7th Sunday in Ordinary Time
"And now for something completely different" was the title of the first full-length movie by Monty Python, the British comedy troupe. Released in 1971, it was made up of clips from the group's TV series which hadn't been seen before in the United States. The movie was America's introduction to Monty Python. We really hadn't seen anything like Monty Python before, so the movie's title was very appropriate. Some say that Monty Python was to comedy as the Beatles were to music.
The movie's title became a catch phrase for the group. On screen we'd see an announcer in some really ridiculous situation, maybe sitting behind a desk that was floating through the sky held up by helium balloons. Then the announcer would say, "And now for something completely different". For it's time it was pretty outrageous.
I thought of Monty Python (that should give you an idea of how my mind works) when was looking over Isaiah's words in the first reading. Speaking for God he writes, "I am doing something completely new." Or in other words, "And now for something completely different." But, the outrageousness of what God was going to do was a lot more radical than anything Monty Python could ever come up with.
For centuries the Hebrew people had been living under a simple formula. They would suffer and they would complain. The people were tired of suffering and God was tired of listening to them whine, so he came up with a new plan, something completely different.
Fast forward to today's Gospel, the fourth week in a row that we've heard Mark's telling of Jesus miracle healings and exorcisms. After Jesus heals the paralytic, the witnesses were astounded. They "glorified God saying, 'We have never seen anything like this.'" It was something completely different.
See, God has decided that the old suffering/complaining model just wasn't cutting it anymore. So He came up with this new plan where He would send His Son to become a man like us in all things but sin. Forget the past! Don't consider the things of long ago! This is a new covenant. My Son will die for the forgiveness of your sins.
No more commandments. No more floods. No more burning bushes. It's time for something completely different. I'm going to make the ultimate sacrifice for you, the flesh and blood of my Son. And the people at the time, at least some of them, reacted like the people in today's Gospel, glorifying God. Before He would be given up to death Jesus told us, often through parables, what we needed to do to keep our part of this "new covenant." Then He put Peter in charge of his new church, the Church that would remain with us until the end of time to receive the word of the Holy Spirit and pass it along to the people.
Like anything completely different, like Elvis in the '50s or the Beatles in the '60s or Monty Python in the '70s, Jesus attracted loyal, even fanatic, followers. He also inspired detractors who were equally fanatical. Some of them so fanatical that they wanted to kill Him. Of course with 20/20 hindsight, we know that that was also part of God's plan.
As time has gone by, the number of Jesus' followers has grown from a few to a few hundred. Then to thousands and hundreds of thousands. We've grown to millions and today we number ONE BILLION. Some of Jesus' followers are just as fanatical as those first few. Sadly, many people who call themselves Christians are more interested in following Elvis than they are in following Jesus. There are people who wouldn't hesitate to drive to Memphis to visit Graceland but can't manage to get to Church more than once or twice a year.
This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. Please don't anyone be offended by this because we all want to do the right thing but this is the time of year when people ask "What do I have to do for Lent?" In other words, "What's the minimum?" "What's the least I can do?"
You know how when someone does you a favor and you say "thank you", sometimes they answer "It was the least I could do"? In other words, "it was no big deal." or "I was glad to do it." It's a cliche and if you think about it it really demeans the act, calling it "no big deal". Doesn't saying it was the least that person could do mean that they could have done more?
The point is this: The Church gives us minimum guidelines for lent. Here's what Bishop Herman wrote in his pastoral letter on Lent. He called Lent "a time most strong in grace for our daily living in Christ. It is a time of annual retreat for the universal Church, when all of us who have come to life in Christ through Baptism accompany our Lord into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray, in order that we, with Him, may give ourselves more completely to doing the will of God the Father in all things."
The Bishop points out that Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The minimum requirements for Lent, the least we can do, is to fast on Ash Wednesday and good Friday and to abstain from meet on those days plus all the Fridays until Easter. If you're a kid or old like me, you don't even have to fast. If you have certain medical conditions you don't even have to skip the meat. But really, does eating at Red Lobster instead of Long Horn Steak House for 8 days of the year come anywhere near thanking God for the gift of His Son, or to prepare ourselves for the celebration of His death and resurrection? Even if it did, it's just one of the three things that we're akded to do. What about prayer and almsgiving?
This is where Lent becomes something between you and God. What you do in your own heart is up to you and it's nobody's business but yours. Cloistered religious already pray all day long. How can they add to that? I don't know. That's up to them. But maybe I pray just in the morning and the evening. Adding a rosary, or just an Our Father and a Hail Mary at lunch time might do me a world of good because it's something more, something completely different. As Catholics, there's no shortage of prayers that we can add to our day during the next six weeks.
