IN BOLD PRINT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 31 Friday in Ordinary Time is: “In Bold Print.”

In today’s first reading from Romans 15: 14-21 - Paul says, “I have written to you rather boldly.”  I am familiar with another translation which said, “I have written to you rather boldly in parts of this letter.”

I was imagining if Paul had a computer - would he write his heavy messages with BOLD print - or a bigger font - or underline key points.

If he printed out his message would he magic mark in yellow or pink or blue - his key passages.

People do that with their Bibles. They go through it with magic markers. I’ve also often wondered if that makes a message stronger for people.

Some people go crazy with people who mark up books - who underline sentences or words - or put exclamation points or question marks.

I love it - SOMETIMES - I put that in capitals - and in bold print - when people mark up Bibles and I pick it up.  It tells me about what hits other people.  It tells me about people.

BACK TO THE TITLE

The title of my homily is, “In Bold Print.”

Picture the following scenario.

Adriana goes out to eat with her family to a local restaurant - and there is a whole plate of roasted asparagus on the table.

Now Adriana loves asparagus.

She asks for a “doggy bag” which now are Styrofoam containers and she brings home her treasure.  From experience she knows that her stuff sometimes gets stolen out of the refrigerator. So she gets a purple Sharpie Pen and puts on the Styrofoam contained in Big Letters: “This belongs to Adriana. DO NOT TOUCH. DO NOT TAKE!”

Then she puts duct tape on the container. Then she puts that in a paper bag - with her name on the brown paper bag. “THIS BELONGS TO ADRIANA! DO NOT TAKE!!!!!!!”

She wakes up the next morning - and heads down to the refrigerator - with a smile on her face - ready for her roasted asparagus.

It’s gone. It’s missing. She starts screaming. “Who took my asparagus.”

Her older brother says, “Oh that was yours. I came home last night and spotted it in the fridge and it was delicious. Thanks.”

She says, “Can’t you read, you moron?”

He says, “You’ll get over it!”

BACK TO MY TITLE

The title of my homily is, “In Bold Print!”

Get yourself a Bible. Get yourself a good yellow highlighter or Magic Marker in yellow or pink. Go through the Bible on a regular basis and high light words and texts and stories that grab you.

Maybe someone will discover your Bible 10 years after you die at the age of 95 and they get a glimpse of what grabbed you in life.

CONCLUSION: TODAY’S GOSPEL

For example, today’s gospel talks about a guy who is very clever in giving people breaks so that if and when he is fired, he will have people he was good to hire him.

Jesus is not telling people to be dishonest, but to use their cleverness for the right reasons - to make life sweeter and better for each other.

That might be something someone would highlight or put in bold print! Amen.