Saturday, October 29, 2005

Wedding Homily

The story is told of an elderly couple. They’ve been married 50 years and they’re very much in love. They’re watching television one evening and the husband (we’ll call him John) gets up and says “I’m going to have some ice cream. Would you like some?” And his wife (we’ll call her Jane) says, “Why, yes. I’d love some ice cream. Thank you for asking.” John says, “You’re welcome.”


Then Jane says, “I’d really like some chocolate sauce.” He says “sure, dear. Ice cream with chocolate sauce.” and she says, “You’d better write it down so you don’t forget.”


And, he says, “Don’t be ridiculous. I can remember. Ice cream with chocolate sauce. I don’t need to write it down.”

You’d better write it down.”

I don’t need to write it down. I’ll remember.”

Then she says, “I’d also like some nuts. You’d better write it down or you’ll forget.”

I won’t forget. Ice cream, chocolate sauce, nuts. No problem. I won’t forget.”

Then Jane says, “You know, I’d really like some whipped topping. Now you’d really write it down or you’ll never remember.”

Ice cream, chocolate sauce, nuts, whipped topping. I’ve got it. I won’t forget.”

As he heads for the kitchen she mumbles under her breath, “I’ll bet he forgets. He should have written it down.”


He’s gone for quite a while and just when she’s thinking of going to the kitchen to see what’s taking so long, he comes back…..with a plate of bacon and eggs. She gives him the ‘look’. John, if you haven’t seen it already, you’ll learn about the ‘look’. It’s something that only a wife can give her husband. She gives him the look and says, “See, I told you you should write it down. I knew you’d mess it up.”


John says, “What do you mean I messed it up. I brought you bacon and eggs just like you asked for.” And, she says, “You forgot the toast!”


Jane and John, I know everyone here joins me today in the prayer that you’re happily married long enough that you need to write things down when you go to the kitchen.


The readings that you chose today couldn't be more appropriate, but you could almost sum up all three readings with the first sentence of the first reading, from the first book of the Old Testament.


The Lord God said: “It is not good for the man to be alone.” No, it's NOT good for the man to be alone. We men are fairly helpless creatures when you get right down to it. Oh, we like for people to think we're big and stong, macho and all, but we really don't do all that well by ourselves. We need someone to be there for us when we're discouraged, or angry, or unhappy.


The writer says “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.” Notice the choice of the word “clings”. Cling is a strong word. It's kind of like “hold on for dear life.” You cling to a branch when you go over the edge of a cliff. Try to pull a clinging vine off the side of a building. It won't let go.


We're coming into winter time when our clothes will cling to our bodies. They're full of static electricity and you just can't get them loose. Cling is definitely a strong word, and it's exactly the right word when your talking about what we men must do with our wives. They're our life line. We'd better be holding on.


[pause]

For 2,000 years, poets and song writers have been trying to come up with a better description of love than the one St. Paul wrote in his 1st Letter to the Corinthians. No one has. If I don't have love, even if I speak in human and angelic tongues, I'm just a resounding gong or a clashing symbol. What an anology! Even if I speak like an angel, without love, it's just noise, just racket.


Even if I have the faith to move mountains, if I don't have love, I'm nothing. Then he gives the perfect recipe for a successful marriage. If you each live according to these eleven points, I promise you that you'll have a long and successful marriage.


Love is patient.

Love is kind.

It is not jealous.

It is not pompous.

It is not inflated.

It is not rude.

It does not seek its own interests.

It is not quick-tempered.

It does not brood over injury.

It does not rejoice over wrongdoing.

It rejoices with the truth.

It bears all things.

It believes all things.

It hopes all things.

It endures all things.

Love never fails.


Now, notice that I said you'll have a successful marriage. I didn't say you'll have an easy marriage. Those eleven things aren't easy to do. In fact, I'd say they're impossible to do on a daily basis without help. And, that's why we're here today. You're here to invite that help into your marriage. If you make Jesus an active third member of your family, you'll see it's much easier to take Paul's advice.


