Readings: Jeremiah 31, 31-34; Psalm 51; Hebrews 5, 7-9; John 12, 20-33

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 works, e.g. 62 chapters in Jeremiah), who are Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel.   A review:

Author: mostly Jeremiah as put down by his scribe Baruch.  Described as the broken hearted prophet because of his heart rending life 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, or more precisely for 40 years from ca. 610 to 570 BCE.  The Captivity went from ca. 585-550 BCE (note my error last week, typing 450).  Jeremiah probably 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.  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 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.  This is the only time in the O.T. that a New Covenant is mentioned.

Sources: Wikipedia; Answers.com; Encyclopedia of Judaism 

Hate My Life?

I have a story this morning which I have told only once, and that was at St. Mark's, over 4 years ago.  Pardon me if you've heard it.  It speaks to my point today.  I had permission for the story.

It was many years ago.  I think it was the first Monday morning of May, a beautiful morning.  A boy came to see me who had been in my office on and off for about six years.  He had 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 hopeful.

He left.  Maybe two or three hours later a call came in.  The boy had left Jesuit where my office was, crossed Inwood to the Lincoln Center complex, 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.

Passersby 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 was in a zone, happy because he knew he was out of there.  He wanted to escape the pain and go to heaven.  There had been 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 dangerous.  It also shows how far we have evolved and matured philosophically and psychologically over the past centuries.  We are maturing.

I would suggest there is a negative and a positive approach to hating 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 is a better way," I want to say.  Maybe change is called for, but hatred is not a constructive, long range motivation.  So I would say, "Don't hate it." 

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 put a TV screen up on that wall so everyone can see you like in the mega-churches, Divorce!"  Think she is exaggerating?  I hope.  I won't test. 

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: March Madness.  Many of these player have died to themselves to achieve, to be better players.  How many hours in the gym have the spent practicing free throws?  When they could be hanging out, sleeping in, text messaging?  And they love their lives. 

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 put this part of myself on the shelf for another day so I can dedicate myself to a greater.  To maintain my health and fitness I work out 45 minutes in a gym every day.  Because of the result I love my life.

My friend 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, loves it. 

How do you love your life?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-03-29.mp3

Sources:  The Center for Liturgy, St. Louis U.; St. Raymond Catholic Church, Dublin, CA; Carmelite Order Web; Homilias Domincales.

Picture 1:  Mass with Sabrina & Anthony

Picture 2:  Barb celebrates her birthday

Picture 3:  Geordie Robinson stuck at home in Dallas because of snow out at U. of CO in Boulder

Picture 4:  Chuck with sons Andrew & Danny

Readings: 2 Chronicles 36; Psalm 137; Ephesians 2, 4-10; John 3, 14-21

Chronicles:

Author (s): Unknown

Date:  ca. 450-350 BCE, at least after The Babylonian Captivity.  You will see why. 

Subject:  a summary of the entire span of history to the time the people returned to Jerusalem, i.e., from Adam to the end of the Babylonian Captivity, 450 BCE.  Therefore, it begins with Adam & a genealogy up to King Saul and King David, through David's son Solomon & the building of the temple to the Babylonian Captivity with Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus the leader of the Persians who defeated Nebuchadnezzar & the Chaldeans and allowed the Hebrews to return to Jerusalem.  Note that Babylon was near Baghdad in Iraq, while Persia was Iran.

Our selection: this is the very last chapter of ca. 60 chapters, including Chronicles 1 & 2.  A bit of a summary chapter, it says that Yahweh was so mad he got Nebuchadnezzar to defeat the Hebrews and cart them off to captivity in Babylon.  Then some 50 years later he gets Cyrus to defeat Nebuchadnezzar and free the Hebrews to return to Jerusalem, which they do. 

Sources: Wikipedia, Catholic Encyclopedia.

Two Questions

Last week I saw a story that struck me.  A couple in their mid forties were at home watching TV Tuesday about 9:00 in the evening.  The husband's brother was with them and the couple's 3 youngest kids were playing.  The family lives in Pleasant Grove, which is about 5:00 o'clock on the circular map of Dallas. 

Suddenly the door was forced open and a kid around 24 came banging in demanding money.  The brothers work construction, but they had no cash on them.  The wife, Carmen, emptied out all she had in her purse, $2. 

The kid was angry and demanded that they get the money they had hidden.  He had a pistol and slapped around Alfredo, the father.  He tied up the brothers and shoved them into the bathroom.  He then said he would kidnap Carmen or one of Alfredo's daughters if he did not hand over more money.

So Alfredo and Carlos, the younger brother, in order to defend Carmen and the kids, tried to break loose attack the kid.  They were both shot dead on the spot.

