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November 28, 2005

Second Sunday of Advent - Signs Of the Times

These past weeks have surely been a harrowing time for our tender planet earth. It seemed almost as though nature was ganging up on it's own world. First the hurricanes Katrina and Rita, then more recently the giant earthquake in India and Pakistan, then the rains and mud slides in Guatemala and finally more rain in the upper North East part of our own country. Thousands dead, many more injured, millions of dollars lost in destruction of homes and businesses. What more could happen? Many will obviously say, "it's all happened before. We will survive this one as we always have."

Of course, you also have the doom-sayers, preachers and radio commentators, the talking heads, who claim that we are now living in the end times.

Here is one example: State Senator Hank Erwin of Alabama claimed on his radio program that "New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness. It is this sort of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God." A Methodist minister in his area responded by saying: "I don't know what sort of senator or politician Mr.Erwin is, but 1 can tell you one thing: He is surely no theologian!

What he means is this: Any theologian with any sense would not claim that God punishes the world and its people indiscriminately by using earthquakes or hurricanes. Gambling may not be the highest calling in the world, but it surely does not invite the wrath of God. I'm sure that the good, God-fearing mother and father in India whose home has been destroyed by the earthquake would find it hard to understand why God was personally punishing them. They are not gamblers, nor are they aware of any serious sin. We know that these sorts of predictions always happen, of course. Whenever there is some sort of natural catastrophe you will find someone who can find a religious reason for it. Beware of doom-sayers who can find God's hand in every tragedy. I'm grateful that we do not have many Catholic preachers, theologians or Catholics generally who believe in that kind of God.

The fact is that we have no idea, never have, never will have any idea about God's plan for this world, particularly it's ending if there is even to be an ending.

We do know one thing, of course, and that is that Jesus said that he would come again, but whether that will coincide with the end of the world, we do not know.

We also know that Jesus said that "the kingdom of God is already among you." All of which means that God is working and has already been working in this world in God's own mysterious way. The author of the psalms put it this way: "The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky proclaims its builder's craft." All this tells me that we can find God, if we want to make the effort, not in the destruction of life on the planet, but in its natural beauty.

So, here we are moving into the middle of Advent season which does, in fact speak about endings and beginnings, not the end of the world, but of the many natural endings and beginnings that we see going on around us all the time. The point that Advent recalls for us is that God is in the middle of things, not in the end. So, it is in those events that we have a "theophany", a hint of Godness.

Time itself is constantly beginning and ending. We have calendars and clocks that try to help us keep track of time. An author I read some time ago put it this way: "Free us from being clock watchers, make us time lovers." What this means, I think, is that God is even to be found in that mysterious experience we call time, the space between events in our life.

How then does time begin and end? People who work with budgets can tell you. They know when the fiscal year begins and ends. (God in the numbers!)

Students know when the mid-semester and semester begins and ends and when term papers are due. (God in the grades!)

Politicians know when to start thinking about the next election (sometimes a year ahead of time, unfortunately for us.).

Farmers watch the skies and know when to begin planting and when begin harvesting.

Elderly folks know instinctively that their days are "numbered." If they are people of faith, of course, this is not a threat but a grace. All our days are "numbered."

For those of us who are Christian, of course, we know that our church year has natural beginnings and endings. It is good for us to know that life is not just "one doggone thing after another." When one season ends, we know that another will follow. In other words, there is a sense of hope in the Christian calendar because it is circular. It goes around and around. If we have missed opportunities for Christian living in the past, there will be more opportunities in the future. It's called the virtue of hope. God time is never ending time.

The question then comes to this: Not when will time end, but what are we doing in the midst of it to "redeem time", that is, how do we use it well so that it does not go to waste?

The Jesus of Matthew's Gospel in the Twenty Fifth chapter gives us a pretty clear picture: We know that the kingdom of God is getting close when we use at least some of our time to provide food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, when we welcome the stranger, cover the naked and the homeless, visit those in prison. All those opportunities are happening right now in time, in our time, if we choose to make use of them.