That's why Catholic weddings are held in God's house. We don't get married on the beach, or in a park, or on a pirate ship in Las Vegas. We don't get married by ship's captains, or justices of the peace, or guys that look like Elvis Presley. We get married at the foot of Christ's altar, by His minister, in the presence of our families and friends. We ask God to bless the union and to bless each of us.


After thirty six years, eleven months, and seven days of marriage, I'm here to tell you that it can be very difficult sometimes. There's an old joke, “my wife and I have been happily married for twenty five years. Twenty five out of thirty six isn't bad.”


But, if you pray together, if you go to church together, if you make Christ part of your marriage, your odds of a long, happy marriage will increase exponentially.


I wish that every couple I marry could go with me for one evening to visit patients at the hospital. You'd meet people who've been together for a long time. One spouse is sick in bed and the other one is sitting there, holding his or her hand, getting ice water, doing whatever they can to help. That's love. That's why I always start out with the story of the elderly couple.


God willing, in the next fourty or fifty or more years, your youthful, passionate love will gradually morph into the kind of love that's willing to spend hours just sitting in a hospital room, so you can be together. What you have now is wonderful. What you'll have then will be amazing.


With enough heat, enough pressure, and enough time, a lump of coal will turn into a diamond. Love is much like that. There will be heat. There will be pressure. Give it enough time and your love will be worth more than any diamond. The funny thing is that you won't even notice the change.


The one constant through it all will be your faith in God.


None of us know what the future holds. God may bless you with lots of kids, or you may have none. You may have good health or you may not. Jane, you know what it's like to lose someone you love. John, you're in a profession where you deal with the best and the worst that society has to offer. But, as Paul says, “love bears all things.”


So, as you leave here today as man and wife, please know that every one of us is praying that you'll have a long happy life together. Not only that, but every day in churches around the world, people are praying for married couples, just as we will today in our intercessions. In just a few minutes, all of those people will be praying for you. And, with Christ present in your marriage, those prayers will be heard, and you will be constantly blessed.


Thursday, October 20, 2005

Friday of the 29th Week of Ordinary Time

Earlier this week, I visited the National Weather Association convention here in St. Louis. It was a meeting of meteorologists and meteorology students. I was there because our youngest son, Patrick, is studying meteorology at the University of Missouri and he was making a presentation. And, you know how parents are. It doesn’t matter how old they get, if I get a chance to see them do something, I’m there.

So, when I saw today’s Gospel, I thought it was pretty interesting. What is Jesus trying to tell us? The technology is a lot more advanced, but today’s weather scientists are doing the twenty-first century equivalent of looking at the clouds and checking out the wind. They certainly know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and sky. Does that make them hypocrites?

No, I think what the Lord is saying to us is that we spend way too much time worrying about what’s going to happen and not enough time focusing on what’s happening today. It’s fun to speculate on the future, but we really need to take care of today.

A lot of us are disappointed at the outcome of the National League Championship Series. We were all sure that the Cardinals were going to the World Series. We’ve been expecting it since April. But, if we’d been paying attention, we’d have noticed that the Astros were the better team in the second half of the season. It was a pretty even series, but the Astros had just a little bit more when they needed it.

What about our journey of faith? Are we so sure that we’re going to Heaven that we don’t take care of today? I think that’s the message we’re supposed to take from this Gospel. Pay attention to what’s going on around us. If we see a brother or sister in need, do something about it. Don’t walk on by, thinking someone else will take care of it.

A patient at the hospital Tuesday night was telling me that Catholics don’t do enough to help people in need. She’s a Catholic, by the way. I tried to explain to her that most of us follow Jesus’ example of not making a big production out of helping others. She told me that some Jehovah’s Witnesses had made some repairs around her house. Why don’t Catholics do that. Of course, I was there visiting her in the hospital. Most of us help in small, non-flashy, ways. That’s what Jesus has asked us to do.