What about alsmgiving? This year may be a tough one for many of us. We just might not have the extra money to give to the poor. But almsgiving isn't supposed to be about extra money. It's not supposed to be the least we can do. But I'm a realist. Since I've retired I know I don't have as much to give as I used to. But, you know what? I've got an attic, a garage, a basement, and a bunch of closets full of "stuff" that I don't use anymore. Maybe instead of cash, I can donate things. Our youngest kid just turned 23, I don't think I need a garage full of bicycles. Again, nobody but you, God, and the recipients of your generosity will ever know what you did. If you're broke and you give a dollar, that's a lot more meaningful than a Wall Street banker giving away a million. Just so it's the most that you can do.
Let's go back to prayer for a minute. Maybe you like things to be a little more structured, a little more organized. Here are some suggestions. We'll be having the Stations of the Cross here at St. Bernadette on Friday mornings during Lent right after the 8 AM communion service. It doesn't take long, but it's a good way to begin the weekend.
Father Gary has sent each of you a book of Lenten reflections that you can use every day. It takes very little time and can be very rewarding. There's a huge amount of Lenten material on the Internet. I'm doing a daily series based on the writing of Thomas Merton which I'll get everyday via email. This is one place where technology can be really helpful. You can practice your faith on the web, on your laptop, even on your cell phone.
Check out the St. Louis Review. Our neighboring parishes are having special services of the season, including Reconcilliattion services. Of course, we have Reconcilliation here every Saturday afternoon. Going to confession during Lent is the least you can do.
For almost eleven years we've had monthly Eucharistic Adoration here at St. Bernadette. The Blessed Sacrament is exposed every fourth Tuesday of the month from right after 8 AM mass until 8 in the evening. Harold Maurer and the other supporters of Adoration deserve a lot of credit for keeping it going. On the other hand, we've never had to get out extra chairs to accomadate the crowds. There's alway plenty of room for more. Here's a suggestion. This coming week you have a unique opportunity. This month's adoration falls on the day before Ash Wednesday. Why not commit to spending just 15 minutes Tuesday asking God what He wants you to do for Lent while you kneel in front of His Son. Then be quiet and listen for the answer.
I'll warn you up front that 15 minutes may turn into a half hour or maybe even an hour. But if you really seek an answer it will come to you and it will be the best time you've ever spent. If I'm wrong, I'll personally give you your money back. But wait, there's more! March adoration is on the 24th, during the fourth week of Lent, 2/3 of the way through. That's the perfect time to come back, kneel beore the Lord and reflect on how Lent's going so far. Again, it may take 15 minutes, it may take an hour.
Here's another warning. If you come to Adoration two months in a row, you may find it's habit-forming. You may just find yourself coming back every month.
Jesus spent 40 days in the desert fasting and praying for you and for me. Then He gave up His life. Don't we owe Him more than the least we can do?
The movie's title became a catch phrase for the group. On screen we'd see an announcer in some really ridiculous situation, maybe sitting behind a desk that was floating through the sky held up by helium balloons. Then the announcer would say, "And now for something completely different". For it's time it was pretty outrageous.
I thought of Monty Python (that should give you an idea of how my mind works) when was looking over Isaiah's words in the first reading. Speaking for God he writes, "I am doing something completely new." Or in other words, "And now for something completely different." But, the outrageousness of what God was going to do was a lot more radical than anything Monty Python could ever come up with.
For centuries the Hebrew people had been living under a simple formula. They would suffer and they would complain. The people were tired of suffering and God was tired of listening to them whine, so he came up with a new plan, something completely different.
Fast forward to today's Gospel, the fourth week in a row that we've heard Mark's telling of Jesus miracle healings and exorcisms. After Jesus heals the paralytic, the witnesses were astounded. They "glorified God saying, 'We have never seen anything like this.'" It was something completely different.
See, God has decided that the old suffering/complaining model just wasn't cutting it anymore. So He came up with this new plan where He would send His Son to become a man like us in all things but sin. Forget the past! Don't consider the things of long ago! This is a new covenant. My Son will die for the forgiveness of your sins.
No more commandments. No more floods. No more burning bushes. It's time for something completely different. I'm going to make the ultimate sacrifice for you, the flesh and blood of my Son. And the people at the time, at least some of them, reacted like the people in today's Gospel, glorifying God. Before He would be given up to death Jesus told us, often through parables, what we needed to do to keep our part of this "new covenant." Then He put Peter in charge of his new church, the Church that would remain with us until the end of time to receive the word of the Holy Spirit and pass it along to the people.
Like anything completely different, like Elvis in the '50s or the Beatles in the '60s or Monty Python in the '70s, Jesus attracted loyal, even fanatic, followers. He also inspired detractors who were equally fanatical. Some of them so fanatical that they wanted to kill Him. Of course with 20/20 hindsight, we know that that was also part of God's plan.
As time has gone by, the number of Jesus' followers has grown from a few to a few hundred. Then to thousands and hundreds of thousands. We've grown to millions and today we number ONE BILLION. Some of Jesus' followers are just as fanatical as those first few. Sadly, many people who call themselves Christians are more interested in following Elvis than they are in following Jesus. There are people who wouldn't hesitate to drive to Memphis to visit Graceland but can't manage to get to Church more than once or twice a year.