Meanwhile, one of the older children, a boy, snuck out a window and ran for help to a neighbor.  They called 911 and the police arrived while the shooting was still going on.  The kid ran out the door, saw a cop, fired at him, and ran around toward the back of the house where he encountered a second cop.  This cop shot the kid and now he is in the hospital in critical condition. 

Apparently the kid did not know the family and just chose them at random.  All for $2.

Which, taking into account our readings today, leads to two questions.

First, does God get angry and punish bad people?  The Bible certainly seems to think so. 

• For example, Chronicles says today that the "anger of the Lord was so inflamed that there was no remedy."  As a result he had the Hebrews killed, burned out, and carried away as slaves in Babylon.  For a symbolic 70 years, which seems to suggest that the Hebrews had neglected to rest on the sabbath.

• For example, Yahweh got so mad at his earlier creation that he sent the great flood, killing everybody except Noah, his wife, and the animals.  

• For example, in John this morning you find out that you will be condemned if you do not believe in the name of Jesus.  So you better be Christian or even better Catholic according to the messages I heard growing up, or you are condemned.  To what?

• For example, it is held that Jesus had to come and die on a cross as he did so as to take away the Father's anger at us for our ancestors' sins.  Thus, the gates of heaven, closed up to that time, would be reopened.  True? 

Was the family in Pleasant Grove watching TV Tuesday night bad?  Had they sinned so horribly that they must be punished like happened to the Hebrews in Jerusalem?

So, what do you think, what do you believe?  Does God get angry and punish bad people as we see repeatedly mentioned in the Bible?  Which leads me to my next question:

Second question, who are the bad people?  Or who are the good? 

Obviously the 24 year old kid who barged in on the family is bad.  He deserves what?  Be condemned?  Forever? 

From my experience as a priest and as as psychotherapist, I have discovered two things. 

First, that nobody is totally bad, and nobody is totally good.  But what about that kid?  He is bad!  John says, "He who does wicked things hates the light."  That boy must really hate the light.

Secondly, if I had grown up in the environment of many of these kids and been forced to live in the horrible surroundings they saw daily, I probably would have done the same things.  I do not know how many times I have talked with people who have done similar things and discovered that they were horribly wounded people.  Inside they were deeply hurt.  Outside they vented their hurt through anger and, watch out, through violence.   

As a balance to this negativity and tragedy, let me remind you that we likewise see beauty in people.  Remember the 50 St. Bonaventure students who dedicated their spring break to hurricane relief work in Galveston.  Remember the heroic work of the Collin Co. Adult Clinic.  I even saw it on the DART train Thursday when I went downtown to have lunch with Rosemary.  Three times I saw a guy get up and offer his seat to a woman nearby.  I was moved.

So, reconsidering our Pleasant Grove family and all the Bible stories about God being angry and punishing people, what do you think?

Sources: The Center for Liturgy, St. Louis U.  Online Ministries, Creighton, U.  All on line.

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-03-22.mp3

Picture 1:   Mass with Hue on the sound, Wendy, Ray, & Celeste

Picture 2:   Birthdays–Angelo (Blair's boy friend), Bob McGrath (80!), Christine, & T.J.

Picture 3:   Ryan, Jackie & Bob McGrath, Tom, Morgan, & Tyler McGrath

Picture 4:  Tom & Daniel Fleming & Louie Federico

Readings: Exodus 20, 1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1, 22-25; John 2, 13-25

Exodus: 2nd book of the Bible & of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible.

Date of Composition: put together ca 450-400 BCE, though elements come from 1000 BCE at least.

Author(s):  Moses, no.  At least 3 sources, maybe 4, e.g., the Yahweh (J) source, the Elohim (E) source, the Priestly (P) source, and even the Deuteronomy Source. 

Subject Matter Today:  The 10 Commandments–2 observations:

1. Academics see 3 maybe 4 versions of the 10 commandments, Exodus 34 (the oldest), Exodus 20 (our selection), Deuteronomy 5 (the last)

2. The versions come from the sources composing at different times, for example,

• The Yahweh Source, 10th Century BCE, therefore, Exodus 34    

• The Elohim Source, 9th Century BCE, therefore Exodus 20

•  The Deuteronomy Source, 7th Century BCE, therefore Deuteronomy 5    

• The Priestly Source, edited all the sources in 6th Century BCE (450-400 BCE, at the end of the Babylonian Captivity).  The 7 Day Creation Story comes from this source at this time.

Source:  Bishop (Episcopal) John Shelby Spong

Anger Management

I think it was October last year when Rosemary & I were at DFW taking a flight to Philadelphia (probably departing out of the international terminal) to celebrate Jean Kovatis' wedding.  It was a morning flight so we bought a couple of lattes to take on board. 

