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The Psalmist asked a question this morning I think it would be good
for us to consider. He asked: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in
this strange land?”
In asking that question, the Psalmist was echoing the experience of
the Israelite people during their captivity in Babylon. The spoken
language wasn’t their language. The food they were consuming wasn’t
their food. The stories their children were being told weren’t
their stories. The values of the Babylonian people weren’t
Israelite values. And most significantly of all, the
Babylonian gods were not the one God of the Israelites, before whom
there should be no other gods.
Indeed, this experience made the Israelites feel like aliens in a
very strange land. How could they ever sing the Lord’s song in
this strange place?
That seems like an
eminently reasonable question!
The bigger spiritual issue, of course, was that if the Israelites
didn’t sing the Lord’s song in that strange land, it wouldn’t be
long before life in Babylon would swallow up the Israelites, and
they would lose their identity as God’s chosen people. It
might not happen in one year or two years or in one decade or in two
decades. But surely within two generations, their children and
grandchildren wouldn’t
even know what constituted “the Lord’s song.”
Today we call that
“cultural assimilation.”
For the people of God as early as those days in Babylon to us today,
such has always been the spiritual challenge. We know we have no
permanent home here because, as Jesus’ disciples and heirs of God’s
promise, our homeland is in heaven. We are aliens in this strange
land and, the Psalmist reminds us, if we don’t sing the Lord’s song
in here, its culture will swallow us up, and we will lose our
identity God’s beloved sons and daughters. It might not happen
in one year or two years or in one decade or in two decades.
But surely within two generations, our children and grandchildren
won’t
even know what constituted “the Lord’s song” for us, if we remain
silent.
The problem is that many of us—who think of ourselves as pretty good
and decent people—don’t experience this world as strange at all. We
don’t feel like aliens. No, many of us find its language, food, and
attitudes immensely satisfying. The simple fact is that many of us
can’t get enough of this world, seeking to fulfill our potential as
we discover in this world even greater material prosperity and
happiness.
Compounding this spiritual problem, of course, is the simple fact
that many of us have made our home in this strange land. Here we
have discovered sufficient material prosperity and happiness as well
as the promise of perhaps even greater material prosperity and
happiness that we don’t give much, if any thought to ever leaving
this strange land. We’re
too comfortable to do so.
For those of us who fit this description, what we have done is to
listen to, to believe in, and to act upon the values of this strange
land, which teach us clearly that our meaning and purpose in life is
to be discovered in the relentless pursuit of whatever will make us
happy. We’ve all heard this message constantly blaring from
television and most of us believe in it as well as its promises,
making decisions about our lives and relationships based solely on
the values of this strange land.
Yet, most of us experience somewhere deep in our souls, that despite
all of what has been promised and we have achieved—much of which
made us feel happy at the time—didn’t deliver what we need somewhere
deep within ourselves if we are to experience fulfillment.
The Psalmist reminds us that this lack of purpose and meaning isn’t
a psychological pathology—a form of mental illness that can be cured
by intensive psychotherapy—but a spiritual fact we need to admit, to
allow to change how we examine our lives, and to change so that we
share the Psalmist’s
experience of living as “aliens” in a strange land.
We no longer know how to sing a song of the Lord in this strange
land because we no longer possess that deep understanding of what it
means to be alive in this world while longing for our homeland.
Consider three ideas: freedom, status, and sex.
This strange land defines freedom as the exercise of will through
which we experience happiness. In our homeland, freedom is defined
as obedience to God. This strange land teaches that we are the
masters of our lives and destiny. In our homeland, God is the
Master of our lives and our destiny.
This strange land also uses money to judge status. We are
“somebody” as that is measured in the size of our bank or brokerage
accounts, the zip code and size of home in which we reside, as well
as the dollar amount of the annual household insurance premium we
pay, if perchance, misfortune was to visit us and we had to replace
all of our possessions. But, in our homeland, status is unique and
personal to each individual God has created in His image and
likeness. Status is judged by the degree to which each of us
fulfills the divine purpose for which God has created us and
personal vocation God has entrusted to each of us.
This strange land defines sex as a recreational activity for which
there should be no consequences. In this strange land, it’s easy to
ensure that there will be no consequences. And, should any
individual not be able to afford to keep those responsibilities from
occurring, the government is more than willing to provide coverage
to ensure that they don’t
occur.
But in our homeland, sex is symbolic of intimacy and integrity in
committed relationships that mirror God’s intimacy and integrity
with His creatures and Christ’s intimacy and integrity with the
Church.
Don’t like those values?
Well, then,
try this little test.
Count up the number of minutes you spent watching television this
past week. After all, nothing communicates the values of this this
strange land more efficiently and effectively than does television.
Got those numbers
counted up?
Now, count up the number of minutes you spent reading scripture this
past week. After all, nothing communicates the values of our
homeland more efficiently and effectively than does scripture.
How long did counting up
those minutes that?
Now, compare the minutes
you devoted to each.
Could it be that our tongues are silent and we cannot sing the
Lord’s song in this strange land, because we have forgotten our
homeland and no longer yearn for it?
How will we ever learn to sing the Lord’s
song in this strange land?
The Psalmist reminds us that the place to begin is by remembering
that we are aliens in this strange land and never to forget that
fact. It doesn’t matter one whit where our bodies are in this
strange land, as long as our souls remain rooted in our homeland.
We are, where we are…that’s no fault of ours. So, we find ourselves
in this world.
