The
title of my homily for this 14th Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “If My Life Was A Novel….”
If my life was a novel, what would be its title.
I
think of that idea when I hear the Book of Genesis read. We are listening to it
at these weekday Masses.
It
has plots, sub-plots, twists, turns, and wonderings, “What’s next?”
Well
grab a seat and start turning the pages.
It
has characters - men, women and children.
It
has surprises. It has murders. It has marriages. It has family - wow does it
have family.
OLD AGE
One
of the great gifts of old age - not everyone
makes it - is reminiscing. It’s looking at the stories of how we got to where
we got to - and who have been the people in the pages and stories of our life.
Hopefully
everyone has a porch or a place equivalent to a porch - where we can ask each
other about who the other persons are and were in our family tree.
Hopefully,
we all have collectors of the stories. Who in our family or families knows the
story?
Hopefully
we listen. Hopefully, we ask an old aunt or uncle, “Uncle Jake, you’re being
quiet. How did you get from Vermont to
Maryland? Did you know your grandparents?
A
Jewish family the middle of Tennessee were asked, “Why in the world did you
settle here in this little town ?” Answer: the horse died.
SUGGESTIONS
I
suggest using writing pads that have the wire spring down the left side of the
notebook - and write a name or place or possible idea on top of the page and
then ask Uncle Jake or Aunt Sarah, “What’s going on with you now?”
The
stories are out there. The stories are in here.
By
writing down what you’re hearing, you have leads to the past and to the future.
Ask
questions
Ask
about our faith. It can be lost.
Wouldn’t
it be great if we could find out who started faith in our family 5 generations
back.
TODAY’S FIRST READING
How
did the Israelites get to Egypt?
Well,
to be honest, some brothers didn’t like one brother and they sold him out.
How
did the Israelites get to Egypt?
Well,
truth be told, they ran out of bread?
How
did the Israelites get established in Egypt?
Well,
the brother who was sold out, forgave his brothers and first he cried.
Read
the story - right there in Genesis.
CONCLUSION
When
we get to it, read what happened next - especially the Exit or Exodus.
The title of my homily is, “Israel: Wrestling with God.”
As far as I could pick up in reading about the name
“Israel”, it means, “Wrestling With
God.” Not all agree on that, but Jewish
theology is richer when the word “Israel” is translated into “Wresting With
God.”
In today’s first reading from Genesis, Jacob - has a name
change. He now becomes Israel. He had wrestled with his brother Esau coming out
the womb holding his older brothers heel. The name goes well with the story of
his life - how he wrestled with various people and situations - and how in today’s
reading - he wrestles with someone all night long till the break of dawn. And
his hip is knocked out of place - and it seems for the rest of his life Jacob
had a pronounced limp.
LIFE AS WRESTLING
Wrestling can at times be another word for life.
People are sometimes described, “She’s wrestling with
something.” “He’s wrestling with
something.
Using today’s gospel, we could say, “Sometimes we have to
wrestle with our demons.”
I’ve been at many AA meetings - and listened to lots of “drunkalogues” - a person telling their life
story - and many of the stories mention demons. Wasn’t rum labeled “demon rum”?
I’ve also visited folks at Shepherd Pratt - St.
Elizabeth’s in Washington D.C. and many other Mental Health Centers. Often in
listening to people, I hear about what they are wrestling with, struggling with, and what have you.
When we were kids, we often watched wrestling on TV - especially
when our uncle Cole was living with us. He thought wrestling was real and
baseball was fixed. He could be a
curmudgeon. Yet wrestling is real. Did you ever live or work with someone, who
is always into causing mismatches and mishmash?
If we look at our life as a wrestling match, we could
ask, “What has been our main enemy?” “What has been the main event?” “Who have
been our toughest opponents?”
Big families offer bigger opportunities for kids to grow.
Today’s smaller families provide less opportunities for emotional growth.
One bathroom is a house has its opportunities for
patience as well.
Big families also provide the challenge of comparison
problems - sibling rivalries - as well as hearing the words, “Not fair” a lot
more than when we are alone.
So the home can be a wrestling ring - so too the playing
field - so too the workplace - so too the classroom. Everyone can’t be the
smartest kid in the class. Not everyone
can get the quarterback position. Not
everyone can be the lead in the play.
Teachers sometimes have pets - and it isn’t me.
As Chief Justice Roberts said in a commencement address
at his son’s graduation from elementary private school recently, “Every kid has
to learn that life is not fair.”
PRAYER IS
WRESTLING
Prayer is a conversation and a communication with our
God. It can also be a wrestling match from time to time.
Prayer - with God - speaking and listening - is the stuff of every relationship - and wrestling is part of every
relationship.
Read the Psalms.
They are often about complaints
with God.
We think, “My will be done!” more than we pray, “Thy will
be done!”
CONCLUSION
Israel was a new edition of Jacob.
