WHEN ONE WAY IS BLOCKED, DON'T GIVE UP! BE CREATIVE!

 

Some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed. Not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the one who was paralyzed, "I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."

Luke 5:17-26

The guys in today’s gospel have always inspired me during my 56 years of ministry. Their buddy needed healing. He was paralyzed. When the door of the house where Jesus was staying was blocked by a crowd of people, they could have given up and carried him back home. Instead, they carried him up on the roof, tore a hole big enough to lower their buddy down, right in front of Jesus! Jesus commended those guys for their determination and healed the crippled man right then and there.    

My friends! Declaring a situation as "impossible" is very convenient. It lets us off the hook and relieves us of the hard work of looking for "alternatives."  Nobody expects us to do the "impossible," do they?  Nobody will blame us for doing nothing if we can convince them that "nothing can be done," would they? Like the guys in today’s gospel, we need to use our imaginations, look for alternatives and be resourceful. Friends, I learned a long time ago that the biggest shortage in the Catholic Church is not money or priests. It's imagination!

I learned this truth about imagination back in the seminary. There is so much I can't remember, but there is one thing that remains vivid in my mind. It was toward the very end.  I forgot who it was, but one of our teachers asked us to present some "pastoral situations" for class discussion - maybe a wedding, funeral or counseling situation. He asked us to write up the "ideal" way we might handle the situation once we were ordained.

After we had all written up our "ideal" approaches to the situations we described, he collected the papers and stood there in the front of class and ripped them up into small pieces and threw them in the garbage.  After that he said to us, "You will hardly ever get to do the "ideal," so let's talk about some alternative approaches."  Man, has that insight ever come in handy over the last 56 years!

Here is an old story that I have told many times about the power of imagination. It's about watching TV one day and seeing a young man who had been in a motorcycle wreck and had one of his legs amputated, being interviewed. He had been a great athlete and was eaten up with bitterness about the loss of his leg. It was depressing so I turned the channel. On the other channel was a young man, about the same age, coming dawn the mountains on skis. It wasn't till he got to the end of his run that I noticed that he was a one-legged skier in the Handicapped Olympics!

One young man gave up and the other one got up! The second young man, with one leg, got up and looked for alternatives. This young man found an "alternative" rather than simply "giving up." 

We have all heard the saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!" Since I have a reputation for my imagination and determination, that old saying came to mind in a serious way recently when I discovered that my own father was the Valedictorian at his high school graduation on May 14, 1935. I learned that he gave a speech based on an old Latin saying attributed to Hannibal, when his generals told him that it was impossible to cross the Alps by elephant. "I shall either find a way or make one." My father's address was entitled "Find a Way or Make It."  

What does today's gospel tell us? Never give up! Never quit! Find another way! Find an alternative! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DON'T SEE HOW LITTLE YOU CAN GET BY WITH - GIVE YOUR BEST!

  

Jesus said: "You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye 

and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance

 to one who is evil.”

Matthew 5:38-42

Few passages of the New Testament have more of the essential teaching of Jesus on how we ought to behave in the world than chapter 5 of Matthew’s gospel.  In short, Jesus raised the bar on how people ought to treat each other to a much higher level than what was generally accepted during his time. 

In essence, to be Christian is to be different, to stand out, to swim against the stream, to hold oneself to a higher standard, to be "the light of the world and salt of the earth" - otherwise we are no better than "pagans," we are no better than unbelievers. Sadly, many who call themselves "Christian" don't even know that Jesus raised the bar on human behavior and therefore they do not even attempt to measure up!  Some even think the Church ought to lower these high standards to better match the level of our behaviors or be ignored altogether!

Jesus begins his teaching today by citing the world's oldest law---an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. That law is known as the Lex Talionis, which can best be described as the law of “tit for tat.” This law is found in the Code of Hammurabi, who reigned in Babylon from 2285 BC to 2242 BC. The principle is clear and apparently simple----if anyone inflicts an injury on anyone else, an equivalent injury shall be inflicted on him. Even though it is not universal, that law was absorbed into the teaching we find in the Old Testament.

