Sirach, Luke, and Drunk Texting: Homily for the 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Sir 27:4-7

Ps 92

1 Cor 15:53-58

Lk 6:39-45

 

The readings from Sirach and Luke pose the same question, arrive at the same answer,  and offer the same warning. Sirach advises:  "Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then that people are tested."  Luke observes:  " . . . from the heart the mouth speaks."

 

Throughout the book of Sirach the author uses images from daily life and experience as a means of instruction in how to live. Here we are reminded that the results give the measure of the person. Publicity, an air of bravado, and good looks count for little except in the worlds of celebrity and politics.  Instant communication and social media have created treacherous minefields that did not exist in the past.  Today Sirach might write,  "Praise no one before he Instagrams"  and Luke might observe that the heart reveals itself in the sound bite.  Many remember the advertising campaign, "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." Excellent advice at all times.  It was no surprise when the riff on this theme appeared as: Friends don't let friends text drunk. Excellent advice. 

 

It is always amusing to watch a celebrity spout off an opinion and then have to retract, grovel, and apologize.  Indeed, the offender oftentimes quotes the gist of Sirach when whining:  "But that's not who I am."  Perhaps it is.  It is difficult to retract an ill-advised comment in the current cancellation culture dominating the U.S, especially if that comment is misattributed,  misquoted, taken out of context, or manipulated to fit an accuser's agenda.  

 

The power of speech is unique to humans.  No lower animal possesses anything approaching speech. True, each species has a repertory of squeaks, squawks, shrieks, growls and other primitive sounds that allow for a type of communication. But only humans have the gift of words that can be combined into sentences and  paragraphs, poetry and prayer, that can foster peace or precipitate war.  Words that can explain complex scientific principles or ease a grieving heart.  In scripture speech is frequently symbolized by the tongue, the extraordinary organ that gives humans the ability to form words consistently and intelligibly. Both Sirach and Jesus advise control of the tongue, control of what one says and how one says it. 

 

Babette's Feast, the 1988 movie that won the Best Foreign Film Oscar, is a perfectly made film. It is not, as one critic described it, a semi-comedic food movie.  It is a profound meditation on the Eucharist and the importance of the Eucharistic banquet in creating a community, maintaining that community, and, most critically, healing the rifts that inevitably develop in any community or family. In one scene during the titular feast a woman tells the splintering community:  "The tongue, that strange little muscle, it has accomplished great and glorious deeds for man.  But it's also an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." 

 

There is nothing one can add to describe the power of human speech, the effect of what we say, how we say it, and to whom we say it. That strange little muscle, can caress the words of the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the uncountable number of prayers that we utter in times of distress and sorrow as well as in times of celebration and joy.  That strange little muscle can also destroy another's happiness or ruin a reputation in moments.  We are, and will truly be, known by our words. 

 

The psalm assures us: "The just one shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow. . . They shall bear fruit even in old age; vigorous and sturdy shall they be . . ." Yes, even in old age. 

 

We are two days away from Ash Wednesday. Lent gives us an opportunity to examine our lives, to evaluate our deeds, and to reconsider our words, those things that tell the world what we are, who we are, and how we are. Those things that reveal the stores of goodness in our hearts or allow the evils we harbor there spill forth.

 

The gospel antiphon gives us all the instruction we need: "Shine like lights in the world as you hold on to the word of life."

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One of the most surprising places I've visited was Saigon.  I was permitted to stop in Vietnam on the way home from tertianship in Australia.  I'd planned ten days in Saigon before heading off to Taipei.  Had I known I would have stayed longer in Saigon and less in Taipei as I'd been there several times and was more interested in spending time with my buddy Ignatius than in touring.  

The photos are of the Cathedral Basilica in Saigon.  All of the building materials, including the bricks, were brought over from France.  Because the bricks were not glazed they have remained brightly colored, which explains the nickname "The Red Cathedral."  

In much of Asia there is no secrecy surrounding the bride's gown or big reveal at the processional.  Bride and groom are photographed well before the wedding with the photos oftentimes on display at the reception a few weeks later.  No one could pay me enough to be a wedding photographer.  

