The title of my homily for this 22 Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Regard.”
Spelled: R E
G A R D
Regard....
It’s a word that I have never stopped to look at or think
about. I never gave it any regard.
How about you?
I like words. I
like to look up their roots - their meanings, etc. etc. etc.
And I want to keep on learning words till I get dementia
- and then it’s all spaghetti inside this sound box of mine - called my mind.
Why this topic for a homily?
The word “regard” appears in the opening statement in today’s
first reading” “Brothers and sisters: “Thus should one regard us ….”
That triggered my mind to stop and think about this theme or topic
of, “Regard.”
HERE’S A GOOD
STARTING QUESTION
Do we care about how others see us - judge us - regard
us?
How we look … how
we talk … how we eat … how we speak?
Do we look in the mirror as we dress ourselves or do our
face: "How will others regard me in this outfit - or with this look?"
Did you like the TV commercial for Men’s Wearhouse.
George Zimmer would talk about his suits and say, “You’re gonna like the way
you look. I guarantee it.”He was
selling high regard. He said, you’ll get that if you wear one of my suits.
So I’m assuming we want to be regarded as normal -
fitting in - looking okay - looking good?
What about disregard? What’s going on there? What about people who feel disregarded - disqualified - "dissed" - because of their accent, color, religion, place of origin, look?
Do people who are a PITA - pain in the you know what - often
disregard what others think - and just barge - or ram rod themselves - into a
scene or a discussion or the planning - and want their
way - regardless of what others think - and as a result - they don’t get positive
regard?
So do we people want regard - negative or positive - whether
we admit it or not? So please notice the word "guard" - one who watches - in the "gard" part of the word "regard."
Those are some immediate observations and questions about the issue of,
“regard.”
IT’S ALL GREEK
TO ME
The word “regard” is in the English translation of today’s
first reading. [Cf. 1 Corinthians 4:1-5] It was written in STOP sign red for me.
If a word grabs me in the readings for the Mass of the
day, I like to look up stuff about that word.
It it’s New Testament, it would be Greek; if it’s the
Jewish Bible it would be Hebrew.
We studied Greek for 4 years - not as much as Latin - but
we took Greek - especially since it’s the original language of the New Testament - so
that’s sitting in my resume.
We had Latin for 8 years - and our main philosophy and
theology books were in Latin - but I always wished we zeroed in on Greek and
Hebrew - more - that they had a higher regard.
As to Hebrew, we had that one class a week for two
semesters. That was it. To this day, I don’t know how I passed.
With the Internet and with some good books I have, I can
dabble in both Greek and Hebrew - especially when I’m preparing a homily and
want to look up a word.
I have read several times - in books about preaching,
“Don’t say in the pulpit, ‘In Hebrew or in Greek, the word in our text is” and then mention a
Greek or Hebrew word.”
I disregard that warning or prohibition - because if
we’re not aware of the Greek or Hebrew words - we can be babbling inside an
empty 55 gallon drum about what’s not in the scriptures. At the very least, I want to know the meaning
of the words in the original text for the Mass scripture readings. I fail often on this - by preaching
about an English translation - idea or word - and I’m missing what was in the
original languages of the readings.
In today’s first reading from 1st Corinthians,
“regard” was the English word chosen to translate the Greek word, LOGIZESTHO -
from the Greek verb, LOGIZOMAI.
It was the word used in everyday business in counting
apples and oranges, estimating, calculating, figuring out how many tables and
chairs to set up for a dinner or what have you.
When it becomes a metaphor, it means figuring out what
must I do in order to be saved - in order to be right.
What do I do to get positive regard - from myself, my judgment - or others - but especially from God?
Do I really mean it, when I say to God, “Thy will be
done”? Do I really want to do each day - what God regards should be done each day?
So Paul - here in his First
Letter to the Corinthians talks
about what we must do to be judged good servants. What’s required?
Then he gives what he sees as the key ingredient. It is
to be trustworthy.
Then Paul talks about who the one is who makes this
judgment: it’s the Lord.
So the Lord makes the judgment in the deal. God does the
reckoning. God lets us know if we figured out - if we got it right - in what we
should be and should be doing regarding what’s important.
Take for example, a group of people who volunteer to serve at
a dinner for others. It could be a church group or the Red Cross or what have you. The person who gives their
word and then shows up and gives it their best will get high regard as a
servant.
They are proving themselves trustworthy and they get high
regard from God.
The proof is in the pudding - better making it and serving it.
The Lord’s good servant gains the trust of all.
Weren’t we all moved by the moment in the movie, “A Man
For All Seasons,” the life of St. Thomas More,
when he said it was not Henry VIII whom he was worried about. It was
God. He wanted to be God’s good servant.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
In today’s gospel, John the Baptist has high regard. [Cf. Luke 5:33-39.]
Now there was a serious guy - when it comes to prayer and
fasting.
The scribes and the Pharisees see Jesus’ disciples. They
don’t look as strict - so they got low regard.
Jesus gets low regard as well.
What’s the plan for getting high regard?
What’s the plan for getting high regard with God?
People want to know all the time - if they are church goers
- what do I do to get high regard from God?
People who go to church - sometimes do what they do - to
get high regard - recognition - “Wows!” - from other people. “Now she’s a holy
person.” Who is the holy person - the saint - the Good Christian?
