Tuesday, April 9, 2013



THY WILL BE DONE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Thy Will Be Done.”

When I read over the readings for the feast of the Annunciation - which was moved to today - because of Holy Week, - the phrase and prayer that I heard was, “Thy Will Be Done.”

The Psalm response we said was, “Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.”

The first reading from Isaiah is about asking the Lord for a sign - wanting to know what’s what, what does God want?  And Ahaz says stop wearying the Lord with requests - needing signs. Then he gives the great sign, the great quote, from Isaiah 7:14:
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us!”  

Today’s second reading from Hebrews has the person praying saying two times loud and clear: “Behold, I come to do your will.”

And the gospel has Mary saying at the Annunciation that she is willing to be the Lord’s servant - the Lord’s handmaid.

So that’s why the title of my homily is, “Thy Will Be Done.”

WILL

If we listen to each other we use the word “will” all day long.

·        “I will do it?”
·        “Will you do me a favor?”
·        “Well, who do you think will do this?”
·        “I will try to get there by 3 PM.”

So what “will” means is very clear and very basic.

But what “will” means is sometimes not so clear.

Sometimes we don’t know what the other wants.  Don’t we say with some people, “Give me a clue please - just what you want me to do?”

And when it comes to God - what God’s will is - is often very tricky and very unclear.

Yet we pray in every Our Father, “Thy will be done - on earth as it is in heaven.”

I suggest you do some thinking about “will” - and I think it will bring good results.

I suggest you do some good thinking and reflecting on what “God’s will” means - and it will bring good results.

CONCLUSION

There are answers. Here are two: science and scriptures.

Most basic is science. Scientific reasoning teaches the message: do good and good things happen. Do bad things and bad things happen.  Not all the time - but in the long room, obviously yes. Sometimes someone makes it to 97 and they report that they smoked their entire life. However, in general I sense that smokers live 10 years less than non-smokers. If someone disagrees with that, it ain’t worth arguing about. Common sense days if you mess with Mother Nature - expect damaged earth and bodies. Drive while drunk, expect accidents. Don’t exercise - expect weaker health.

Second answer: scriptures. As Christians we read and hear the scriptures and we get good answers to what God’s will is.  So when we say, “Thy will be done!” we can mean it to say: I will try to be like Jesus and Mary. Live a live like theirs and I’ll be doing God’s will. I love the simple text in Mark. It was under a painting of Jesus in a retreat house where I was stationed: “He went around doing good.”

Monday, April 8, 2013

SHOWING 
DIVINE MERCY




Quote for Today - April 8,  2013


"Mercy to human beings
is more acceptable
than bathing at 
the sixty-eight places of pilgrimage,
and than all alms offered there."

Arjan - who died in 1606) in M.A. Macauliffe in The Sikh Religion

Sunday, April 7, 2013


INTENT




INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Intent.”

When I sat down and read the readings for today - I found it interesting that the word “intent” hit me.

Intent.    I N T E N T   [Spell it out.]   Intent.

I don’t think I use that word in conversations - but maybe I use it in my brain - in the sense that sometimes - I’m trying to figure out someone else’s intent.

Why did she say that? Why did he do that?

Intent?

SUPREME COURT

While driving along alone - sometimes I hear on C-Span radio -  U.S. Supreme Court cases and I now remember hearing the different justices using the word “intent” quite a bit.

For example someone might say, “I don’t believe that’s the intent of the Second Amendment - which is part of the Bill of Rights - the first 10 Amendments - the right to Keep and Bear Arms.”  Or lately I’ve been hearing that DNA has become more important than fingerprints - in police investigations. Would that fit under the intent of the Fourth Amendment - part of our Bill of Rights to be protected against unreasonable search and seizures?

Intent.

If you’ve even been on jury duty and you’re deciding a case - you sit there tying to figure out the intent of someone else.

Someone is sick or just lost a loved one - and we go to the card section of a store looking for a card that says just what we want it to say. It has to match our intent - whether we use that word or not.

Enough of that. What’s he getting at? What’s his intent in this sermon?

HOW TO READ THE SCRIPTURES: INTENT?

Well it hit me: why not use the intent question when it comes to reading the scriptures?

We just heard 3 readings - 3 different readings - as we do each Sunday - or 2 on each weekday. Why not ask: what’s the intent of this specific reading? Why did someone choose this particular text for this particular Sunday? 

