This semester

Random thoughts.....

Well, we wrap up January today.  The semester is moving along quickly.  If the weather holds, several members of my family will be visiting this Sunday.  It is always to good to see non-seminary faces. I love my brothers here, but the world is bigger than these 4 walls and 70 men.

I would like to apologize to every priest that I have ever dinged on his homily.  They are much harder to write than it first appears.  Your comments are welcome, that is why I post the homilies.  I see a lot of views, not so many comments.  With your help, I can get better before a congregation has to suffer through them.

We're reviewing Plato in Medieval Philosophy class. The man invented object oriented programming.  If only he had got it "correct".  His version of the real model and the transitory instance is almost backwards compared to a programmer's abstract model and real instantiation.  No wonder the world is messed up and nobody bothers with philosophy anymore.

Homily - OT4-B (Ordinary Time, 4th Sunday, Cycle B)

We met at a cocktail party.  The conversation was polite as we learned a little bit about each other.  Then she said something that just irked me so much that I ignored everything else she said.  I had hardened my heart to her words and if she said anything else of importance or that I might have agreed with, I did not hear it.

The psalmist reminds us today to “harden not our hearts”.  He points back to the day when the Israelites complained to Moses that they had no water.  This was after they complained that God saved them only to leave them starving.  God provided them with manna from the heavens every morning.  They complained that they were tired of manna. God provided them with quail every night.  They complained that they had no water.  Moses struck the rock and a spring of water appeared.  This is what happened at Massah and Meribah.  This is where they hardened their hearts.  This is what the psalmist cautions us to avoid doing.

The Israelites were given everything they needed by God and yet they still complained.  Soon after Massah and Meribah came the Ten Commands and the golden calf incident.  They seemed to forget once again that God was there to take care of them.  They worshiped God with their minds, but not with their hearts.  They had hardened their hearts.

I remember a few years ago in the seminary, we had a three day power outage.  We had a generator to provide the basics.  We had heat, hot water, hot food and enough lights to get around in our daily routine.  And yet, we asked for more.  We wanted our internet connections, cable TV, computers, and more lights.  We had all we needed, but wanted more. We had hardened our hearts. 

It is probably with great planning and foresight that today’s psalm precedes the second reading.  The psalmist calls us to “harden not our hearts” just before we hear a message that could do just that.  For many of us, that may be our first and only reaction to today’s message to the Corinthians.  We need to hear the complete message of Paul, not just a sound bite that may raise our hackles.

Paul is NOT telling his audience to avoid marriage, or that marriage is bad.  It may seem like it when he says that an unmarried man or woman can focus on the Lord, but a married man or woman has a split focus.  But let’s go back a few verses to get some context.  (1 Cor 7:24) “Brothers, everyone should continue before God in the state in which he was called.”  Paul is calling us to continue in the state that we are in.  He is asking us to come to God as we are. If we are married, come to God as a married person.  If we are single, come to God as a single person.  

Paul is believed to be single and in this passage is extolling the virtues of a single life in worshiping God.  But he is also quick to point out that if one cannot live a single life free of sexual activity, then perhaps married life is best for you.  He suggests that it is better to get married than to live as a sinner if they cannot exercise self-control.  We can easily see that this passage suggests that a single, celibate life is esteemed by Paul.   Priests, consecrated virgins and chaste singles are all trying to live up to the ideals suggested by Paul in this passage. 

We can learn that there are deeper messages in words that we hear.  Sometimes what we hear is not what was said, or meant.  If we allow the meaning of the words to sink in, we are less likely to harden our hearts.

Jesus Christ is alive in the world today, waiting for us to come to him and learn more of him.  He is here in the tabernacle, day and night waiting for us to come and visit with Him.   I wonder at times if he gets lonely waiting for us to visit.  There do not seem to be crowds lining up to visit with him most days.

Jesus is in the Eucharist that many of us will receive in a few moments.  When we say “Amen” to the words “The Body of Christ”, we acclaim that we do believe.   I trust that you are as concerned and pray as often as I do about our fellow Catholics who do not join us here at Eucharist more often to be strengthened by Christ.

Jesus is in the sacred words of the Bible waiting for us to pick it up and read and reflect upon His life and words.  I know that many of you frequently break open the scriptures and study them.  I pray that many more will be joining us.

Jesus is present whenever two or more are gathered in his name. I know that this happens many times each week and around your dinner tables on a regular basis.

We all believe these things in our head or we would not be here at this Mass.  But do we believe them in our hearts?  Have our hearts hardened to the word, the presence of God?

Do you want to see my homilies?

Gentle Readers*,

     Would you have any interest in seeing the homilies that I am writing for class this semester?  If you would like to see them, would you like to critique them as well?  Please respond with a comment (or an email for those who cannot comment).

*The good Dr. Asimov frequently addressed his reader this way.  I must attribute what I borrow.

The Candle

The candle finally went out.  I did not notice the exact day, but I did notice the week.  We had a brief power outage on Sunday night and I noticed then that it had gone out.  I opened the base.  The switch is frozen in the on position.  The battery is completely covered in corrosion.  It will never glow again.

For two years, one month and a few days that candle has been my sign that Carmen is watching out for me.  I'll miss that dim glow in the corner of my room.  I'm tearing up now just writing about it.  Love does not die.  She is still watching out for me, but I'll have to remember that without an outward sign now.  There is a good homily in there somewhere.  I hope that some day I'll be able to give it.

Musings

"Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul will be healed."
If you believe that, and I certainly do, muse with me a moment.

For years, I have been an organist at Masses and thus have never been an Eucharistic minister.  That all changed now that I am an acolyte.  I am a frequent minister of the cup.  Every time I finish and I go back to my silent prayers after communion, I am so humbled to be allowed to offer the cup of His blood to my brothers.

If I am not worthy to receive His body and His blood, I am certainly not worthy to distribute it to the congregation.  Fortunately, God's grace still grants me the ability to perform that task.  What a great God we have.

New Semester, New Schedule

If you read this blog from your browser, you might also note that I've added links to a few blogs that I follow as well.

I am not going to bore you with a day by day schedule this semester, just the high level picture.

Monday - Double session of Medieval Philosophy
Tuesday - Double session of Fundamental Theology
Wednesday - Double session of Church History,
                      Single session of Spiritual Formation
Thursday - day off
Friday - Single session of Medieval Philosophy, Fundamental Theology and
              Church History
Saturday - Triple session of Pastoral Theology,
                  Play the organ for Morning Prayer and Mass.
Sunday - Mass (and occasional cantor) and Brunch

I am now serving as Acolyte at Mass and Antiphonarian at Morning and Evening prayer on a regular basis as well.

First Year, Spring Semester begins

I am back at the seminary.  I left Maine before the sun was up this morning and stopped at Fr. Rasp's parish for the 9:00 Mass on my way back.  We had some time to catch up after Mass.  I made it back to the seminary around noon and purchased my books for the spring semester.

I'm catching up on a one foot tall stack of mail, bills and catalogs.  In that pile were my grades from last semester.  I did OK.  If you want more, you'll have to ask me privately, I'm not posting my grades here.  

In a little while, I'll be heading out to Logan airport to pick up three classmates. 

Classes start tomorrow, Monday the 9th.