So, I am not particularly concerned about the end of the world, even though there might be an earthquake of a hurricane somewhere in the world today or tomorrow. Those events tell me nothing. I do know this, however: There is still lots to do in the world that I haven't gotten around to. I'm always behind time, as most of us are. So, let's stop worrying about end times and start thinking about what today's and tomorrow's opportunities will bring. Some exciting challenge may be just around the corner. Don't miss it.

The scriptures: Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11, 2 Peter 3: 8-14, Mark 1: 1-8

Posted by Julie Galligan at 12:03 PM.

November 22, 2005

First Sunday of Advent - What Time Is It?

Like most folks, I am not particularly worried or concerned about time. "There will always be time," I say. Perhaps I should be concerned, of course, because I'm always behind, behind time that is. But twice each year I do get a little concerned about time: Because I am a Catholic and I follow the liturgical calendar, I pay special attention to the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new liturgical year, the year of grace. The second date or event I get concerned about is January 1, the beginning of the secular year. Both of these dates obviously have something to do with what we call time. Oddly enough, time does not exist as a distinct entity like, say, this computer I am presently pounding away at. I took the occasion, therefore, to look up the word time in Websters International Dictionary and, surprisingly, I found one entire column dedicated to time. That tells me that it (time) whether it exists or not, must play some part in our daily life.

Webster simply defines it as "an interval between two events." Perhaps we should say that we all think we know what time is because we experience it in various ways in our daily life whether we can define it or not.

Think of the words or phrases we ordinarily use to talk about it. Frequently during the day we ask "hey, what time is it?" The prison system talks about "doing time" or "serving time." We say "we are either ahead of time or behind time." We keep time or we lose time. We save time or we waste time. We invest time and we manage time. Unfortunately, we also kill time! We say, "time is money." A long time ago there used to be a radio program called "Time Marches On." We make time and save time. Many of us look for the "opportune time" to do something. Kindergarten teachers tell their students that they may go to the bathroom "one at a time." We speak of "having the time of our lives." The scriptures speak of "a time to live and a time to die." All of us appreciate quality time with another person rather than simply putting in time. Kids talk about "having a good time." During work time we are on the job; on weekends we look forward to leisure time. Musicians always talk about "keeping time" with their foot! Anyone who has ever taken a timed exam knows what it means when the proctor says: "Time's up." We worry about running against time. All of us (particularly newspaper people) dread time lines and deadlines. We don't like to be labeled being behind the times or out of date. For working people (and we are all working people) there is always concern about the time card or the time clock. Young lovers say that, "time stands still when they are together." Sadly, for many people who are elderly, we say "time is getting short." When the thirty first day of December or the Thirty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time rolls around we know we've run out of time, at least for this year.

All of these references to time have at least one thing in common: They all are measured by a clock or a calendar: 24/7/365 as the phrase is used by many today. So, we say these have to do with chronological time. It's a Greek word which means that we try to arrange events in an orderly fashion It's simply a way for us to keep from getting lost in the universe!

But the ancient Greeks who always were looking for the meaning in things also have another word for time which we Christians have adopted. It's simply called Kairos. It's not a word that is ordinarily used by many except liturgists and theologians. Actually, I could not even find it in Websters International Dictionary!

The difference between chronos and kairos is that chronological time is linear, that is, it begins at a certain point and ends at another point. Chronos time says: "When something is over it is over. Period! When you are out of time, you are out of time. Chronological time is always predictable. We keep time accurately. But chronological time actually has no meaning of itself. Every minute, every second is exactly like the minute or second that preceded it or which will follow it. It just keeps on ticking whether we think we can do something about it or not.

But kairos time is thought of as circular, going around and around. Kairos time is repeatable, even reversible. In other words, if you are using kairos time (as every Christian should) you can start over; for the Christian, it's never too late. We are never purely out of time, period! That is why kairos is called God-time or sacred time, time filled with mystery and with meaning.