Now with my new word,  I’ll ask: What was their intent?

In a way, it’s good that we don’t know, because that might limit homilies. If it’s left as unsure, then a lot more possibilities can be looked at. The jury is still out.

It’s like going to the movies with 3 other people and we’re having something to eat afterwards - and we’re talking about the movie and someone says, “Hey it sounds like we went to 4 different movies.”

I can also ask why did Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, the Acts of the Apostles or the Book of Revelation or any book or letter, put a particular story or comment into their story?  What was their intent?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

At the end of today's gospel from John he actually spells out why he put in his gospel what he put in his gospel. He says, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name." Now that might be clearest statement of intent in the whole Bible. [Cf. John 20:30]

Looking at today’s gospel from John we hear the story of the disciples in the Upper Room after Jesus died.  Why did John add the detail that the doors were locked? Does that give a hint of his intent? He seems to indicate his motive or intent was the apostle’s fear of the Jews. They too could be rounded up and killed like Jesus.

Or was his intent that like Thomas - we’re allowed to have doubts - but blessed are those who believe even if they don’t see - if they don’t put their hands into the cuts and holes in Jesus’ hands? Up until the last  quarter of the last century, this Sunday was called Doubting Thomas Sunday.

Or was his intent mercy - divine mercy and forgiveness - that our God is a forgiving God with unlimited divine mercy? So since John Paul II, St. Faustina and EWTN, this Sunday is called Divine Mercy Sunday as well.

Intent?

In the meanwhile I look at the statue of Jesus as Divine Mercy with rays of colored light shining out of the center of his chest - and wonder: what is meaning of this? Now I might use the word, “intent”.




For years I’ve been wondering if it arose out of the forgetting of the image of Jesus with his Sacred Heart - seen outside his chest - as in the statue of Jesus here in our sanctuary. Did one die and the other statue rise? 




Intent?  What happened here?

Are both of them telling us the great message that it’s God’s intent that we know that he loves us - so he sent his Son to show us that and tell us that?

And we need to be reminded of that love - so writers from the very beginning put that message into words - so  artists from the very beginning of our Church - sculpted that message into images and statues - like the Good Shepherd - and the great ikons of Jesus in the Eastern Churches whose eyes seem to look right into us or through us at times - and the great message of the sacred heart we find in the messages of St. Gertrude and St. Bonaventure, then St. Marguerite Marie Alacoque and St. John Eudes - with the 12 Promises of Jesus - and the visions and the medals of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary that millions have worn - and promoted by the Jesuits and so many.

Intent? Is the bottom line simply:  God loves us?

Question: have we experienced that love and mercy yet? Have we heard that love and mercy yet?

US - OUR INTENT

Then it hit me. This sermon, this message can be popcorn compared to a steak or salmon or crab cake dinner - until we move it into our chest, into our heart, into ourselves?

There we are in our upper room - in our brain - in our being - and we keep that door locked - for fear of this or fear of that.

What would it be like if Jesus breaks through our thickness and says, “Peace!”

What would it be like if Jesus breaks through our walls and tells us who he really is - what his intent is?

It’s peace. It’s mercy. It’s forgiveness. It’s realization. It’s then being sent.

This is his intent - and a lot more.

Okay - and many of us are like Thomas - and we have doubts.

I sense that the intent of John in today’s gospel is saying, “You too. You who have doubts. Jesus is bringing you peace and forgiveness as well.”

You too are being sent.

And so many of us are not looking at Jesus and his mercy and his forgiveness - but only at our mistakes and our feeling of not being forgiven. We still haven’t heard his word from the cross: “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

THE PAPER - FILL OUT THE PAPER

How many times have we gone to the doctor and the lady at the desk hands us a piece of paper - with tiny print - and tells us to check the boxes?

And we say out loud, “Okay” and inwardly, “Oh no!”

It hit me last night - while preparing this - wouldn’t it be great to have a great check list of intents?

Wouldn’t it be great to have a great check list of life motivations?




I remembered Abraham Maslow's 1943 triangle of the 5 levels of human needs - what people want. It starts with Physical Needs: food, shelter, sex, sleep. It moves up to Safety Needs - protection, job security, money. It moves up to Social Needs - belonging, family, society, intimacy. It moves up to Esteem Needs - achievements, respect, status, etc. It moves up to Self Actualization - personal growth and on and on and on.

