MERCY OF GOD
Quote for the Day - feast of St. Augustine - August 28, 2010
"The mercy of God (may be found) between the bridge and the stream."
St. Augustine [354-430], Confessions, said of a man falling into a river.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
OUTSIDE – INSIDE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 21 Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “Outside-Inside”. “Extos” and “entos” in Greek – as found in today’s gospel. (1)
Somewhere along the line Jesus began reflecting upon the reality of outside-inside.
Outside is what you see; inside is what is hidden.
We go by the outside of a hundred homes each day. We know what’s inside our front door. There’s a message there for those who reflect upon that reality in their inner room.
Outside-inside – as basic as up and down, east and west, north and south, surface and underneath, on the table and under the table.
WHAT TRIGGERED THE THOUGHT FOR JESUS?
What triggered Jesus’ reflections on this theme?
Was it his work as a carpenter – that a house from the outside could look firm – has a good foundation – has strong beams – but once you check it out – get into its inners – one could find out whether it was built on rock or sand – and whether the beams were still solid – or had rotted because of termites or what have you. (2)
Or was it simply a chair that looked strong till Jesus sat on it?
Or was it people – the best dressed person – or the person with the big house or chariot – who was a mess as a person – once you got to know that person – and the poorest person – a widow with two coins – in the temple who might be the most beautiful person in the temple? (3)
Was it the person who practiced or the person who preached?
If I had to guess where Jesus learned this, I would think it was eyes. Jesus somewhere along the line discovered human eyes – the window to a person’s soul – one’s inner room – one’s reality. I think Jesus looked into a lot of people’s eyes. (4)
Did Jesus as a teenager – or young adult see the Pharisees and the Scribes and catch one of them eye to eye? Did some Pharisee or Scribe come into Joseph’s carpenter shop and Jesus looked at their stiff posture or nose in the air – or credentials on their sleeves? Did the scribe or the Pharisee then look down because somehow they knew this kid could see right through them? (5)
HOW ABOUT US?
When did we learn about outside-inside?
Was it a marriage that fell apart? Was it someone at work who we thought the world of – and surprise – they did something that crushed them – their family – as well as us? Was it a priest – who was all show – but we didn’t know it till he blew it – and looking back we say, “Oh my God, I caught glimpses of that!”
It looked like heaven – but hell burned below.
INSIDE
We come to Mass – to come inside not only ourselves – but also our God – and we do this together.
We come to Mass – to invite Jesus into our inner room – where dirty socks are tossed in the corner – and they are musty and messy. (6)
Ooops – Jesus image is much more pungent – and stinky.
Instead of dirty socks, Jesus says the Pharisees are like a cemetery – nice on the outside as we drive by the graves – green cut grass – some flowers – nice clean stone. But underneath – there is death, decay and dead person’s bones.
He must have seen people as walking cemeteries. Nice outside – but dead and stink within.
WRAPPING UP – YOU GOT TO GET TO WORK
And Jesus left the carpenter shop to walk into people’s lives – and began yelling out what he yelled out at Lazarus’ grave: “Lazarus come back to life!” (7)
Last night on ABC evening news the closing piece was on a question asked in the Miss Universe Contest. A contestant was asked, “Do you have any regrets?” Or, “What was the biggest mistake of your life?” And Miss Philippines said she had no big mistakes to report – and might have moved from 1st place to 5th place by admitting nothing.
Everyone has stuff only they know about. Everyone has secrets and sins – as well as good stuff – that only they know about.
Remember the only line from the Shadow radio program: “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows."
Who knows what good flourishes in the hearts of people: God knows.
Sure – behind closed doors – in our bottom drawer – in our attic or basement – in our inside – there are mistakes. That’s the stuff we don’t want others to know. That’s normal. We have a right to privacy – but we need to know ourselves. We need to know our inside stories.
So here we are in the presence of God and each other – and we invite Jesus inside to be in communion with us again this morning. Amen.
(1) Matthew 23:27-32
(2) Matthew 7: 24-27; Ezekiel 13: 11-16
(3) Mark 12:42-43; Luke 21:2-3
(4) Matthew 6:22-23; Mark 8: 15-24; John 9
(5) Matthew 23; Luke 2: 41-50
(6) Matthew 6: 5-6
(7) John 11: 1-44
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
GRACE AND PEACE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 21st Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Grace and Peace.”
Today’s first reading from 2nd Thessalonians begins with Paul, Silvanus and Timothy wishing the people in the Church of Thessalonica grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A thought for us for today: to wish everyone “grace and peace”.
When you are driving or walking or looking around – look at people and wish them inwardly, “Grace and Peace.”
Wish them grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
MEANING OF THE WORDS
Grace means a lot of things. It’s very wide ranging. It basically means gift or gifted. When we say someone is graceful, we picture them as smooth, talented, gifted, doing things with ease – without effort – like an ice skater gliding across the ice – like a baseball center fielder running and catching the ball – with ease – a piece of cake – knowing we’d trip and fall and never get to the ball.
We picture Mary as “full of grace” – pregnant with God – filled with such a wonderful personality - that God chose her to be the Mother of his Son, Jesus.
Grace – “charis” in Greek – from which we have the words “charism” or “charisma”.
In theology and spirituality – it means that a person is free – free from the stress of sin and the law. [Cf. Romans chapters 5 to 7.]
Paul who was a Pharisee was graced by God – to be knocked to the ground – hit bottom – be blinded – be in the dark – till God opened his eyes to what true life, true religion, true love is.
In today’s gospel we have a portrait of the scribes and Pharisees – practicing a religion of stress, law, picky, picky, iddy, biddy, obligation, obligation.
Did Jesus say what he said in today’s gospel with a sneer or a smile? I don’t know. I would hope it was with a smile and laughter – in hopes his listeners would laugh at themselves.
Listen again to what he said to us today,
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
you hypocrites.
You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men.
You do not enter yourselves,
nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
you hypocrites.
You traverse sea and land
to make one convert,
and when that happens
you make him a child of Gehennatwice as much as yourselves.
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say,‘
If one swears by the temple,
it means nothing,
but if one swears by the gold of the temple,
one is obligated.’
Blind fools, which is greater, the gold,
or the temple that made the gold sacred?
And you say, ‘If one swears by the altar,
it means nothing,
but if one swears by the gift on the altar,
one is obligated.’
You blind ones, which is greater,
the gift, or the altar
that makes the gift sacred?
One who swears by the altar
swears by it and all that is upon it;
one who swears by the temple
swears by it and by him
who dwells in it;
one who swears by heaven
swears by the throne of Godand by him who is seated on it.”
Once more I ask, “Did Jesus say that with a sneer or a smile, caustically or gracefully.
The second word is peace.
The Greek word is “eirene”.
The English word “irenic” – means, conducive to or operating toward peace and conciliation. We don’t use that word. We use the word, “Peace”.
I did notice that the name, "Irene" – means – peaceful – that Irena was the goddess of peace in Greek mythology.
CONCLUSION
So a prayer for each day – and a wish for all people: grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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