His mother tricked Esau - Jacob’s twin brother - out of
his legal rights.
And that wrestling match has been going on ever since in
and with Israel.
The names are different - that’s all.
ANTWERP TRAIN STATION
HISTORIC
FLASH MOB
DANCE
July 11, 2017
SOMETIMES COMMUNICATION HAPPENS
Sometimes communication happens; sometimes it doesn't.
The title of my homily for this 14th Monday in
Ordinary Time is, “Rocks and Relics - Remains and Reminders.”
Today’s two readings trigger thoughts about rocks and
relics - and those two words triggered thoughts of two other “R” words: remains
and reminders.
STONES: THERE
IS SOMETHING ABOUT STONES - OR ROCKS
There’s something about stones that gets us to hold onto
them.
Here’s Jacob going to a shrine - near Haran. The world, the
Middle East, is filled with shrines. They are sacred places. They are stairways to
heaven.
I grew up hearing that in Brooklyn there is either a bar
or a church on every corner. That’s an exaggeration. Bars yes. Churches no.
In today’s Bible story from Genesis 28: 10 to 22a, Jacob
does something everyone does: he picked up a specific stone - because he was in
a special place. It was a shrine. It was that stone he laid his head on for the
night. With his head on that rock he had his famous stairway or ladder dream.
In that dream he meets God, the God of Abraham and Isaac. He is told that this
land will be your land - and you’ll have many descendants here.
Question: check your house, your shelves, your keepsakes,
your boxes, for rocks from places you’ve
visited.
Here are two rocks.
This one is from Galway, Ireland from
where my mom and dad are from. Ireland
has lots and lots of rocks. They could make a fortune by selling them. Rocks
last. They are not plastic or cloth or paper.
And here’s another rock. It’s
from the Sea of Galilea - which I picked up and pocketed in January of 2000 -
and I wrote where it is from with a thin pointed pen.
When we visit a place that impresses us - impacts us - we
like to hold onto the place - with something from the place, a souvenir, a
rock, a relic, a matchbook…. Isn’t that why people take pictures, zillions and
zillions of pictures - besides sending the picture with an e-mail or Facebook
to others - to share their sacred - their special - place and experience with family
and friends. Cheaper than postcards - but postcards are nice as well.
In today’s first reading Jacob takes the stone he slept
on - poured some oil on it - and set it up as a memorial stone. He called the
place, “Bethel.”
Beth - is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet -
meaning house - and that’s its shape b - is like a single family house. Capital
B is like a two story house. We know the
word “Beth” from the place listed as where Jesus was born: Bethlehem. “Lehem” is the word for bread - or more: food.
So Bethlehem is the House of Bread - House of Food - home. Home is where we eat
and sleep and rest.
So Bethel - means “house of El” Once more Beth means. “El” is the word for God. That’s the Semitic and then Arabic and Middle
East name for God. El, Al, Allah, as found in the names Rachel, Nathaniel,
Michael, Daniel, Noel, Angel.
So that’s a few words about rocks and sacred places - so
rocks can be sacred and special.
Let me jump now to today’s gospel and deal with the second word
in my homily title. I used the word “relic.”
Well this lady in today’s gospel is suffering from
hemorrhages for 12 years. She reaches out to touch the tassel of Jesus’
cloak. She said to herself, “If only I
can touch his cloak, I shall be healed.”
What ever happened to Jesus’ cloak?
How many did he have - if had more than one. He stressed having very little. What ever
happened to his robe - the one gambled for at Calvary.
Is the Shroud of Turin Jesus’ burial cloth?
If it is, how much is it worth?
If you go into historical museums, you find clothes from
famous people.
Marilyn Monroe’s dress which she wore when she sang
“Happy Birthday Mr. President - to John F. Kennedy in May of 1962 - sold for $1.25
million at a Christie’s auction in 1999 and for $4.8 million on November 19,
2016.
Would we touch it - if we could touch it - with a sense
of awe?
How about the woman’s thought as she touched Jesus’
garment and she was cured?
I have two jackets that my brother wore - and my sister
in law gave them to me after my brother died. When I wear either of them
in my nieces sight - they are amazing reminders
of my brother. And we looked somewhat alike - the poor fellow.
People who have lost a spouse or a parent or a child -
keep - keepsakes for the sake of the person who is gone.
CONCLUSION
Enough already. I
just wanted to skip these thoughts - like a kid skipping stones on a lake.
Remember the temptation Jesus had in the desert - in
beginning of his ministry - to change
rocks into bread to feed the hungry. And Jesus says “No!” And at the end he takes bread and tells us to
take and eat - this is my body, this is my blood - do this in memory of me.
And wonderfully the bread dissolves - becomes us - as we
digest Jesus - and we become forever in Christ.
Not as rocks - but as fleshy, sentimental, tear stained
human beings.
