If the text for my homily for last Sunday and the nice conversation (with about the average amount of digressing :-)) which ensued has not yet quenched your thirst for reading texts which are meant to be spoken aloud, Fr. Edward Foley, Capuchin has posted the text of his homily for the same day at the Pray Tell blog. Wonderfully written, and a significantly different take than mine. He's great and brilliant, whereas, well, I guess you all know by now what I am. He was, and perhaps still is, a professor at the Catholic Theological Union, the "other seminary"* in Chicago. I've heard him speak. Gentle, kind, and wears his considerable erudition lightly.
And for an extra bonus: here is a third take, in video form, also from Pray Tell: Fr. Ronald Raab, CSC provides a Sixty Second Sermon for the same Sunday. It's as brief as the title suggests, but meaty. His is a bit more along the lines as mine, and yet with a spin that I never would have come up with.
* I think of it as the "other seminary". My diaconate formation took place mostly at the University of St. Mary of the Lake, the seminary for priests of the Chicago Archdiocese (and many other dioceses as well). It is located in Mundelein, IL, some 35 or so miles north and west of Chicago. The Catholic Theological Union, or CTU, is a seminary on the South Side of Chicago. It is for candidates for the priesthood for members of religious orders. Both seminaries are more than seminaries: they also offer classes and degree programs for laypersons; and CTU also provides classes and degree programs for many women members of religious orders.
Foley's meditation is quite an eye-opener. I wonder what we are to make of "each according to his abilities." Ability to what? Ability to make canny investments? The ability to take risks?
ReplyDeleteDid the master give the third slave only one talent because he knew the slave didn't have the ability to risk an investment?
Does God give us talents commensurate with our abilities to use them wisely?
The parable raises more questions the more you play with it.
Today (17th Nov) is St. Hilda's Day, Anglo-Saxon abbess and my favorite saint. Ability and talent were the foundation of her monastic rule--from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. That's taken from the description of the early Christian community described in Acts, but it resonates in this parable. St. Hilda was always looking for talent. She recognized it in Caedmon, the blind shepherd poet. But she also recognized it in the kid who learned to read and write in her scriptorium and was sent out to record Caedmon's poems.
Unlike the master in the parable, St. Hilda was a keen observer of people and made sure no one's talents were wasted. She might have sent the first two slaves off to make a good trade for the books her monastery produced. But she would have given the careful third slave the keys to the beer and wine closet.
Jean, Hilda of Whitby is interesting and admirable. And underappreciated nowadays. The main saint on the calendar for the 17th was Elizabeth of Hungary, whom I see as a tragic figure, a sweet unworldly young woman mistreated by her husband's family after he died. When we were discussing spiritual direction, someone, I think it was Tom, said that bad spiritual direction is worse than none. Elizabeth is a primo example of that being true.
DeleteGood point that the third servant's prudence is also a talent that could be put to good use.
Re: "each according to his abilities", my take on that phrase is (1) it acknowledges that the level of ability can vary significantly between one person and another, and to the won to whom much has been given, much is to be expected; and (2) modest talents and gifts don't let us off the hook for doing our part. I think there is a tendency sometimes for those who are not extraordinarily gifted to sit back and let those with the greater gifts do all the work.
DeleteAs you might be able to tell, this interpretation is based on my overall take on the parable, not Foley's. I haven't relinquished my take yet! :-) But that said, the bit about the master reaping where he didn't sow and gathering where he didn't scatter always has been problematic for me. Maybe it's a reference to Judaism, and Christians welcoming non-Jews into the community. From the traditional point of view, that would be gathering from others' fields, because God was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - he was "proper" to Israel.
I think there are probably lots of "correct" interpretations as long as they fit the overall "love God and your neighbor as yourself." I like your take, also. But just because the third slave didn't invest doesn't mean he wasn't using his talents and judgment. We need to use our talents, by we need to know our limitations.
DeleteFoley really is an eye-opener. It shows how reading the Gospel through American glasses can make us miss the point.
ReplyDeleteAs it happens, in a few minutes I will leave for the men's meeting, where we will discuss the Last Judgment scene in Matthew, the sheep and goats, coming up this Sunday. As with the Beatitudes, someone will quickly note that there can be spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst and spiritual nakedness, and so much for the physical suffering all around us. (As our preacher said last Sunday, the servant with one talent was laaaazy.) Today I am armed with data (from Richard Rolheiser) that very 10th line in the New Testament -- and every 5th line in Luke -- is about the corporal (not spiritual) works of mercy. (I hope Rohleiser hasn't been refuted.)