So let the meteorologists worry about what the weather’s going to be like tomorrow. Please. Patrick will be looking for a job pretty soon. They can watch the clouds in the west and measure the speed and direction of the wind. Let them focus on their area of expertise while we worry about what’s going on in our own little world today. Or we might end up like the Cardinals, so sure of final victory and so disappointed at the outcome.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

World Mission Sunday


October 23, 2005 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time World Mission Sunday

A missionary was walking in Africa when he heard the sound of a lion behind him. "Oh Lord," prayed the missionary, "Grant in Thy goodness that the lion walking behind me is a good Christian lion." And then, in the silence that followed, the missionary heard the lion praying too: "Bless us oh Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive, from thy bounty through Christ, or Lord, Amen.”


Today is World Mission Sunday. It’s a day when we’re all asked to be generous in our support of missions and missionaries. But, I got to wondering exactly what is a mission? The word means a lot of different things. The American Heritage Dictionary gives 7 different definitions.

Number one is “a body of persons sent to conduct negotiations or establish relations with a foreign country.” That’s not really the one we’re after, but in the old days, and sometimes even today, our missionaries can help establish relations with a foreign country.

Second is “a body of persons sent to a foreign land by a religious organization, especially a Christian organization, to spread its faith or provide educational, medical, and other assistance.” That sounds like the one we’re looking for, but let’s see what else they have.

Third is “a Christian church or congregation with no cleric of its own that depends for support on a larger religious organization.” Another one that’s part of the answer, but not the whole thing.

Fourth is “a series of special Christian services for purposes of proselytizing.” That’s one we know about. We had that kind of a mission here at St. Bernadette just a few years ago.
Definition number five says “A welfare or educational organization established for the needy people of a district.” Catholic Charities, and many other churches run that type of mission, right here in St. Louis.

Number six is “a special assignment given to a person or group.” They give an example of an agent on a secret mission. Our missionaries are definitely on a special assignment.

And finally, definition number seven: “An inner calling to pursue an activity or perform a service; a vocation.” We’ll come back to that one in a minute.

Besides the dictionary definitions, we’ve all heard of a “mission accomplished”. Astronauts go on space missions. NASA’s space center in Houston is called “Mission Control.” Speaking of Houston, you could call the Cardinals attempt to beat the Astros, “Mission Impossible.”

How about “Mission Impossible”? Remember that? Starting in 1966 and running through 1973, for 168 episodes, we heard the taped voice say “Good morning, Mr. Phelps. Your assignment, should you decide to accept it……” Then there would be some outlandish plan to stop the bad guys that was so intricate and so difficult that only the Impossible Mission Force, the IMF, could possibly succeed. The recorded message always ended with the warning that if any of the IMF were “caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.” Then the tape would go up in smoke.

You remember Jake and Elwood, the Blues brothers. They were on a mission from God. Their mission was to save the Catholic home where they had been raised. Of course, the destroyed half the police cars in Illinois in the process.

Now adays, lots of companies and organizations have Mission Statements, outlining their reason for being. We have a Mission Statement here at St. Bernadette. Anybody know what it is? It’s hanging on the wall opposite the rest rooms in the back of church. It’s a little wordy, but in a nutshell it says that we, the members of St. Bernadette Parish have been called to be Christ’s disciples and to spread and promote the Kingdom of God through Christian worship, education, and service.”

Our mission comes very close to the second dictionary definition, except that we aren’t sent to a foreign land. Our mission of “worship, education, and service” is almost identical to what the dictionary defines, but our service is to the local community, AND to foreign lands. All the missionaries aren’t in foreign lands.

In a few minutes, we’ll ask you to put an envelope like this into the collection basket. That’s our contribution to the foreign missions. And, it’s very important. But if you think that’s the end of your missionary activity, you haven’t been paying attention. That’s just the beginning.

St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians in the second reading today about his visit to them. He tells them that they became a model for all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. Not only that, but the word of God has sounded forth from them to every place their faith has gone forth. Paul is most definitely a missionary, but the people of Thessalonia have become missionaries, too, by their words and by their actions,.

