HIS FIRST PAIR OF GLASSES

[I wasn’t sure what to preach on this morning - so I read the readings for this 3^rd Sunday in Advent. I noticed the idea of seeing - seeing - was showing  up in all kinds of ways - seeing the desert bloom with flowers - a farmer seeing his fields  filled with crops as well as waiting for the rains -  seeing what John the Baptist and all that Jesus was doing - like the blind seeing - and I came up with the idea of seeing for this homily - so last night I wrote this story entitled, “His First Pair of Glasses.”]

He was 13 years old when he got his first pair of glasses.

His 2 older sisters both had perfect 20 - 20 eyesight - and never needed glasses.

It was his 8^th grade teacher who spotted him squinting. She wondered if that was the reason why he wasn’t getting straight A’s.  He seemed to be such a bright kid. What’s more this very teacher had both his sisters when they were in the 8^th grade and they were certainly big time A students.

So at the next Parents-Teachers meeting she asked Jack’s mom and dad - if they ever had Jack’s eyes tested.

“No,” they said, “but why do you ask?”

“Well,” the teacher said, “because he looks like he’s always squinting to see what he’s reading.”

“We never noticed that,” his dad said, “but we’ll have him checked.”

Sure enough Jack had really poor eyesight.

As a result Jack got his first pair of glasses.  He didn’t want contacts. He wanted glasses - real glasses. He figured they would look real cool,

They were black - distinguished black - smart looking black framed  glasses - and Jack loved them.

But better, much better, Jack began seeing all that he was missing at home and at school and in sports.

He put his wrist watch back on - because before that he couldn’t really see the numbers - so he had to ask others, “What time is it?”

He didn’t have a cell phone - and he didn’t know most kids used cell phones to tell time.

In basketball  he became a starter - averaging 11 points a game.  “Up till now,” he told one of his buddies, “I was scared to shoot - if I got into a game - because I really couldn’t see the basket.”

In school his marks improved almost immediately.

But those were obvious changes in a person who goes from horrible eyesight to 20 - 20 eyesight.

He now began noticing how his mom always touched his dad’s neck whenever she went by him at the dinner table. It was a love touch. “Nice” he thought.

He saw his mom also place her hand on his older sister Jessica’s shoulder - a sophomore in high school - when she was doing her homework or crossword puzzles. She was the only teenager he knew - who loved doing crossword puzzles.

He noticed his dad would always get up and give his oldest sister, Janet,  a hug whenever she came home. He didn’t do that to his other sister. Janet was a senior in high school and would be going off to college next September. Maybe this special hug was a hint that he would really be missing her next fall - after she leaves home - or was it because she his always his favorite?

He noticed one of his teachers completely ignored two kids in his class - who were special needs kids. As a result he found himself going over to eat lunch with them every day.

He noticed that one of the kids in his class seemed to have a hearing problem - but nobody said anything. So he told the kid, “You should ask your mom and dad to have your ears checked - to see if you need something to help you hear better.”

Then when he thought the kid was hesitating, Jack said, “See these glasses. I had really terrible eyes - and couldn’t see too well. Well,  our teacher suggested to my parents that I have my eyes checked. Sure enough, my eyes were bad, and now I see all kinds of things I never saw before.”

At church he noticed that the cross had the body of Jesus on it - while a cross in the school hall - where they sometimes had Mass - didn’t have a statue of  Jesus’ dead body on it. Why? He wondered why?

So he asked.

He found out that there was a crucifix in the hall with a Jesus statue on it. It fell one day - and Jesus broke into at least 2 dozen pieces.  So they decided to go with just a plane wooden cross - one without a body statue of the dying Jesus on it.

He learned: “Ask questions. Sometimes there are people who know answers.”

He looked up the word “eyeglasses” on Google on his computer and found out that they have a long history. In Egypt -  in the 5^th Century B.C. - that is, Before Christ - anthropologists and archaeologists - he looked up the difference between these two too - found evidence that folks used glass to magnify things.

