A 70 year-old priest made a retreat. In the course of it he was struck deeply by three images he’d always been aware of but had never really taken to heart..
First, there are millions of people in the world who are hungry and homeless.
Second, he had spent his entire priestly life living in a comfortable rectory and preaching comfortable homilies to comfortable people.
Third, he had bent over backward to avoid disturbing or alienating his parishioners.
In other words, the 70-year-old priest found himself to be much like the priest played by Jack Lemmon in the film Mass Appeal. He preached only about those things that did not disturb his parishioners.
And now, like the priest in Mass Appeal, the old priest suddenly realized he’d been more worried about not disturbing his parishioners than about preaching the Gospel.
He’d been more worried about rocking the boat than about challenging his parishioners to look into their hearts to see if they were satisfied with what they saw there.
The week following his eye-opening retreat, the old priest looked up the Scripture readings to prepare his Sunday homily.
As he read the gospel, these words of Jesus leaped right off the page:
“These people …honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.” Mark 7:6
Right then and there the old priest resolved that he was going to share his soul-searching with his parishioners. So he began his homily by saying:
“My homily this morning will be exactly 30 seconds long. That’s the shortest homily I’ve preached in my life.
“But it is also the most important homily I’ve ever preached.”
With that attention-grabbing introduction, he gave his 30 second homily. He said:
“I want to make just three points.
First, millions of people in the world are hungry and homeless.
Second, most people in the world don’t give a damn about that.
Third, many of you are more disturbed by the fact that I just said damn in the pulpit than by the fact that I said there are millions of hungry and homeless people in the world.”
With that, the old priest made the sign of the cross and sat down.
In the spirit of this wise old priest, I would like share with you a challenging image to reflect on this week.
A righteous man was permitted by God to attain foreknowledge of the world to come. In a celestial palace he was ushered into a large room where he saw people seated at a banquet table. The table was laden with the most delectable foods, but not a morsel had been touched. The man gazed in wonder at the people seated at the table because they were emaciated with hunger and they moaned constantly for food even though it was in front of them.
“If they are hungry why is it that they don’t partake of the food that is before them, asked the man of the heavenly guide. “They cannot feed themselves,” said the guide. “If you will notice, each one has his arm strapped straight, so that no matter how hard he tries he cannot get the food into his mouth.”
“Truly this is hell,” said the righteous man as they left the hall.
The heavenly attendant escorted him across the hall into another room, and the man observed another table equally as beautiful and laden with delicacies and choice foods. Here he noticed that those seated around the table were well-fed, happy and joyous. To his amazement, he noticed that these people, too, had their arms strapped straight. Turning to his guide he asked in perplexity, “How is it that they are so well-fed seeing they are unable to feed themselves?”
“Behold,” said the guide, the righteous man saw that each one was feeding the other.
“In truth,” he exclaimed, “this is really heaven.”
“In truth it is,” agreed the attendant. “As you can see the difference between hell and heaven is a matter of cooperation and serving each other.”
Archive for the ‘18th Sunday’ Category
Social Awareness 7-31-2011
Sunday, July 31st, 2011The Richest Man In The Valley 8-1-2010
Sunday, August 1st, 2010There was a wealthy lord who lived in the Scottish Highlands. He was more then richly endowed with this world’s goods and amongst his vast possessions was a mansion overlooking a beautiful valley. But there was a basic emptiness in his life. He had no religious belief, he lived alone, possessed by his possessions.
In the gate lodge at the entrance to his estate lived John, his herdsman. John was a man of simple faith and deep religious commitment. With his family he was a regular churchgoer. God’s presence was a reality in his home and often at night when he opened the gate to admit his employer, the Scottish lord noticed the family in prayer.
One morning the lord was looking out on the valley resplendent in the rising sun. As he gazed on the beautiful scene, he said to himself, “It is all mine.” Just then the door bell rang. Going down, he found John on the door step. “What’s the matter, John?” he asked. “Are the horses alright?”
John looked embarrassed. “Yes, sir,” he replied. “Sir, could I have a word with you?” He was invited onto the plush carpet, and his presence there pointed up the striking contrast between their lifestyles.
“Sir,” said John hesitantly, “last night I had a dream, and in it God told me that the richest man in the valley would die tonight at midnight. I felt I should tell you. I hope, sir, that you don’t mind.”
“I don’t believe in dreams. Go on back to your work and forget it.”
John still looked uneasy. “The dream was very vivid, sir, and the message was that the richest man in the valley would die at midnight tonight. I just had to come to you, sir, as I felt that you should know.”
The lord dismissed him, but John’s words bothered him so much that he finally took out his car and went to the local doctor for a check-up. The doctor examined him, pronounced him fit and said he’d give him another twenty years.
The lord was relieved but a lingering doubt caused him to invite the doctor around for dinner and a few drinks that evening. They enjoyed a meal together and shortly after eleven-thirty, the doctor got up to leave. When the lord asked him to remain on for a few nightcaps, he agreed.
Eventually, when midnight passed and he was still in the land of the living, the rich man saw the doctor to the door, and then went up stairs muttering, “Silly old John…upset my whole day…him and his dreams.”
No sooner was he in bed than he heard the door-bell ringing. It was twelve-thirty. Going down he found a grief-stricken girl at the door whom he recognized instantly as John’s teenage daughter.
“Sir,” she said, looking at him through her tears, “Mummy sent me to tell you that Daddy died at midnight.”
The lord froze. It was suddenly made clear to him who was the richest man in the valley. The richest man in the valley.