That is also why, for instance, even though we Christians follow a chronological calendar, we also talk about a calendar or a year of grace, a year filled with God's grace, God's gifts. Did you ever notice how often our Sunday gospels begin with the words: "At that time Jesus..." That doesn't refer to a certain time of the week. It refers to eternal time, a sacred moment, a time when God began to do something special, something to take notice of, something filled with meaning and purpose.

Now, what makes kairos or sacred time so special for Christians? What makes
it special is the fact that it is not simply "one doggone thing after another." God-time, kairos time is filled with opportunities for salvation. It's a reservoir of grace. I guess we could say that chronological time or clock time is infused with kairos, with God-time, sacred opportunities. In other words, for some people, time just keeps going around, drearily from one moment to the next. They watch the clock so that they can go on to something more interesting. For the Christian, however, every moment of the day is pregnant with meaning, that is, if we are willing to look for that meaning and "capture the moment", as the ancient Romans used to say.

All this is summed up in Jesus words in Mark's gospel for today: "Be constantly on watch, stay awake. You do not know when the appointed time will come." So, what is that "appointed time?" My sense is that the "appointed time" is not simply Sunday morning when we are celebrating the liturgy. The "appointed time is at 7:00 a.m. when we get out of bed and thank God for another day. The "appointed time" is when we get to work or school and dedicate these hours ahead of us to God. The "appointed time" is the time during the day when someone unexpectedly asks us for help and we take the time to give it. The "appointed time" happens in the evening of the day when we are tired, but not so tired that we forget to tell God thanks for these eight hours of grace that have come flooding into our lives, drenching us with sacred experiences. All that is what kairos means, God in the day time, God in the night time, God in every tick of the clock, every moment of the day. But, of course, as Jesus points out: It just doesn't happen automatically. We have to stay awake, and if we are awake and alert to the sound of God stirring in our life, there will surely be some wonderful surprises. A new year is upon us, my friends. Let us not miss out on what God may be planning for us. If nothing else, watch the clock, time is ticking away.

The scriptures: Isaiah 63: 16-17, 19: 64: 2-7, 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9, Mark 13: 33-37

Posted by Julie Galligan at 11:58 AM.

November 14, 2005

Wakeup Call: Solemnity of Christ the King

This country of ours, in its young history, has really not had very many human tragedies to deal with, events that have changed the face of the entire country. I imagine that the Civil War must have been one such event. From it we learned about the disparity between white and black people, the sin of slavery. The event we now know as Nine Eleven is another. We learned suddenly how vulnerable we were as a nation, despite our wealth and power. We also learned how much we need to depend on one another and how much compassion exists among us when our neighbors are subjected to such tragedies.

The third event that has undoubtedly changed the history of our country is one more recent: The hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Odd as it may sound, in this case nature itself taught us something about how life goes on in cities, large and small, in the United States. Of course, we have always known that there are poor and vulnerable people living along side the rich and protected. This is the way it has always been. But when the waters and the winds suddenly overwhelmed everyone, rich and poor alike, vulnerable and invulnerable alike, we suddenly realized that differences between us are only superficial. At base, we are all simply human beings, we all need food and clothing, housing and medicine, protection from the powers of nature. We suddenly learned something about how we live together as neighbors in a way that no other event could have taught us. In a sense, hurricanes Katrina and Rita were the great levelers, everyone in their paths was affected alike. Artificial divisions between upper class and lower class neighborhoods were now gone.

The news commentators I have listened to in these recent weeks have all said something like this: For the first time, Americans have learned the meaning and importance of serving one another, helping each other in times of great stress. There were countless examples of people saving one another's lives, sharing homes, food, water, clothing, et cetera. In the Super Dome, no one asked what part of the city another had come from. "We are all in this together," they said. "So, let's help each other.

Here was an example of a living sermon on the love of Christ, Christ the shepherd, Christ the servant. Sad that it had to take a hurricane to teach us how to be servants to each other, but so it was and so it is.

It occurs to me that the Solemnity of Christ the King which we celebrate today will have special meaning for us this year because we will need to ask ourselves again how Jesus chose to be remembered and what that could mean for us.