Hey, it wasn’t till modern times that people had poor eyesight - so different folks down through the ages - fooled around with glass  and jewelry and even water - to see better - like the Chinese coming up with a type of sunglasses in the 12^th century - and Eskimos coming up with a type of snow goggles. He wondered about why people have different types of eyes.  He read that the first so called “eyeglasses” were said to have been invented in 1286. He read that Ben Franklin invented bifocals - maybe.

He found himself at age of 13 being very grateful for whoever invented eyeglasses - and wondered what he might invent or do with his life - when he got older - anthropologist, archaeologist, ophthalmologist, basketball pro. The whole world was ahead of him - to discover and to invent.

In quiet moments - he found himself - wishing he could thank those who invented and made all the things he took for granted till he got his eyeglasses - but most of those people were long dead.

Then it hit him - he could thank his parents - for all that they give him - and for his teacher who suggested that he might need eyeglasses - and that he did. Then he hit him that God who made it all - could be thanked every night for every day and every morning for every new day. Then it hit him , “If you can’t say ‘Thank you’ to those around us whom we can see - how can you thank God whom we cannot see?’”

Then one day in church he heard one of the readings saying that same thing in another way, “If you cannot love your brothers and sisters whom you can see - how can you say you love God whom you cannot see?”

At that he closed his eyes, took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and thanked God for everything. Then he put his totally black framed glasses back on - they were his first pair of glasses - and opened up his eyes to the whole world all around him - with a great smile on his face.

LIFE

Quote for Today - Sunday - December 15 2013

"My grandfather always said that living life is like licking honey off  a thorn."

Louis Adamic

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION 

ACCORDING  TO  

ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Quote for Today - December 14, 2013 - Feast of St. John of the Cross


"Spiritual directors are not the chief workers, but rather the Holy Spirit. They are mere instruments. They only guide souls by the rule of faith and the law of God according to the spirit which God gives to each. Their object, therefore, should be not to guide souls by a way of their own, suitable to themselves; but to discern, if they can, the way which God is guiding the other."

St. John of the Cross: The Ascent of Mount Carmel (16 Century).


Comment:

That's the job of a spiritual director. In other words, stay out of the way. It's like Gamaliel's advice in The Acts of the Apostles 5: 34 - 39. Don't get in the way of God. 

Now here's the job of those persons who want to get out of themselves and be with and into God. This comment is also from St. John of the Cross:

"Ecstasy is nothing but the going forth of a soul from itself. It's being caught up in God. It's what happens to the soul that is obedient, namely, that it goes forth from itself and from its own desires and thus enlightened, becomes immersed in God." 

[Spiritual Sentences and Maxims of St. John of the Cross - 16th Century.]

Comment:

Pope John Paul II and many other folks have written and talked about John of the Cross - so start exploring his stuff - some of which you can catch on the Internet. Check it out - but talk to others about what it gets you thinking about. Hence the value of spiritual direction in one's life.

LIGHT AND DARKNESS

Quote for Today - Friday - the 13th day of December, 2013

"When He came - there was no light; when He left - there was no darkness."

Anonymous

Question: Wouldn't that be a great eulogy?

Picture: taken in Sagrada Familia in Barcelona in 2011. 

HEADS UP!

Quote for Today - December 12, 2013 - Thursday

"In a museum in Havana there are two skulls of Christopher Columbus, "one when he was a boy and one when he was a man."

Mark Twain [1835-1910]

Notes: 

At this date, there are no authentic portraits of Christopher Columbus. This painting is by Sebastiano del Piombo - dated 1519.

