CALL FOR HELP . . . On 22nd ordinary Sunday, we have a Sunday's familiar opening call for help: "All day long, have mercy . . . You are good and forgiving, full of love . . . " How that Psalmist did pray! Week in, week out we start the mass with this near-agonized plea which reminds us of the trouble we are in. We need help, the liturgy keeps telling us, even those of us who have it made or think so.
ON PICKING AND CHOOSING . . . In Deuteronomy 4, Moses says do not be selective about what God commands. Neither add to nor subtract from it. Some would add things, crushing us. Some would subtract, unwisely relieving us. Neither is much help. Let "the nations" -- "gentes," as in "gentiles," that is, non-Jews -- learn wisdom from your behavior. Thus the Deuteronomist.
We are to follow with the Psalmist telling us, Do justice and live in God's presence. This we are repeat several times as we consider specifics: We are to think the truth, slander not, neither harm people nor bawl them out, lend not at excessive rate, and take no bribes -- even if we come from a culture where it's taken for granted, like the political, as in Chicago at various times.
GET MOVING . . . Then James piles on, as it were (in his chap. 1), urging to to take to heart what the Father tells us. Act on it. It's not enough to listen. Look after orphans and widows (the defenseless) in their distress and keep yourself unspotted by the world (in its numerous manifestations, we have to figure this out). (Only) in this way you might worship "without stain."
PLAIN TALK HELPS . . . Finally, Mark asks us in his chap. 7 if we wash our hands before eating, which is a good idea, we may say. But under pain of sin? Pharisees are the fall guys here. But it's a common fault. We make too much of certain good things, losing sight of the big picture, insisting on recycling, for instance, as if there's always a tomorrow. Problem, says Jesus, is teaching "as dogmas mere human precepts." He adds, it's not what you eat (we assume excluding gluttony) but what you say that condemns you: "Wicked designs come from the deep recesses of the heart."
He lists a few of these wicked designs, among them "fornication, theft, murder," including (at the end) "an obtuse spirit." That's worth thinking about. What is this "obtuse spirit"? "All these evils," he says, "come from within." This is decidedly Jesus talk. No mincer of words he, and it got him in trouble. Most preachers are more circumspect. But then none walk on water either.
If Jesus didn't walk on water either, as some think, he looked like he could, in terms of dignity and power of demeanor. It's just as well most preachers are more circumspect. Like walking on water, Jesus talk hasn't been done well in a long time. But let the Christian preacher not blink the plain-spokenness of his leader. It's the least he can do.
10/04/2003
9/29/2003
What the pew-sitter thinks of during mass -- help for the poor preacher, who gets so little feedback.
==================================
Sermon for what RCs call 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time and other Christians call the 10th after Pentecost.
See http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/081703.htm for the day's readings.
Prv 9:1-6
Wisdom has built her house,
she has set up her seven columns;
she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine,
yes, she has spread her table.
She has sent out her maidens; she calls
from the heights out over the city:
"Let whoever is simple turn in here;
To the one who lacks understanding, she says,
Come, eat of my food,
and drink of the wine I have mixed!
Forsake foolishness that you may live;
advance in the way of understanding."
===============
Gloss: Simple? It's good to be simple? This is what Wisdom has to offer today? Yes, in the sense not of dumb and uninformed but of straighforward, honest, undemanding. Forsake foolishness, yes. That we may live. That's living. It's the secret of life, we might say. Advance in understanding, grow in wisdom. Grapple with knowledge, enrich ourselves and maybe a few others. Irony has its place, but don't overdo it. Thanks, Wisdom, for the advice.
==================
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 34:2-3, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15
R (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the Lord;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the Lord with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the Lord heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
==============
Sad to say, some congregations do not do justice to this Psalm reading. Psalms are integral to the missal. It's good to get in the spirit of them.
They are ancient poetry full of enthusiasm. Very Middle (or Near) Eastern. Let my soul glory in the Lord, for instance. What is this "glory in the Lord" business? What of this "Taste and see"? We can't remake our Western Euro selves if that's who we are, and we may never approach the enthusiasm of the Psalmist. But we read poetry, don't we? (We don't? We should.)
=====================
Reading II
Eph 5:15-20
Brothers and sisters:
Watch carefully how you live,
not as foolish persons but as wise,
making the most of the opportunity,
because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not continue in ignorance,
but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.
And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery,
but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
Gloss: Watch it, everybody. These are evil days. Evil? Who does Paul think he is, George W. Bush? There Paul was, in the blossoming of Christianity, speaking of evil days. If they were evil then, what are they now? Is the preacher willing to call them evil, or does he shrink from such absolutist talk?
