Anybody Hungry ? (2021-07-25, Sunday-17)

[__ver-04__]   Homily – July 25, 2021  /  17^th Sunday (Year B)

●  2 Kings 4:42-44   ●  Psalm 145   ● ●  Ephesians 4:1-6 ● + John 6:1-15  ● 

 Title:  Anybody Hungry?

 [__01__]     Plenty of people say that hunger is the best seasoning or spice – which means – that if a hard-working rowing team from the Tokyo Olympics or construction crew from West Orange were to show up at your kitchen or cafeteria table, then you would not have to worry what to serve or feed them, because they would love / relish whatever you serve them. They would be hungry. Hunger is the best seasoning or spice.

 [__02__]     Is anybody hungry right now?  That’s a risky question to ask a large number of people in church or at your house or in a crowd, but it is implied in the words of Jesus to his disciples, to ask of themselves – “Hey, You, The Disciples, You Hungry?”

          And to ask regarding the crowd.  “Are the people hungry?”

[__03__]     World-Societal Example

          There are justice and charitable movements that deal with hunger.

          The American politician Humbert H. Humphrey once said:

“the moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and

those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, disabled and the handicapped”.

          Our own ethic of being pro-life calls us to recognize that life is to be nourished and cared for at all stages and that legally sanctioned means of controlling the start and finish of life – such as abortion and medically-sanctioned suicide – do not really address the source of our hunger.

          So, we have justice and charitable movements in our own church to address the real hunger for life and for the precious value of life.

          In addition, we see human lives undervalued and hunger ignored because there are people who live in districts or areas described by economists and sociologists as “food deserts” or they live with “food insecurity”.

          A “food desert” does not mean that the people on this “map” are in the Mojave or Sahara (another desert that starts with M ??) But it means that that in their neighborhood, they lack the retail stores or lack affordable retail stores to nourish themselves and buy food.  And, for these and other reasons, they live with “food insecurity”

 

[__04__]     Anybody hungry?

Hunger is the best spice not only to get people consume (digest) what is served by the cook but also the best spice to motivate us to do good for others.

          In the Sermon on the Mount / Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are they hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

          Hunger is meant to invite us to come out of ourselves and consider the needs of others, as the disciples also are.

          We read this critique of the broken/selfish person in the Book of Job. This verse describes a specific person, but could apply to any of us at some time:

          “He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself” (Job 14:22)

 

[__05__]     Jesus was asking his disciples if anyone is hungry right then (now?) and also prompting them to do something about it. It’s a risk to ask people if they are hungry and then also to ask them to do something about it.

          How will they – how will we – satisfy our hunger?

[__06__]     Anybody hungry? In response to our Savior’s question about the 5,000-plus hungry people in the crowd, Philip would perhaps prefer to run a 5K in the opposite direction away from their needs, rather than do anything or even ask for anything.

          If Philip wee sending a text …it might begin with the letters I – D – K “I don’t’ know….”, and then giving up he would message back…       

“Two hundred denarii [days’ wages] would not be enough for each of them to have a little [bit].” (John 6:7)

          Andrew also is an I-D-K person who points out a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fishes but does so emphasize how paltry, how little, this portion is.

[__06.01__]   Our real spiritual hunger is not satisfied by consumption but by connection.

          All of us, in some way, or at some time, find ourselves in a situation where we struggle to satisfy our desires, our hunger. This could be due to actual material poverty because we are in a “desert” or “insecure.”        

          But even if we have enough money for food, there are other forms of hunger and other ways we satisfy the hunger. And, we realize that there are “hungers” – experiences and experiments of emptiness -  which we cannot satisfy by our own means.

          Do we not learn in our own families, marriages, friendships, work relationships that our human love / effort / affection on its own is not enough  to satisfy what is asked for – or demanded by – my sibling, my spouse, my child, my parent, my neighbor, my co-worker, my boss.

          For this reason, it’s all the more important that we pray, that we seek God, that we plant and care for the garden of interior life where the food of God’s grace is growing.