As savage as it may sound, this law was, in fact the beginning of mercy. It, at least, limited vengeance. Before that law, unlimited vengeance could be taken not only on the perpetrator, but anyone in his family, including death for a minor slight. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth deliberately limited vengeance.  The law lays it down that only the man who committed the injury must be punished, and his punishment must be no more than the equivalent of the injury inflicted and the damage done.

Another thing is worth noting here. This law never gave a private individual the right to extract vengeance. It was always a law that was laid down to guide a judge in a court in of law in assessing punishments and penalties for violent and unjust deeds.

Still further, this law was never, at least in semi-civilized society, carried out literally. Very soon after the law was written and accepted, the injury done was assessed at a money value and the injury was assessed on five counts - for injury, for pain, for healing, for loss of time and for indignity suffered. Sounds remarkably modern, doesn't it?

As advanced as it was for its time, Jesus comes along and obliterates the very principle of that law, because retaliation, however controlled and restricted, has no place in the Christian life. Jesus abolishes the old law of limited and controlled vengeance and introduces the new spirit of non-resentment and non-retaliation.

To take these words of Jesus in a crude literalism is to miss the point, as in the case of "turning the other cheek and offering no resistance to injury." He is certainly not advocating physical and emotional abuse! If a car runs over you, don't just stand there and let it happen again and again! The first thing to do is to get the hell out of the road and don't let them do it again!  The next thing, after recovery, is to resist trying to "get even" or worse to "carry a grudge." The ability to do that will help you, not the perpetrator!   One cannot live a full life under the shadow of bitterness!

The opposite of crude literalism is to dismiss what Jesus is saying here.  Jesus is teaching his followers that they must live at a higher level than what is generally accepted. In the case of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," if we lived that way, we would all be blind and toothless in no time! What he is saying is to stop the revenge! Find out where the hurt that would drive them to do such things is coming from and try to heal it, if possible!   Both Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. showed us that nonviolent resistance can bring down oppressive governments and change the hearts of a nation, while violence only begets more violence.

And, you, what about you? Do you live a life of “tit for tat,” a life of always “getting even” when you are hurt or snubbed? How do you try to live the challenging words of Jesus in today's gospel?  It is not easy for any of us, but Jesus offers his own Body and Blood to strengthen us to do for each other what he always does for us - love us without condition!

Christianity is more than minimalism. Christianity is more than doing just enough to get by with! Christianity is about going beyond the call of duty, beyond measuring out love in small thimbles. It’s about giving one’s all - to both friends and enemies!

 

 

 

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE CHALLENGE OF CATHOLIC PREACHING

SOME OF THE SEED FELL ON RICH SOIL

SOME OF THE SEED FELL ON HARD GROUND

Some seed fell on rich soil and produced abundant fruit.

Matthew 13:1-23

Inspired by this parable, I thought I would say a few words today about the state of Catholic preaching.

You might not know it, but preaching the gospel is the primary duty of priests! Catholics have been disappointed with Catholic Church preaching for so long, they are afraid to expect it any more. When Catholics do find a priest who can preach, as many of you already know, they tend to follow him from church to church seeking spiritual food to chew on! Others learn to live without it. Some give up and join some Protestant denomination.

This problem, I believe, can be traced back to the Reformation, over four hundred years ago. In that painful divorce, it was almost like there was a property settlement where Catholics took the altar and Protestants took the pulpit. That’s why most Protestant churches, at least until very recently, tended to have little altar tables and huge pulpits, while most Catholic churches tended to have little pulpits and huge altars.

Catholics who leave us for a Protestant pulpit sometimes don’t realize that when they do, they are also going off and leaving the Eucharist. What we Catholics need to do, what we have been working on over the last several years, is to have both: a powerful celebration of the Liturgy of the Word followed by a powerful celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We priests need to know how to effectively use both pulpits and altars.

