Sunday Homily, January 31, 2016, 4th Ordinary Time, C
Readings:
Jeremiah 1, 4-5, 17-19, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. (The Call)
Psalm 71, I will sing of your salvation.
1 Corinthians 12, 31 – 13, 4-13, If I do not have love, I am nothing. (Excellent)
Luke 4, 21-30, They wanted to throw him over the cliff.
Leo says, "Welcome in, Everybody. It's fun here."
Jeremiah observations:
Who: One of the Big 3 and my second favorite behind Isaiah, whom we will hear from next Sunday. Why a favorite: because he shares his feelings with gusto.
When: you can guess it, before and during the Babylonian Captivity. Notice how much prophetic energy is concentrated around this one event? Shows how big it was in Jewish history. Keep 555 before Christ as the beacon date.
Harper, also, says, "Hi, Folks, Come in."
What: you can guess this, too. Criticism of behavior, warning of punishment from God, and eventually a better day.
What today: Jeremiah’s call by God to be his man, really Everyperson’s call to be God’s special. This call theme carries through our next 2 readings, especially the next one, The Big One.
Candle Lighters of The Week, Buddy & Tori.
Love is patient, Love is kind
I confess, I used to get 1 Corinthians 13 fatigue, I heard it so often at weddings. Lately, however, I have changed. Now as I listen I feel it calling me to step up. I want to be more patient and more kind. I hear Francis inviting me to be a peacemaker.
One small example.
A few months ago Rosemary and I were heading out one Sunday morning to celebrate Mass at Vines. It must have been 8:30, the time we usually depart. The streets were practically deserted.
The Candle Lighters at work.
We were going east on Royal Lane. We got to Central and stopped for the light. When it changed we moved forward and planned to take a left to go up the ramp to north bound Central.
I noticed behind me at the light was a silver Mercedes. As I moved forward it was practically touching the back of our van. I turned left and started up the ramp. It stayed right behind us.
Happy Birthday, Mary.
As I got onto Central and moved into the first lane on the left, this person, a guy, floored his Mercedes, leaned on the horn, and raced by us on the right showering us with nice little hand gestures.
Rosemary says I drive too slowly some times, but this was Sunday morning, folks. Almost no other cars but this guy and us.
Happy Birthday, Rick (the man behind many of the pictures you see)
So what would you do? Well, I did nothing, of course. I can recognize serious road rage and I was just hoping the guy would not stick a gun out his window and start blasting away. Let him go away, which he did.
However, does being patient and kind apply here? Yep, I think so.
Candle Lighters deserve their rewards. How did you get in there, Zoe?
As a priest and psychotherapist for years I have heard the life stories of people who have done pretty bad things. I get to know them and I find out what was behind their actions. Who knows about this guy on an early Sunday morning. Maybe he was heading to a hospital. His wife or child was dying. Maybe his wife just divorced him. Maybe on Friday he was fired for his anger. There is always a story and a reason.
So when I hear Corinthians on patience and kindness, I think, ‘Stack, cool off.’
Happy Birthday, Gil. It looks like you have someone eager to help you with that cupcake.
And Cornthians has a reverse value. Say I had reacted to his anger. Then later I would feel guilty and ashamed. The patience and kindness is for me, too. I usually don’t have road rage fortunately, but I can get mad, I can criticize, I can get passive aggressive, and then get remorseful. Can’t we all?
Any of you all drive a silver Mercedes? Do you have road rage? Are you patient and kind?
How are you going to be a more loving and peace-making person after hearing this passage this morning?
Does Music get any better than this, Shonda & Bethany, Ray & David.