There is a barrier at the back of the church preventing tourists with cameras from wandering about. 

Sculpture of the Blessed Mother in front of the Cathedral. 

+ Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

No Arty, It is NOT okay: 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 1 Sm 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23

Ps 103

1 Cor 15:45-49

Lk 6:27-38

 

The first reading is instructive. 

The second one is explanatory.

The gospel is prescriptive. 

 

And the psalm offers consolation in our struggles.

 

The first reading instructs us on the difference between envy and jealousy, words that are oftentimes used interchangeably as if they were synonyms.  They are not. The distinction is important.  Envy and jealousy are different emotions that drive different behaviors. The behaviors associated with jealousy are potentially more damaging, destructive, and dangerous than the behaviors characteristic of envy, though envy may deteriorate into jealousy. 

 

Envy means coveting or wanting what someone else has. It can drive either positive behaviors or disastrously maladaptive ones depending on the individual.  Thus, it can motivate someone to try harder.  Imagine a student who envies a classmates grades and wants similar ones.  And then he observes his friend and realizes that studying more and gaming less will help. However, envy that puts someone into financial distress because "I want the same Mercedes that my neighbor has" or "I gotta' have those granite counter tops like my sister's" can be destructive and result in deep debt.  Rather than wanting what the other has, jealousy is fear, sometimes an incorrect or even delusional fear, that someone will take what I have from me.  It can drive violent, destructive, and murderous behavior.  Shakespeare had a field day with jealousy in Othello. 

 

The story of Saul and David is one of envy that deteriorated into homicidal jealousy on Saul's part. The tragedy began with Saul envying David's popularity and skill.  Saul wanted people to sing his praises the way they sang David's.  With time Saul became obsessed that David would usurp his power. That obsession drove his desire to kill David so as to prevent him from taking what Saul had.

 

For his part David was far from perfect.  He was a man with many serious flaws, a man who sunk to an abysmal low in his tawdry affair with Bathsheba. Like all of us he was a sinner: a sinner who was loved by God and forgiven when he repented though the penalty for his adultery was harsh.  In this particular narrative, however, he showed himself to be virtuous when he refused to kill Saul despite the perfect opportunity to do so.  "Today, though the Lord delivered you into my grasp, I would not harm the Lord's anointed.”

 

The politicians of both parties in this country could learn a lot from David.  

 

Envy, jealousy, and their associated behaviors are rampant in our society, in the halls of congress and state legislatures, and in just about any other venue one can name. While not rare in Rome that is a homily for another time.

 

Attempted murder is generally frowned upon in the halls of government, at least in the U.S. But . . . . character assassination, false accusations, backstabbing, and slander on social media are modern equivalents.  Destroying another's reputation is as lethal as a spear through the heart. 

 

The second reading explains the reason for sinful human behavior in concise terms.  Adam, the first man, was from the earth and of the earth.  Thus, Paul wrote: "As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly."

 

We will be reminded of our earthly origins in just ten days as ashes are imposed on our foreheads to the formula, "Recall that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return."  No getting around that fact.  We are from the earth and will return to it in due course.

 

Jesus, the new Adam, was of heaven. In his obedience he atoned for the sin of Adam, the original sin that we carry within us, the sin of arrogance and pride. The penitential prayer in the Carthusian rite of the Mass is simpler than in the Roman .  It begins: "I confess to Almighty God that I have sinned through pride . . . "  Pride was the sin of Adam and Eve.  

 

Jesus the heavenly man is the image we desire.  That image is within our grasp.  As Paul wrote, "Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one."

 

But how can those of the earth bear the image of the one of heaven?  The prescription is given in the gospel. It is not an easy-to-fill prescription, it is definitely not an over-the-counter remedy, by any stretch of the imagination. Love your enemies . . . . Bless those who curse you . . . Offer unstinting generosity . . . Do to others as you would have them do unto you . . . Some of those prescriptions are particularly challenging today:  Do not judge . . . . Do not condemn . . . Forgive and be forgiven . . . And, a second mention of unstinting generosity.

