GUESS  WHY I  DID IT,

BECAUSE  I DON’T EVEN

KNOW WHY I DID IT.

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 12^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Guess Why I Did It, Because I Don’t Even Know Why I Did It.”

How many times have we said something like that – especially after we did or said the wrong thing – to the wrong person at the wrong time?

JUDGING  MOTIVATIONS

In today’s gospel – Matthew 7: 1-5 - Jesus gets into the great topic of  judging others – especially their motivation.

In today’s gospel, Jesus gives us some great stuff on how we see each other

Jesus said to his disciples, “If you want to avoid judgment, stop passing judgment.”

Then he adds in his own way – what  psychologists  often say: “You’re projecting your motives onto another.”

We spend a lot of energy – on issues of judging motives.

We do a lot of judging. We might not say it out loud – but we say or think inwardly, “I know why you did what you did.”

Jesus says that the verdicts we predict on others  boomerang back on us.

Jesus also says that the measure we measure others by – will be the measure we’ll be measured by.

 In other words, what goes around comes around.

If that’s true, why not judge with mercy – the great theme of  Pope Francis – and we’ll be judged with mercy?

Jesus is saying we spot the specks and the splinters – in others eyes or skin – and miss the planks in our own.

I love it that Pope Francis - in his trip down to Southern Calabria the other day [June 21, 2014]  – had a tiny splinter in his finger  - and someone spotted a doctor in the hospice he was visiting who  removed it. I wonder it that incident will appear in a sermon on today’s gospel.

Jesus is saying here that we spot the spaghetti spot on the other person’s shirt – and miss the rip in the seat of our own  pants.

Jesus is dealing here with Pharisees – who spent their lives going around as life’s police – or judges.

Jesus is saying check yourself out first.

Jesus is saying: retire from the judge’s bench. Take off your judicial robes. It doesn’t pay to be a judge.

WRAP UP

The title of my homily is, “Guess Why I Did It, Because I Don’t Even Know Why I Did It.”

It’s so easy checking out  one another – cleavage or klutziness – length of skirt or length of sad face – or what have you – and it’s so easy to avoid our own territory – or look in the mirror.

If we did we’d find out many things.

One: we might realize,  “Hey, I don’t even know why I did that – or said that.”

Two: we might say, “Sorry – at times I don’t like myself – or I don’t want  to visit my motivations, so it’s easier to pick on you.”

Three: We might realize and say, “To be honest – I don’t know how God is – whether he’s tough or tender – God Cop or Bad Cop – Strict or Lenient Judge -  but maybe if I spend some honesty time with Him, I’ll find out God, our Father is as Jesus advertises Him to be: a God of mercy and a God of forgiveness.”

BACKGROUND PEOPLE 

:Poem for Today - Monday, June 23, 2014

KITCHEN MAID WITH SUPPER

AT EMMAUS, OR THE MULATA

—after the painting by Diego Velàzquez, ca. 1619

She is the vessels on the table before her:
the copper pot tipped toward us, the white pitcher
clutched in her hand, the black one edged in red
and upside down. Bent over, she is the mortar
and the pestle at rest in the mortar—still angled
in its posture of use. She is the stack of bowls
and the bulb of garlic beside it, the basket hung
by a nail on the wall and the white cloth bundled
in it, the rag in the foreground recalling her hand.
She's the stain on the wall the size of her shadow—
the color of blood, the shape of a thumb. She is echo
of Jesus at table, framed in the scene behind her:
his white corona, her white cap. Listening, she leans
into what she knows. Light falls on half her face. 

© By Natasha Trethewey

CORPUS  CHRISTI… 

BODY  OF  CHRIST….  AMEN 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Corpus Christi… Body of Christ …. Amen.”

Today we’re celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi – which – as you know – means – simply and profoundly, “Body of Christ!”

Amen.

THREE QUESTIONS

First Question: When you say, “Amen!” – after coming down the aisle  - as  you receive the Body of Christ - at the moment before Holy Communion  – Union with Christ - what do you mean by that, “Amen”?

Second Question: After Mass today – with the Gold Monstrance in hand – with the Bread of Life – Christ – in the center  of that  monstrance – monstrance from the Latin word “monstrare” - to show – as in the word, “demonstration” - we’re going to walk out the front door of this church – walk down Duke of Gloucester Street  – go in through the brown wooden gates – which is along - the long red brick wall of St. Mary’s Gardens - process through the back gardens and lawn – go around the Carroll House – go through some of the parking lot - and around some cars that may be stuck  – depending on the bridge down below – being opened or closed -  and then we’ll march back into the church – well as all this is happening – what are your  thoughts about  Corpus Christi – the Body of Christ? [By the way that’s a  138  word sentence.]

