"A [preacher] who does not love art, poetry, music and nature can be dangerous. Blindness and deafness toward the beautiful are not incidental; they are necessarily reflected in his [preaching]." — BXVI
20 July 2016
19 July 2016
18 July 2016
Why no signs. . .?
16th
Week OT(M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Dominic, NOLA
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Dominic, NOLA
Up
for the second time that night and headed to the bathroom in a
staggering daze, I was shown a truth about my world I had never
thought to question. There just about three feet from the floor,
hovering in mid-air, is a small glowing object. I stare for a moment,
without my glasses, in the dark, and think for just a second or two
that perhaps the Lord has sent an angel to tell me something amazing.
As I contemplate this greenish-yellow glow, thinking about
revelations, dreams, visions, and prophecies, I am suddenly struck by
the truth of what I am seeing. There it is, as plain as the shine of
a full moon in October, there it is in plain view, and I realize with
a nearly blinding clarity: my
toothbrush glows in the dark!
Then, just being me, the question arises: why would anyone think to
make toothbrushes glow in the dark? Stumbling back to bed, I chuckle
myself to sleep wondering what we would all look like if our teeth
glowed in the dark.
Strictly
speaking, my “vision” of the glowing toothbrush was a discovery
not a revelation. Its discovery was accidental and has no meaning
beyond what I can give it in a homily about seeking after signs of
God’s presence. As a divine sign my glowing toothbrush fails what
we can call here the “From Test;” that is, my toothbrush shining
in the darkness on the sink cannot be said to be “from” God. And
though we can rightly say that anything made is made by a creature
who in turn is created by the Creator and reveals his/her Creator as
a creature, we cannot say that a glowing toothbrush made by a
creature reveals much about God. Signs point the way and make present
that which they signify. Divine signs point the way to God and make
His presence knowable to those who desire to know Him.
The
scribes and Pharisees are understandably both curious and worried
about Jesus’ claims to be the Son of God. They approach him and
make a reasonable request, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from
you.” Traditionally, those claiming to be “sent from God”
provide signs that point to God’s presence and make Him knowable.
These men are educated, pious, intellectually curious, and therefore
rightly seek some indication from this rabble-rousing preacher that
he is who he claims to be. Show us a sign. Jesus’ response
is unexpected and harsh: “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a
sign, but no sign will be given it…” We have to wonder why Jesus
is being so stubborn. We know he is capable of miraculous deeds. Why
not show these men what they need to see?
Jesus
says that no sign will be given to them “except the sign of Jonah
the prophet.” Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three
days and nights, so the Son of Man will be “in the heart of the
earth three days and three nights.” Jonah is expelled from the
whale and goes on to preach repentance to the decadent citizens of
Nineveh. They repent and return to God’s favor. So Jesus too,
expelled from the grave and risen from the dead, will be a sign to
the scribes and Pharisees and a sign to us that Jesus is indeed who
he claims to be. Jesus goes on to add that on the day of judgment,
“the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it,
b/c they repented at the preaching of Jonah…” Needing no other
sign than the earnest preaching of an honest prophet, the citizens of
Nineveh return to God.
Living
here on the edge of the end of the second decade of the 21st
century, can we be counted an “evil and unfaithful generation”
seeking after signs? What signs could we seek? Crying statues? Marian
apparitions? Bleeding Hosts? Yes, all of these and many more. But do
we need these signs? We do not. We have a magisterial Church, her
Eucharist, a divine guarantee against defeat, and pews packed with
priests, prophets, and kings. All of these speak with one voice to
say what is good and what the Lord requires: “Only to do the right
and love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Follow HancAquam or Subscribe ----->
17 July 2016
Take the Better Part
NB. This one is short for a Sunday homily b/c I'm not sure I can stand in the pulpit for the usual length of time!
16th
Sunday OT
Fr.
Philip Neri Powell, OP
OLR,
NOLA
How
do we go about revealing to the world the mystery of God's mercy? We
have in the sisters, Martha and Mary, two models of how we might
proceed. When Jesus visits the sisters, Martha begins to fuss about,
trying her best to prepare a suitably hospitable meal for their
guest. Frustrated that Mary is ignoring her domestic duties in order
to dote on Jesus, Martha complains to Jesus and asks him to admonish
Mary for her apparent laziness. Instead of scolding Mary for her
inattention to duty, Jesus turns Martha's complaint back on her,
saying, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many
things.” We should notice here that Jesus doesn't chastise Martha
for griping nor does he seem ungrateful for her work on his behalf.
Rather than soothe Martha's hurt feelings by telling Mary to get to
work, rather than tempering Martha's anger with a lecture on
patience, Jesus goes straight to the root of her fussiness. Martha is
anxious; she is worried. Faced with the presence of Christ in her
home, Martha chooses to get busy; she deflects her anxiety by “doing
stuff,” hoping, perhaps, that by staying busy she will burn off the
fretting worry. Mary, on the other hand, sits at Jesus' feet and
listens to his instruction. She too might be anxious. She might be
just as wound up and nervous as her sister in the presence of Christ,
but she chooses “the better part,” attending to Jesus as he
teaches her the mysteries of his Father's revelation.
Why
does Jesus consider Mary's rapt attention to be better than Martha's
distracted busyness? Let's ask this question another way. Who is most
likely to learn: a student who sits in class texting on her cell
phone, checking Facebook, or doodling; or the student who attentively
listens to the teacher – no distractions, nothing to cloud her mind
or burden her heart? If you have ever tried to teach a child a
difficult math problem, or convey a set of relatively boring facts,
then you know the answer to this question! Mary has the better part
because she is more likely to learn, more likely to “get it,”
more likely to become the better teacher and preacher of the
mysteries herself. Martha will get quite a lot done, but will she be
open to seeing and hearing the mystery that Jesus has to reveal?
Jesus tells Martha, “There is need of only one thing.” There is
only one needful thing, only one thing we need: to listen to the
Word, the Word made flesh in Christ Jesus.
When
you take up Christ's commission to preach the mystery of salvation to
the world, do you first listen to the Word; or do you get busy “doing
stuff” that looks Christian, sounds Christian? Do you really hear
what Christ has to say about God's mercy, His love? Do you attend to
the Body of Christ in action during the celebration of his
sacraments? Do you watch for Christ to reveal himself in those you
love, in those you despise, those you would rather ignore or
disparage? Can you set aside the work of doing Christian things and
just be a follower of Christ, just long enough to be filled with the
Spirit necessary to teach with all wisdom? It's vital that we
understand that Martha isn't wrong for doing stuff. Her flaw rests
solely in her anxiety and her worry while she's doing stuff. Being
anxious and worried about many things while doing God's work is a
sure sign that we are failing to grasp the central mystery of our
commission to preach the Good News: it is Christ who preaches
through us, not only with us, along side us, but through us. If
we have truly seen and heard the mystery of our salvation through
God's infinite mercy, then there is nothing to fear, nothing to be
anxious about, nothing that can or will defeat the Word we are vowed
to spread. Why? Because everything we do and say reveals Christ to
the world. If the Church is the sacrament of God's presence in the
world, and we are members of the Body of Christ, the Church, then we
too are sacraments of God's presence. Individually imperfect,
together we are made more perfect on the way to our perfection in
Christ.
Follow HancAquam or Subscribe ----->
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)