"Did you know that the human voice is the only pure instrument?
That it has notes no other instrument has? It's like being between the keys of
a piano. The notes are there, you can sing them, but they can't be found on any
instrument. That's like me. I live in between this. I live in both worlds, the
black and white world.”
Nina Simone
February 7, 2019 Black History Month Thought for Today:
“We are not fighting for integration, nor are we fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition as human beings ...In fact, we are actually fighting for rights that are even greater than civil rights and that is human rights.”
Malcolm X (Black Revolution)
Friday, February 8, 2019
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH
IT
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 4th Friday in Ordinary Time is, “A River Runs
Through It.”
There is no
mention of a river in today’s two readings - but last night - for some reason - after reading today’s readings - I thought
of rivers and their presence in our lives.
Next time
you’re in a plane - try to get a window seat - and keep your eye on the landscape you’re flying over.
On a clear
day, you should see a few rivers.
If you’re on
the ground and you have time, take the time to stop, to pause, to look at any
river you just happen to see - any river you happen to be at - or at any river
you meet.
If there is
a bench there - that’s why it’s there - to sit and watch a river go by you.
It can be a
neat experience. It can be a learning experience.
There are a
lot of rivers running through the landscape of our lives.
RIVER’S
WITHIN
Metaphors
come from realities.
We also have
rivers within us - in our imaginations - in our understandings and in our
efforts to figure life out.
So be poetic
enough to check out the rivers inside our being - inside our mind, inside our
memory, inside our imagination.
Pause.
Pray.Look. From time to time, check out
rivers within..
Inside and
out - within and without.
I lived on
the Hudson River in New York for 14 years of my life. I’d go down most mornings
around 6 AM when everything was still quiet. I’d watch what was on the river at that moment.It’s also when I started the practice of
dipping my hand into the water of any river I was at and make the sign of the
cross.
Holy water
fonts are everywhere.
I livedon the Patapsco River here in Maryland - near
Ellicott City - for1 year- 3 months. It wasn’t a scenic spot - because
right nearby was a box factory that dumped chemicals into the water. Yet that
river is still one of the memories in my life. I realize we have around here
the South River, the Severn River and the Maggoty River.
So I’ve see
lots of rivers from the sky, from bridges, and up close.
The title of
my homily is, “A River Runs Through It.”
I can see a
beautiful river like the Hudson or an ugly river like the Patapsco as theyflow through my memory.
I’ve also
done a lot of traveling - and the rivers I knew here in the United States - get
me to spot them around the globe.
The Jordan River
in Israel was a disappointment. The Lake of Galilee wasn’t - but it doesn’t
send enough water into the Jordan.
I saw the
Shannon River in Ireland as well as the Foyle River in Derry and the Liffey
River in Dublin.All three were
beautiful - especially the Foyle River in Derry - Northern Ireland.
I’ve see the
Danube, the Seine, and the Neva Rivers.
What rivers
have you seen?
BOOK
AND MOVIE
Back in 1992
a movie came out, “A River Runs Through It.”
It’s mainly
about 2 brothers- and their father a stern
Presbyterian Minister - and the story of their lives.
It was a
book first and made into a movie and was nominated for a few Academy Awards.It won one for cinematography.
I saw that
movie and I’m sure that’s why that title popped up last night - and I used to
entitle my homily.
LET ME
SWITCH FOR A MOMENT TO BUDDHISM
The
Buddhists recommend sitting and meditating at rivers.
They would
add just closing your eyes and take in
the rivers inside you. See your life gliding along and gliding by.
Look at
what’s on other’s boats - as they glide by.
See what memories
flow down or up your rivers.
The short
novel, A River Runs Through It, begins with this sentence:"In our family, there was no clear line
between religion and fly-fishing" and its last sentence was, "I am
haunted by waters" ….
See your baptism at the river Jordan and on and on.
CONCLUSION
Thinking
back- where I really got this thought
from is today’s gospel,
Herodias
harbors a grudge against John the Baptist.When her daughter dances and Herodias promises her anything, she asks
her mother, “What should I ask?” It’s
then her mother asks for the head of John death.
Give the
lady what she wants.
So she has him
killed - and as the old saying goes, stuff on docks or harbors rot - they are meant
to be made to be sent down the river.
The grudge
she held in her stomach,rotted in her
gut. Watch your grudges and angers against others. Put them on a barge or a
boats.Then send them down the river
andwave to them till they go out of
sight.
February 8, 2019
AT SOME POINT
At some point,
Step Two happens.
At some point,
the other half of life appears. At some point, we wake up. At some point, we discover we are the surprise.
At some point,
waiting on line,
sitting in a doctor’s office,
in church at a funeral,
being dumped by a lover,
seeing one’s first child born,
Step Two, the other half of life begins to happen.
“I am an invisible man...I am a
man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said
to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to
see me.”