Preaching is being taken more seriously than ever in our seminaries. I am no professional homiletics professor, but I taught homiletics (preaching) at St. Meinrad Seminary for a few semesters. The downfall of most preaching courses, in my estimation, is that they focus way too much on public speaking techniques and not enough on the faith of the preacher. My belief is similar to William Faulkner’s who said, “If a story is in you, it has to come out.”  I always reminded my students that if the love of God burned in their heart, they would find an effective way to communicate it, if not, they would end up just giving another speech about God. A homily is not a speech. The insight of a homily is meant to turn on a light bulb, to help the listener make a connection with God.  “Nemo dat quod non habet.” As we say in Kentucky, "If you ain’t got it, you cain’t give it." 

Preachers, and lectors too, must be the first to ‘humbly welcome the Word” and “be doers of the Word" as the Letter of James puts it.  Preaching, especially, is an awesome responsibility and the well, from which it comes, must be constantly fed!  The preacher must know himself, know those to whom he preaches and know God - and be able to talk about all three in a convincing way. Lectors don’t just “read to people,” they “proclaim the good news” too.

Some seed fell of the path, some on rocky ground, some among the thorns, but some fell on rich soil and produced abundant fruit.

The Letter of James is famous for its insistence that faith be lived, not just claimed and talked about. “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” “What good is it to profess faith without practicing it? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and no food for the day, and you say to them, “Good-bye and good luck! Keep warm and well fed,” but do not meet their bodily needs, what good is that? So it is with faith that does nothing in practice. It is thoroughly lifeless.”

My fellow Catholics, we cannot be ignorant of scripture and at the same time do as God has asked of us. As the Letter to the Romans puts it, “Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe unless they have heard of him? And how can they hear unless there is someone to preach? Faith, then, comes through hearing, and what is heard is the word of Christ.” 

It would be wonderful if every one of us took the opportunity to study scripture in a formal way. Scripture classes are offered in almost every parish these days. The diocese has many continuing education classes available on scripture, but one of the simplest ways to study scripture is to take advantage of our Liturgy of the Word each week. To get the most of the Liturgy of the Word each week, if the seed is to fall on the rich soil of our hearts and produce abundant fruit in our lives, three things must happen. (1) Lectors must read well. (2) Preachers must preach well. (3) People must listen well.  You have good lectors here, some parishes are known for good preaching and I know from experience that you are an attentive congregation, so I am not criticizing anybody,  but just challenging all of us in general.

(1) One of the hardest things to get across to lectors is that they are not just “reading to people,” but they are “proclaiming the Word of God.”   That means they must, not just be able to read the words on the page, but to be the medium through which people hear God speaking to the congregation. That means the lector must be familiar enough with the text to convey its meaning. If the lector doesn’t know what the words mean, how can he or she read it with meaning? Lectors are not just readers. They proclaim the Word of God behind the words of the text. The role of the lector, standing in the pulpit, should be taken as seriously as the priest standing behind the altar. Incompetence, sloppiness or carelessness in the pulpit or at the altar should never be acceptable in our churches. Good liturgy strengthens the faith of the people. Bad liturgy weakens the faith of the people.     

(2) As a priest, my primary role is to preach. I have a long way to go, but of all the things I do, I take preaching most seriously.  I typically work a minimum of 10-12 hours a week preparing these homilies.  I print copies and publish them on my blog for those who cannot hear or those who would like to re-read them and to reflect more on them later. As you know, not all priests and deacons do that. When I was the Vocation Director, for instance, I remember reading an evaluation one of our pastors wrote about one of our soon-to-be-ordained seminarians. He criticized the seminarian for “working too much on his homilies.” He went on to say that he “knew of no other priest, except for maybe the Vocation Director, who spends that much time on writing homilies.” I was that Vocation Director! That time the seminarian was right and the pastor was wrong! Preaching is not just one of many things a priest does, it is the single most important thing a priest does!  That is why I plan to be buried clutching a Lectionary!

(3) People must learn to listen well. The word “liturgy” means “the work of the people.” In reality, many Catholics still don’t get it. They come to liturgy and put the whole burden of a meaningful liturgy on the backs of the priest, the musicians and the liturgical ministers. Many Catholics sit with their arms folded, never singing or answering the responses or even mouthing the creed, with an attitude of “OK, now entertain me, impress me and inspire me, and if you fail, I’ll blame you and leave here and tell the world that “I don’t get anything out of Mass because of that boring priest and that lousy music.” The word, “liturgy” means “the work of the people.” We preachers, presiders, lectors and musicians are here to “help you pray,” not to “do your praying for you.” It is your job to pray over the readings before you get here or at least sit up and pay close attention when God’s word is proclaimed.

