| June 16, 2002 Exodus 19:2-6 + Romans 5:6-11 + Matthew 9:36-10:8 |
| On June 28, 1987 I stood up in the assembly at St. Thomas More Parish in Norman, Oklahoma and said: “More years ago than I care to remember, I learned this little saying in the seminary: Quidquid recipitur, recipitur secundum modum recipientis. It means: Whatever is received, is received according to the capacity of the receiver. Now that sounds a little complicated and highly philosophical, and I want you to know that “Philosophy” was not a subject with which I was con;ifortable as a twenty something year old student. But I am not twenty-something any more, no matter how I might wish it were so, and the things that seemed complicated and difficult then are really not. You cannot put a quarter into the nickle slot of the parking meter The quarter is the quidquid reciptur, and it will not reci.pitur into the five-cent slot because it is meant to take nickels only – that is the modum recipientis. |
| This old principle came to mind this week because I think it has a lot to say about us who gather here week after we k and work to put into practice what we have been sent from here to accomplish. It also says a lot about what I am doing here this morning and how I feel about it just as much as it did fifteen years ago on June 28. |
| He sent them out to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand: to cure the sick, to raise the dead, to cleanse the lepers, and to drive out demons. Yet, the mandate is not just about doing and giving, it is more about receiving: “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” Herein lies the heart of this Gospel. |
| The quarter will not fit unless you are the size of a quarter……… Youcannot cure the sick unless you have known the sickness. You cannot raise the dead, unless you have faced death itself. You cannot cleanse the lepers unless you know the despair and loneliness that comes with the disease. You cannot cast out demons unless you have been cleansed. This is the mystery of the Incarnation. God does not save us without becoming one of us, and this is what we celebrate in this place week after week, and we do this together or it is not done at all. We do this with and through each other as church who knows sickness, death, evil, and loneliness. We can and we have cured sickness here. The sickness of despair and discouragement, the sickness of distrust and isolation. We can and we have raised the dead. If you doubt it, look at this place and look at yourselves, your commitment to this city and its heart, to this parish school, and to children being raised in the faith and the values that built this place eighty years ago. We can and we have driven out demons. The demon of fear, the demon of ignorance, the demon of blame and selfishness is on the run. No longer is this an isolated, aging, poverty bound community trapped here like lepers of old. You have heard the command, and you have responded. |
| I used to think that this place, this parish, this community was complex, difficult, a huge challenge. I came here with fear, my friends. I read the homily from July 5, 1987 several times in the last few weeks, and I could still feel the fear between the lines. But I was approaching this opportunity the way I used to approach Philosophy: out of my head, not my heart. I’m not twenty, nor forty five any more. I am sixty, and things that seemed too complicated do not seem so any more. This is not a complicated nor difficult community mixed up in an transitional urban setting with languages and cultures that are confusing, tangled up, and sometimes conflicting. Our ministry here is really very simple. It is a matter of relationships, not programs, Renaissance, meetings, events, schedules, weddings, funerals, and schools, contracts, and sacraments. It is a matter of friendship, of trust, and of charity. |
| I don’t know where the time has gone, nor why it had to go so fast. When I came, I was fearful and concerned that you might be disappointed or not like me; that I wouldn’t know what to do nor be able to make the decisions to lead. But it was not so for long, because I quickly realized that it wasnot going to be about me anyway It was goingto be about Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, and I realized that it was going to be about relationships that were ruled by forgiveness, by trust, by faith, and by abiding joy that would show itself again and again in the way we celebrate and most of all in the way we ,give thanks. |
| “Without cost, we have received, and without cost we are to give.” instructs this Gospel. All of which stirs in the heart of a believer deep and abiding gratitude. I believe that the behavior of the Christian community says something about gratitude. Saying thanks just once is never enough, especially when the Lord is involved. Since Eucharist is about thanksgiving, we keep on doing it over and over again because it is just never enough. Next Sunday when I stand at the altar of St. Mar Parish Church, I shall continue to give “Thanks” for you, because once and today is just not enough. |
| and we have raised the dead. If you doubt it, look at this place and look at yourselves, your commitment to this city and its heart, to this parish school, and to children being raised in the faith and the values that built this place eighty years ago. We can and we have driven out demons. The demon of fear, the demon of ignorance, the demon of blame and selfishness is on the run. No longer is this an isolated, aging, poverty bound community trapped here like lepers of old. You have heard the command, and you have responded. |
| I used to think that this place, this parish, this community was complex, difficult, a huge challenge. I came here with fear, my friends. I read the homily from July 5, 1987 several times in the last few weeks, and I could still feel the fear between the lines. But I was approaching this opportunity the way I used to approach Philosophy· out of my head, not my heart. I’m not twenty, nor forty five any more.·1 am sixty, and things that seemed too complicated do not seem so any more. This is not a complicated nor difficult community mixed up in an transitional urban setting with languages and cultures that are confusing, tangled up, and sometimes conflicting. Our ministry here is really very simple. It is a matter of relationships, not programs, Renaissance, meetings, events, schedules, weddings, funerals, and schools, contracts, and sacraments. It is a matter of friendship, of trust, and of charity. |
| I don’t know where the time has gone, nor why it had to go so fast. When I came, I was fearful and concerned that you might be disappointed or not like me; that I wouldn’t know what to do nor be able to make the decisions to lead. But it was not so for long, because I quickly realized that it wasnot going to be about me anyway It was goingto be about J”‘ esus Christ and the Kingdom ofGod, and I realized that it was going to be about relationships that were ruled by forgiveness, by trust, by faith, and by abiding joy that would show itself again and again in the way we celebrate and most of all in the way we ,give thanks. |
| “Without cost, we have received, and without cost we are to give.” instructs this Gospel. All of which stirs in the heart of a believer deep and abiding gratitude. I believe that the behavior of the Christian community says· something about gratitude. Saying thanks just once is never enough, especially when the Lord is involved. Since Eucharist is about thanksgiving, we keep on doing it over and over again because it is just never enough. Next Sunday when I stand at the altar of St. Mar Parish Church, I shall continue to give “Thanks” for you, because once and today is just not enough. |