That’s the call that each one of us has received from God. It’s not enough to just believe in Him, it’s critical for us to share that belief with others. In Matthew’s Gospel, we hear the familiar statement that the most important commandment is to love God. And, the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. And loving our neighbor doesn’t just mean looking the other way when their dog makes a mess in our yard. It means sharing our faith, just as Paul shared his.


Our protestant brothers and sisters do it. When the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons knock on your door, they’re on a mission. They call them mission teams. Young adult Mormons are required to spend a year away from home, knocking on doors.
Thanks be to God, we’re not asked to do that! But we are asked to share our faith, to be missionaries in our own little corner of the world. So, how are you doing? When was the last time you asked someone to come to church with you? Maybe a Catholic who hasn’t been to mass in a while? Or maybe someone who has no church of their own. They may be just waiting for you to ask.

When you hear people make uninformed statements, or even malicious statements, about the Catholic Church, what do you do? Do you pretend not to hear? Do you walk away? Or do you defend your faith? Some of us aren’t good at apologetics, myself included. But there are places where you can get the information.

If someone asks you a tough question, you can say “That’s a good question. Rather than try to explain that, let me get you some information.” Then go to the Sisters of St. Paul’s bookstore on Watson Road and tell them what you need. They’ll direct you to a book or pamphlet that has the information. Or go to Catholic Answers on the Internet. They have answers to just about any question you might have.

Read the St. Louis Review. There’s a lot of good information about our faith in the Review, especially in Archbishop Burke’s column. Another good place to find apologetic information is on St. Dominic Savio parish’s web site. My friend, John Beckman, writes a column called Ask a Deacon”; good stuff.

Remember the dictionary’s definition number 7 of mission, “an inner calling to pursue an activity or perform a service; a vocation.“ Helping people to see the truth. That’s being a missionary. We’re all called to do it by sharing in the Eucharist. We are all one body in Christ.

How about people in need? You’re all very generous here when it comes to helping the poor with the yellow bags. Your response to special collections for the poor, the hungry, victims of disasters and every other good cause is always very good. You’re fulfilling part of our mission of service. But, you’re presence is also important.

Tuesday evening a patient died at the hospital. The nurse had called me into his room just before he passed away. He was an older man, in his 90’s. His daughter was the only one there. While we were talking, we noticed that the patient didn’t seem to be breathing. The nurse came in and couldn’t find a pulse. I offered to stay with the daughter until the rest of the family could get there.

I waited in the hall while she made some phone calls and then I sat with her until her mom and brother and sister got there. Now you all know better than anybody that I don’t usually have anything particularly profound to say. All I did was sit and listen to her tell her story. I did the same with the rest of the family, when they got there.

I’m not telling you this story because I think I did anything special. I’m telling you because it shows that we can all be missionaries, sometimes by just sitting there listening. We can be missionaries to strangers. We can be missionaries to friends. We can especially be missionaries to our families. The next time someone comes to your door to talk about their faith, invite them in for a cup of coffee. Then tell them about YOUR faith.

I know that you’ll all be as generous as you can to the foreign missions. You always are and they, and we appreciate it. But I hope you’ll look at that gift as a symbol of your real missionary work, the work you do right here in south St. Louis County. As St. Paul tells us, we can become a model for all the believers.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Aaaargh!!!


Am I the only one who cringes everytime I hear or see a commercial for Phillips 66? You know, the ones that end "Life happens between empty and full."

That may be true for oil company executives. But for me, life happens between full and empty. That's when I drive to church. That's when I take my wife out for dinner. That's when I go to visit a friend, or visit the sick, or go to a ball game. Good things in our lives often involve driving, and that's when the guage goes down, not up.

The only thing that happens between empty and full is that I stand there, inhaling gas fumes, watching the numbers on the pump spin at an increasingly obscene rate of speed while the dollars are sucked out of my wallet. That's life? I don't think so.