          It is all the more important that we pray petitions not simply to end hunger which comes about due to famine or drought, but also to endure hunger – collectively – with God’s help.

          St. Paul’s famous quote:

          “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content therewith.] I know both how to be brought low, and I know how to abound: (everywhere, and in all things I am instructed) both to be full, and to be hungry; both to abound, and to suffer need. I can do all these things in him who strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:11-13, Douay Rheims)

          St. Paul is reminding us that consumption is not the end of hunger, but connection is the end of hunger.

          Connection to God as Father. Son and Holy Spirit is the end – it is the PURPOSE – of our hunger.

[__06.02__]    This is also what the ancient Israelites learned about the in the Book of Exodus:

          In John’s Gospel Ch. 6, we can draw several parallels between Jesus and Moses who came before him. Moses was the prophet who led the people of Isreael out of Egypt.

          [6.1]  Jesus goes across the Sea of Galilee ßà Moses parted the Red Sea for the people to cross

          [6.2]   A large crowd followed Jesus ßà & followed Moses in the Exodus (exit) from Egypt.

          [6.3]    A crowd followed Jesus because of the signs he was performing on the sick. ßà & followed Moses because of the 10 plagues upon the land, the parting of the Red Sea. They followed because of what they were seeing visually.

          [6.4]    Jesus goes up on the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples. ßà & followed Moses goes up on the mountain and receives the 10 Commandments

          Jesus is the new Moses of the New Testament.

[__07__]     Anybody hungry?

          There is Good News about hunger … which I realize is also  a pain to us.

          There will be more to reflect on in coming Sundays’ readings of the Gospel of John, chapter 6, in which we are reminded that Jesus is the Bread of Life, by whom our hunger is satisfied.

I’d like to close with quote from C.S. Lewis about pain (generally), but also it applies to hunger and to pain in general.

          It’s Good News ..

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures,

speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world....No doubt

pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion.   But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. it removes the veil;   it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of the rebel soul.” (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain)

          Anybody still hungry?

You Are God's Building / 1st Communion (2021-07-18, Sunday-16)

Homily – July 18, 2021   /  16^th Sunday (Year B)

 ● Jeremiah23:1-6 ●  Psalm  ● ● Ephesians 2:13-18  ● + Mark 6:30-34     ●

 Title:    You are God’s Building. First Holy Communion

 [__01__]     It is very important– in material terms – to us – to have a place to live, a roof over our heads.

          And, the news right now is that finding such a roof and house is difficult. “Inventory is scarce”. Many people are trying to buy a new home, with home prices being very high and people relocating after the pandemic and there are fewer houses for sale. "Inventory is scarce", real estate agents say. Building prices are high, valuable, because homes are in demand.

          The New Testament – which is not an Economics textbook – nevertheless says this about the value of a house. In 1^st Corinthians and in Hebrews, we read this about BUILDINGS and our own value in God’s community and universe:

          “We are God’s house, if only we hold fast to our confidence and pride in our hope”  (Hebrews 3:6)  [►AND◄]

          “You are God’s building … [which Paul elaborates on saying that he teaches people about Jesus not so that they can “invest” in St. Paul but in God.  Paul writes…]     I laid a foundation and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 3:9, 10, 11)

          We are here this at this Sunday Mass to celebrate First Holy Communion and to recall that God cares, in a special way for ____ and ____ – and welcome the whole all the ____ family and friends – today because there is nothing more valuable than a person in God’s eyes.    A person – while not “for sale” – is nevertheless a house or Temple of the Holy Spirit and that due to Jesus’ sacrifice of his body and blood, we have been bought, been purchased at a very high price. (1 Corinthians 6:19)

          ____ and ____ – you are valuable!

[__02__]      Many years ago as a child, I was driving by my friend’s Billy’s house as a passenger in the car with my father as the driver.

          We noticed repair and construction going on at my friend’s house which was actually not unusual. They were constantly doing work on their house. My father took particular notice because  the workers were not a professional construction company but rather the family itself with my friend, Billy, and his brothers and his father. They were the ones with hammers, nails, ladders, toolbelts.

