How the Homily tonight SHOULD have gone...Part I - The Beatitudes & St Francis

so since this is my first pseudo-religious blog, I should say a little something about myself. Growing up in Brooklyn, everyone was an altar boy. It became part of who and what we were. Sometimes it was walking slowly back to class from the 9am Mass or - even better - a 10 am funeral with some money in your pocket for the ice cream truck, or sometimes it was (which I did more than once) serving every Mass on Palm Sunday to get breakfast AND lunch at the rectory. They ate like kings. But almost all the time it was coming back from Mass to give my mother my opinion of the homily. Invariably, it started with "who had the Mass" and after my answer was given, a "oh, no" or "oh, good." Then I gave my critique.

Now, I'm not saying that the Mass I just returned from had a bad homily or a boring homily or an uninformed homily, but it takes a skillful alchemist to turn gold back into lead.

Here is the homily I would have given, if I had the chance, with the Gospel I heard today (The Beatitudes ) and the song I heard today (The Prayer of St Francis ): (be kind - it's my first homily)

Today we heard some of the most revolutionary words that came out of Jesus's mouth the whole time he was on this Earth. It was meant to shock. It was meant as a statement. It was meant to to turn around preconceived notions of success. Most of his audience was of the same social and economic class as his family, and maybe those people had never heard someone actually express out loud what he was saying. Blessings were bestowed upon people not for having money or power or status, but just the opposite. And that opposite was within reach. The people of Jesus's time didn't need money or power or status to be merciful. They didn't need money or power or status to be peaceful. The people of Jesus's time didn't need money or power or status to be just or pure. People standing around listening to this guy from Nazareth may have had visceral reactions to what he said. I'm sure there were a few "yeah!"s in the crowd and I'm sure there were a few "what the hell is this kid talking about?"s and a few "How dare he!"s. But I can almost guarantee that everyone was shocked in some way or form about what they heard on the mountain that day.

And it is shocking if we think of it in today's world. Who wants to be meek, humble, pure, merciful, weak? Who wants there to be peace, there's no money in that. Who wants to be forgiving? You'll never get people to pay the mortgage on time that way. Who wants to give away the food that they themselves had worked for, earned, used, and threw away because they had too much?

Jesus wasn't saying we, as good people, HAD to do these things. He was giving us an option. He was saying, "it would be really cool if you DID these things. So cool in fact, the kingdom of heaven is yours." it's not a ten commandments where there is a list of "NO NO NO" but a list of "these are things to try out - you may like them." When St. Francis (in a prayer attributed to him) said "Make me a instrument of your peace, where there is hatred let me sow love," he is asking for help in taking those Beatitudes and making them real. Making them actual. He famously went to the "head bad guy" during the Crusades to talk to him. and being "understood [and] understand[ing]" the Sultan said "your religion is beautiful but if I convert neither of us is getting out of here alive."

I guess what I'm saying is I don't have to, like St. Francis, give away every little bit of comfort I have, but there are ways in my own life that I can be a little less haughty. There are ways I can be a little more peaceful. There are ways I can be a little less critical. There are ways I can be a little more just. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. And maybe I can understand by understanding, receive by giving, be pardoned by pardoning and be born to Eternal Life when it comes time.

The return to blogging...Finding God in All Music

As they walked in, I had my retreatants (7th grade students) sit quietly as I played "Lo, How A Rose 'Ere Blooming" by Sufjan Stevens. It seems Mr. Stevens put out a Christmas album a few years ago with EVERY CHRISTMAS SONG EVER (and some of them were actually well-done) on it, and this was a good one. After that, as I explained what it is which were were doing, I played "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" by Mahalia Jackson and explained how rock and roll came from gospel music. However, the point of the activity wasn't to listen to "church-y" music but to listen to see the universality of feeling, emotion, and sense that music in general brings. This universal joining force that lies in all of us is the greater power which can be called God.



So, I went on giving examples. We listened to:



"Life In Technicolor" (the instrumental version) by Coldplay to exemplify drive and repetion



"Concerto In F Minor for Violin, String Orchestra and Continuo, Op. 8, No. 4, RV 297, "L'inverno" (Winter): I. Allegro Non Molto" by Joshua Bell to exemplify minor keys



"Concerto In E Major for Violin, String Orchestra and Continuo, Op. 8, No. 1, RV 269, "La Primavera" (Spring): I. Allegro" by Joshua Bell to exemplify resolution and major keys amongst other things



"40" (Live) by U2 to exemplify religious lyrics used in "pop" music



"The Cave" by Mumford and Sons to exemplify soulful imagery and non-religious/religious imagery



During each of the songs I had students draw pictures or write phrases to illustrate the feelings or thought they had. The universality was apparent when the students had just slightly different versions of each other's illustrations. I call that a little bit of God.