June 28, 2009   Cycle B

Wisdom 1:13-15,2:23-24    2 Corinthians 8:7-9,13-15

Mark 5:21-24,35b-43 (Shorter Gospel)

There is a story told of a cabby who picks up a nun.  She gets into the cab and the cab driver won’t stop staring at her.  She asks him why he is staring, and he replies, “I have a question to ask you, but I don’t want to offend you.”  She answers, “My dear son you cannot offend me.  When you’re as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything.  I’m sure that there is nothing that you could say, or ask, that I would find offensive.” 

He says, “Well, I’ve always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.”  She responds, “Let’s see what we can do about that.  Number one: you have to be single.  Number two: You must be Catholic.” 

The cab driver becomes very excited and says, “Yes.  Yes.  I’m single and I’m Catholic too.”  The nun says, “Okay.  Pull over to the side.”

The cabby does so and the nun fulfills his fantasy with a quick peck on the cheek.  When they get back on the road the cab driver starts crying.  The nun says, “My dear child, why are you crying?”  “Forgive me sister, but I have sinned.  I lied I must confess.  I’m married and I’m Jewish.”  The nun says, “That’s okay.  My name is Kevin and I’m on my way to a Halloween party.”

The trouble with telling a funny story like that is that you’ll remember it is and not what I’m setting you up for.  Listen carefully so that when you remember the joke you may also remember its point.

As many of you know the liturgical year or church year revolves around the life of Jesus.  So we began our year with Advent.  Then we moved into Christmas, Epiphany, and the Baptism of Jesus.  The next big focus on Jesus was during Lent, Easter and Pentecost. 

Right now we’re at the in between time known as Ordinary Time.  Today is known at the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.  Ordinary time means daily living out the themes of the extraordinary times.  It’s like the afterglow of the birthday party, or anniversary, or graduation, which says, “Now lets get back to everyday life.”

Ordinary time doesn’t mean unimportant.  Getting back to everyday life doesn’t mean dullness and boredom.  It means discovering God in the everydayness of our life.  It means uncovering the religious dimensions of everyday life.  This is to say that God is present in and through the ordinary things of the world.  Ordinary things can be revelations of the Divine. 

In our Gospel today we find that Jesus is not afraid to wade into the messiness of our ordinary lives in order to transform, heal and restore.  Jesus ignores the customs and taboos in a way that modern readers might miss.  In taking the dead girl by the hand Jesus became ceremoniously unclean and was not permitted to enter the Synagogue or Temple.  But Jesus did not care about that.  More sacred to Him than the safety of convention and tradition was the plight of this family.

We realize, as the Gospel teaches us, that in the presence of Jesus, community is reconciled.  When we sometimes find ourselves isolated by illness, or loneliness, by what we have done, or failed to do, there is hope.  When those we love are lost to us through years and circumstances, or even through death, there is hope.  Jesus is our hope!

So today as we gather, we remember that this season of the year is a time to also experience the sense of the transcendence.  A signal that there is more to life than what appears on the surface.  That in the midst of ordinary, natural settings of everyday life, God is present. 

One high school student who was asked to write an essay on his experiences of wonder and awe, wrote:  “During the summer I actually set-up a tent in my backyard.  It may seem odd but there is some allure to distancing myself from technology and returning to the old ways of life.  It’s nice just to lay down, hear the birds chirp, smell freshly cut grass, and look up to see the blue sky through open tent flaps.  We take a lot of things for granted, the chirp of birds and crickets, the scuttle of ants, everything that God has created.”

By giving time to these moments in these summer months of depth and transcendence, we are able to discover again the religious elements of our own everyday experiences.  Here we are in the warmth at the end of June looking forward to the marvelous ways that God reveals Himself to us in the ordinary times of our life.  Because God is present in the routine of life, in ordinary things and people, if we but take notice. 

In the joke I told earlier, behind the single Catholic cabby was a married Jewish driver.  Behind the pious nun was a kid having fun.  Behind what we see everyday, the people and the realities, is a Presence, a caring God, a transcendent love.  A God who reaches out to us with a sense of compassion and healing. 

Amen.  Amen.  Msgr. Tom, Pastor, Christ the King