We are to try to understand God's will for us (and do it, presumably), not get drunk but get full of the Spirit, singing and playing to the Lord in our hearts, etc. He has in mind quite a program for the Ephesians. For us too?
=================
Gospel
Jn 6:51-58
Jesus said to the crowds:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world."
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."
==================
Gloss: Jesus says we will live forever, thanks to the living bread, his flesh. Say what? said the Jews quite reasonably. How can this happen? Jesus apparently ignores their difficulty but spells out, adds to his claim: If you do not eat his flesh, you are lifeless. If you do, you have eternal life. He will raise you on the last day.
===================
ACTUAL SERMON, well prepared and to the point:
Father Dan chose not to talk about this everlasting life business but instead talked about living life "more abundantly" by taking communion. The first has to do with what's after we pass away, he said, then added, as if to explain that, after we die. There. He did say the d-word but right away went into how our life here on earth is richer because of holy communion and the comfort we derive from our belief.
It's here-and-now Christianity, not what Marxists called pie in the sky when we die. In this respect, Dan concedes too much to the zeitgeist, which is now-and-here-centered, as it has always been, but not in church, where you might expect to hear about the after life as such, at least its existence known by faith if not its details.)
==================================
Sermon for what RCs call 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time and other Christians call the 10th after Pentecost.
See http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/081703.htm for the day's readings.
Prv 9:1-6
Wisdom has built her house,
she has set up her seven columns;
she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine,
yes, she has spread her table.
She has sent out her maidens; she calls
from the heights out over the city:
"Let whoever is simple turn in here;
To the one who lacks understanding, she says,
Come, eat of my food,
and drink of the wine I have mixed!
Forsake foolishness that you may live;
advance in the way of understanding."
===============
Gloss: Simple? It's good to be simple? This is what Wisdom has to offer today? Yes, in the sense not of dumb and uninformed but of straighforward, honest, undemanding. Forsake foolishness, yes. That we may live. That's living. It's the secret of life, we might say. Advance in understanding, grow in wisdom. Grapple with knowledge, enrich ourselves and maybe a few others. Irony has its place, but don't overdo it. Thanks, Wisdom, for the advice.
==================
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 34:2-3, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15
R (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the Lord;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the Lord with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the Lord heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
==============
Sad to say, some congregations do not do justice to this Psalm reading. Psalms are integral to the missal. It's good to get in the spirit of them.
They are ancient poetry full of enthusiasm. Very Middle (or Near) Eastern. Let my soul glory in the Lord, for instance. What is this "glory in the Lord" business? What of this "Taste and see"? We can't remake our Western Euro selves if that's who we are, and we may never approach the enthusiasm of the Psalmist. But we read poetry, don't we? (We don't? We should.)
=====================
Reading II
Eph 5:15-20
Brothers and sisters:
Watch carefully how you live,
not as foolish persons but as wise,
making the most of the opportunity,
because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not continue in ignorance,
but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.
And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery,
but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
Gloss: Watch it, everybody. These are evil days. Evil? Who does Paul think he is, George W. Bush? There Paul was, in the blossoming of Christianity, speaking of evil days. If they were evil then, what are they now? Is the preacher willing to call them evil, or does he shrink from such absolutist talk?
We are to try to understand God's will for us (and do it, presumably), not get drunk but get full of the Spirit, singing and playing to the Lord in our hearts, etc. He has in mind quite a program for the Ephesians. For us too?
=================
Gospel
Jn 6:51-58
Jesus said to the crowds:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world."
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."
==================
Gloss: Jesus says we will live forever, thanks to the living bread, his flesh. Say what? said the Jews quite reasonably. How can this happen? Jesus apparently ignores their difficulty but spells out, adds to his claim: If you do not eat his flesh, you are lifeless. If you do, you have eternal life. He will raise you on the last day.
===================
ACTUAL SERMON, well prepared and to the point:
Father Dan chose not to talk about this everlasting life business but instead talked about living life "more abundantly" by taking communion. The first has to do with what's after we pass away, he said, then added, as if to explain that, after we die. There. He did say the d-word but right away went into how our life here on earth is richer because of holy communion and the comfort we derive from our belief.
It's here-and-now Christianity, not what Marxists called pie in the sky when we die. In this respect, Dan concedes too much to the zeitgeist, which is now-and-here-centered, as it has always been, but not in church, where you might expect to hear about the after life as such, at least its existence known by faith if not its details.)
HELP FOR THE POOR PREACHER
Here are some ideas on how a 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time sermon might go, keeping in mind that the same readings are used on the same Sundays by 25 Protestant denominations as part of the Revised Common Lectionary:
* 1st Kings 19, 4-8: Elijah wants to die but God won't let him. Angel gives him food, orders him to eat, he gives up on dying, gets up and does what he has to do, walking 40 days and 40 nights to "the mountain of God, Horeb."
