I've heard so many different descriptions
of so many different generations - that
I don't know where I am or just where
to stand or what criteria to use.
Psst! These are some of what I heard.
Silent Generation, Lost Generation,
Beat Generation, MTV Generation,
the Greatest Generation,
Baby Boomers, Millennials,
Generation X, Generation Y,
Generation Z, Alpha Generation, and there was the Me Generation, who were they and what ever happened to them?
We're not born with signs like, "Fragile" or "Handle With Care" - stamped on our skin. No, it takes time to learn how relationships work - and don't work- and what to do next - when we're hurt. Oh it's great when things are going great - but time slips away and we get lazy or tired and we neglect each other - so we really need to talk, really talk to each other. We need to make covenants - because the one law in life we can't break or dismiss is the Law of Consequences.
[At the outdoor Mass this morning in the schoolyard,
when Deacon Leroy was preaching, I could
hear the obvious echo of his words off the buildings. I thought it was neat -
sort of reinforcing his words - as with a yellow highlighter. I thought to
myself, if I ever have to preach at this Elementary School Mass, I’d preach on the theme of “echoes”. About 20 minutes after Mass, Leroy asked if
was going to the church service for our St. Mary’s Teachers and Staff - and if
I was, could I do the final prayer or blessing? Surprise! Here was a chance to
pull some thoughts together about the theme of “echoes” as they echoed around
my mind this morning. So here comes a reflection and a final blessing entitled,
“Echo Blessing.”]
ECHO BLESSING
The words went into those
tiny holes in the microphone.
They sped down wires -
lots of carefully placed wires -
at the speed of sound and
they bounced around - and
then when came out of the
speakers - they were echoes -
bouncing off walls - and
into our ears. Words…. Echoes….
The words echo into
corners - sit under chairs -
and there they rest for a
moment or sometimes
for years - words our mom
whispered into our ear
going into our first day
of school - or our 8th grade
teacher told us in a bus
on a memorable class trip.
Some words echo it seems
forever - a word with
a hurt in it - as well as
an, “I love you” - when we
thought we were all alone.
A teacher’s words in
school can white out
[what’s white out?] a put
down by a parent at home or vice versa.
A deacon’s words in a
pulpit, a principal’s words
in the opening moments of
a new school year or
the closing of a school
year - a grandma’s words
at a graduation - a prayer-
can remain as an echo
in our heart and mind and
memory forever.
And may these words of
Jesus continue to echo
in your soul each day:
“Love one another as
I have loved you.”
“Forgive 70 times 7 times.” “Turn
the other cheek.” “Go the
extra mile.” “And I am with
you all days, even to the
end of the world.” Amen.
The title of my homily for this 11th Tuesday in Ordinary Time
is, “Stuff and Spirituality.”
Stuff and spirit … the visible and the invisible … the concrete and the abstract….
The stuff of spirituality is often mystery, concepts, ideas, ideals,
virtues, etc. etc. etc. Notice they are abstract. Notice the stuff of
spirituality is invisible.
We can read body language and guess what another is feeling or thinking,
but we can never know for sure. Motives, judgements, reasons are all invisible
and many times we’re just guessing - until the other tells us what they
thinking - till they explain their “why” or the “what” they were trying to say
or do. The stuff of spirituality has the possible trap of being or becoming a Pharisee.
And at times even people explaining themselves - are not that sure of themselves in the
first place.
Honestly, our motives can be tricky - mixed - sneaky - unsure - or even dishonest.
So the stuff of thinking and communication and the stuff of spirituality
is often invisible.
This hit me in a reverse way - when I began to notice last night in
today’s 2 readings and the Psalm in between - that the stuff of these 3
readings mention lots of stuff we can see and taste and get our hands on.
FOR EXAMPLE
The first reading from 1st
Kings 17: 1-6 mentions specific objects: rain, a brook, land, the entrance of a
city, sticks, a cupful of water, a bit of bread, a handful of flour in a jar,
and some oil in a jug. We can picture each item.
