Sunday Homily July 8, 2012, 14th Ordinary Time
Readings:
Ezekiel, 2, 2-5, Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you.
Psalm 123, Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
2 Corinthians 12, 7-10 A thorn in the flesh was given to me to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.
Mark 5, 21-43, A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.
More Observations on Ezekiel (June 17 we also had Ezekiel)
Who: Ezekiel is one of the Big 3 prophets. Why? 48 chapters. The other 2: Isaiah & Jeremiah. These 3 have lots of chapters & material.
Ezekiel was born into the priest class. He later was considered a prophet. He got The Call from God. When he was about 25 he was swept up in the Babylonian captivity, around 590.
When: It covers the period of the Captivity, 600-550 before Christ, which Ezekiel lived personally. But the work is composed toward the end of the Captivity, around 550. This is Ezekiel’s material, but it has been saved and edited by his fellow priests.
Message:
- Ezekiel criticizes the people and warns them that their bad ways will be punished, for example, by being defeated and led into slavery and the Captivity.
- He promises comfort and a brighter future for the captive people, especially envisioning a restored temple (which then lasted until when? The year 70, when the Romans finally destroyed the temple & the priestly cast ceased to function, to this day).
- An amusing vision: The Dry Bones, chapter 37.
Today’s selection: Ezekiel gets The Call or invitation from God to go tell the Israelite people that God sees what is going on. Which means, tell them they are behaving horribly and they will pay dearly for their misbehavior.
2 Corinthians observations -(2)
1. This second letter to Corinth is often called the severe or tearful letter. Paul was upset with the Corinth, Greece community because of what he thought were false prophets undermining his authority. These people could have simply been people who disagreed with him. At points you can almost hear Paul playing his violin & singing 'Poor Paul.'
2. He talks here about a thorn in his flesh. So, what is that? People have speculated for centuries. Could it have been he was OCD (obsessive compulsive), bi-polar (mood swings from manic & dramatic to depressed), a sexual addiction, epilepsy, or something else? Is there evidence in his writing for any of this? Maybe. No way to really diagnose. The patient has been dead for a few years.
Sources: Good News Bible, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, St. Louis U. Liturgy Studies, Wikipedia
Ever seen a Prophet?
Friday I received a call from an old friend in Baton Rouge. Since my class reunion with my S.J. buddies, I have been longing to reconnect with other old friends especially in the New Orleans area where I lived and worked in the early 70’s.
My friend’s name is Lucy and she is a St. Joseph sister. I knew her and her community really well when I was director of a spiritual center at Grand Coteau, near Opelousas, a couple of hours up the river from New Orleans.
In those days Lucy and the St. Joseph sisters were spiritually and psychologically healthy nuns working to make the Catholic community even better along the lines set up by Vatican II.
I lost track of them when I went to Tanzania & Kenya, only finally making contact again with Lucy on Friday. I had to search all around for her phone number, and then when I called she was out of town.
I found out that their headquarters on Mirabeau Ave. in N.O., where I gave some retreats & said Masses was wiped out by Katrina and they have relocated in Baton Rouge. I was stunned.
I thought about Lucy & her sisters when I was looking at these readings about Ezekiel & Jesus’ roles as prophets. I would like to talk about 3 nuns who were & are prophet like people for me.
I have become aware in the past couple of weeks how rich has been my experience with so many women of this caliber.
Remember, first, prophets do 3 things. They criticize the evils of their times, they promise God will punish, and they offer consolation for reform. A side effect of their criticism is the hatred of the people they are criticizing.
I consider this pretty Old Testament. New Testament prophets don’t promise God will punish. Most of us don’t believe that any more. Katrina was not a punishment from God.
First, there is a sister Marian. A doctor, from around Denver, a Medical Missionary of Mary. We are about the age. She had been working in Tanzania since before I first came in contact with her around 1980. She is there this morning.
Marian & her community not only work in Tanzania, a poor country, but she normally works in the most remote places you can reach. No tourists visit. One of her specialties since I departed Tanzania is AIDS & HIV patients.
Another sister about my age working in Tanzania is Anita, a Maryknoll. She & her sisters work to empower the females of the villages. Do not imagine the men of the village always like this. These sisters, too, live in remote places and in utter simplicity, like the Medical Missionaries of Mary. The simplicity of their living often shamed me as a Jesuit.
Then, there was one special nun who worked on my spiritual renewal team, a Sister of Africa. Hanny was her name. She was not American, but Dutch & lived in Holland during the Nazi occupation.
She was about 10-11 years old during the occupation. Her family lived on a small farm & they successfully hid a Jewish family during the war. Hanny used to courier messages on her bike, holding them in her mouth.
One time she rode up to a German check point with her German shepherd dog. The guard came out and shot her dog dead. When I knew Hanny she had accepted this and was marvelously peaceful.
I talk about these nuns today for two reasons. First, they have been models of courage, service, and prophetic vision for me. I am blessed by their presence in my life.
Secondly, the American nuns, as you probably know, are enduring a lot of criticism from the Vatican. Their leadership team here in the States is getting what prophetic voices get, rejection. Rome ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Finally, if you want to see something touching, Google Nuns on the Bus. This was a June bus tour by nuns appealing Congress for more rather than less support for the poorest of the poor.
These are just a few of the heroic religious women I have known in my life. I am in touch with Marian, out of touch with Anita, and Rosemary & I visited Hanny a few years ago in Holland, where she now lives in retirement. Lucy has opened a door for me to reconnect with a number of the sisters I knew and have lost contact with in Louisiana. I even suggested that we might have a reunion and she was all for it.
Wonder where the prophetic people are today? Check out the religious sisters as a starter.
Who is the prophet person in your life?