We end up at the middle of the pack and head for our double seats in the middle of the plane on the right side facing forward.  Since I like the window & Rosemary doesn't, I squeezed in first, seated myself, opened the table, and put my latte on the table.  Then Rosemary begins to squeeze in.

At some point in this process her purse or arm or something hits my latte.  It flips over to the right, hits the wall and my leg, tumbles down, and finally lands on the floor below the seat in front of me.  I cannot see it. As fast as I can, I lock up my table, get my book out of the way, and squeeze down to pick up the paper cup, hoping that the top was still on.  The top was not still on.  My half gallon of latte spilled all over the carpet creating a lake of coffee with milk under the double seats in front of us.

Rosemary is still standing so she piles into the line of people waiting in the aisle and heads to the rear restrooms to scavenge paper towels.  With these finally we begin to sop up the lake, apologizing to the people in front of us because of the latte lake at their feet.  We succeeded pretty well under the circumstances.  You could hardly tell there had been an accident.

When it was all over, finally seated and buckled in, me without my latte, Rosemary says to me, "I don't know what you got so mad about."  I confess I had been steamed.  "You know I do this frequently," she adds.  True enough.  There had been other special occasions. 

I mention this little event (with Her permission) because it came to mind when I see the story of Jesus getting all steamed up at the vendors in the temple.   I have to laugh.  Lucky he never got married.  What is he so hyped up about?  Was he having a bad mood day?  Can he have bad moods?  Was he getting old and cranky?  He apparently was about 30 at this time, which would make him a pretty old geezer for those days when most people checked out in their mid-twenties.  If you look at the scene with amusement and detachment, you might want to laugh.

On the other hand, there might have been some significant reasons for anger, like:

    1.  he was angry because the vendors were supposed to remain in the outer courtyard and they were inching into the inner sanctum, the holy place.

    2.  he was angry because he was watching the vendors cheat a little bit here, a little bit there.  Maybe his mom had been cheated by one of these guys 20 years ago and he still was angry about that.

    3.  he was angry because he saw the obsession of some of these people with money.  He was seeing the Bernie Madoffs, the Stanfords, and the Ken Lays of his day.

But, note that

    1.  it was customary for animals to be sold at the temple.  These animals were destined to be bought by people, taken to the priestly cast inside the temple, and given as a sacrifice.  These people were heavy into sacrifice.  The idea: I give something to Yahweh, I get something from Yahweh.  Maybe it was gratitude for already getting something.  The rich bought larger animals, like sheep & goats, the poor bought small critters, like a dove or a pigeon.  So animals were always expected around the temple.

    2.  it was customary that the temple was a center for all sorts of trade.  People went there for sacrifice, giving thanks, and socializing.  The market naturally set up near, in, and around the temple.  The markets I saw in Tanzania when I lived there were probably similar and were fascinating events.  Take our farmers market and multiply, then add bushels of women chatting, snooping around for deals, and bargaining.  Men are drifting around and some are running the meat market.  Both men & women are selling.  You tell the butcher, "I would like a kilo of that beef."  It is hanging from a hook and the butcher uses a sharp knife to slice off a kilo.  It gets wrapped in newspaper you bring or a piece of material you bring with you.

So why was Jesus so angry, why was I angry?  We did not read about it in Exodus, but when Moses came down the mountain and found that his son Aron had built some kind of little idol and all the people were worshiping it, Moses broke the stone tablets of the 10 commandments.  I don't know about Jesus & Moses, but I would suggest that I got caught off guard.  I have a little trick that helps with this craziness.  I would call it expectation adjustment.  The idea comes not from my head, but from a man named Albert Ellis (American Psychologist, developed RET, Rational-emotive Therapy, d. 2007, 93). 

The idea is that I have an expectation about how a person should behave & how things should be.  If I  get obsessive compulsive or as Rosemary might gently describe it, I get anal, then I can go off when the person behaves in a way contrary to my expectation.  What do you think is the dynamic behind road rage?  For example, I expect that truckers will drive in the lanes other than the left lane.  I see trucker in left lane.  I go off. 

Want to fix it?  Adjust my expectation.  Trucker is in left lane.  So what.  Moses comes down the mountain and the people are messing up.  Expectation.  Jesus seems to have done some expectation adjustment, because faced with condemnation by the Pharisees at the end of his life he does not fight back. 

How do you manage your anger? 

Sources:  Center for Liturgy, St. Louis U.; Alfred Ellis

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-03-15.mp3

Picture 1:  Mass with Noah & Rosemary

Picture 2:  Birthdays–Jzckie, Shiela, & JoJo

Picture 3:  Wedding begins, Fred & Martha, her daughter April & best man Manuel

Picture 4:  Fred & Martha share their vows