Sunday Homily, February 24, 2019, 7th Ordinary Time
"Welcome in, Everybody," sez Crazy Patricia.
Readings:
1 Samuel 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23, I would not harm the Lord's anointed.
Psalm 103, The Lord is kind & merciful. (a good one, a favorite line)
1 Corinthians 15, 45-49, The first man was from earth; the second from heaven.
Luke 6, 27-38, Do good to those who hate you.
" Welcome in, Everybody," from the whole team.
Observations on 1 Samuel
Our 1st reading today is from the first book in a fun & interesting 4 book series which is somewhat historical, somewhat metaphorical & imaginative.
The books: 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings. The first two books center on 3 main characters, the first ever kings of the Israelites, namely Samuel, the first king, Saul, the 2nd king, an insecure, jealous, and paranoiac man, and the Great King David, a colorful character.
Ever hear of Bathsheba? Check out David in 2 Samuel.
John reading his marvelous updating of today's Gospel.
The last 2 books, 1 & 2 Kings, describe the beautiful times of Solomon and the building of the temple. The final book of the 4 describes the bad ways of the people which lead to the bad days of the Babylonian captivity.
Estimated time of composition, ca, 555, during the Babylonian Captivity.
Wake up, John. Punch him, Karen.
Homily, February 24
When I was studying theology in Toronto from ’68-’72, the fall of my second year we had to take a course in moral theology. We were part of a consortium of seminarians. We Jesuits were the biggest group with ca. 40 guys. There were probably 6-8 other groups, even some individuals. All guys.
We Jesuits lived in a large building in a northern suburb called Willowdale. There were four classes with a total of probably 200, plus 6-8 Jesuit professors. We had classes on the down town campus of U. of Toronto.
Our bread baker and hostess with the mostest welcoming everybody to communion.
The fall of my second year our class had to take a course in moral theology. Fundamentally it was how to administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or Confession, plus other moral questions. For example, like torture, capital punishment, abortion.
The professor of this rather large class was a young Jesuit priest just graduated from Harvard, named Bryan. I honestly don’t remember his last name. Bryan was sharp, liberal, and not blessed with public relations skills.
And hiding behind John, Allen & Aggie.
Bryan put off the majority of the class and a group even came to complain to him. What did Bryan do? He told them if they did not like him or his presentations, they could go somewhere else. He did this with more blunt language than I use here. So all these guys boycotted his class.
I give all this information as background to my interaction with Bryan in the spring semester of that same academic year.
Would someone please sit with Sandra.
At the end of our third year the Jesuit program normally had the moral theology exam. Since my class had already covered the class requirements, some of us thought we would like to take the moral theology exam at the end of the second year. Get it off the agenda.
So I get elected to go make the request to, take a guess, Bryan. He not only denies my request and tells me to wait until the end of year 3, he tells me if I & my buddies do it anyway, he will flunk us all. We did and he did. I even went to the Jesuit rector to complain before we took the exam, which, incidentally was in Latin before a board of 3 of the Jesuit faculty.
So, if I am supposed to love my enemies, do I have to love Brian? Yes.
Welcome Home, Beth, our Colorado Snow Bird of the Week.
Two comments. We are dealing here in Luke with infinite demand.
At the same time, we are offered infinite acceptance. For example, my favorite line showing up this morning in the Psalm, The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in kindness.
Help is on the way, Hugh.