The Psalm, Psalm 4, mentions a face, some shining on that face, beds,
grain and wine. It mentions the heart - but I assume the song writer is talking
about the heart as the center of a human being - which is invisible.
The gospel - part of the Sermon on the Mount - Matthew 5: 13-16 - mentions salt, a light, a city, a mountain, a lamp, a bushel
basket, a lampstand, and a house. We’ve seen them all.
THE STUFF OF
SPIRITUALITY
Can we see some spiritual realities in these visible objects?
I can remember hearing someone describe what our Redemptorists in Colombia,
South America do when preaching a parish mission. They gather in a church
building - and then take a crowd for a tour of the city or the town - like one
sees folks in colonial outfits and costumes taking folks around Annapolis for
tours.
With a bullhorn in hand, these Colombian Redemptorists speak out. They point to
a light on a building or a street light and proclaim that Jesus is the light of
the world. They would go by a restaurant and point to the salt on tables inside
and out. Then they would say, “Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth. We're called to season our homes and our conversations with the love of Christ.” They would point to a door - like our doors
of mercy here at St. Mary’s this year, and say Jesus knocks on our door. Or they would point to an building with a
second floor and mention that Jesus goes through the thick walls of our skulls
- to our upper room - and proclaims peace to us. They would go by little
children and repeat Jesus call for us to be like little children or not to hurt
little children and if we give kids bad example, it would be better if a
millstone was tied around our neck and we were tossed in the sea to drown. Serious messages.
I like to write Irish Blessings and I noticed in studying Irish
Blessings and Irish prayers how down to earth they can be. They bring in stuff: rocks, bogs, wind, ankles,
roads, canes and crutches - to show us sightings and sensings of God.
A THOUGHT FOR THE
DAY
So my thought for the day is to pause from time to time and look around
and see God and messages in what surrounds us - to go from the known to the
unknown.
We have lots of alleys and streets - and the water - all around Annapolis - and lots of restaurants
- and ice cream places - and gift shops - trying to get tourist dollars. In my
search for God am I on the broad way or the narrow alley? What am I looking
for? Am I a gift? Am I sweet? Am I a
treat to be with? Is Christ the living water I am thirsty for? What am I hungry
for?
I am sure if the Redemptorist priests of Colombia were preaching here in
Annapolis, they would say something about the Alex Haley statue and the kids
sculpture at the edge of Ego Alley and talk about slavery’s impact on the
United States and our Civil War. I am
sure they would say something about all the Latino and Hispanic workers in so
many kitchens of the restaurants of Annapolis - and the value of migrations.
For the sake of transparency my mom and dad came to America from poverty and
did tough jobs. My mom cleaned hotel
rooms in Boston and was a maid. My dad worked for Nabisco in New York and New
Jersey and never made over 100 dollars a week.
Do these specifics - about stuff - a salary - cooking and cleaning - get
us to be a better Christian when it comes to concerns for our brothers and our
sisters.
Do we see the waiter or waitress at every restaurant doing what the
widow does for Elijah in today’s first reading - bringing the customer some
water and some bread? Do we see
ourselves as Jesus calls us to be - salt and light for each other? Amen.
Monday, June 6, 2016
THE SERMON
ON THE MOUNT
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 10th Monday in
Ordinary Time is, “The Sermon on the Mount.”
WEEKDAY MASS
GOSPEL READINGS
We start today with the Gospel of Matthew - Chapter 5 - having
just finished the Gospel of Mark at the end of Chapter 12 on Saturday.
Those who put the readings together for these weekday
Masses skip Mark’s next section: Jesus eschatological message about the End
Times - which then runs into Chapter 14 of Mark - Jesus’ Passion and
Resurrection - which will bring us to Palm Sunday - the beginning of Holy Week. So I assume that they saw that as a natural
place to move over to the next Gospel Matthew.
In a given year for weekday Gospel readings we go through
Mark, Matthew and Luke - in that order. John is featured during the Easter
Season mainly.