 

The politization of covid has resulted in appalling judgments of others, harsh condemnations, and vile imprecations, on both sides of the issue. At the end of October a column by Arthur Caplan an NYU bioethicist  who is fortunately not a physician charged with the care of the ill, appeared on Medscape, a physicians' website under the title: "IT IS OK FOR DOCS TO REFUSE TO TREAT UNVACCINATED PATIENTS." Not only is it not OK to refuse treatment on the basis of vaccination status, it is immoral, not unlike those passers-by who ignored a brutalized man lying in the gutter until a Samaritan happened upon the scene. Some celebrity types have suggested that it is permissible to punch in the faces of  those who refuse to be vaccinated.  Do not judge.  Do not condemn.  Yeah, right.  

 

The challenges here are great.  When is calling something sin judgmental and in error and when is it necessary to call sin for what it is?  When must we forgive?  What is unforgiveable?  When is it possible to restore trust?  When must we remain forever untrusting of another?  Each of us must struggle to answer these questions. The struggle is eased by the consolations in the psalm:  

 

"He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion."

 

True, we must ask for that pardon and healing. Ideally, it helps us to amend our lives.  But . . . . pardon, redemption, and healing are there for the asking. 

 

"Merciful and gracious is the LORD,"
slow to anger and abounding in kindness 

Not according to our sins does he deal with us,

nor does he requite us according to our crimes."

 

In response to this consolation we can only sing to acknowledge, "The Lord is kind and merciful."

_________________________________________________

Down in Connecticut.  Weather is miserable.  Very damp.  Did indoor photography of cheese and bread.  There is less cheese today than when I arrived two days ago but that is to be expected.    

+ Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
 

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

13 February 2022

Jer 17:5-8

Ps 1

1 Cor 15:12, 16-20

Lk 6:17, 20-26

 

 

"Happy is the man 

who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, 

or taken the path of sinners, 

but for whom the teaching of the Lord is his delight . . .

 

Not so the wicked; 

they are like chaff that wind blows away. 

The wicked will not survive judgment 

in the assembly of the righteous."

 

Thus begins the psalter; the Church's ancient prayer book of 150 hymns, that comprise most of the Liturgy of the Hours. The importance of the psalter for the Church's liturgy cannot be overemphasized. There is no time of the day that it is not being recited or chanted, be it in hurried fashion by a busy religious holding a breviary with multi-colored ribbon markers, the monk or nun using with neumes of ancient chants in choir, or, in a new development of today, from the backlit screen of an iPad or iPhone.

 

The introduction of the responsorial psalm into the Mass was a positive development that allows greater familiarity with these hymns.  While the importance of the psalms cannot be overemphasized, it is similarly difficult to overemphasize the importance of this first psalm to the rest of the psalter. 

 

In one of his homilies on this psalm St. Basil the Great indicated that the foundations and structures around things and upon which things are constructed, must be proportionate to their purpose and size.  Thus, the foundation of a tall building must be sunk deep into the earth if it is to support the structure's height and mass; the keel of a large merchant ship must be sufficiently large and deep to keep it steady, even in rough seas.  

 

Thus, the psalms that are so important to the spiritual life of the Church and the individual, must have a firm and deeply anchored starting point.  Sometimes called Beatus Vir, Psalm 1 has been set to music by many composers including Mozart in his exquisite Solemn Vespers of the Confessor.  Beatus vir is that starting point, foundation, and steadying keel of which Basil speaks.  Both the first reading and the gospel appear to rely on it. 

 

The dating of the psalms is uncertain.  Current opinion is that many of the first 50 or so psalms were pre-exilic, coming into use before the 59 year exile from Jerusalem  that began in 587 BC and ended in 538.  It seems reasonable to assume that Jeremiah ben Hilkiah, a prophet who was active from 626 BC until the captivity of Jerusalem in 587 would have been familiar with this psalm.  As in the psalm,  Jeremiah warns of the woes that will befall the one whose heart turns away from the Lord,--the one who begins to believe his or her PR--and likens him or her to a barren bush in a salt wasteland.  He then praises the one who trusts in the Lord, the one who will remain fruitful even during times of drought because of his or her nearness of the source of nourishment: God's law.  

