{"id":1926,"date":"2013-08-18T00:52:08","date_gmt":"2013-08-18T00:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/?page_id=1926"},"modified":"2021-09-13T20:58:10","modified_gmt":"2021-09-14T00:58:10","slug":"childrens-homilies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/homilies\/childrens-homilies\/","title":{"rendered":"Children’s Homilies"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h3>\n

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\"ChildrenH1\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

The homilies below were offered on the occasion of First Communion which is celebrated at the weekend parish liturgies on one of the Sundays of Easter. From 2002 to 2010 the children also celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation as part of the restored order of the initiation sacraments.<\/h4>\n

I would like to offer a special apology to my sister, Margaret (Margie), who often appears in these homilies as my protagonist. Although the stories are based on real events from our childhood, I am confident that they would emerge quite differently, if she were giving her account.<\/h4>\n

Who We Belong To<\/h2>\n

May 4, 2003<\/h5>\n

Luke 24: 35-48<\/h3>\n

I don\u2019t know what you think of bananas.\u00a0 For me, I could take them or leave them.\u00a0 But banana cupcakes are an entirely different matter.<\/p>\n

When I was about in the third or fourth grade, my favorite thing to eat was my mother\u2019s homemade banana cupcakes.\u00a0 They were moist.\u00a0 They were sweet.\u00a0 They had about an inch of frosting on the top of them.\u00a0\u00a0 When my mother would make banana cupcakes, the whole house would smell wonderful and my little sister, Margie, and I couldn\u2019t wait until they came out of the oven.<\/p>\n

I remember one weekend, my mother made about two dozen cupcakes and by Sunday night there were only two left.\u00a0 My mother looked and said, \u201cWhere are my cupcakes?\u201d\u00a0 My sister and I looked at the ceiling as if there was somebody else in the room.\u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d she said, \u201cthese last two cupcakes are for you snack when you come home from school tomorrow.\u00a0 So, I don\u2019t want you to eat them until then.\u201d\u00a0 And she lifted up the cake cover and put the last two cupcakes underneath it.\u00a0 She said, \u201cGeorge, this<\/i> is your cupcake and Margie, this<\/i> is your cupcake.\u00a0 Children, do you hear me?\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 My mother knew that she had to be very specific when it came to banana cupcakes.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t wait to get home from school the next day.\u00a0 I ran into the house and lifted up the cake cover.\u00a0 There were the last two cupcakes.\u00a0 I ate mine immediately.\u00a0 It was delicious!\u00a0 Now there was only one cupcake left.\u00a0 It looked delicious, too.\u00a0 I carefully turned the cupcake around to observe it from every angle.\u00a0 I took my finger and scooped just a little bit of the icing and put it in my mouth. It was wonderful!\u00a0 It even tasted better than the one I just ate.\u00a0 There was only one problem.\u00a0 It was my sister\u2019s cupcake.<\/p>\n

Just then, I heard my sister saying goodbye to her friends and starting to come up the driveway.\u00a0 I knew that time was short.\u00a0 Then I did something that was not good.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure none of you here this morning would ever do anything like this.\u00a0 But when I was younger, I loved to tease my sister.\u00a0 I loved to make her scream.\u00a0 And so when I heard her coming home, I grabbed the last cupcake and ran outside and met her in the driveway.\u00a0 \u201cThis is the last cupcake,\u201d I yelled.\u00a0 My sister dropper her books and cried, \u201cThat cupcake is mine!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNot anymore!\u201d\u00a0 I shouted and shoved it into my mouth.<\/p>\n

My sister screamed.\u00a0 She went running into the house.\u00a0 \u201cMommy, Mommy!\u00a0 George at my cupcake!\u00a0 He\u2019s terrible!\u201d\u00a0 And my mother came out.\u00a0 I was still standing in the driveway.\u00a0 I had icing all around my mouth.\u00a0 My mother did not yell.\u00a0 She just said six words that terrified me, \u201cWait until your father comes home.\u201d\u00a0 I realized now that this game had risen to an entirely new level.<\/p>\n

And so I waited.\u00a0 I waited thinking what was going to happen to me.\u00a0 Would I be grounded?\u00a0 Would I not be allowed to watch television?\u00a0 Would I be forbidden to go over to my friend\u2019s house?\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know what my punishment was going to be.<\/p>\n

When my father came home, I heard him and my mom talking and then he came to me and he said, \u201cGeorge, I\u2019m very disappointed in you.\u00a0 What you did was selfish and it hurt your sister.\u00a0 And so, until you can show me that you can be a better brother, you must eat supper in your room alone.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHmmm!\u201d I thought, \u201cthat\u2019s not so bad.\u00a0 I still get to eat.\u00a0 I still get to watch television.\u00a0 I\u2019m not grounded.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cO.K.,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

So, that night, I took my tray to my room and I ate dinner by myself.\u00a0 It was good.\u00a0 And when I finished, I stretched out on my bed.\u00a0 I thought, \u201cThis really isn\u2019t so bad.\u201d\u00a0 But then I heard the voices of my mother and father and sister talking at dinner.\u00a0 I heard the dishes clinking.\u00a0 I hear my family them laughing about something that they thought was funny.\u00a0 I began to feel alone.\u00a0 I began to realize that eating by yourself, away from the family, was not as easy as I had thought it would be.\u00a0 Before the night was over, I apologized and my dad said I could come back to the table.<\/p>\n

I learned something very important that day.\u00a0 I learned that eating was not just about food.\u00a0 It was also about the people you eat with.\u00a0 The people you eat with are the people you belong to.\u00a0 That is why Jesus in the Gospel, after he rose from the dead and came back to his disciples, ate a piece of fish with them.\u00a0 Because he wanted to tell them that their mistakes were forgiven and that they still belonged to him.<\/p>\n