At the end of every liturgical year we are invited to think about what Christ has meant to us during these past twelve months. We want to say that Christ is the one who has given meaning to all we have done, all we have celebrated, all we have prayed about this year. We want to find a title that gives Christ the highest praise, the highest place. So, we choose "king" even though that title does not mean much in our society today.

My sense, however, is that Jesus would be a bit uncomfortable with that title. Indeed, as we know from our reading of the gospels, when people wanted to crown him king, Jesus went off into hiding because people wanted to crown him king for all the wrong reasons. They wanted someone to come and straighten out the inequities in the world that we are obviously responsible for. But that is not the reason the Father sent him.

I know that there is probably not much of a chance for changing the title of this feast at this late date, but all the scriptures for this feast talk so clearly not about kingship, but about shepherding, about servanthood, about taking care of the folks.

Ezekiel the prophet in the first reading has some tough words for the religious leaders of his time. "What God asks of a leader," Ezekiel says, "is someone who will seek out the strays, bring back the injured, heal the sick. This is exactly what God does, and this is exactly what is expected of you."

Jesus must have read Ezekiel's prophecies because he uses practically the same language Ezekiel did when he talks about the end times and how life in this world ought to be. "You will know that I am here with you when you feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison." In short," when you take care of these little ones, my brothers and sisters, you are caring for me."

During these days at the end of the liturgical year we hear a lot about end times, about how we will know when Christ will come again. Tim LaHaye writes a lot about that in his "Left Behind" series of books. I don't personally pay much attention to those sorts of predictions. But one thing I know for certain: Jesus predicted that we would know that his coming was imminent if we tried to make sure that his brothers and sisters were being tended to. Nothing can be any clearer than that.

Is this kind of shepherding going on at this time in our history? I think it is. All you need to do is read the papers and watch the evening network news of the reconstruction that is going on on the Gulf Coast. There have been hundreds of stories of people whose lives have been given a new start. I think about all the dedicated local officials, Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, for instance, the other federal officials, even the people working for FEEMA. They may not have read today's gospel about Jesus the servant or about the "least of my brothers and sisters," but the fact that these people are doing something to help others who are suffering and are trying to bring order out of chaos, tells me that Christ is being recognized as having returned not as king, but surely as shepherd of the flock.

The fact that parishes and dioceses around the United States have contributed to those parishes which were wiped out tells me that Christ is near, even at the door.

I would be the first to say, therefore, that God does not use nature to "teach us a lesson." Nonetheless, when tragedy does strike the human community there is a sense of compassion that spontaneously arises in the hearts of people. Whether they consider themselves religious or not, they instinctively know that in moments of tragedy attention must be paid. We are all sons and daughters of the one God, brothers and sisters of Jesus the good shepherd. It seems sad somehow that it should take a hurricane to remind us of all that. But now we know better who our neighbor is and that's ultimately what counts. In the mind of Christ, we are all his little ones, his flock.

The scriptures: Ezekiel 34: 11-12, 15-17, 1 Corinthians 15: 20-26, 28, Matthew 25: 31-46

Posted by Julie Galligan at 04:48 PM.

November 08, 2005

Risking for the Right Things: Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

One thing we can surely say about Americans in general is that they love winners. Even though they may not themselves be "winners" they love to read or hear about other people who have started at the bottom and are now on the top of heap. Perhaps in seeing someone else "make it big" there is a certain embarrassing sense of "Hey, I could have done all that, but I didn't want to take the risk."

Most of us could recite our "red, white and blue" examples of people who "made it big," particularly, and oddly enough, individuals in the fast-food industry: Ray Krok, Dave Thomas, Glen Bell, Dave Edgerton and Jim McLamore the founders of MacDonalds, Wendy's, Taco Bell and Burger King. Wouldn't we all wish we would have had the good sense to invest in one of these food industries? We might also be rich today, but alas, we didn't take the risk. So, now we look on from the sidelines and wonder about what could have been.

