THE INVISIBLE IS REAL

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “The Invisible Is Real!”

Really?

How many times have we had the thought: “Hey there’s something going on around here and I don’t know what it is”?

How many times have we sat on an empty porch overlooking the ocean - or the back yard - all by ourselves - and we knew there was a God - and no words are spoken.

THINKING IS INVISIBLE

There are about 500 of us here in this church right now.

No one knows what any one of us here is thinking right now - what anyone here is talking to themselves about right now - but all of us here are thinking and talking to ourselves right now.

Really?

We can guess. We do guess. Some of us are better than others in reading body language - but sometimes what looks like chicken salad is really tuna salad.

Okay, some of us might be sleeping - but as you know the brain is working even when we are sleeping

What those dreams and words and thoughts are - they are invisible - inaudible.

MOTIVES

Someone - after a Mass was over - once told me something they were thinking during a homily I was giving. Something I said triggered in them something Father Pat Lynch had said in a homily.  Pat took two of his fingers and walked them along the edge of the pulpit - saying, “Nobody ever saw a motive walking down the street.”

I don’t remember what I preached that day - but I’ve always remembered what that person said that day about motives from Father Pat Lynch. I thank that person for remember what Pat said. I’ve  used that idea or that example many times down through the years. It’s simple: just let your fingers do the walking.

Motives are invisible.

Motive …. motives …. sometimes we know our motives - sometimes we don’t.  I hold that most of the time we don’t.

Moreover, our motives change as we change.

For example: Why our parents had us - that reason is invisible. At first they might have wanted to have a family. Then at some point - our mom became pregnant. Things change - big time - at pregnancy time. Some of us were surprises - some of us were planned - some of us were really wanted.

Then the  reason why they had us changed a bit when they saw us for the first time. Specifics…. Particulars …. Seeing…. All make a difference.

The visible affects and effects the invisible.

Yet the reasons are invisible. 

Ok, reasons and motives  can be stated. They can be attempts to make audible and visible by words what's going on inside. Then when they heard us say our first word or saw us take our first steps - new reasons why they had us appear on their screen.

Still ….  Much of life is unconscious. Invisible.... The reason they had us keeps changing. Reasons remain invisible.

Then when they saw us dancing or singing or running up and down steps in a batman suit with a cape - or saw us go to Pre-K - then they discovered new reasons why they brought us into the world - and then these reasons change - develop -  again - and again - and again - and again.

The reasons are real  - but they are invisible.

The reasons change again when we graduate or get great marks or make a great shot in basketball or we are on stage.

I'm trying to remain positive here. Of course, the negative - impacts motives and reasons as well. 

But let me stick with the positive....

I’ve seen parents and grandparents in these benches here at St. Mary’s for baptisms and weddings. As they sit here watching a couple get married they cry and say, “It was all worth it.”  Then see grandkids baptized and more reasons appear why they had us and why they worked to make life the best for us.

The title of my homily is: “The Invisible Is Real!”

What I’m saying in various ways is: The invisible keeps changing.

Which is more important: the visible or the invisible? 

No contest!

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s first reading from 1 Kings  10: 1-10 - tells the story of the Queen of Sheba.  This one story of this woman has kept her memory alive for some 2900 years now.

Her name appears in Ethiopian legends.... And many a parent in my time said to a daughter, “Who do you think you are: the Queen of Sheba?”

She hears about Solomon - so as the story goes, she travels a long distance to see Solomon.

Notice  - when she gets there - she sees signs of his wisdom and she sees all kinds of signs of his visible wealth.

Which overwhelms her the most: wisdom or wealth?

She seems to be impressed with spices and camels, gold and where people are seated.

She seems to be impressed with Solomon's vast palace, the great meals, the classy servants.

She hears his wisdom.

We’ve all been in small houses and big houses. Then there are the homes that can overwhelm us.

I’m sure if we walked into Lebron James' house and saw the rooms and the pool and the pool table and the stuff - I would go wow.

I know I've said that when I saw him play basketball.

I think there are house tours here in Annapolis.  I know there are lectures here at Annapolis.

Which would impress us more: wealth or wisdom?

In today’s gospel - Mark 7: 14-23 -  Jesus continues to challenge the Scribes and the Pharisees. They are off on visible rules and regulations. You can eat this food and you can’t eat that food. You have to wash your hands. You have to follow the traditions.

Jesus moves right into the issue of the invisible. There are things we eat and there are things that eat us.

He says it’s not the stuff from the outside. That stuff goes down the drain. The stuff that drain us are: “evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.”

They are all invisible.

They are the possible poisons of the heart. Ugh.

That’s the stuff Jesus wants us to make visible - in our heart and in our mind - so as to work against them dominating our lives and our desires.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “The Invisible Is Real!”

God is invisible. 

Of course we picture God - and deepest law is to avoid idolatry - in all its forms.

As Christians we believe this invisible God became visible in a baby - Christ.

Now that's a difficult act of faith to make! No wonder some crucified this Word Made Flesh Who Dwelt Amongst Us.

Nobody knows the stuff of the human heart  - but ourselves sometimes and - with faith - we believe that Jesus wanders and probes around in the human heart - with a two edged sword as we hear in Hebrews 4:12-13 - and we and our motives can be uncovered and challenged as we are called to make an account of of ourselves.

Call out to Christ. Check things out with him. Grow and Know with Him. Amen.