          My father wanted to know what was going on. I said, “Dad, they are putting a new roof on the house.  They are doing it themselves.”

          My father was so impressed. I was afraid we might be asked to do the same. 

          This did not happen, but my father was impressed that a neighbor with his kids was undertaking such a project worth of HGTV or FixerUpper  with Chip and Joanna Gaines.

[__03__]     Meanwhile at our house, the projects that my father wanted my siblings and I to do were less ambitious but nevertheless we were asked to participate in keeping up the house.

          I particularly remember holding the ladder for my father while he cleaned out the gutters from leaves, twigs, branches, and other debris.

          There was also the weekly mowing of the lawn, the lawnmower and grass.

          Very often, I would have preferred to be doing something else, other than holding the hypotenuse of the ladder against the right angle of the house or cutting grass.

          These were not tasks that I cherished at the time…I cherish them now, looking back.

          Somehow, though, I knew that doing these things was part of being a family member. That is, we are called to give of ourselves each day.

[__04__]      And, even at this moment of RECEIVING Holy Communion and receiving Jesus, we are called to remember that is truly better to give than to receive. For by receiving his Body and Blood, we are also called to give ourselves in love of God and love of neighbor

[__05__]     The young people who are here to day for 1^st Holy Communion – ____ and ____ – are members of the same family. They are cousins.

And from you ____ and ____, we ask you to give back to us, by your prayers and love each each day. We are praying for you and we trust in your prayers for us.  In a similar way, your mother and father and family pray for you today and they also trust in and need your prayers for them.

The reason we ask you to pray is not so that you will receive back what you think you need, but that you will be hearing God’s voice and what his plan is for you.

 

[__06__]     Over the past few days and even today, you have been practicing to receive Holy Communion. On this past Wednesday, we had a rehearsal of 1^st Holy Communion. I’d like to reflect on 3 aspects of our church and worship and to connect these to your life and my life, outside the church, so that we will understand God’s plan for us.

          I will summarize this as STOP. LOOK. LISTEN.

          “Stop, Look, Listen” is not only a lesson about SAFETY, but also about our SALVATION and connection to God and each other.

[__07__]     1^st. STOP.  The church is a place where we “stop”. I recognize it is difficult to stop , to pause, to press [▐ ▐ ] in our lives. We are often very busy, with so many competing priorities that we find it difficult to stop.

          But, for this very reason, I believe we need our church and our worship even more, whether this is our First Holy Communion or Next Holy Communion. The church is your place to stop.

          The church – our parish family of Our Lady of Lourdes – also relies on your presence, your prayers, your sacrifice. Here I do not mean “monetary sacrifice” in the collection basket. While this is one aspect, there is something much greater, such as the sacrifice you make to forgive another person who has trespassed against you, the sacrifice you make to love another person whom others might ignore, the sacrifice you make to find time for prayer, for God.

          And, we rejoice we can stop here together in God’s house.

          However your own home is also a place to stop, to pause.

          ____ and ____, give thanks today for your families through whom you have a safe and blessed home, and in your house, I encourage you to find time and place to pray, especially in the morning and at night.

          The house of he church and the house of your home are connected. Remember to stop.

[__08__]     2^nd. LOOK.  Here we have an altar, a marble stone altar on which the bread and wine are consecrated.

          Someone told me recently about a museum in Massahusetts which is known for being also the sculptor’s studio for the President Abraham Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Memorial.

          In the museum, you can see the models and “first drafts” or early versions – in small scale – of the sculpture that would become the statue of Abraham Lincoln. You can see, for example, a hand, an arm, or the forehead, the face.

          I imagine that all of this detail can help one to appreciate how difficult it is to make the entire statue, the entire image of Abraham Lincoln.

          Sometimes, when we encounter the Commandments of God, or even the Passion of our Lord and Savior, we may focus on 1 aspect and its difficulty.

          Let’s say, we are hindered by fear or unwillingness to be silent and to pray. So, we may give up very easily and say we cannot do that.