What is it that made these men so successful to the point that they have become "icons of industry", world success stories? Obviously, as Glen Bell himself said, it's all about hard work. True enough, but it's also about something else, something called risk-taking. None of those fast-food industrialists would have gotten their enterprises off the ground had they not invested some money, time and effort in this venture. I suspect that none of them had any idea what would come forth from their initial idea, but they were willing at least to see where it would take them. Indeed, they may not even have imagined it as a risk; perhaps they felt that they had nothing to lose anyway.

My sense is that most of us probably live somewhere between taking a risk and hanging on to what we have. We all want to get ahead in life, as we say, but at the same time, we worry about losing what we already have worked for, what is precious to us. This is particularly true of taking risks with whatever could benefit those who depend on us. We all know the sad stories of the CEO's of Enron and World Corn who took risks with their employees futures. So, the line between foolhardiness and prudent risk taking is often rather narrow.

Our scriptures for this Thirty Third Sunday provide us with two sets of individuals who worked hard and "made it big," people who worked hard and were praised for their efforts.

The first reading comes from the Old Testament Book of Proverbs. I love this reading because it is one of the few passages in the Old Testament which specifically praises women for their work. I often suggest that it could be used at the Rite of Christian Burial.

In this case, the author assures us that a "worthy wife has value that is far beyond pearls." He also makes the point that this woman has done many things which has made her husband look good in public. (I'm not so sure whether I agree with that or not!) At any rate, the writer praises the woman who works hard to take care of her family and for taking care of the poor. At the end, the writer insists that she deserves high praise: She cares little about charm and beauty. It is her works and her love of God that will be her greatest reward.

All this may simply sound like another Ray Krok or Dave Thomas success story: Praise them for their hard work, but the point of the reading is that the woman used her talents for the good of others, for her family and the community. For that she was praised.

Of course, the same may be said for many successful people. Aside from whatever personal motivation for they may have for their work, what they have accomplished often benefits the world at large. Even the founders of fast-food industries have made it possible for people to be nourished. They are even getting more concerned today about healthier foods, vegetables and fruits! At least that's something.

Our gospel for today picks up on the same theme of risk-taking. It's a story of three people who were given something to invest, Talents, gifts, skills, whatever. The money for the initial investment, by the way, does not belong to the three individuals. It still belongs to the original investor He's the one who stands to lose or gain depending on how much of a risk the secondary investors wish to take. Two double it and a third buries it to keep it safe. He did not want to risk the wrath of the owner if he should lose the initial investment. Two are praised, the third is told that he is a useless servant.

The point of the story, of course, is not about investing money or material things. It is a question about whether we are willing to trust ourselves with God's gifts. Obviously, we are all initially blessed at conception with human gifts, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, physical, intellectual and spiritual abilities of all sorts. Over the period of a lifetime (or at least during our young adult years) we are expected to double or triple those gifts with education, training, reading, reflection.

And why should we be doing that throughout our life? Not simply to become better educated, not simply to make a lot of money or a big name for ourselves. We are gifted by God so that somehow or other the world will be a better place, the little world in which we will exist for some 50 or 60 years.

Truly, it seems to me, after much reflection, that we are not born into this world simply for ourselves, for our own good. We are born into this world because there is a specific place for us, a special notch, if you will, which only we individually can fill. If we decide to bury those gifts in the ground as the character in the story did, the world will be all the poorer for it. True, no one may ever know the difference, but we will, if we need to look back on our life and say, "gosh, I wish I had studied harder in school," or "I wish I had applied for this or that scholarship, just think what I could have done with those extra opportunities that are now lost in history. I wonder what the little world I have lived in during all these years would look like if I'd tried harder, if I had taken a few risks with my God-given human abilities?"

Perhaps in the end we all need to do what those professional gamblers in Las Vegas often do when they are playing poker for high stakes: They say a good poker player knows instinctively when to hold and and when to fold. So, when the opportunity comes for us to invest the precious gifts God gives us, maybe we should say a little prayer like this: "Lord, all this belongs to you; it was your gift to me. Now give me the grace to know when to hold and when to fold."

The scriptures: Proverbs 31: 10-13, 19-20,30-31, 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6, Matthew 25: 14-30+

Posted by Julie Galligan at 12:20 PM.