But, the language, food, and attitudes of this world don’t possess
the power to define who we are, unless we surrender that power to
them. It’s sort of like what my paternal grandmother said about
what it was like for her relatives to live in Poland under the
Communists: “They’re
like radishes. Bright red on the outside. But, they’re
white as bleached tablecloths on the inside.” Keeping in mind that
we are aliens in this foreign land can help us to learn once again
to sing the Lord’s song.
Building upon this reclamation of our power of will, the Psalmist
reminds us to remember our homeland, symbolized for him in the word
“Jerusalem.” It’s all a matter of focus. We can allow the
language, food, and attitudes of this this strange land to distract
us to the point that we forget our homeland. But, whenever we
realize that nothing this world offers will bring us abiding
joy—even a momentary realization of this fact—that stirring from
deep within can remind us that there is something more than the
fleeting happiness of this strange land and provide us a glimpse
into another place…our homeland…that can fill us with joy. This
realization can be the moment we begin our spiritual emigration
homeward, withdrawing inwardly from what this strange land values
and once again embracing those values of our homeland.
It’s pretty easy to hear scripture relate the stories about how
people in the past, “In those days…,” who we are told, “added
infidelity to infidelity” and “preferred darkness to light….” Their
fall from grace and into captivity in Babylon for four decades was a
justly deserved penance, we think.
It’s a far more difficult proposition for us to hear today how we
“add infidelity to infidelity” and how we “prefer darkness to
light.” Worse yet is being told how our unhappiness is our own
fault, a just punishment for the choices we have made.
As aliens in this strange land—a just punishment for the choices we
have made—the place where we can learn the values of our homeland is
from Scripture, whose sacred stories communicate God’s truth, love,
and compassion efficiently and effectively...and no more efficiently
and effectively in the stories about Jesus’
life and death..
But, it’s not in hearing or reading these stories that we will
experience these values.
No, it’s only as we as we allow the words of these sacred stories to
penetrate to that place deep within us—where
we experience frustration because what this strange land values
doesn’t satiate our need for purpose and meaning in life—that
the values of our homeland once again can become relevant.
Even as aliens in a strange land, these sacred stories can provide
the map for our life’s journey in this world, enabling us to sing a
song of the Lord in this strange land because the abiding joy we
know and experience in our homeland ahead is more lasting than is
the temporary happiness we experience in this very strange place.
A brief
commercial break...
And, now,
the Annual Top 10 Lenten Penances:
The 2012 edition...
These penances are arranged in order from those fellow parishioners
have identified as “least demanding” to those they’ve identified as
“most demanding.” Those who want to practice a more “muscular” form
of Catholicism during the season of Lent should try performing as
many penances from the most difficult (“easier”) penances to the
least difficult (“very difficult”) penances as is possible.
(easier penances)
10. Immediately upon waking up, begin each day by making a very slow
and thoughtful Sign of the Cross. Be sure to press you hand against
your forehead (mind), your stomach (source of emotions), and
shoulders (heart and lungs) so that you feel your body as you say
the words. And, before going to bed, do the same.
9. Abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays during Lent
and give up something you enjoy—like adult beverages, second
helpings, candy, or desserts—for forty days.
8. Attend daily Mass and participate in the Stations of the Cross on
the Fridays of Lent.
7. Each day, pick out and offer to complete an undesirable chore
assigned to someone else at home, school, or at work. "Here,
let me do that for you..."
(more difficult penances)
6. Abstain from all foul language, lewd jokes, gossip, and sarcastic
or demeaning language each day of Lent. That includes
name-calling.
5. Turn off the computer except for absolutely essential work. That
means: no Internet chatrooms, IMs (instant messaging), non-essential
emails, and absolutely no websurfing...for forty days.
4. (a choice) [especially for retired persons] Spend one hour each
week of Lent in Eucharistic adoration. Don’t bring anything but
yourself. Sit there in silence and contemplate the gift of the
Eucharist. [especially for married couples] Spend one hour one night
each week looking at your wedding albums and discuss what your hopes
and dreams were. Ask each other: What do I need to do so that we can
fulfill our hopes and desires? [especially for kids] Ask you Mom or
Dad what one thing you need to do to improve yourself during Lent
and do it.
(very difficult penances)
3. Say the rosary every day. But, do so by offering the rosary
sincerely from your heart for someone you are having difficulties
with, like your in-laws, brother or sister, etc. Or, in a private
space each day, stand up, stretch out your arms as if you are
placing yourself on the Cross, and envision your sins nailing Jesus
to the Cross. Feel the pain that sin causes and offer this pain up
for those you are having difficulties with.
2. Turn off the television, radio, IPod, Playstation, etc., for
forty days. “What am I going to do?” you may wonder. (especially for
single adults and older couples) Try reading the Sunday Scriptures
each day of the week or a section from the Catechism of the
Catholic Church each day. (especially for teenagers) Along with
your parents, read Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, On The Family
(Familiaris Consortio). It’s free and available on the web.
Read one section each day and discuss it after dinner as a family.
If you don’t understand something, ask your parents to explain what
the Pope means. Or, alternatively, take one hour after dinner each
evening to engage in spiritual reading and discussion together in
the living room or family room. Take 20 minutes to read a selection.
Take 10 minutes to write down what that selection indicates you need
to change in your life to be a more spiritual person. Take the next
20 minutes to share these insights with one another. Use the last 10
minutes to invoke God's Holy Spirit to help each member of the
family build one another up in doing these things.
1. Each day, sit down in absolute silence. Think about yourself and
your life for about five minutes. Then, write down a sin or
character flaw you know you need to improve upon. When you think
you’ve completed your list, go to Church and make a good confession.
Then, repeat as necessary.
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HOMILY
