I think Father Brandon's homilies are better when he speaks "from the hip", relating the day's gospel to a pastoral experience he's had. Today's was a really good one. I know, because Mom will discuss the homily with me after Mass when SHE thinks it's good, too, and today was one of those days.
He related a discussion he had with a young adult male (married) he had earlier this week. The young man is a sports "junkie"--he lives for sports. Because Father Brandon knows this, he asked the man how 'his' teams were doing during March Madness. He answered, "I don't know, Father, I gave up watching sports for Lent. Instead, I've instituted a "family night" once a week wherein we have dinner, say the rosary, and head out to the park or the movies or just stay in and play board games." Father was taken aback! This is a guy who doesn't speak about anything but sports! "And you know what, Father?", he continued, "I don't miss it at all! It's as though God filled the void with Himself! I'm so much happier!"
Like the woman who went to the well to get water to quench her thirst. After carrying on a conversation with Jesus, He filled the "thirst" in her soul so much that she left the well without any water for her physical thirst to evangelize to the rest of the town! THAT'S WHAT LENT IS ALL ABOUT!
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Tonight I have a couple of different, yet intertwined takes on tomorrow's readings.
Sometimes we make our lives and our relationship with God more difficult than it has to be. This idea is illustrated perfectly in Jesus’ words in the Gospel, “No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” (Luke 4:24-30) Sometimes we only hear what we want to hear or we think what we need to do must be more complicated. Take for example Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-15ab.) He goes to the prophet Elisha, looking for a cure for leprosy. Elisha gives him a simple answer: Go and wash seven times in the River Jordan. But Naaman doesn’t buy it. He’s angry. The answer must be more complicated. It was his servants who had the answer: “My father,” they said, “if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.”
Sometimes I seek a complicated solution, a bargain with God that will let me do what I want to do. What I have to realize is that what God wants from me is extraordinary and simple. I have to learn to be quiet so I can really hear my own heart. I pray that I can open my heart and listen, even if the answer seems simple. Let me see what is extraordinary in the every day, in the people around me.
These same two readings can remind us of how difficult it can be to see God in one another, especially when “one another” means the people we see every single day. We know that our friends, coworkers, and family members have flaws and they also know that we have our own. That knowledge and the loving acceptance that can grow from it is beautiful in its own way, but it can also become challenging for us to see God in people that we think we know so well.
It is a challenge to see each person anew from moment to moment, but I think it’s a worthwhile thing to focus upon. One of the most beautiful aspects of being human is that each moment presents us with a new opportunity to make a good choice, to love as best we can. To recognize that potential in oneself is challenging enough sometimes, and to understand that it extends to all people takes even more of a concerted effort on our behalf. However, doing so will lead us towards seeing with a new light.
Let’s not limit each other by the singly limited perspectives we have of each other. Rather, let us smile, open our arms, and remember that when we are rejecting, insulting, gossiping about, ignoring, and not listening to each other, we are doing so to Jesus, nailing him to the cross once again.
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