St. Paul says, “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you.” Like the parable of the Sower and the Seed, it is not enough just to have good seed to sow (that’s the Word of God), not enough for the sowers to sow well (that’s the lector and the preacher), but the ground on which the word is sown must be fertile and receptive (that’s all of you)!

To "get something out of this weekend experience," we all have to "put something into it!" 

 

 

 

 

 

CHURCH CHAT #36

         

SEE YOURSELF IN THIS PICTURE

"Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep!"

Luke 15:6

WHEN PRIESTS ARE HAVING A BAD DAY

 

 

 

ENCOUNTERING PEOPLE: IS THE GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY?

 

I have used the 1927 poem DESIDERATA by Max Ehrmann several times, even recently, in my blog posts. I am attaching it again, but focusing on two parts of it in this particular blog post. Those parts are in red below. 

                                                                      DESIDERATA

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

These are the parts I want to focus on - the parts that invite us to keep our eyes open to the trickery of the world, but not to lose our focus on those virtuous people who strive for high ideals and are full of heroism. Yes, there is a lot of sham, drudgery and broken dreams, but it is still a beautiful world if we have the eyes to see it! 

One of things I try to balance in my life is to be realistic about sin and evil, while also not losing my focus on the fact that there is so much goodness, virtue and heroism as well. Back when I was writing my weekly column in The Record for fifteen years called An Encouraging Word (also the name of this blog), I decided from the very beginning that I would focus on goodness to affirm, rather than on sins to condemn. I was influenced by the quote that says, "We find whatever it is we're looking for!" 

Why is it that it is easier to see the bad and ignore the good all around us? I have spent some time reflecting on this conundrum, both before I decided that I would focus on goodness to affirm rather than sin to condemn when I started my weekly column in The Record back in 2002 and ever since I started this blog afterwards as well. I must admit that it is not getting easier, but harder, to see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty.  These days, I find myself asking myself "why is it getting harder to focus on those virtuous people who strive for high ideals and are full of heroism" than it used to be? They are still there, surely, so why is it becoming harder to focus on them? I do know that it is still "up to me" to choose where I place my focus no matter how hard it gets! 

Here are some of the reasons I have come up with in my personal questioning around this issue of why it is becoming harder to focus on the goodness, virtue and heroism all around us and what I am doing to curb a lot of its negativity from invading my consciousness! 

(1) We live in a culture saturated with 24 hour a day news cycle and social technology. I have cut way back on how much news I take in on any given day.  

(2) That news tends to bombard us with negativity because bad news sells and good news bores. Many people are being pumped full of the emphasis on scandal, tragedies and corruption. I hear the bad news to be informed, but I deliberately look for sources that specialize in positive, educational and uplifting programming whenever and wherever possible. 

(3) We have been given permission by the examples of some of our top leaders to express anger, resentment, hatred and revenge without holding back. They are setting the example and we are following their lead. With our hand-held i-phones, i-pads and laptop computers we have multiple ways to spew all the anger we feel, justified or not, true or not, all day and night if we choose. I do not use FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, SNAPCHAT and other social media platforms for that very reason. To me they seems to be laced with gossip, anger and grievances that I don't need, or want, to see, read or hear about! This blog is called "An Encouraging Word." Hopefully, it helps and heals, rather than condemns and castigates.   

I joke with my brother when he asks how things are going. I usually joke with him and say, "I am like a doctor that nobody calls to say how much they have been helped. They only call when they are sick or need advice on their tragedies.  No one has called me today to ask me how I am doing, or about what a great day they are having, but I have had at least five calls about how bad other people are having it today!" Instead of complaining, I usually end up by saying to him, "I only have aggravations. Most of those people have real problems. So I am not about to complain. I know in my heart of hearts that I get more affirmation than I deserve!"