IN  THE  PITS 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C] is, “In The Pits.”

For the sake of transparency, I’m an optimist, but today’s 1^st reading from Jeremiah 38: 4-6, 8-10, and today’s gospel from Luke 12: 49-53 basically talk about being in the pits.

Today’s second reading from Hebrews 12: 1-4 tells us to start running. Run away! Rid ourselves - “of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.”

A homily calls us to reflect upon the readings of the day….

JEREMIAH - IN THE PIT

In today’s first reading - the King, Zedekiah, crumbles in - to the princes - who want Jeremiah silenced, removed. 

The king abdicates. He tells the princes: “He is in your power.”

They took Jeremiah and threw him a  cistern.

The text says “threw”. However,  they describe it as lowering him down into the muddy hole with ropes. It had no water - only mud.

What would that be like? I picture being dropped  into a big bowl of chocolate pudding.  Uuuuuh!

How many movies have we seen where they throw someone into solitary confinement - to silence them - to shut them up?

How many Rambo and Chuck Norris movies have we seen where there are POW’s in concentration camps and Rambo or Chuck are flown and then dropped into the jungle or wilderness to rescue people who are trapped.

FAMILY PROBLEMS

In today’s gospel, Jesus talks about family fights - where there is no peace - only division. “From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against a son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Talk about mud and mudslinging.

As I read that - I wondered about how many people hearing this reading around our world today - will actually hear it. It’s the same readings in lots of churches - not just Catholic - but we’re worked out with many Protestant Communities - to have the same readings - at least on Sunday.

How many people will get antsy and edgy and “Uh oh-ing” when they hear Jesus’ words about family divisions?  

His stuff - especially about forgiveness and putting down the rocks and loving one another - can cause division.

We’re all been part of the drama of our own family stuff. We’ve been on stage or we watched from the audience.

We all could have written Tolstoy’s well know comment in Anna Karenina, “Happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

There will be at least 1 million, 999 thousand - phone calls today or bar talk or beach chair conversations about unhappy family situations. that people are in.

It’s being in the pits.

Many people feel like King Zedekiah in today’s first reading: there are people we can do nothing about. We want to push them out of our lives and say to someone else, “He is in your power.”

We want others to solve the problem that we can’t - even if they have to throw that person down into a muddy hole - to hide them away.

So and so is drinking and drinking and drinking some more.

So and so is mouthing off - again and again and again - and they can’t let go of something someone else said or did - last week, last year - 25 years ago.

YOGI BERRA'S TRUISMS

Yogi Berra - in one of his many truisms - said, “It’s déjà vu all over again!”

If life is anything, if family life is anything,  it’s repeat performances. Could you repeat after me,  “It’s déjà vu all over again!”

I’ve seen this play, this movie, this scene before, over and over and over again.

So Yogi Berra knew life when he said, ““It’s déjà vu all over again!” 

He was also right when he said, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

He was right when he said, “I didn’t really say everything I said.”

He was right when he said, “We made too many wrong mistakes”

What to do: first step - STEP BACK!

Yogi Berra also said, “You can observe a lot by watching.”

He wasn’t just a player. He was also a manager.

It takes time and lots of watching and learning and figuring, to figure some things out about our family - and our life and how the game is played.

And remember two other things, Yogi Berra said:

“The future ain’t what it used to be.”

“If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.”

The world, our family, our marriage, our parish, our job, our evenings, our days, our past, our future, are never perfect.

And sometimes they are the pits.

WHAT TO DO

Two years ago someone sent out thousands of those refrigerator magnetic stickers. I have one on a metal door in our second corridor at St. Mary’s.

It has a smiling picture of Pope Francis and it says, “Pope Francis says: you need 3 phrases in a family: 1) May I? 2) Thank you. and 3) I’m sorry.”

Come to think about it, Pope Francis does look a bit like Yogi Berra. That's an aside!

If you want more from Pope Francis - much more than what a refrigerator door can hold, read his 225 page exhortation: Amoris Laetitia, The Joy of Love.

If you want more of Yogi Berra's quotes simply type that into Google.

CONCLUSION

Or if you want just one word to work on - it’s “forgive”.  It’s that 3^rd family message from Pope Francis: “I’m sorry.”

That second reading for today tells us to get into that Olympic “running the race” with Jesus and crowds and crowds of other people - who want to go for the gold in life.

If anyone was hoped to be silenced - like Jeremiah thrown into the muddy pit - it was Jesus - nailed to the cross - to shut him up. One of his seven last words or statements from the cross was, “Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing.”

You probably heard me say this before, but I’ll say it again and again, because it works and people told me that it works.

Find your rosary. Keep it handy - in your pocket or your purse. A rosary is not just for Hail Mary’s.  Every day - while driving - or just sitting there - take out your worry beads and say, 59 times - or just 10 times, “Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing.” “Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing.”

And I guarantee,  if you say that enough, if you pray that enough, you’ll say and pray that the next time you and your family or someone is in the pits.

People are dumb. They don’t know what they are doing. Forgive the jerk. It could be you - déjà vu - all over again.

OOOOO+OOOOO

Painting on top: Jeremiah in the Pit by Marc Chagall, 1931-1939.