 

Unlike Matthew's eight beatitudes all of which follow the same pattern of consolation: "Blessed are they who . .  . . for they will be . . ." Luke enumerates the woes that will befall those who fail to trust in the Lord.   Thus, while the first four statements in what is known as  The Sermon on the Plain begins with the personal "Blessed are you . . . ." the tone changes in the final four statements that begin with, "But woe to you who . . . "

 

These woes are addressed to those who are rich and satiated, who laugh and are well-thought of.  The woes don't necessarily condemn those who are materially wealthy, happy, have enough to eat, and are renown and respected.  Rather, they stand as a warning to the comfortable of the world whose prosperity and notoriety has turned them away from God and the demands of His covenant.  Those whose love of power, or narcissistic enchantment with their own abilities, drives them to flaunt God's law.

 

Subtly underlying the woes is the reminder that worldly comfort can change over night. The stock market crash of 1929 set off a ten-year long economic depression from which many never recovered. In our day the 'covid crash' has had similarly catastrophic effects on the lives and well-being of many, particularly those who are, or were not, materially comfortable to begin with. But there is an even more malignant side to this covid crash. That is in the treatment of others.

 

Were this gospel to continue further, though still be within the Sermon on the Plain,  we would hear Jesus' teaching on love for one's enemies, for the other, for the one whom we interpret as a threat or danger. Alas, U.S. society has taken a tack of persecuting those who do not toe the party line. 

 

I am still at a loss to explain the column that appeared in late October on Medscape, a physician's website.  Written by bioethicist Arthur Caplan of NYU the attention-grabbing title was: "It's OK for Docs to Refuse to Treat Unvaccinated Patients." Fortunately, Caplan is a PhD and not a physician entrusted with the care of patients. While I cannot share my initial response to the column in sacred space without risking a lightening strike, the fallout was swift and sure with over 700 comments on a website in which 100 comments is an enormous response.  The majority ranged between negative and condemnatory, including one contributor who declared he was discontinuing his subscription.  

 

Not only is not OK to refuse to treat non-vaccinated patients it is immoral to refuse treatment on that basis, not unlike those passers-by who ignored a brutalized man until a Samaritan happened upon the scene. 

 

Back in the early-80s when AIDS was still a mysterious illness the hue and cry was loud against physicians who refused to treat AIDS patients or those whose lifestyles put them at risk. Apparently things have changed.  Of course the usual suspects in Hollywood have emerged from the woodwork to pontificate with suggestions that it is OK to punch the unvaccinated in the face.  These are the ways of the wicked to which the psalmist refers.

 

We are living through very dark ethical and moral times.  Happy the one who follows not the counsels of the wicked, but rather the way of the Lord   . . . . .even when that way is difficult and perhaps dangerous.  

_______________________________________

Didn't post for the past few weeks as on one Sunday I was celebrating in Portuguese but not preaching, there was a blizzard on another and I did not even attempt to get to Framingham, something I knew would happen very early in the blizzard.  Things are a bit more under control.  

Am in the process of moving all of my photos, over 100,000, from three or four USB drives to a high capacity solid state drive.  As a result I am revisiting places I've been and thoroughly enjoying the process.  Below are some shots from Slovenia, a period of time that represents some of my best experiences in the Society.  

Taken on one of the most perfect evenings in April that one can imagine. 

Lake Bled, the most popular tourist draw in Slovenia.  Only got there once and, alas, it was cloudy until the last hour before we left.  I was with a group for whom I'd celebrated Mass and thus had no control over the schedule. 

One of the first shots I took in the country.  The yellow church at the end is the Cathedral.  I spent ten months trying to recreate that shot but . . . . 

The church at Preddvor in the mountains. 

One of the outdoor cafes.  I lived close to the center of the old city and thus made many many trips in the evening and after dark to shoot.  

Monastery cloister in NE Slovenia