Sunday Homily 3-25-12, 5th Lent
Readings: Jeremiah 31, 31-34, I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; Psalm 51, Create a clean heart in me, O God; Hebrews 5, 7-9, He learned obedience from what he suffered; John 12, 20-33, Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground. Whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.
Jeremiah: We have not seen Jeremiah for a long time, since before Thanksgiving. Remember that he is one of the Big 3 Prophets (because of the size of the work, e.g. 62 chapters in Jeremiah), who are Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel. A review:
Author: most of the work is done by Jeremiah’s scribe Baruch. Jeremiah is described as the broken hearted prophet because of his heart rending life spent warning the people & kings that their behavior was going to be punished. And so it happened with The Babylonian Captivity.
Time: ca. 600 BCE, as an easy date to remember. The Captivity went from around 585-550 BCE. Jeremiah may have died in Egypt during The Captivity in Babylon.
The Scene: Remember that the Holy Land had a north & a south, Israel & Judah. First, the northern kingdom, Israel, was defeated by the Assyrians, 622 BCE. These Hebrew tribes vanish into the DNA of the region, “The Lost Tribes of Israel.” Next, the Babylonians & Nebuchadnezzar defeat the Assyrians and threaten the southern kingdom, Judah with the capital Jerusalem. Jeremiah is watching this and seeing it as Yahweh's punishment. In 596, more or less, the Babylonians do destroy Jerusalem and cart the Hebrews into slavery.
Today's selection, chapter 31. Yahweh is promising to make a new covenant or agreement with all the people, and to forgive them, after having shown the people who is master. Here is the covenant idea mentioned again. It is a pact or a deal.
Sources: Fr. Reginald Fuller, St. Louis U., Wikipedia; Answers.com; Encyclopedia of Judaism
Hate My Life?
I have a story this morning which I have told twice, once at St. Mark's, over 8 years ago and here about 4 years ago. Pardon me if you've heard it. Some of our best stories we tell over & over, they are so poignant. The story speaks to my point today. I had permission for the story.
It happened many years ago when I was working full time as a psychotherapist out of an office at Jesuit. I think it was the first Monday morning of May. I know it was a beautiful morning like today. A boy came to see me who had been in my office on and off for about six years. He had just graduated from high school and enlisted in the Air Force. He had struggled since grade school with bouts of depression, and that morning seemed to be in great shape. We did not even spend more than 30 minutes together, his mood was so up beat and care free.
He left. Maybe two or three hours later a call came in. The boy had left Jesuit, crossed Inwood to the Lincoln Center complex at LBJ, drove up to the top of the four floor garage, parked his car, headed to the edge of the garage, and walked over the side. He landed on the cement street four floors below, face down flat.
A passerby saw it, called 911, and in a second the paramedics from just around the corner were on the scene. He was in Parkland in a flash. He lived.
It was not for about 3 weeks until I got to visit him. He apologized. I admit I was mad. I loved this kid. He fooled me. He said that he had been in a zone, happy because he knew he was out of there, meaning he was ready to go to the other side. He wanted to escape the pain of life and go to heaven. He said he had no fear in walking off that fourth floor, none of the hesitation you feel before you jump off the high diving board the first time.
You may guess why I tell this story. It exemplifies what happens when you take literally "whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life." This little piece of advice, taken the wrong way, can be so dangerous. This boy hated his life.
I would suggest there is a negative and a positive way to hate my life.
The negative is exemplified by this kid's story. This is often what is happening when you hear of someone cutting on themselves. If I hate my life and hate myself, I will want to punish myself. So I cut myself. Or I may think that I am such a loser that no one will pay me any attention if I do not do something dramatic like spill my blood.
Even without such dramatic examples, I do not want to encourage someone who hates their body, hates their job, hates their family, hates their school, hates. Just thinking about this I recoil. There may be reason for the hatred. However, "There is a better way," I want to say and I would say it. I believe in talk therapy. Feelings are all okay. I just don’t want some feelings to stay around.
On the positive side, I would suggest two things.
First, the word hate can be considered as hyperbolic, a big word meaning exaggeration. It is like Rosemary telling me, "You get me up at 5:00 tomorrow morning for spin class & it is divorce!” Think she is exaggerating? I hope.
Secondly, I would suggest that this all has to do with being more alive now, in this life. The grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying fits in with this. For example: look at March Madness. Many of these player have died to themselves to achieve & to be better players. How many hours in the gym have they spent practicing free throws? When they could be hanging out, sleeping in, text messaging? And they love their lives. I’ve seen boys do this at Jesuit.
Goofy, but I hate my life to love my life. I don't want to get up early. I could sleep in to 11:00. However, I, we, Rosemary & I get up and head over to the Jewish Community Center, 6:00 A.M. spin class. The result even Rosemary loves life. And so do I.
The boy who jumped is now okay, amazingly. It took him years of physical recovery. Two things did not happen that blessed him. He did not damage his brain and did not damage his spine. Every other bone, plus his teeth, were broken. Once he got strong enough he went to medical technical school, got his certificates, and now has good jobs in various hospitals in the city. I don't think he hates his life anymore. In fact, he loves it.
How do you love your life?
Sources: The Center for Liturgy, St. Louis U.; St. Raymond Catholic Church, Dublin, CA; Carmelite Order Web; Homilias Domincales.