2019
October 27 / 30th Sunday
●● Sirach 35:12-14,16-18 ● Psalm 34 ● 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 ● + Luke 18:9-14 ●●
9:30 am
Mass
Title: “Satisfaction” = [S]
[__01__] 1965.
In the year, 1965, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the Rolling
Stones – starting singing a famous song called “Satisfaction” or
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” =
[S]
Fortunately, for them, Grammarly had not yet been invented, but
your grade-school grammar teacher would not approve either ….but that’s poetic license
for you: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”
The
song [Satisfaction]
has been heard, downloaded, listened to, on a billion-and-one playlists and on
the radio.
Please do not
turn off your electronic devices during this reflection.
[__02__] I
bring this up and would like to quote some verses because in the Gospel, the:
►Pharisee
wants [S]
►tax
collector wants [S]
►
They
want to be satisfied; ►we
want to be satisfied.
And, I would like to connect [S] with the confession of our
sins or our faults, and what does [S]
mean in the confession of our sins? (in the closing part of this reflection).
[__03__] The
confession of our sins and contrition (or sorrow) for our sins also leads to [S], but I want be careful how
we define [S] or
“being satisfied.”
[__04__] Who is satisfied? It’s safe to say that the Pharisee is very
satisfied /pleased with himself and dissatisfied/displeased with his neighbor,
the tax collector.
And, sometimes we too also find [S] by comparing ourselves in
a search for material wealth or value or success or knowledge,
Comparing ”my grades in school to another
person’s grades or scores” …. “my statistics on the playing field to another
person’s stats…” ….. “my family to another person’s family…” … “my level of
income…my home… my style of raising children…”
What do Mick Jagger and Keith Richards &
the Rolling Stones …have to say?
“When I’m ridin’ round the world,
and I’m doin’ this and I’m signin’ that … I can’t get no satisfaction… ” (: ||
~ 2x)
I’m reciting these lyrics to you, rather than singing them.
You’re welcome …
[__05__] The
ancient tax collectors of Jesus’ day were ridin’ round the world, doin’ this,
signin’ that. … taking people’s money, committing all kinds of fraud –
fraudulent action – and the tax collectors were rightly rejected and despised.
So, it was a surprise the first time
Jesus said all of this (we’ve heard it before …this is like a frequently
downloaded song that we know about tax collectors)… but Jesus was getting their
attention getting in annoying way … like me … clicking
my pen over and over again…. I have been guilty of this… well,
Jesus was clicking
his pen by bringing up the tax collectors as people
who are going to get into heaven ahead of you and me. They did not want to hear
about tax collectors making a spiritual comeback.
It would be as though he told us that
“dealers in illicit drugs and opioids and those who sell vaping devices” are
going to get into heaven ahead of you because they have repented…
Or, some corrupt celebrity is going to
get into heaven ahead of you. Consider the resentment and revilement heaped
upon Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin and other Hollywood star/parents for their
bribery of college admissions officers and NCAA coaches in the so-called
“college admissions scandal”.
If Felicity Huffman were to get into
heaven ahead of me… then à (I Can’t Get No) [S].
[__06__] So,
we should be careful about ridin’ round the world’ comparing ourselves to
others. The baseline or standard is not “me versus you” …. “me versus the
latest celebrity in a prison jumpsuit.”
It is our walk with Jesus, our desire
to be compared with and be united with Christ and his virtue.
[__07__] How
do I get satisfaction ?
Mick Jagger / Keith Richards would say…:
“When I’m drivin’ in my car and a
man comes on the radio and he’s telling me more and more about some useless
information supposed to fire my imagination … … I can’t get no satisfaction… ” (: ||
~ 2x)
So, there is in our world ”some
useless information [supposed to fire the imagination] ” and the tax collector
– guilty of the fraud and dishonesty is aware of it….he – of all people comes
humbly before God, he gets it.
He gets it ..or as we say … he “owns
it”. He owns his faults.
In the Gospel, the tax collector says.
“O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Jesus summarizes that if we are going
to be like the Pharisee we are only exalting ourselves and we will be humbled.
But, if we are like the tax collector,
we will be humbling ourselves and will be exalted.
[__08__] Now,
I’d like to comment on the forgiveness of sins and the connection to [S].
Have you experienced the forgiveness of sin?
The experience of God forgiving your sin in the sacrament of penance and
reconciliation, or just another person forgiving you?
We believe that forgiveness is a gift,
it’s not a prison sentence we endure and at the end we are forgiven…nor is it a
debt we repay and the bottom of a VISA statement and then we are forgiven.
Rather we are forgiven first, then we are
asked to change, to pay it forward, to forgive others as we have been forgiven.
[__09__] As
Catholics we are called to confess our sins, to repent of our sins.
I recognize that this may be fearful
or unfamiliar to us, the very idea of telling our sins to a priest or the idea
of holding in our heart and bringing to the light what we have done wrong.
We may prefer to forget about than to
forgive someone who has hurt us. Or, of ourselves, might prefer to be forgotten
than to be forgiven.
But, the confession of sins is meant
to lead us to a new level of [S].
[S] is
not measured in material things …or what we own.
“Material
things ” includes the value of people liking us. But, that’s not [S] in Christ’s terms.
[S] is
measured in what we “own” and “take responsibility for” before God.
In the Gospel, the tax collector says.
“O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Catholic priests too are called to go
to confession. I go to confession to a priest.
[__09__] The
3 steps of the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation are CONFESSION –
CONTRITION – and SATISFACTION.
Well, “confession” means simply
putting it out there…. Stating what we have done wrong.
But, “contrition” might seem to be a
hindrance, a bother. Because, I am
supposed to say “I am sorry”. But, I
might be – you might be – sorry for the wrong reasons…or fearing that we are not
really sorry..or truly sorry.
Our sorrow may be tied only into a
fear of punishment or the fear of some other material loss in value. Yes, this
does not make our sorrow completely invalid.
It just makes our sorrow, for now, “incomplete” or imperfect. But, that
is enough…that’s a starting point.
So, don’t worry too much if you do not
know the Act of Contrition prayer, or you’re not sure if you are really sorry.
The priest will guide you – I will guide you – through the steps of a
confession.
It is in the act of connecting with
God in the sacrament that makes our contrition complete.
But this is not magic…it’s just the
way we are made. It is based on the fact
that God knows when we sit and when we stand, knows our inmost being, knows
what we need in the complete connection of this mercy. (That’s from Psalm 139
not the Rolling Stones).
But, I believe we have knowledge of
this. For example, is this journey from
the “incomplete sorrow/contrition” to a “complete sorrow/contrition” one that
we have traveled? Let’s say that I offend someone…I have some
vague idea that I did something wrong… but I’m not really sure what it is or
how bad it was. We may not even know –
ourselves – was there a tiny bit more than a tiny bit of bad intent? I may not be absolutely sure of how malicious
or intentional I was. It may take me a while to realize this. But, still, I am
capable of both confession and some level of contrition/sorrow.
I also may not know if – or to what
degree - the other person was offended.
But, consider… after I apologize,
after we are forgiven – we pray and hope – by the other person, then we know
how complete and important our confession and contrition was.
It happens in the moment. It’s a gift
from outside of ourselves.
Similarly, God does the same in
absolving us and forgiving us for our confession and contrition.
That’s
how we get [S]
[__fin__]
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