Maslow has been criticized - as being too narrow and too one culture. What about the poor? Can’t they have some of the higher needs fulfilled - even though they are still poor? Others have made the triangle have 8 levels - moving transcendence and God into the picture a bit more and what have you?

Intent?

That’s his piece of paper. That’s other’s list of intents?

What would mine look like? That’s your homework for this week?

Jot down what makes you tick.  Jot down what do you want. What makes you run. What do you get out of the bed in the morning for - besides the bathroom?  I have to say that because that’s what all those over 65 say every time to that question?

Write down your list and then put a circle around your top intent - or top 3 intents? Check them off. To prime the pump. Write down all the intents and motivations that you can come up with?

CONCLUSION: CHECK OFF WHICH OF THESE ARE YOUR MOTIVATION

_____ Comfort.
_____ Control.
_____ To be loved.
_____ To love and be loved.
_____ Thy will be done.
_____ My will be done.
_____ To go out the door in the morning, easy drive, good work, stock market up, my teams are over 500, catch a smile or a chat or two that are life giving, to have a great spouse and family to come home to.
_____ To know what’s what, how things work, what’s going on around here.
_____ To be known.
_____ To have money in my wallet, gas in my tank and a great spouse and family to come home to,
_____ To not go it alone - but to be with another and others.
_____ To be right
_____ To be right and others to see that I’m right and they are wrong
_____ Life, liberty and a chance to pursue happiness,
_____ To have a bucket and to have my bucket list and to have a chance to check off, did that one, next, before I kick the bucket.
_____ Good food,
_____ Good movies and TV,
_____ Good games
_____ To not be controlled
_____ To forgive
_____ To be forgiven - as in trespasses as in sins,
_____ To have my daily bread -
_____ To help all have their daily bread,
_____ To do my fair share of the work,
_____ Assurance, blessed assurance,
_____ To get to heaven
_____ To avoid hell, here and hereafter,
_____ To know that I was here - I contributed - or to be known that I was here and I contributed.
_____ That others hear a great eulogy - when I die -  that I did loved and made a difference.
_____ To heal and be healed.
_____ To be appreciated.
_____ To be missed.

DIVINE  MERCY

Quote for Today - April 7, 2013

"Mercy is not ordinarily held to consist in pronouncing judgment on what has happened to others,  but in relieving their necessities; in giving aid to the poor, not in inquiring how good they are."

St. Ambrose, De Nabuthe, VIII, 40, 395

Saturday, April 6, 2013

ADMITTING TO GOD 
"YOU ARE GOD!"





Quote for April 6,  2013

"I gave in, and admitted that God was God."

C. S. Lewis - "On relinquishing atheism at age 31 in 1929, quoted by William Griffin, Clive Staples Lewis, Harper and Row, 1986" on page 190 of Webster's II, New Riverside Desk Quotations, James B. Simpson, Home and Office Edition.
 WHAT HAVE
YOU CAUGHT?



INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Easter Friday is, “What Have You Caught?”

Someone sees someone getting out of their car or coming off a pier or a boat with a fishing rod in hand and they ask, “Caught anything?”

People turn on TV or their computer or phone - in mid-morning and/or 4 in the afternoon to see how their stocks are going or went that day.  “Caught anything?

People come home from work to each other and say, “How was your day?”

People come home from golf and someone says, “How did you do?”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel story - John 21: 1-14 -  Jesus is standing on the shore of the lake and they think he’s gone forever - and they were fishing all through the night - and he yells out, “Have you caught anything to eat?”

And they tell him, “Nothing! We have fished the whole night long and caught nothing!”

And Jesus tells them to cast their nets over the right side of their boats and they do and catch a lot of fish.

At that they realized it was Jesus - the Lord!

And they come to shore with their catch - 153 fish to be exact - and they see Jesus there with bread and fish on a charcoal fire - and the celebration begins.

They have recaught Jesus - whom they had considered the catch of their lives.

FISH

They were fishermen. Jesus was a carpenter.

In the beginning of the gospels Jesus caught the first four of his disciples at the shore: Peter and Andrew, James and John and told them from now on you’ll be catching people.

Fish - became the early Christian symbol: Christians here.