We'd like to give up but we can't: there's work to be done, miles to go before we sleep, miles to go before we sleep. See Robert Frost, "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening."
* Ephesians 4.30-5.2: Paul says don't "sadden" the Holy Spirit. Soften your whole response pattern. Drop "bitterness, passion & anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of every kind." Forgive each other, as God forgave you (us). Take your cue from that, "follow the way of love."
Doesn't this slow us down in our headlong pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness, family good order, sticking up for what we believe in? Even in our pursuit of good things we have to slow down when we get too hot and bothered. Be done with malice. Cool it.
* John 6.41-51: "The Jews" again. They "murmur" over Jesus' claim to be the bread of heaven. They knew him back when. It's the Jews of Nazareth apparently, who knew him since he was a little kid. Here's a way out for Christians embarrassed by Paul and the four Evangelists, who seem constantly to harp on Jews and their hard hearts. More to come on this important issue, now in the news because of the coming Mel Gibson film, "The Passion." Best bet is to concede readily, "The Jews," yes, but the ones who were there, specifically.
Jesus hits home at them: "Your [and his, for that matter] ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died." He is "the living bread." Eat this bread, and you will live forever. It is "my flesh, for the life of the world."
It's a riff on what we call the Old Testament, the Jewish scriptures, we should keep in mind: reference after reference rooted in those time-honored texts. It's beyond most of us, even if we look it all up and become quite learned.
Something else to consider: Jesus was dropping on them some very heavy stuff, and we cannot entirely blame the murmurers. Young priest many years ago to friendly black mother of little kids unfamiliar with Catholic ways, in low-income home on Chicago's NW Side, responding to her amazement that he wasn't married but refrained from intimacy with women, which she called "impossible": "You'll just have to take my word for it." To which she: "I do, but it's still impossible."
It's impossible that Jesus becomes food for us. We will have to take his word for it.
Here are some ideas on how a 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time sermon might go, keeping in mind that the same readings are used on the same Sundays by 25 Protestant denominations as part of the Revised Common Lectionary:
* 1st Kings 19, 4-8: Elijah wants to die but God won't let him. Angel gives him food, orders him to eat, he gives up on dying, gets up and does what he has to do, walking 40 days and 40 nights to "the mountain of God, Horeb."
We'd like to give up but we can't: there's work to be done, miles to go before we sleep, miles to go before we sleep. See Robert Frost, "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening."
* Ephesians 4.30-5.2: Paul says don't "sadden" the Holy Spirit. Soften your whole response pattern. Drop "bitterness, passion & anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of every kind." Forgive each other, as God forgave you (us). Take your cue from that, "follow the way of love."
Doesn't this slow us down in our headlong pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness, family good order, sticking up for what we believe in? Even in our pursuit of good things we have to slow down when we get too hot and bothered. Be done with malice. Cool it.
* John 6.41-51: "The Jews" again. They "murmur" over Jesus' claim to be the bread of heaven. They knew him back when. It's the Jews of Nazareth apparently, who knew him since he was a little kid. Here's a way out for Christians embarrassed by Paul and the four Evangelists, who seem constantly to harp on Jews and their hard hearts. More to come on this important issue, now in the news because of the coming Mel Gibson film, "The Passion." Best bet is to concede readily, "The Jews," yes, but the ones who were there, specifically.
Jesus hits home at them: "Your [and his, for that matter] ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died." He is "the living bread." Eat this bread, and you will live forever. It is "my flesh, for the life of the world."
It's a riff on what we call the Old Testament, the Jewish scriptures, we should keep in mind: reference after reference rooted in those time-honored texts. It's beyond most of us, even if we look it all up and become quite learned.
Something else to consider: Jesus was dropping on them some very heavy stuff, and we cannot entirely blame the murmurers. Young priest many years ago to friendly black mother of little kids unfamiliar with Catholic ways, in low-income home on Chicago's NW Side, responding to her amazement that he wasn't married but refrained from intimacy with women, which she called "impossible": "You'll just have to take my word for it." To which she: "I do, but it's still impossible."
It's impossible that Jesus becomes food for us. We will have to take his word for it.
TREACHERY
* Holy Thursday: To get the proper impact, we must attend to the night's anti-hero, Judas, a true rat who turned in the nicest guy who ever lived, for money. Disloyal, venal, devious, scheming, a collaborator with evil men, he saw his opportunity and took it. Jesus could tell what was happening. But he did what he had to do anyhow.
