Sunday Homily, September 4, 23rd Sunday Ordinary, C
Readings:
Wisdom 9, 13-18, Who can know God’s counsel?
Psalm 90, In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Philemon 1, 9-10, 12-17, If you regard me as a partner, welcome Onesimus as you would me.
Luke 14, 25-33, If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, he cannot be my disciple. (Another awful Luke message. A good one maybe for teens. Wait for next week, a really good one.)
Harper says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."
Observations on the book of Wisdom:
What: Exploration of the meaning and value of wisdom. The author is the first to express a hope for immortality, a Greek concept.
Who: A Greek Jew who wrote probably in Alexandria, Egypt.
Kevin, too, says, "Hi, Folks, Welcome."
Hate my Father and Mother?
I remember one Saturday morning in the summer of 1960. I was 20 years old and in my second year as a Jesuit intern-novice. I was also in a pirogue floating down the Calcasieu River in SW LA with one of my best fellow Jesuit novice buddies, Jerry McCaffery from New Orleans.
Every summer for the 4 years I spent at Grand Coteau we Jesuit interns got to spend 2 weeks at a river camp near the village of Kinder. For me it was paradise, swimming, boating, living in the two story screened in pavilion, beds on the second floor, dining room and activities on the first. We were about 50 plus guys.
Offertory with Bernadette, Richard, and Gil.
As Jerry & I floated down the river that Saturday morning, Jerry told me that at that very moment in New Orleans his brother was getting married. He could not go. That was policy.
We were instructed that when we entered the Jesuits we entered a new family and left behind our former family. So we never went back home, for anything, weddings, funerals, Christmas, Thanksgiving. The idea was that we were becoming companions of Jesus in a family devoted to that goal.
The Best Music Team, Shonda, Bethany, and Ray.
This was how the Jesuits put into practice the message today about hating one’s father and mother. We were not instructed to hate, just refocus our allegiance. Today I am embarrassed to admit that I bought this message. The Jesuit training has certainly mellowed since Vatican II. However, there are still rigid groups & religious orders that take this literally.
I would propose that this story exemplifies the negative approach to these ideas. Is there a positive? I would say ‘yes,’ if you make the father and mother symbols. Symbols of things that hold me back from being truly alive, truly healthy, and truly spiritual.
Welcome back, John and Mary Jane, so good to see you with us.
Also the word hate may be taken as hyperbole or exaggeration.
Therefore, what about these symbols standing for unhealthy eating, excessive drinking, over work, being lazy, or materialism?
Certainly, if I had listened to my high school buddies, and even my mom, I confess, I would never have joined the Jesuits.
The Wedding of Lynn and Roger begins.
Likewise, I got a lot of push back about going to East Africa.
And certainly when it came to getting married, did I not get a lot of push back and even condemnation from my dear Jesuits and from the Catholic Church?
Look at the sports page on Saturday morning. What takes up many of the pages? High school boys playing football. How many of these kids had to fight back against their natural tendency to stay in bed and skip practice in the heat?
I, Roger, take you, Lynn, in marriage
So, there can be healthy ways to listen to today’s readings. No need to take ‘hate’ literally. No need to take father & mother literally.
How do you push back against those voices that encourage you to live ultimately less healthily, less spiritually, & less psychologically alive?
Unity Candle. The wedding took place Saturday at the Little Chapel in The Woods at TWU, Texas Womens' University in Denton. A delightful and hospitable venue for weddings.