Jesus laughed at this when he saw externalism and showing off in the Pharisees -
in praying, in giving alms, in fasting, and said, “Amen they have had their
reward.” [Cf. Matthew 6: 1-18; Matthew 23.]
I sense that people are asking all their lives the high regard question - especially
when they are getting older and looking at their life. It's the meaning of life question. It's why Nicodemus came to Jesus in the night. Read the third chapter of John thirty times thirty times. It's why the rich young man came to Jesus, "What must I do to gain eternal life?" [Cf. Matthew 19: 16-22.] Down deep they are wondering what God’s estimate - what his LOGIZOMAI - his accounting for us is? How does God judge us here and now?
Hey does God judge us after we die?
Is it an accounting - a reckoning - a regarding our life?
The scriptures certainly say that.
Jewish theology certainly said that - for those who
believed in an afterlife.
One thought in Hebrew thinking was: it’s a scale - if you
did 465 things right and 466 things wrong. Sorry.
Luke - and now Pope Francis - is saying, we will be
regarded, reconciled by mercy. I’ll take that one.
Matthew sneaks in that we have to do something - have the right garment for the wedding
banquet.
Matthew 25 says we have to feed the hunger, clothe the
naked, visit the sick and the imprisoned - otherwise we’re a goat - and we’ll be told to go to hell.
Jesus tells us it’s never too late.
We can always pour as we heard in today’s gospel - new
wine into new wine skins. We can come into the vineyard in the last hour. We can also keep our old good wine in our old wrinkled skins and bring both the old and the new with us into the eternal
wedding.
CONCLUSION
So that’s a homily about regard.
As I thought about it - I realized I have to give this theme of regard - a lot more regard - a lot more recognition - a lot more
understanding. Amen.
The title of my homily for this 22nd Tuesday
in Ordinary Time is, “The Mind of God.”
Today’s first reading ends with these two comments: "For 'who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?' But we have the mind of Christ." [Cf. 1st Corinthians 2: 10-16.]
I would assume that is the dream - that
is the hope of all of us - all of us
looking for a deeper spiritual life - to have the mind of Christ - and then to go deeper - deeper into the hope that
Christ will bring us into the mind of God.
Now that’s prayer - union and communion
- holy communion - not the babbling of words - but getting out of the boat -
heading for Christ - sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean of God - Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. [Cf. Matthew 14: 22-33.]
TODAY’S GOSPEL
The first step then would be to follow
Christ - to hear Christ in the Gospels - to picture the people who approached
Christ and see who Christ is.
We wade into the gospel of Luke today - moving out of Matthew last Saturday.
Yesterday we missed the going into the synagogue in Nazareth to hear Jesus’
inaugural address in Luke - because yesterday was the feast of John the
Baptist.
Luke will teach us so much more each
year - the mercy of God especially in this year of mercy. Open up the flood gates….
I loved today’s gospel for starters -
that it’s the crazy guy - in the synagogue of Capernaum who first gets who
Jesus is - that he shrieks in a loud voice “Leave us alone! What do you want of
us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the
Holy One of God.”
Can we be crazy enough to say to Jesus:
“I know who you are: the Holy One of God.”
FIRST CORINTHINIANS
In today’s reading from 1st
Corinthians, Paul goes another way. He is going to let the Spirit bring us to
the Father - to let the Spirit bring us into God.
Come Holy Spirit!
We slipped into the 1st
Letter to the Corinthians last Thursday - and we’ll have this letter of Paul
till Saturday September 17th. This is one of the blessings of daily
Mass - we get a chance to hear and get into lots of the holy writings.
So hopefully we want to get into God: Father,
Son and Holy Spirit: the Trinity.
Augustine tells us he discovered from a
little kid on the beach - that you can’t fit and fill the ocean into a little
kid’s beach pail - any more than fitting the Trinity into our little minds. Yet
we go to the beach to fill our pails and wade into the ocean. We come into
church - we come into prayer - to fill our pale little self and wade into the
edge of God.
Jesus often tells us, See me, see the
father. Hear me, hear the father.
In his words for today, Paul is sort of going
a different way - here in today’s first reading.
The commentators on today’s first
reading tell us that we all have a spirit - pneuma
in Greek. Paul then tells us that we also have a soul - psuche in Greek. Psuche is the life principle in every living thing. We have that
gift of life. We see that life in dogs and cats, birds and fish. We know the
difference between a dead fly and a live one - a dead another and a live
another.
He tells us we have a choice to live by
the pneuma or just the psuche.
To live by the spirit is to move into
the Spirit of God who will bring us
CONCLUSION
This is long enough for a weekday Mass -
so if you have time read today’s readings again.
Let me conclude with Paul’s words for
today I hope I didn’t complicate his message up too much.
Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit scrutinizes everything,
even the depths of God.
Among men,
who knows what’s going on within us
except our spirit that is within?
Similarly,
no one knows what pertains to God
except the Spirit of God.
We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them
not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with words taught by the Spirit,
describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
Now the natural man
[that is the
one who lives only with his psuche]
does not accept
what pertains to the Spirit of God,
for to him it is foolishness,
and he cannot understand it,
because it is judged spiritually.
The one who is spiritual, however,
can judge everything
but is not subject to judgment by anyone. For "who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him"?"