While it is true that there can be both physical and spiritual hunger and nakedness, reducing it to spiritual only comes perilously close to what James said in his epistle, "If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? "
DeleteTom, interesting comment about "our American glasses." The problem with literal readers of the Bible is that they think they are closest to the "truth" by taking the words at face value without seeing how much their cultural norms affect their understanding. Jesus was often telling stories to make people feel uncomfortable.
DeleteWow, a lot to think about in the Foley meditation. I was especially struck by this part, after he said "The master is certainly no "God" or "Jesus" figure. "
ReplyDelete"In my imagination
the earth-banking slave
who refused to exploit the poor through shady loans
with exorbitant interest rates
was certainly on the side of the blessed.
But maybe even more.
That this humiliated outcast,
at least temporarily relegated to the region of darkness
a place of wailing and suffering,
is an apt Christ figure,
whose public ministry on behalf of outcasts,
whose dedication to the marginalized and powerless
condemned him as well
to the darkness of Golgotha
and the suffering of the Cross."
It is interesting that the parable doesn't start out as many of them do, saying that this "...is like the kingdom of heaven." The master seems too much like an exploitive jerk, an uneasy " God" figure.
Foley's commentary is amazing. There are very few decent homilists out there - most homilies are predictable, repetitive (you hear the same readings for years and there are standard homilies in response), trite, and usually boring to the point of putting me to sleep no matter how hard I try to stay awake.
ReplyDeletePlus there is no written text available for homilies, which was a problem for me even before I had hearing loss.
Churches that have rushed to get rid of written texts in favor of "proclaiming" the Word will NEVER lure me in. Because then I not only miss what is important in a homily, I miss absorbing the readings too. I need to read stuff - often several times, to let the meaning sink in, to let overlooked passages catch my attention, to be able to go back and read the words I missed because I was thinking about something that HAD caught my attention and missed what followed, etc, I don't watch TV news or commentary for the same reasons - I read news and opinions and commentary.
I might have to follow Foley on Pray, Tell from now on if this homily is a typical example of his thinking.
Anne, I'm like you, I prefer to have a written text, for the reasons that you mention. Normally we do have missalettes with the Scripture readings, but now we have put them away and have no print materials in the pews, because of the danger of spreading germs with them. Some churches project the words on a screen or on the wall, but that just seems tacky. I regret to say that sometimes I don't even remember what was read afterwards.
DeleteFWIW, I understand our church is supposed to be mounting video screens. If singing ever is permitted again, the lyrics (not sure about the notes) will be projected on them, as the hymnals now have been pulled from our pews.
DeleteI believe we will also project the words to the Gloria - which people are able to sing by heart, but apparently not recite without the music - and the Creed.
The virus really has pushed ahead the electronic-ization of liturgy. There is another article currently featured on Pray Tell which touches on some of the issues and concerns, mostly having to do with broadcasting and live-streaming mass rather than attending in person.
You probably aren't old enough to remember "Sing Along With Mitch", a 60s era tv show which had the words to the songs on the screen, and a little bouncing ball to follow the music. That's always what the projected hymns remind me of.
DeleteI remember the "follow the bouncing ball" features that would come on cartoon programs which we watched when I was a kid. I saw that content in the 1960s, but I believe the features themselves were created a couple of decades earlier?
DeleteAlthough I've never experienced it firsthand, I like the idea of a movie theater full of people singing along to "Mairzie Doats", or whatever they were invited to sing along to. I'm pro-communal singing!
Yeah, I think "The Romper Room With Miss Frances" used to do that. Memory Lane!
DeleteMiss Frances was "Ding Dong School." If you think Fred Rogers was hard to take, you never saw Miss Frances in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK5xsXa9LMw
DeleteI remember Romper Room had the magic mirror, but don't remember the bouncing ball.
There was also Sing Along with Mitch. My brother and I used to tell each other, "Come on! Don't just sit there! Sing!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dY9gtYeHhk
Then there's the Five Neat Guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMjtvSABQ3Q
Katherine, I’m with you. I also think screens in church are tacky. A matter of personal taste, I suppose. Like music in church. Hope what is now a way to bridge the pandemic time doesn’t become permanent once normal returns. If it ever does.
ReplyDeleteI notice a lot of people following along on their smart phones. You can download the readings from several sites. I guess that's just an update of the missals we used to bring. I never had the ribbons in the right place.
DeleteA lot of older people don't use smart phones, and they are among those who are more likely to have hearing problems also. No perfect solution.