          But, is it not true that we do become silent and pray and follow the Commandments, when we feel that our very lives – or the lives of those we love – depend on it.

          The sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial also believed in a larger – national – purpose. Our purpose and calling is even greater.

          In other words, we are called to see in Holy Communion not only the bread as one tiny aspect of a larger sculpture, but to recognize that Jesus made himself small so that we could receive him and do so every day, and that – in our whole body – we would become his image, his sculpture.

          We come to Holy Communion to look, not only at majesty of God but also at the dignity of ourselves and of those around us made in his image. LOOK.

[__09__]      3^rd. LISTEN. Here we have a pulpit and microphone, a sound system, enabling us to hear our musician and cantor, to hear the lector, to hear the deacon and priest.

          And, we are actually right now – upgrading our sound system… thanks to a generous gift to the parish of Lourdes from one of our parishioners.

          All of his audio equipment and electricity is necessary to proclaim God’s word. And, as our beloved pastor of many years, Monsignor Joe Petrillo, used to say, “everything you see and touch and listen to here in church does not just happen on its own but took the concerted effort of many who truly believed it is better to give than to receive…”

[__10__]     And, in your home, there is also a “pulpit” and place for us to speak, especially for parents to speak to their children.

          That place of speaking might not have a microphone, but it might be prominent because of Mom / Dad speaking the children at the table, or from the steering wheel of the car, or from anywhere.

          To ____ and ____, your parents will at times tell you things you may not want to hear and may even tell you things that they find difficult to say, but they do so because they love you.

[__11__]     I hope and pray that you know that Our Lady of Lourdes is  place that you are called to construct and sustain by your prayers and care for each other, a place where you can STOP and know God’s love and share this love with others.

          That the altar of this church will not just remind you of one part of the sculpture, but that Jesus gave his entire life, body, blood, soul and divinity for you to see.

          And, that this sound system of God’s voice will help us to remember we are also God’s building and that when we are STOPPING, LOOKING, LISTENING for his word, we also praying as one, as the Body of Christ. AMEN !  [__fin__]     

 

Broken Windows (2021-07-11, Sunday - 15th)

Homily – July 11, 2021  15^th Sunday (Year B)

 ● Amos 7:12-15 ●  Psalm 85   ● Ephesians 1:3-14 ● + Mark 6:7-13 ●

Title:  Broken Windows

[__00__]     In the 1980’s and 1990’s, several police departments including the NYPD New York City Police Department started talking about the need to focus on the fixing of little things such as “broken windows” in a community in order to promote public safety. In other words, if you take care of the small stuff in a community, then everyone will feel safer. And, similarly, if you address the 1 or 2 windows broken by vandalism on a building, this repair will reduce further crime and further broken windows. or It’s a theory about “public safety” and has been successful in some areas. For some people, the theory and practice remain controversial. Nevertheless, “broken windows” is a powerful metaphor for public safety.

          I would like to apply the “broken windows” theory to personal salvation and example on my own faith journey. I broke a window … once. It was on my own house. Here is the story.

 

[__01__]     When I was about 8 or 9  years old, I arrived at around 3 pm on  school day at the back door of my house, after having walked home from school. It was winter. I was feeling cold. I wanted to be inside as soon as possible.

Being 8+ years old, I did not yet have my own key for the house and had to rely on a very “analog” mode of communication called knocking on the door, to gain entry

          At least, I was supposed to knock on the door and wait for my mother to open the door.

          However, on that particular day, I did not knock on the door but banged on the door and then with my hands fully covered up in winter gloves, I banged on the window.

          I was not actually trying to break the window, but nevertheless I broke the glass.  It was a good thing I was wearing gloves.

          I was absolutely shocked to see the broken glass. Needless to say, my parents were not happy about the glass!

          Had I been older than 8 or 9, I probably would have had to participate in the clean-up. The end result for me, at the time, was to get in the house and stay there.

 

[__02__]      It was also a moment I recall, now, with an adult mindset and understanding that I was actually “repenting” of something I had done wrong.

          What I mean by this was that I could replay the incident in my head to every detail and how I could have and should have behaved differently.

