Today's Homily

That's sermon for you non-Catholics.
And one of the readings was this one - a favorite of mine, often used for weddings, but it can apply to any type of relationship in your life.

1 Corinthians 13:4–8
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

This morning I heard each of those lines and reflected on how I treat people, and know how rude and irritable I can be. I chuckle over things that go wrong for others that I don't like (yep, that would be the Hawkeyes...). Geez - I've got a lot of work to do!

I sure was in a reflective mood this morning!

I really like the priest at our new church, St. Francis of Assisi. His name is Father Hoefler. He's probably in his mid 60's and he's recovering from prostate cancer surgery - a second recurrence of the damn stuff. Since it's a huge parish and we're new, I haven't met him in person, but his sermons are good. He knows when to stop - ending on just the right note.

Today he spoke on "Me-ism" - a word he made up to denote how so many people today are wrapped up in themselves. They relate to the world merely in how - insert thing - will affect them only. He talked about how babies start out that way - They think, "that's my mom, my food, my toy - wait a minute why are you touching it?" Eventually we're supposed to move beyond Me. If you've been a parent, you know this can take a while. Like 20+ more years.

Father brought up that especially in American we idolize movie and sports stars - often they catered to and sucked up to. Again they become enamored with "Me". Father said someone he knows had lunch with Lance Armstrong. The whole time, Lance never asked once about the other person's life or story. You know people like that too, right? Even if they aren't rock stars they act like one. It's all about Me!

Most people in this world do move beyond the "Me" stage. Father Hoefler said Jesus was the ultimate giver. He said Jesus gave it up for all of us - people he didn't even know. He didn't care who it was - not just the "chosen people" would be saved, and he rubbed that in their faces which ticked them off. They wanted to toss him off a cliff, yet he walked off unharmed. I liked that story.

The sermon today was another reminder to me to volunteer. The thing is, anytime I've ever given of myself, I've received just as much back. Now that Paul and I are settled in West Des Moines I'm looking forward to giving again, beyond financial donations. And once Paul and I get to retirement age I hope we have good enough health to do things like that - Habitat for Humanity, or things like our friend Moose does, helping build stuff in underserved areas.

I complain about our church. But the ceremony, the music and messages are good for me!