This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. Please don't anyone be offended by this because we all want to do the right thing but this is the time of year when people ask "What do I have to do for Lent?" In other words, "What's the minimum?" "What's the least I can do?"
You know how when someone does you a favor and you say "thank you", sometimes they answer "It was the least I could do"? In other words, "it was no big deal." or "I was glad to do it." It's a cliche and if you think about it it really demeans the act, calling it "no big deal". Doesn't saying it was the least that person could do mean that they could have done more?
The point is this: The Church gives us minimum guidelines for lent. Here's what Bishop Herman wrote in his pastoral letter on Lent. He called Lent "a time most strong in grace for our daily living in Christ. It is a time of annual retreat for the universal Church, when all of us who have come to life in Christ through Baptism accompany our Lord into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray, in order that we, with Him, may give ourselves more completely to doing the will of God the Father in all things."
The Bishop points out that Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The minimum requirements for Lent, the least we can do, is to fast on Ash Wednesday and good Friday and to abstain from meet on those days plus all the Fridays until Easter. If you're a kid or old like me, you don't even have to fast. If you have certain medical conditions you don't even have to skip the meat. But really, does eating at Red Lobster instead of Long Horn Steak House for 8 days of the year come anywhere near thanking God for the gift of His Son, or to prepare ourselves for the celebration of His death and resurrection? Even if it did, it's just one of the three things that we're akded to do. What about prayer and almsgiving?
This is where Lent becomes something between you and God. What you do in your own heart is up to you and it's nobody's business but yours. Cloistered religious already pray all day long. How can they add to that? I don't know. That's up to them. But maybe I pray just in the morning and the evening. Adding a rosary, or just an Our Father and a Hail Mary at lunch time might do me a world of good because it's something more, something completely different. As Catholics, there's no shortage of prayers that we can add to our day during the next six weeks.
What about alsmgiving? This year may be a tough one for many of us. We just might not have the extra money to give to the poor. But almsgiving isn't supposed to be about extra money. It's not supposed to be the least we can do. But I'm a realist. Since I've retired I know I don't have as much to give as I used to. But, you know what? I've got an attic, a garage, a basement, and a bunch of closets full of "stuff" that I don't use anymore. Maybe instead of cash, I can donate things. Our youngest kid just turned 23, I don't think I need a garage full of bicycles. Again, nobody but you, God, and the recipients of your generosity will ever know what you did. If you're broke and you give a dollar, that's a lot more meaningful than a Wall Street banker giving away a million. Just so it's the most that you can do.
Let's go back to prayer for a minute. Maybe you like things to be a little more structured, a little more organized. Here are some suggestions. We'll be having the Stations of the Cross here at St. Bernadette on Friday mornings during Lent right after the 8 AM communion service. It doesn't take long, but it's a good way to begin the weekend.
Father Gary has sent each of you a book of Lenten reflections that you can use every day. It takes very little time and can be very rewarding. There's a huge amount of Lenten material on the Internet. I'm doing a daily series based on the writing of Thomas Merton which I'll get everyday via email. This is one place where technology can be really helpful. You can practice your faith on the web, on your laptop, even on your cell phone.
Check out the St. Louis Review. Our neighboring parishes are having special services of the season, including Reconcilliattion services. Of course, we have Reconcilliation here every Saturday afternoon. Going to confession during Lent is the least you can do.
For almost eleven years we've had monthly Eucharistic Adoration here at St. Bernadette. The Blessed Sacrament is exposed every fourth Tuesday of the month from right after 8 AM mass until 8 in the evening. Harold Maurer and the other supporters of Adoration deserve a lot of credit for keeping it going. On the other hand, we've never had to get out extra chairs to accomadate the crowds. There's alway plenty of room for more. Here's a suggestion. This coming week you have a unique opportunity. This month's adoration falls on the day before Ash Wednesday. Why not commit to spending just 15 minutes Tuesday asking God what He wants you to do for Lent while you kneel in front of His Son. Then be quiet and listen for the answer.
I'll warn you up front that 15 minutes may turn into a half hour or maybe even an hour. But if you really seek an answer it will come to you and it will be the best time you've ever spent. If I'm wrong, I'll personally give you your money back. But wait, there's more! March adoration is on the 24th, during the fourth week of Lent, 2/3 of the way through. That's the perfect time to come back, kneel beore the Lord and reflect on how Lent's going so far. Again, it may take 15 minutes, it may take an hour.
Here's another warning. If you come to Adoration two months in a row, you may find it's habit-forming. You may just find yourself coming back every month.
Jesus spent 40 days in the desert fasting and praying for you and for me. Then He gave up His life. Don't we owe Him more than the least we can do?
posted by Mike at 4:44 PM
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