out on the dance floor.

I noticed at Baptisms of brand new babies, the joy in grandparents faces because the kid is going to be baptized in a baptismal garment that is over 100 years and it’s a family tradition to use it.

The old on the new…..

The Annapolis Historic Society sticks to it’s Rules and Regulations to preserve the past whenever someone wants to make new an old house.

And Williamsburg and Annapolis, St. Petersburg and Rome, keep featuring the old to new customers.

ANY NEW MESSAGES FROM ALL THIS:  SOME BEHOOVES

Are there any messages here?

I would think that it behooves us to carefully preserve our past - gather the pictures. Label them. Make sure they are passed down to someone who will also preserve them.  It behooves us to put in the will not only who we want to have a special table or sewing machine - but also it’s history and story. It behooves us to write our autobiography, our memoirs, our story, for generations to come.

I would think that it behooves us to listen to each other tell our stories - our old - not just to write them down - but to share them with each other.

I would think it behooves us to not become a broken record or an old cold cheeseburger on a soggy paper plate at a picnic, but to read, to think, to go figure, to take long walks, to use TV and lectures well, to get fresh takes on life - and discover areas of life and the planets we don’t know much about.


I would think it behooves us to talk to Christ daily - about out future eternity with him and those who have gone before him - to picture heaven as the great wedding banquet - in which all will dance before the Lord. Amen.  It behooves us to have faith - because of Christ - that these wrinkled skins of ours - holding old wine - will one day rise - body and soul - and become brand new bodies - Risen Bodies - filled with the Newness of the Eternal Christ. Amen.
THERE IS A GOD!




Quote for Today - September 6, 2013

"I gave in, and admitted that God was God."

C.S. Lewis, on relinquishing atheism at the age of 31 in 1929, quoted by William Griffin, Clive Staples Lewis,  Harper and Row, 1986

Thursday, September 5, 2013

ART FOR 
YOUR SAKE



Quote for the Day - September 5, 2013

"You use a glass mirror 
to see your face; 
you see works of art 
to see your soul."

George Bernard Shaw [1856-1950]

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

HURT  ME




Quote for Today - September 4, 2013

"Religion to me has always been the wound, not the bandage."

Dennis Potter (1935-1994)

Questions: Where does that comment by Dennis Potter take you? Talk to one other person - one to one - and compare your takes with that person on this quote.  Does putting a picture of a crucifix change the comments?

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

SEEING THE 
GOOD THINGS



INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Seeing the Good Things!”

This morning I would like to preach on today’s Psalm Response - and just part of it. It’s a bit long: “I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.” It’s from Psalm 27.

For a homily and for a thought for the day - why not try to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living today?

I don’t know about you, but some days, I spot the dust  and the scratches and miss seeing the strength and beauty of the chair and the rest of the furniture.

I’m more an optimist than a pessimist - but some days I forget that - and see  the chalice being half empty - and it’s good to be reminded to see the fullness of the Lord in each day.

So today, let’s spot the good things that will appear on your paths or on your plate.

LET ME TRY TO POPULATE A LIST OF GOOD THINGS TO SEE

Today - let’s see the person who holds the door for us - not those who shoot by us and don’t even know we’re on the planet.

Today - let’s see the people here in church with us - instead of worrying about the drop outs - especially amongst our kids.

Today - let’s see the smiles and not the scowls.

Today - let’s see the person who gives us the right of way in traffic - and not the person who’s trying win the Indianapolis 500 the Annapolis 5 M.P.H.

Today’s let’s spot the 50 shades of green on the trees and the grass that carpets and decorates our city and neighborhoods.

Today - let’s see the glass half full - rather than water we spilled when we missed our mouth in trying to get an ice cube in our mouth.

Today - let’s see what we got done - rather than what we don’t get done - because we stopped to smell the flowers or we took the time to call someone to see how their mom did in her operation.

Today - instead of feeling the weight of the cross on our back, why not spot the cross on the top of this church - and think of its history down through the years - giving sailors a signal - I’m not that far from port, harbor and home.

Today - let’s see the good things that surround us in this land of pleasant living.

Today - let’s think of all those people - who never make the news- because they are honest. As St. Gregory the Great - an early Christian saint and pope - whose feast day is today - said, “The universe is not rich enough to buy the vote of an honest man.”

Today - let’s walk in the light - and not the darkness we heard about in today’s first reading. [1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11]

Today - let’s notice the cries to the Lord of others - instead of hearing their demons - as we heard about that guy in today’s gospel. [Luke 4:31-37]

CONCLUSION


The title of my homily was: Seeing the Good things. I’m preaching good  news -  to be grateful for all the good things that are going to happen to us today - in the land of pleasant living. 
ARGUING



Quote for Today - September 3, 2013

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

Brenda Ashford, Guideposts, August 2012