This is not the only story of head relics.  Here's what Wikipedia reports about the head of John the Baptist: "Several different locations claim to possess the severed head ofJohn the Baptist. Among them: Umayyad Mosque in Damascus; San Silvestro in Capite  in Rome;  and the Residenz Museum in Munich, Germany (official residence of the Wittelsbach   rulers of Bavaria from 1385 to 1918). Other heads were once said to be held by the Knights Templar at Amiens Cathedral in France (brought home by Wallon de Sarton from the Fourth Crusade in Constantinople),  at Antioch  in Turkey (fate uncertain), and the parish church at Tenterden in Kent, where it was preserved up until the Reformation."

Moral of the story: Heads up! You never know if what is on the sign in a museum or wherever is true.

WORDS

Quote for Today - December 11, 2013 - Wednesday

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."

Rudyard Kipling [1865-1936] in a speech, February 14, 1923, found in The Times, February 15, 1923

Questions: Agree or disagree?  If agree, what words knocked you out? And of course, for the sake of transparency, in the course of preaching, I've seen many a person fast asleep.

COMFORT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 2^nd Tuesday in Advent is, “Comfort!”

At first "Comfort" did not sound like a homily title.

Yet, there it is - the opening word in today’s first reading from Isaiah 40: 1-11.

“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.” [Isaiah 40: 1.]

SECOND ISAIAH

That message is the opening words of a whole new Isaiah - called “Second Isaiah” - Chapters 40 to 55 -  written 150 or so years after First Isaiah - Chapters 1 to 39. The scene and the audience is not Jerusalem - as was First Isaiah -  but those in exile up in Babylon.  They certainly needed comfort. They certainly needed hope. They certainly needed to have a dream that they could return home.

HONEY OR VINEGAR?

I ended my homily last Sunday with a wondering about which way is the best way to go - whether it’s in preaching, teaching, coaching, parenting - or what have you.

I made reference to the famous quote: “You catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than a barrel of vinegar.”

I contrasted Scold Christianity - Severe Christianity - Strict Christianity - vs. Compassionate Christianity or Joyful Christianity.

It seems on first glance that Pope Francis is going the way of the spoonful of honey vs. the barrel of vinegar.

We’ve all met coach, teacher, A and B.

We’ve all met or experienced Father Strict and Father Sweet.

We’ve all heard about parents playing the roles of Good Cop vs. Bad Cop.

Which or who is better? Is it an all depends? Does each person have to be true to themselves?

As I was thinking about this I wondered if a person could change if they actually saw themselves being strict, severe and too, too serious - and they wanted to be different or easier.

CARL SANDBURG

I remember reading in his book, The People, Yes, when Carl Sandburg addresses some of these questions in a poem, “A Father To His Son. A father wonders what to say to his son.

“Do I say, 'Life is hard; be steel; be a rock.'
And this might stand him for the storms
and serve him for humdrum monotony
and guide him among sudden betrayals
and tighten him for slack moments.”

Or does he say,

“Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.'
And this too might serve him.
Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.”

In that  poem he wrestles with the question of comfort or challenge - sugar or salt - the warning of a spanking or the promise of ice cream?

Carrot or stick?

WILLIAM BARCLAY

I remember reading in one of William Barclay’s commentaries - his wonderings about a  student he met. This fellow was too intense, too uptight, too severe - and everyone wondered if this is how Christ is and how Christ functions.

It certainly got me thinking about my outlook and my behavior.  

SCRIPTURES

And in our scriptures we certainly have both takes. 

I have been thinking of this since Sunday when John the Baptist seemed much tougher than Jesus - yet Jesus is described as fire - and burning the chaff and gathering the wheat into his barn.

In today’s gospel, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, searching and saving the lost sheep. In other gospels, he’s challenging folks like the Pharisees with tough love - because they could be a swarm of vipers.

CONCLUSION

So I am left with questions - and I don’t know how comforting questions can be.

So comfort or challenge? 

Fear or love?  

Reaching out or walking away?

A word or the silent treatment?

Which works best - in any given situation?

Sorry, Lord, I don’t know many answers many times. Amen.