DeleteWe have AV. One of our pastors wired up the whole church at his expense. And then was moved to another parish. But not for wiring the church. It is especially helpful at the so-called bilingual Mass, since you can read the English while the Spanish is proclaimed and vice versa.
DeleteI am surprised neither of you singers noted that looking up at AV for the verses of hymns and Mass parts opens the throat for smoother and better singing than does looking down at a missal. Just sayin'.
Tom, any time I've been singing lately Ive been doing it through a KN95 mask. Which definitely doesn't make for smoother and better singing. But you're right that raising your chin slightly helps you hit the higher notes. Our director tells us to "raise our eyebrows" .
DeleteWell, as the song says, "LIFT every voice and sing." I should have mentioned, re Jim's and Anne's comments, that our lyrics and readings are projected directly onto walls that have always been there on either side of the altar. I think erecting screens, especially moveable ones, would look tacky.
DeleteTom - quite right that having the notes and words projected could put people in a better singing position!
DeleteAs I say, it's all moot around here. People aren't allowed to sing at mass. Some of them do anyway. As a minister of the archdiocese, I suppose I should be tutting in disapproval, but I love it.
Unrelated, please pray for my dad. He has fallen twice in the last couple of days and is having trouble getting up and down on his own.
ReplyDeletePrayers on the way, Katherine.
DeleteI am so sorry to hear it. Prayers of course. All of us here might know that St. Anthony of Padua is the patron saint of seniors:
DeleteO loving St. Anthony, patron saint of the elderly, I ask your special prayers for (name person) and all elderly people.
Pray, beloved saint, that they are grateful for the years they have lived, content with their place in life, have hearts and minds that are full of happy memories and thankful thoughts, that they are blessed with good health, and that they are examples of Christian living for all they love and meet.
Please pray that if they are tested with illness, suffering, loneliness, or the death of loved ones that they be blessed with God’s peace and comfort, strength and courage.
And when their time comes to enter into eternal life, I pray you welcome them into Heaven where along with you they might praise God forever and ever.
Amen.
Thanks Jean. St. Anthony is a special saint for us, since he is our parish patron, and one of our sons is named for him.
DeleteSorry about your father, Katherine. I know all too well about the falling problem. I will pray that he get better.
DeleteThanks, Stanley.
DeleteThank you for sharing the prayer, Jean. My late brother was also named for St. Anthony.
DeleteJim, given the Covid numbers in Illinois, I hope that the singers are wearing masks at least!
ReplyDeleteKatherine, prayers ascending. Does your dad live alone?
Anne, yes, everyone in the pews at church around here must wear a mask at all times. The single exception is that people can temporarily pull down their mask or unhook it from one ear to consume communion (host only - no cups!).
DeleteOur music ministry these days consists of a single cantor and a single accompanist at each mass. No choirs, no ensembles, no groups of instrumentalists. The cantor wears a transparent face shield rather than a mask, because it seems to be helpful if people in the pews can see his/her face/mouth/lips when s/he is singing.
I have been accompanying at one mass every 1-2 weekends, as our music director has some health issues and can use the help. It's a little depressing; all the music is so minimal now. One verse for the Entrance Song. No call and response during the Responsorial Psalm (it's all call, no response). It's a lot more fun to accompany a church full of singing people, rather than a single cantor singing for everyone else. Plus, that model of "singing for" rather than "leading in song" goes against every liturgical gene I possess (those genes aren't very numerous in me, but such as they are, they're there).
The COVID numbers in Illinois had been increasing sharply since early October. For the last week or so, they seem to have started plateauing (which is not as good as a decline, but still better than the steep rate of increase which previously had been prevailing).
Hospitalizations and deaths, which are lagging indicators, continue to climb.
Anne, Dad still lives alone.. But he is right across from my brother and sister in law. They, and their daughter and grandson, check in with him several times a day. He eats his noon meal with them. Up until now it has worked. But now he can't get up from a sitting position on his own. They're going to have his doctor evaluate what is going on. It is the worst possible time for someone to need skilled nursing care. Dad is a big tall man, and it is a two person job to get him up out of his chair.
DeleteJim, it is the same situation for music in our parish, excep we do have some small groups which sing from the choir loft with distancing. Most of the time there is no music. The most music we have had was for a rosary and Benediction service last Sunday evening. There were two benediction hymns and Holy God We Praise Thy Name, played by me, with two cantors. Two deacons led. There were five people in the congregation. It had us scratching our head as to why we were even doing it, but some church ladies thought we needed to.
Delete