Third Question: If someone who has no religion – or no Catholic background -  saw the procession today – or walked into the Eucharistic Adoration Chapel down below -  which is open almost all the year – and saw the Gold Monstrance with something white inside the center glass – and asked you what  this was all about, what would some of your  answers be?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel from part of the 6^th Chapter of the Gospel of John – addresses these questions.

Recommendation – from time to time – read over and over and over again the 6^th Chapter of the Gospel of John.

Read it at home – read it in the Eucharistic Adoration Chapel – read it here in this church or any church.

If you’re scared of death, read just the first sentence in today’s gospel – John 6: 51:  “I am the living bread that came down from heaven ; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

For me that’s as good as – and I connect it with – the bumper  sticker and poster size John 3:16 – that appears over and over again – especially at sporting events:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.”

Isn’t this the core reason why we come to Mass?  Isn’t this the core reason why some people come back to church after dropping out? I’ve often heard people say,  “I missed going to communion.” Don't we come here to connect with Christ - the New Moses who will take us across the desert of life - as we heard about in today's first reading from Deuteronomy [8:2-3, 14b-16a] We don't have to do life alone. Don't we want to be in communion and in community with others?

CONTROVERSIES

As you know there are controversies when it comes to coming to communion – and to me – the controversies say so much. To me it means people know the sacredness of the Body of Christ. They know it’s not just a piece of bread. They know, “Christ is here!”

On a day like today – and from time to time – I always remember the sermon example I heard a half dozen different Redemptorists tell through the years.

It was a Corpus Christi or Forty Hours  procession in Puerto Rico and a priest was walking down the street with the monstrance – with Christ, the Bread of Life, in the center. A tourist on the sidewalk asked in English, “What’s going on?”

Someone – who knew English -  near him in the crowd - on the sidewalk -answered, “Oh that’s Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, going by.”

And the man, having heard of Jesus Christ, but never having heard of the Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, in the Bread, said, “You mean – you believe – that – that is Jesus – who lived 2000 years ago – that he is in that white bread – in that gold thing?”

“Yes,” the local Catholic  said.

At that the tourist  - stunned – surprised – said, “If I believed - that is Jesus Christ – I would fall on my knees – right here on this street - and never get up again.”

Pope Francis – in the past  few days – said out loud – that Mafia folks in Calabria who kill and do atrocious things to others – excommunicate themselves from the Church. Here’s how the news report put it: “Pope Francis journeyed Saturday to the heart of Italy's biggest crime syndicate, met the father of a 3-year-old boy slain in the region's drug war, and declared that all mobsters are automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church.”

I hope he has a bullet proof white cassock.

There’s one more take on the issue of who or who shouldn’t be going to communion. 

Whatever your take on this issue is – the fact that people have strong opinions on all this – tells me that we’re dealing with more than ordinary bread here.

I heard another sermon a good 40 years ago – that changed my whole way of looking at life and the Body of Christ. A priest said: “Some people have so much respect for Communion – the Body of Christ – but so little respect for the Body of Christ – all the people around us. Then he quoted Saint Paul’s great speech about all of us being members of the Body of Christ – First Corinthians 12: 12-31.

Ever since then I have sensed the presence of Christ in everyone – that we’re all in the Body of Christ.  Sometimes I forget that; sometimes others forget that. Sometimes I don’t act like that – that is, as a member of his Body; sometimes others don’t.

Does Pope Francis see the Mafia folks as the Body of Christ?

The newspaper accounts of the story I just mentioned said that Pope Francis went to a prison down there in Southern Calabria – to visit the father of the 3 year old boy who was killed. The story gets intriguing when one hears that the boy was in a car with his grandfather and  the grandfather’s girlfriend while the boy's father was in prison for drug trafficking. The boy, the grandfather and the girlfriend were all shot and killed and the car was torched.

I think of Matthew 25:36  – when Jesus said, “I was in prison … and you  visited me.” That's what Pope Francis was doing by going to visit someone in prison - besides challenging those making money off drugs. 

I think of the Church having changed wonderfully when having funeral Masses for those who have committed suicide. If ever a family needed a Mass – to me it’s then.

I think of the Church readdressing at present  the Reception of Communion for so many folks whose lives have been broken by divorce and other disasters.

Let me add a personal twist in all this. I go crazy – whenever I come to the part of the consecration of the Mass and the words now are “Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.”

Since the 1970’s – most of my life as a priest – the words were “for all”. I understand the German Catholic Church has blocked that “for many” and kept “for all”.  I know some priests still say, “for all”.

I’ve heard theologians say, “for many” in the Latin – means “for all”.

I’ve never been able to find out who forced these changes on us – and I’m glad I hear more and more voices – asking that we straighten out this new English translation of the Roman Missal. I go with what the book says because I also know there are people who get upset when priests change words that aren't in the book.

