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 1st 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 3rd 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.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
August 14, 2016
HALLELUJAH MOMENTS
What have been your “Hallelujah!” moments?
A moment when you sang
a song or danced
a dance and the whole
room clapped for you -
and you were 2 years
old - and you saw a
Super 8 movie of it
years and years later. Wow!
Or was it a moment you
had the winning hit in
a ballgame and the
whole crowd clapped and
screamed and your team
lifted you up. Wow!
Or in high school you
read a poem you wrote and
all became silent -
really silent - and some cried -
because you talked about a friend who had died.
Or it was your wedding
day and you walked down
the aisle with your
dad - who said he would make it
3 years earlier when
he was diagnosed with cancer.