THE SPIRIT MOVED THEM
* 6th Sunday "of" (that is, after) Easter:
-- 1st reading, Acts 10, big news is the Spirit descending on non-Jews in the house of one, the centurion Cornelius. But we're used to that; if we don't get it by now that Christianity is open to the uncircumcised, where have we been the last 1,930 or so years?
Secondary news is more to the point: Cornelius, greeting Peter, dropped to his knees, but Peter told him to get up. "I'm only a man," said the first pope. So much for genuflecting before prelates. Or kissing rings. They are only men.
-- 2nd reading, 1 John 4, re-makes the point that love is essential. We're used to that too, but should note that it's not we love God and are loved, but the other way around. This is consoling, because lots of times we don't feel lovable and probably aren't.
-- Gospel, John 15.9-17: Jesus' love for us is modeled on his Father's for him, which is worth packing away for further repeated consideration. Not that the Father was so good to Jesus in the short run. In fact, if Jesus had ever shown he was capable of irony, we might see a certain threat here.
We are Jesus' friends, picked by him, the passage says. Again, the first move was his. He spotted us in the crowd and came at us with a big smile, hand out for shaking. Furthermore, when we go to the Father for something, we should say Jesus sent us.
BEING PICKED ON
* 7th of Easter:
-- 1st reading, Acts 1: Can we imagine picking a pope this way? By drawing straws, as the 11 do to pick Matthias as the 12th apostle, to take Judas's place? It was their way of letting God decide. (The Romans had "auspices" discerned in entrails.) We don't do it that way. Should we?
-- 2nd reading, 1st John 4: "God is love" here. Not eros, but the other kind, altruism, caring for the neighbor. The good pagan stumbles into God this way? Why not?
-- Gospel, John 17, has Jesus praying for us, because we are to be hated for our allegiance to him. How does that work? Rather, in our day in the U.S., who of us feel hated as Christians? Depends what you mean by Christian, but in general we aren't. Of course if we're stubborn about it, people's irritation shows. Maybe that's how it works.
Not so everywhere else, however. The pope was clearly so worried about disturbing the Iraqi status quo for fear of stirring up anti-Christian activities among the Shiites.
* Holy Thursday: To get the proper impact, we must attend to the night's anti-hero, Judas, a true rat who turned in the nicest guy who ever lived, for money. Disloyal, venal, devious, scheming, a collaborator with evil men, he saw his opportunity and took it. Jesus could tell what was happening. But he did what he had to do anyhow.
THE SPIRIT MOVED THEM
* 6th Sunday "of" (that is, after) Easter:
-- 1st reading, Acts 10, big news is the Spirit descending on non-Jews in the house of one, the centurion Cornelius. But we're used to that; if we don't get it by now that Christianity is open to the uncircumcised, where have we been the last 1,930 or so years?
Secondary news is more to the point: Cornelius, greeting Peter, dropped to his knees, but Peter told him to get up. "I'm only a man," said the first pope. So much for genuflecting before prelates. Or kissing rings. They are only men.
-- 2nd reading, 1 John 4, re-makes the point that love is essential. We're used to that too, but should note that it's not we love God and are loved, but the other way around. This is consoling, because lots of times we don't feel lovable and probably aren't.
-- Gospel, John 15.9-17: Jesus' love for us is modeled on his Father's for him, which is worth packing away for further repeated consideration. Not that the Father was so good to Jesus in the short run. In fact, if Jesus had ever shown he was capable of irony, we might see a certain threat here.
We are Jesus' friends, picked by him, the passage says. Again, the first move was his. He spotted us in the crowd and came at us with a big smile, hand out for shaking. Furthermore, when we go to the Father for something, we should say Jesus sent us.
BEING PICKED ON
* 7th of Easter:
-- 1st reading, Acts 1: Can we imagine picking a pope this way? By drawing straws, as the 11 do to pick Matthias as the 12th apostle, to take Judas's place? It was their way of letting God decide. (The Romans had "auspices" discerned in entrails.) We don't do it that way. Should we?
-- 2nd reading, 1st John 4: "God is love" here. Not eros, but the other kind, altruism, caring for the neighbor. The good pagan stumbles into God this way? Why not?
-- Gospel, John 17, has Jesus praying for us, because we are to be hated for our allegiance to him. How does that work? Rather, in our day in the U.S., who of us feel hated as Christians? Depends what you mean by Christian, but in general we aren't. Of course if we're stubborn about it, people's irritation shows. Maybe that's how it works.
Not so everywhere else, however. The pope was clearly so worried about disturbing the Iraqi status quo for fear of stirring up anti-Christian activities among the Shiites.
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