Fish - in Greek IXTHUS - I standing for Jesus -  There is no J in Greek - X for CHRISTOS - Christ,  the Anointed one - TH standing for Theos in Greek - the word for God - becoming Deus  in Latin - the word for God - becoming Deity in English or God - U - for UIOS - Son - and S for SOTER - Savior.

Fish - IXTHUS - seen today on many cars. This person is a Christian - or trying to be a follower of Jesus.

THREE GOSPEL SCENES  

There are three scenes in the gospels about “What have you caught?” 

In Matthew 13: 47-48 - Jesus tells about the kingdom of heaven being like someone who throws their net into the sea and they catch all sorts of stuff. Then they sit on the shore and pick out the good stuff - and put it in a basket - and the stuff not wanted is put on a pile to burn.

In Luke 5: 1-11 we have the call of Simon Peter - who is washing his nets at his boat at the Lake of Gennesaret. Jesus gets into Simon’s boat and tells him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then Jesus preaches to the crowd from Simon’s boat. Then after speaking,  Jesus tells Simon to launch out into the deep waters and lower his nets for a catch.

And Simon says that they had been working hard all night long and have caught nothing - but he adds, "At your command I’ll do it."

He does and  their nets were tearing because of all the fish they caught. They called to their partners for help and they filled the other boat - along with his own boat - till they were in danger of sinking.

At that Peter says to Jesus - "Depart from me for I am a sinful man."

And Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you’ll be catching people.”

Our first pope happened that day!

The third story was today’s gospel: the Resurrection Repeat of that second story

WHAT HAVE YOU CAUGHT?

Down, down, down deep in the deepest part of the lake called my soul - every human being thinks about this question: "What Have I Caught?" What Have I Done With My Life?

If we make it to old age - that question sits there on the shore of our life.

If we are a Christian - we might fear Jesus at the last Judgment looking at our life: what have you done with your life? Are you a sheep or a goat? Have you loved your brothers and sisters? Have you fed the hungry? Have you visited the sick? [Cf. Matthew 25:31-46.]

We know, we have heard, the gospel stories about how nice Jesus is - how forgiving is the Father of the Prodigal Son. We know of God’s unconditional love and understanding of us poor suckers - poor sinners - but down deep - that fear question lingers at our lake.

What have I caught?

We know we go into eternity - naked as we came into this life.

We go without net worth, size of house, number of children, name of car, degrees, where we’ve been, whom we met?

We go with an empty feeling - an uh oh! feeling.

Everyone…..

Albert Camus once wrote something that hits me at the age of 73. “I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment. It takes place every day.”  [The Fall (La Chute), 1956].

CONCLUSION

Erik Erikson is famous for his 8 Stages of Life.  I’m sure many of you studied them in college or read about them somewhere. They are really worth studying at any time.

The first stage of life is very significant. The little baby, the little child, their first task in life is to learn Basic Trust. When I cry, I’m held. When I’m afraid,  mommy or daddy are right there as my strong support. The opposite is Basic Mistrust. Imagine going through the whole of life with the inability to trust anyone?  I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard several times the statement, “The bigger the problem,  the earlier the problem.” 

I’ve also heard the comment:  "If you want to heal someone, you have to start with their grandmother."

Thank God for grandparents who sometimes make up for horrors in the minds of little children.

Erikson’s other stages really hit me - but the 8th, the one I’m in now, really hits me.

It’s Ego Integrity vs. Despair.

When I look at my life - as I walk my old age walks - or when I sit in my chair at the wedding banquet and see all  those young people and old people dancing the Chicken Dance - or what have you - I ask Shakespeare’s question: what stands for my life? What have I done? [Cf. Sonnet 2]

I love Jesus right there - he says we can enter the garden at the last hour. He tells the thief on the cross he can come into paradise with Jesus that Friday - so it really is a good Friday.

Looking at today’s gospel,  I hear Jesus saying, "Lower your nets into your life - and see what you have caught?"  Some good stuff and some bad stuff.

Celebrate a meal with Jesus enjoying the Good Stuff of one’s life. Celebrate with fish and bread. Even if we have caught nothing or very little,  Jesus will feed us.

Do we believe that?

I do!

Friday, April 5, 2013

THE LONG 
LITTLENESS OF LIFE




Quote for Today - April 5, 2013

"Magnificently unprepared
For the long littleness of life."


Frances Cornford [1886-1960], Rupert Brook [1915]

Question: Am I?