          If I could do it again, I would certainly not bang on the glass. There was absolutely no reason to be so impatient.

[__03__]     Does this mean that I have – since the age of 7 – never been impatient, never become angry, never gone overboard? I wish I could say YES. I have done all of the above.

          Yet, I remember that particular incident at 7 years of age in its detail – what the window looked like, that it was winter, that the gloves were wool knit gloves and they were brown, because I can – at least of that particular moment – reject and repudiate what I did as wrong.

          Sometimes, we think of “repentance” as a DEFENSE mechanism. In other words, if I admit that I am wrong, before anyone else notices and take full responsibility, then I can defend or preserve my reputation to others.

 

[__04__]      Here is a definition of repentance from Padre Pio …one that invites me to consider that repentance is not about cleaning up of broken glass or gain advantage after the damages –and a reminder that it’s OK for me to think about the window that I should not have broken.

          Nevertheless, I cannot go back into the past and un-break the window. I can only live in the present moment.

 

[__04__]    Padre Pio quote:

“Try your best, without excessive anxiety, to do with perfection what you ought and what you would like to do.  Once you have done something, however, do not think about it anymore.  Instead, think only about what you still must do, or would like to do, or are doing right then.

Walk in the ways of the Lord with simplicity, and do not torment yourselves.  You should despise your shortcomings but with calm rather than with anxiety and restlessness.  For that reason, be patient ….”

 

[__05__]     Once the glass was broken and needed to be cleaned up, I had some reflecting to do, which was this – was I really so impatient and so insistent that about my mother’s arrival at the back door that I would need to put my hand through a pane of glass?

          Or, to put it another way, who did I have faith in, who did I believe in – me and my impatient view of the world …or in my parents?

          If I said that I only believed in myself, I would probably have to move out of the house. Now, of course, I am looking back on the incident with an adult mind.

          Nevertheless, I was being invited as a young person to put my trust, my faith – in the authority and wisdom of someone else.

         

[__06__]     But, we are also called to do this as adults, the person we are called to put our trust and faith in is Jesus as our Savior. And, we are called to live in the present moment with his mercy rather than simply dwell on our past actions.

          The sacrament of confession is the important means that enables to say – out loud – our faults (what we did) then move on.

          Repentance is – in my view – not simply about what is broken or disconnected, but what is still whole and worthy of connection.

          There is an old saying that in you – God made someone beautiful and worthy of love – St. Paul expressed it this way –

          “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

          There are moments in our lives when we are called to recognize that our own efforts are not sufficient.

This is, in fact, the Catholic / Christian view of being called by God, for example, in the call to live as a married person, as husband and wife together in matrimony.

At some point, hopefully early on the, the couple recognizes that their marriage is not a blessing based simply on their own skills and merits.

And, as Catholics, we bring God into marriage and idea of repentance into marriage because we are recognizing that there will be far less tension about “who is in charge in the marriage” when we recognize that God is in charge in the marriage.

I read this about what it means to take religious vows and live in a monastery. I think it also applies to being married.

Because, in the monastery the community always speaks about how they wish to not be influenced by the outside world, and how perfection must come from within and from God, not from some outsider.

Does not the same apply to being a spouse, a parent, a child in family?

“Risks are always involved when our aim is high …. The critical choice must be made: either choose God and accept that perfection must come first and foremost from within or leave open certain gates to the world so that [those other me ans] play a part in one’s life…”  (The Wound of Love: A Carthusian Misceallany, “Ch. 3 Beyond the Absolute”, p. 33)

These days, we as a family members and spouses – whether married or single – need to recognize that there many attractions and distractions that can draw us from God who is our true aim.

And, I just share this with you, because on a daily basis we are called to REPENTANCE, not to enhance our reputation or image, but to recognize that in God alone is our true standard of goodness, honesty, justice.

We will not be judged for broken glass, but we will be called to account for how we put the pieces together afterwards in our lives.

As we read in the 95^th psalm about repentance and having an openness to change:

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart. ” [__fin__]