Free Fall (2012-03-25, Lent)

This is my homily for 25 March 2012 (5th Sunday Lent). I am a Catholic chaplain in Teaneck at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) campus and for the FDU Newman Catholic Association. We celebrate Catholic Mass - during Fall and Spring semester - every Sunday Evening (7:30 p.m.) at the Interfaith Chapel, 842 River Road, Teaneck, NJ.

Readings: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51, Hebrews 5:7-9, John 12:20-33

[_01_] Falling to the ground, and dying…

Jesus suggests that this leads to growth, for the seed, for the individual person.
For example, DEATH – burial in the earth -- is what we are experiencing during an intense phase of transformation.

[_02_] A friend of mine, a physician, taught me that growth – which we often imagine to be continuous or perennial– is actually linked to specific episodes/times in our lives.

Quite simply, children grow, they level off, they grow again, and so on.
The 40 days of Lent are such an episode for us.

And, while we all might like to have the annual 4 inches of growth that high school point guards experience, we will probably have different episodes – due to other transitions.

In any case, we need what the seed in the earth needs.

We need roots, planted through our relationship to Jesus, through our communal prayer at Mass, through our friendships.

These roots keep us strong. They help us to develop our consciences, our moral choices.

What are these times of dying and rising to new life?
• Physically/biologically – some of us may have actually at one time – or may one day – grow 4 or more inches in a year. Such a transformation is similar to the seed which “dies” and reappears as the much larger tree or plant. A young person in a growth spurt has also risen to new life and to a new appearance.

• ACADEMIC STUDY – in 1st year of college, medical school, law school, times at which we are buried in books, papers. We also may be unrecognizable due to this intense transformation.

• 40 DAYS OF LENT – a period, a “growth spurt” also in which we are trying to live differently. This does not mean will keep our fasts perfectly, but that we are ever mindful. This is a transformation, a daily dying to our own needs and anxieties as we try to practice prayer, fasting, charitable giving.

These are examples of taking the fall, accepting the fall, in a true way…

Sometimes, we see the contrary example, those who “act out” rather than simply act in accordance with the Gospel.

[_03_] We may be able to cite a few examples. Not exactly what the Gospel has in mind….

On the basketball courts of the NCAA and the soccer fields of FIFA, we see the players “fall” and “take dives.” Point guards, midfielders. These collapses almost seem choreographed. Some ask WHY?

Here is an answer – from a World Cup 2010 blog – “why do soccer players fake injury?”
If you thought that the best actors and actresses in the world are restricted to Hollywood, Nollywood and Bollywood; think again. They actually reside on the other side of the white picket fence, where the grass is really greener. A soccer field, their stage, and free reign to improvise on the script, their blossoming acting careers seem to be a little too perfect.

These so-called ‘actors’ are professional soccer players, also known as footballers, who fake injuries to get a free penalty kick for their team. It usually happens when a player loses the ball to an opponent. Their natural instinct is then to flop on the pitch, as if the victim of a horrible foul that appears to have caused a career-ending injury. The player will grab his ankle or head in a state of theatrical paralysis until the referee stops play, and orders that the player be carried off the field on a stretcher. The injury lasts precisely as long as it takes the stretcher to reach the touchline. Once off the field, the player bounds out of the stretcher, fully recovered, and ready to rejoin the game at the next opportunity.

[_04_] While not actually living the Gospel, these players are certainly – as we say – “acting out” the command to “fall to the ground and die.” We simply demand the attention of others.

So, falling to the ground and dying means different things to different people.

There are real and true examples that we have in our lives …
What about the “dying” part for you and me? Would this only be an exaggeration, similar to what happens inside the 18/penalty box at a World Cup semifinal? Am I really going to die?

• ILLNESS – a person undergoing a serious illness and treatment – say, chemotherapy – is also being transformed. In a very different way, this new life is also a “growth spurt.”

• MOURNING/GRIEF – if we have suffered the death of a loved one, we may find ourselves in an intense period of exploration (even a sense of burial/isolation.).

But, this is certainly no “fake injury” leading to a penalty kick. We are actually hurting inside and need the help of others to rise to new life.

For these roots are not simply yellow cards/red cards or other penalties imposed by some referee who tells us what the rules or by a coach who calls the plays.

Rather, in our decision to follow the Gospel – freely by our consciences – we develop the roots, we go into a “free fall”, a free gift which helps us to rise to new life. [_fin_]