So today we begin Matthew - Chapter 5 - and then switch over to Luke at the end of
August.
The Gospel of Matthew begins with his Infancy of Jesus
stories - Chapters 1 and 2. Then in Matthew 3 and 4 we have Jesus as an adult -
beginning with the preaching of John the Baptist. That’s Chapter 3. Then in
Chapter 4 Jesus goes into the desert for 40 days, comes out, and calls his
first 4 disciples and starts his ministry.
Chapter 5 begins the Sermon on the Mount - with the
Beatitudes - and goes 3 chapters - and we’ll have this sermon for 3 weeks of
Gospel readings - today till Friday in the 12th week.
That’s the big picture. I like to line things up like
that for my own sense of the weekday readings - and I mention all this because
you are weekday Mass goers.
IF YOU ARE
GOING TO START READING THE BIBLE
That’s the readings at Mass. Now if you are like lots of
folks, who say they want to start
reading the Bible, I like to add, “Don’t start on Page 1.”
The Bible is a library - and most people don’t walk into
a library and read the first book they meet when they come in the door. They
browse.
So browse, but if you want a suggestion, I always like to
suggest starting with James, because if you don’t get James, forget it.
I could say the same of the Sermon on the Mount. If you
don’t get Jesus’ messages here, forget it.
Matthew gives us some great messages in the Sermon of
the Mount.
There is a theory that there was a document that the
person or persons who put together our Gospel of Matthew had in hand. It is called Matthew Q. It has
disappeared - but still a copy could be found. Wouldn’t that be great? Hey they
found the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948 in caves - after being hid for some 2000
years.
Q stands for the German word, Quelle. It means “source”.
The theory - and it’s only a theory - is this: Matthew Q
is the source for Matthew. They imagine it to simply be a long list of the
sayings of Jesus.
I remember giving a woman’s retreat once and by accident
I had all the women break up into small groups. I asked them to come up with
sayings their mother always used to say. Then women reported to the large group
the best ones they came up with. I always regret that I didn’t jot them down.
I see Matthew Q as a listing of some of the great sayings
of Jesus.
And the Sermon on the Mount is simply a listing of some of the great sayings of
Jesus.
For example, “Turn the other cheek….” “Go the extra mile.”
Ray Brown, the great Sulpician Scripture scholar points
out that Matthew in the Sermon on the
Mount goes beyond the Gospel of John. In Matthew Jesus tells us to love our
enemies and pray for those who persecute us …. Ray Brown adds that John does
not go into one’s enemies. Ray Brown
adds that we could also say that sometimes it’s more difficult loving the ones
we’re with than loving the enemies, the strange, the strangers. [Cf. Raymond E.
Brown, An Introduction to the New
Testament, page 377.]
THE SETTING
Okay that’s a few comments about the Sermon on the Mount
which we start today with the Beatitudes - which we hear at many weddings and
funerals.
Before I finish, let me mention a wonderful moment in my
life. I was on a retreat for priests. We went to Israel in January of 2000. We got off the bus at various spots in the
Holy Land. One obvious place was the possible site for the Sermon on the Mount.
Our leader, Father Stephen Doyle, led us into the Church
of the Beatitudes. We prayed and he then read the Beatitudes and told us we
have an hour of quiet prayer - there in the church - or we could go outside.
I went outside and looked down this big field that lead to the Lake of Galilee.
While sitting there on a rock I saw 5 buses go down this road and then they
stopped. I’d guess there were 50 people
per bus - so they got out and walked down a bit and entered this big field.
They looked like they were Korean pilgrims. We had seen a
lot of them in the Holy Land.
Then their pastor or priest started reading from the
Bible. I’d assume he was doing what the priest who was leading us had just done
- read something from the Sermon on the Mount.
CONCLUSION
These next 3 weeks at weekday Masses, we will be doing
the same thing. We’ll be doing the same thing Christians have been doing for
some 2000 years - listening to the Sermon on the Mount.
General Omar Bradley in an address on Armistice Day,
1948, said, “We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on
the Mount.”