"God Calling:" The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily for the Second Homily in Ordinary Time

(Revised Draft)

Cell phones! You love ‘em or you hate ‘em!
Sometimes you love ‘em and hate ‘em at the same time…
sort of like the way you feel about your kids sometimes!

“Oh, hello Austin. Is Ashley taking her nap?
What’s that?
No, you can’t go to the skating party!
Austin, I’m at work now.
No, your father and I told you that last night.
Austin, I’m work.
Austin…don’t talk to me that way!
Austin? Austin?
Don’t hang up on me, Austin!”

Cell phones. You love ‘em or you hate ‘em.

If you ever had conversation like that,
you’ll agree with some 1,300 adults in a study
who said that cell phones are hard on family life.

The focus of the study was negative spillover from cell phones.

Spillover essentially means
that the line between work and home begins to blur.

Work invades home life
--such as when a parent is taking job-related calls at home—
and household issues start to take up time at work.

(This is especially true for women.
For them, the spillover tends to go both ways.)

The solution is simple: put curbs on the spillover!
Unfortunately, it’s not easy to do.

But here’s another concern:
If cell phones tend to increase tension in family relationships,
what effects do they have on our relationship with God?

Take a look at today’s first reading
and you’ll see that even in biblical times,
a good relationship with God
required good communication.

A young boy named Samuel “gets a call.”
He thinks someone is calling to him.
He has a hunch that someone is calling him.
But he has no idea that it’s God calling him!

Thank God he didn’t have an ipod clamped on his head!

Can you imagine if that call took place today?
“Samuel, Samuel.
Don’t put me on hold, Samuel!”

With all the cell phones and gadgets we got today,
Does a call from God still manage to get through?
Well, yes, God does continue to call people
and people continue to respond to that call.

In fact, there are people among us,
many here in this community,
whose lives attest to that.
Let’s take Sr. Josetta as an example of this.

Today, as you all know, Sr. Josetta is retiring.

So, let me ask you:
Can any of you imagine
Sr. Josetta ever “putting God on hold?”

I can’t.

This doesn’t mean that she is any different from the rest of us.
She’s a busy as the next person:
She has friends and family that demand her time and attention.
And she loves sports.
(She knows more about baseball players
and football teams than I’ll ever know!).

But, you know as well as I,
Sr. Josetta possesses an inner peace
that no cell phone interruption will ever disturb.

(And that’s but one of the many gifts
that Sister has brought to this community.)

Sr. Josetta heard God’s call.
And she answered that call.
And we—along with countless others—are very thankful that she did.

And since we’re talking about God’s call today,
let’s take a quick glance at today’s gospel reading.

In this passage Jesus invites some curious bystanders
to stop by his house for some conversation and fellowship.
They respond and follow him
and have a visit at his house

That invitation is meant for you and me as well!

* * *

So, let’s get back to that cell phone for a minute.
Is any word from God getting through to you these days?

If not, might technology part of the problem?
I think it is!

You got a cell phone in your pocket?
Would your life be any different
if you carried a rosary or crucifix in that pocket instead?

You know it would!

Now, don’t get me wrong.
There’s nothing wrong with technology in and of itself.

But take e-mail, for instance.
E-mail is taking something away from our lives.
In the not too distant future,
letters from one’s beloved
will no longer be stored in boxes
or placed between the pages of a book.
Your daughters and granddaughters
won’t have old letters to fold and unfolded
and treasure in years to come.

Digitize words…digitized pictures
appear and disappear at the touch of a keystroke.

But something else gets deleted as well.

Think back to some of the “memorable” conversations
you’ve had via cell phone:

“Austin! Austin, don’t hang up on me!”

What else does technology delete from our conversations?

Engagement.

The dark side of technology
isn’t its extensive reach into every corner of our life,
Rather, it’s technology’s failure to reach into the
nooks and crannies of the soul.

Are you with me?

It makes communication too easy, too fast
and therefore decreases it’s meaning within the soul.

Love letters are reduced to:

“Hey, Babe, where are you?”

“I’m on I-75 heading for the mall.”

“Yeh? Well, I’m at Krogers.”

“That’s nice.”

“Just thought I’d call. Gotta go!”

“See you.”

Oh, the wonders of technology!

Actually, there’s some good news in all this.
In an odd twist,
electronic communication
actually makes intimate communion
all the more necessary.

It makes it obvious that you and I
need to clear a space in our digitized world
to have the kind of communication
that matters…

We need to create a space
where we can, in a sense,
retrieve a letter from the pages of book,
unfold it and read it
and realize anew that God loves us and misses us…
more than a soldier writing home is a time of war.

How do get there?

Well, I suggest you ask a pro like Sr. Josetta.
(When it comes to staying in touch with God,
you all know she’s a pro!)

Her office has been next to mine
for the last five years.
Like any office,
she has an in-box and an out-box
and piles of memos
and stacks of files.

I don’t think she’ll mind if I tell you
about an item that often rested
on the top of her memos…
or sometimes it was laying by the phone.
Other times I saw it next to her computer keyboard.

It was a small book with a leather cover:
It was the Liturgy of the Hours.
A small book of morning prayers and evening prayers
and other prayers by which she sanctified her day…
prayers that helped her pay attention…to the presence of God
in this community which she has loved so well.

Communion with God is a good thing!
All it requires is clearing some space now and then…
on your desk, on your calendar and in your head.

The Liturgy of the Hours…the Liturgy of the Eucharist…
these are all good ways
to go about clearing some space for God.

But there are other ways as well:
It’s call “keeping the Sabbath”

And this is where things like gardening or hiking
come into play;

relaxing activities such as
cooking, painting, writing or playing an instrument.
Or maybe it’s fishing.

Do you remember the movie,
A River Runs Through It?

It was a story about a Presbyterian minister
who taught his two boys the truths about life
and the truths about faith while fly fishing.

Here’s a quote from the book:

If my father had his way,
no one who did not know how to fish
would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him….
My father was very sure about certain matters
pertaining to the universe.
To him all things
--eternal salvation as well as rainbow trout—
come by way of grace
and grace comes by art
and art does not come easy.

And that’s the point;
that’s the rub!

Cell-phones are easy.
E-mails are easy.

But communion takes times.
Communion requires a practiced and patient attentiveness
to the movement of God and the natural rhythms of life.

* * *

So, here’s your homework this week:

Clear some space.
Learn to fish.
Plant some flowers.
Pray in silence.

There’s someone who wants to visit with you.
His name is Christ.
And today he’s asking us to clear some space
and stop by his house.

What for? Who knows?
It’s Sunday. He might take you fishin’!