But this one little change hits at my gut – because I’m a Redemptorist  and our motto is, “Copiosa apud eum redemption” – which has often been translated from the Latin as, “With Him there is Copious or Fullness of Redemption." And we understand that means "for all.” Our motto comes from Psalm 130.

CONCLUSION

Ooops. Enough.

I’m here to speak as one member of the Body of Christ.

I’m urging you today to reflect deeply on what your “Amen” means – when you say, “Amen” when you come down the aisle to receive the Corpus Christi – the Body of Christ. Amen.

BREAD  OF  LIFE 

Poem for Today

EUCHARIST

Grip of Christ around my heart!

Ah, let nothing rend apart

Flesh and love that interlock

Thick as roots that buckle rock.

Lord, thy links are hard to sever.

Swear then I am saved forever;

Cannot, though I twist and slip,

Free me fully from Thy grip.

Or at least this fair assurance:

 Should I tear the lovely durance,

Rip with sin the massy tackle—

Tender Eucharistic shackle

Love-alive and fiercely sweet

Round my heart's rebellious beat—

Let the last convulsive shreds

Drag, and cut me with their threads,

Score me Touch Not—Dearly Priced,

Brand me X for Jesus Christ.

So, when I am saved from hell,

Come, ye saints, mark it well:

Here's salvation barely gained

This one heart, though black and strained,

Showing crisscross, rudely sliced,

Scars where once clung roots of Christ.

© John Duffy

Page 35

in Under the

Goldwood Tree,

Poems by

John Duffy, C.SS.R.

Exposition Press,

Smithtown, New York

1982

FIRE

Poem for Today - Saturday June 21, 2014

WHY NOT

BECOME ALL FIRE?

Unless the eye catch fire

The God will not be seen

Unless the ear catch fire

The God will not be heard

Unless the tongue catch fire

The God will not be named

Unless the heart catch fire

The God will not be loved

Unless the mind catch fire

The God will not be known

© William Blake

A  POEM  OR  TWO 

This year on this blog – I’ve been planting a poem each day.

I’ve made it to June 20^th and plan to make it to December 31^st.

The last few years I came up with a “Quote for the Day”. I’ve learned a “Poem for the Day” – is much more difficult.

Maybe next year, 2015, I’ll put a poem of my own for the day. 

We’ll see.

In the meanwhile, what’s your take on poetry?

I have fond memories of seeing my dad sitting there in the front room of our house on 62^nd Street in Brooklyn – with a copy of the book: Best Loved Poems of the English Language. It was a title like that. It was part of a whole series of books with light brown covers and gold lettering on green on the label side.

One day – as a little boy - I had an “Eureka” moment.  I opened up that book of poems on my own and inside  I spotted a dried up dark red rose petal. Surprise!  I had never seen anything like that before.

My dad was in his regular chair – near the window – near the sunlight. I walked over to him with the open book – with the rose petal on it – as if I had a dinner plate with food on it. I asked my dad, “Daddy, what’s this?” He put down the paper and looked at the book, the rose petal, and me.

He paused. Silence. Quiet. Then with his rich smile he said just one word, “Memories.”

I’ve often wished I knew what poem that rose petal was on. 

I’ve oven wished I had asked him, “Memories of what?” 

What’s your favorite poem? What’s your favorite song? What are your favorite memories?

Check out Billy Collins words about “Everyday Moments Caught in Time" on the YouTube at the top of this blog piece.

Have you ever written a poem or two or three? Why not now? Why not catch your memories in words – poetic words – to be remembered. Amen. 

NEIGHBORHOOD TOURIST

Poem for Today- June 20, 2014

CONSOLATION

How agreeable it is not to be touring Italy this summer,
wandering her cities and ascending her torrid hilltowns.
How much better to cruise these local, familiar streets,
fully grasping the meaning of every roadsign and billboard
and all the sudden hand gestures of my compatriots.

There are no abbeys here, no crumbling frescoes or famous
domes and there is no need to memorize a succession
of kings or tour the dripping corners of a dungeon.
No need to stand around a sarcophagus, see Napoleon's
little bed on Elba, or view the bones of a saint under glass.

How much better to command the simple precinct of home
than be dwarfed by pillar, arch, and basilica.
Why hide my head in phrase books and wrinkled maps?
Why feed scenery into a hungry, one-eyes camera
eager to eat the world one monument at a time?

Instead of slouching in a café ignorant of the word for ice,
I will head down to the coffee shop and the waitress
known as Dot. I will slide into the flow of the morning
paper, all language barriers down,
rivers of idiom running freely, eggs over easy on the way.

And after breakfast, I will not have to find someone
willing to photograph me with my arm around the owner.
I will not puzzle over the bill or record in a journal
what I had to eat and how the sun came in the window.
It is enough to climb back into the car

as if it were the great car of English itself
and sounding my loud vernacular horn, speed off
down a road that will never lead to Rome, not even Bologna. 

© Billy Collins