Sunday
June 18, 2017 / Corpus Christi
Title: “Credit. Correction. Connection”
[__01__] What rolls and scrolls visually and
vertically on the screen at the end of a movie (film) in the cinema (theater)
are the CREDITS, the closing CREDITS.
Reading the CREDITS, we can find out
who the DIRECTOR, THE PRODUCER, the WRITERS were. We can find out who played
what part. We can also be well informed when it comes time for the Academy
Awards and the Oscars and the announcements of winners in obscure categories
are made.
What are the CREDITS? What is the
importance of the CREDITS ?
[__02_] This Sunday, the Feast of Corpus Christi –
we see Jesus – front and center and in dialogue with some of the most informed
---- and opinionated -- judges and viewers of his day, the scribes and
Pharisees. They are listening to what he says, but not hearing him completely
when he says “I am the bread of life; I am the bread that came down from
heaven.”
Some will see him as an actor, a
pretender, an impostor, an impersonator.
This gets him into great trouble.
[__03__] What
I would like to touch on here are
►CREDIT►CORRECTION. ►CONNECTION.
What
does it mean for you and me to follow
Jesus, to love God, to love our neighbor, and to love and pray for our fathers on Father’s Day.
I will not take the full 2-hour
video/film to talk about all that.
[__04.01__] CREDIT.
As Jesus himself is being discredited (rejected) by some, he is also trying
to share his credit – his merit and strength – with us. He is teaching us to
love.
As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (B16)
wrote, this credit claimed by Jesus is controversial.
Jesus,
then, is not simply a teacher delivering a lesson or prophet delivering the
news. He is the lesson personified. He is the News, he Good News[1] Or, in
this cinematic metaphor, Jesus as Savior is the actor, the director, the movie,
and the script all-in-one.
He is the Word made flesh (John
1:14)
Through Jesus, we learn not only that God loves, that one of God’s attributes is love, but that God is love. God is love
personified.
And,
isn’t this the path for a mother or father to follow, the path to which they are called.
That is, whether family life brings sorrows or joys, a child needs a love. And,
a father and mother endeavor not only to
deliver “love” as though it is one of several menu options but simply to be
love. This love may take different
forms. It may even be resisted. It may
not be “credited”, but it remains love.
[__04.02__] Also, “credit” is something we take that but
we share. We spend it on others, do we not?
Financially and spiritually …
My calling is also to praise God, to
thank God and credit God and others in my life.
We practice this and view this in
others. On the playing field, or in a
school play – or at work we give credit
to our teammates, coaches.
And, among the futbolistas, the soccer
players of FIFA, CONCACAF, the EuroCup, the World Cup, it seems the average Catholic midfielder
or striker gives outstanding credit to
God as he blesses himself after scoring a GOAL (!).
In this regard, credits are not
something we watch and wait for, but something to give and share.
[__05__] CORRECTION.
In
our relationship with God and with each other, we are called to recognize that
our faults are not times to collapse but they may be times to rest and to
recover.
CORRECTIONS are part of our faith
journey.
Here, I do not simply mean
self-correction. I know how to correct myself. I prefer to correct my own
errors before anyone knows bout it.
Can I accept correction from God or
from another person? This is a challenge, but it also draws us closer to God
and to the other person.
And, we benefit by asking in prayer
for direction and correction, about what we are doing …rather than rushing to
the closing credits and looking for our names.
On Father’s Day, we might also
give thanks not only for the things we wanted to receive or wanted to hear
from our fathers. Shall we not also give thanks for the things we needed to
hear, for their guidance, their correction.
Simply by listening to one’s father,
we give them tons of credit.
[__06__] The
CREDIT and CORRECTION reminds us of our CONNECTION.
How we are joined to each other.
And Jesus lays down his life for us,
and teaches us to do the same so that we can share his credit, accept
correction and grow closer in our connections in love of God and love of
neighbor.
[__fin__]
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