Gospel Reading Luke 6 Jesus told his disciples a parable,“Can a blind person guide a blind person?
Will not both fall into a pit?
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
HOMILY
I’d like to wish you a Happy Lent this year. It’s perfectly alright to do so, you know! Lent is a word that means “springtime,” so it is not really a season to be dour or withdrawn. Rather, we are to keep our happiness, contentment or joy—even while doing our fasting, penance or sacrificial acts of Lenten time. Keep this in mind in the season. Even in Ash Wednesday this week, the traditional gospel of the Mass proclaims that we are not to try to externally appear as if we are fasting—which means not that ashes on the forehead are wrong, for that tells us it’s a day of change, but for this season is one not to play as a penitent, such as one who’d don a dour face or give a face of visible discontentment in this season, of being so opposed to all this shaping up spiritually. That would not be with what the season is about. It certainly is not to put on a show or of a surface, hypocrite display of fake repentance. Because: There is joy in the forgiveness and mercy of God found by His repentant sinner, such as for people as you and me. Therefore, Lent is not to be a hard chore or something to suffer through. It’s Spring-time! Maybe it is for some churning up hard ground, to plant for Spring seeding— but still this Spring-time of Lent is meant for a feeling of contentment—with gladness that God has somewhere to work with in our hearts. That we have opened up to it.
Even St. James would want to tell you: “Count it all joy, when even you suffer various trials or hardships in living out the Gospel.” (It’s in chapter two of his epistle.) Thus, like St. James would: I wish a happy Lent to you. Maybe you can deal with some things and get unburdened finally by it—in what Jesus has ready for you to experience anew by Him.
Today’s Gospel has a bit of humor in Jesus’ words. It’s used by Him as a device to have his followers get His point about a need for conversion. There is joy in conversion, but let’s have a laugh at what crazy paths the world thinks it can instead take to success. (Which don’t work!)
Did you partially laugh to Jesus saying: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? But then–will not both fall into a pit?” Can you put that phrase into a picture in your mind? Is it not so, how people follow blindly after what the sinful, rebellious world recommends and exults in—and will it not lead them to fall in that hole or trap or pit that their front leader falls into? I just can hear my mom responding to a young version of me saying: But Mom, everyone is doing it! Why can’t I? She’d say:”Just because these local boys are all throwing dirt clods in the air onto passing cars on the roadway—it doesn’t make it right, John? Don’t you do it again!” Yes, I’ll admit it to you: I once joined a hoodlum elementary school bunch in hurtling dirt clods into traffic. The blind leading the blind in doing a very stupid thing. Thankfully, we did not cause any crashes by it.
I recall a joke to hammer it home of Jesus’ phrase about the blind leading the blind….
A guy is standing nearby an open manhole, laughing, and yelling out a number “Seventeen! Seventeen! Seventeen!” A lone passerby stops and asks him: “What’s with the calling out the number?! “The guy responds and points into the open manhole, saying “Well, it’s easy! Just look down there!” The passerby leans over and looks in, and promptly gets pushed in by the guy into the manhole, and then the guy is shouting and laughing: “Eighteen! Eighteen!”
The devil will lead you into such a pit. The All State Mayhew commercials are all about these joking but tragic situations in life. Mayhew will lead you to trouble and say: Sucker!
Did you laugh or snicker at Jesus’ other example? Here it is: Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? Jesus says that our sins committed could be almost seen as so dumb as to be comedic, but the joke is on you, as to be so out-of-it in your selfishness, as to not notice the wooden beam in your own eye as you go on criticizing and pointing out minor “speck” faults of others. It’s laughable, but tragic. ‘Right?
Yet Jesus does go with humor in these examples. Maybe He does so to get us to not take our own self too seriously, as if we would take the poor course of life of saying that we don’t need God or others or true love and faith in our life. Hmmm. ‘Shake us up, Lord!
There is a saint that is one that took a lot of verbal abuse for being Gospel minded and for being happy about it. He was critiqued a lot—but it did not deter him from having one of the happiest lives ever. This saint had many happy Lents, and he got others to do so, too. ‘Ever heard of St. Philip Neri?
On March 12th in 1622 came the day of the canonization of a happy saint: Philip Neri of Italy. His feast day is in May, but next Tuesday in Church history is the one he was canonized. Mostly for his joy.
St. Philip Neri was a Christian missionary and founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, a community of Catholic priests and lay brothers that has lasted now over four centuries—the Oratorian religious have a parish in DC at St. Thomas (near the zoo—although I think they have no animals registered in their parish—but maybe zookeepers!)
“Good little Phil” was known as a happy person since his childhood in Florence. At 18, our Philip Neri had a mystical vision and personal encounter with the Lord Jesus. He took that experience to mean that he needed to live a good simple lifestyle while preaching the gospel to people on the streets of Rome. He saw the papal city as fallen into carnal corruption, and needing re-evangelizing. Philip found ways to go public with the Good News, to start up conversations with people, and point them to the better way of life, the Christian Way. No doubt some saw him as a nut, but still many others saw him as an enthused Catholic believer—a breath of fresh faith. He easily caught others’ attention with his warm personality and incredible sense of humor. He encouraged groups of people to gather for discussions, studies, prayer and the enjoyment of music. This practice began to catch on with excitement, and it later led Philip to found a group (confraternity) to join him. Today they are called the Oratorians, a movement lasting to now. Evidently, people do still enjoy meeting joyful Catholics who know the Gospel and have a real relationship with Jesus Christ. Here are some modernized quips said by St. Philip Neri —– On the streets, some fallen away Catholics posed to him that life was too hard to believe in God. Neri said: “Men are generally the carpenters of their own crosses.” Others on the streets gave pretense that they were happy without God in their lives. Neri said: “I surely recognize that mask you are wearing—the fake outside me one hiding the hurting me inside. Let me ask: ‘Who are you? Are you who or what I see? Or are you wearing a mask? Ah, there! But there is joy and freedom in Jesus. Let us rip off and burn our false pretenses, unfound -ed opinions, and illusory constructs. Let us instead “put on Christ.” That retort got a convert.
Some wondered how Neri could keep so happy much of the time. He said: It’s the Jesus in me. He humbles me so that I no longer let sharp assaults take me down, for then it would only be because of my unchecked pride letting it happen so.’ Thus: Jesus puts a check on my ego. I say to you, as well, friend on Rome’s streets: Despise you own ego. Despise sinful worldliness. Despise no person (as so to want to retaliate and get back at them, for what’s that worth?). And, despise being despised. Then, you’ll find true humility. True humility brings happiness. Jesus said: “Happy are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God.” In stories of Philip Neri, he said a bishop came by, wanting to be impressed by him. Neri, who had a fine scholarly education, but wanted no accolades, wanted to trip that bishop’s attitude up, so he purposely mispronounced many words in his speech—the one the bishop came to hear and be impressed by. Neri said: “No one need to be impressed with me! I don’t need that!” In another practical joke, he arrived at someone’s door with a beard on just one side of his face. He did so just to get a laugh and to bypass the situation of over-seriousness. “Jesus is approach -able,” said St. Philip. No wonder he’s a patron saint of humor and of Happy Lents. Fr. B.