This is something very important for all of you here today who are going to be confirmed and make your first communion.\u00a0 The sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist are sacraments of initiation, they are sacraments that tell us who we belong to.\u00a0 Those who are confirmed will be confirmed in their baptism.\u00a0 In baptism God claimed each one of you to be God\u2019s own son or daughter.\u00a0 The food that we share here at the Eucharist will be the very presence of Jesus within us.\u00a0 In this meal Jesus recognizes each one of us as his own.<\/p>\n

This is a meal that we should share often.\u00a0 We should come to this table regularly.\u00a0 Because it is in this meal that we find out who we are and who loves us.\u00a0 The people you eat with are the people you belong to.\u00a0 In this meal, we learn that we belong to one another, that we belong to Jesus, that we belong to God.<\/p>\n

Learning from the Circus<\/h2>\n
April 25, 2004<\/h5>\n

John 21: 1-19<\/h3>\n

\u00a0All the time that I was growing up, my father worked as a butcher which meant that we always ate very good meat.\u00a0 But it also meant that occasionally my dad would bring home posters which the grocery store had used for advertisement.<\/p>\n

One day I remember he brought home a group of posters that had been used in a Sugardale meat campaign. The title of that display was \u201cthe Sugardale Circus.\u201d\u00a0 The posters consisted of large colorful cardboard pictures of circus animals.\u00a0 There was a lion roaring, a tiger with sharp teeth, an elephant with his trunk up in the air and a black bear balancing on a ball.\u00a0 They were about four feet tall, about as big as I was when I got them.\u00a0 My father, with a certain amount of pride, said \u201cGeorge look at these.\u00a0 What do you think?\u201d\u00a0 And I said, \u201cI think we\u2019re going to have a circus!\u201d<\/p>\n

So, I called my friend, Tommy Wagner, and he came right over.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t believe what a great circus we could make with these posters.\u00a0 We planned to have the circus on Sunday because that would give us all day Saturday to get ready.\u00a0 We decided we would ask my parents to take the car out of the garage and use the garage for the circus.\u00a0 We decided to place the circus animals all around the inside of the garage.<\/p>\n

On Saturday we called all of our friends over and they had even better ideas.\u00a0 Loretta said she would make lemonade. Billy said he would sell tickets. Elaine and Pete and Tommy thought that they would take their places behind the animals and make animal sounds and jiggle them a bit when people came in so that they would seem real.\u00a0 Because it was at my house, I got to be the ringmaster.\u00a0 Which was very helpful because later on I found that running a circus was actually very good preparation for being pastor of St. Noel.\u00a0 But, this is taking me away from the story.<\/p>\n

We were all having a great time on Saturday getting ready for the circus until we ran into our first problem. As I looked up from what I was doing I saw Cathy Phillips coming up the driveway.\u00a0 Now Cathy Phillips was a classmate of ours but she was a little different.\u00a0 She had a squeaky voice and stringy hair and we always found her saying dumb things.\u00a0 A lot of kids teased Cathy Phillips. We really didn\u2019t like her very much.\u00a0 Tommy Wagner said she had the cooties.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what the cooties were, nobody ever explained them to me.\u00a0 But they were not good and we all agreed that Cathy Phillips had them.<\/p>\n

So, Cathy Phillips walked right up to me and said, \u201cOh, George, are you having a circus?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cMmm hmm,\u201d I said, hoping she would go away.\u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d she said, \u201clast Halloween I was a ballerina.\u00a0 I have a costume.\u00a0 Could I be a part of your circus?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s the way Cathy was.\u00a0 Who ever heard of a ballerina in a circus!\u00a0 \u201cNo,\u201d I said, \u201cour circus is going to be animals only.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cOh, I love animals,\u201d said Cathy Phillips.\u00a0 \u201cCan I be an animal?\u00a0 I\u2019ll be any of the animals you want me to be!\u00a0 Can I please be a part of your circus?\u201d<\/p>\n

By this time I could see that Tommy Wagner was giving me the sign to get her out of there.\u00a0 So, because I was the ringmaster I figured I had to act.\u00a0 I stood up and I said something that was not very good.\u00a0 I said, \u201cCathy this is my circus and you are not welcome here. Go home!\u201d\u00a0 I know, it wasn\u2019t very nice and I felt bad after I said it.\u00a0 Cathy Phillips burst into tears and ran down the driveway.\u00a0 It was wrong, but there was plenty of stuff to do for the circus so I quickly got back to work.<\/p>\n

That evening after dinner, my father looked at me and said, \u201cHow\u2019s the circus coming?\u201d\u00a0 There was something suspicious in his voice so I answered very carefully.\u00a0 \u201cO.K.,\u201d I said.\u00a0 Then he looked straight at me and said, \u201cIs Cathy Phillips in your circus?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNo,\u201d I said, \u201c. . . I don\u2019t think she wants to be.\u201d\u00a0 My dad said, \u201cWell, that\u2019s interesting because that is not what Mrs. Phillips says.\u00a0 She told me that you told Cathy that it was your circus and that she should go home.\u201d\u00a0 Now I knew that my father knew the whole story and so I tried to defend myself.\u00a0 \u201cBut, Dad,\u201d I said, \u201cit is my circus and Cathy is strange. I don\u2019t want her to be part of it.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHmm,\u201d said my dad, \u201cIt\u2019s your<\/i> circus.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s very interesting.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t your<\/i> circus happening in my<\/i> garage?\u00a0 Or are you paying rent for that?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNo, sir,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd isn\u2019t your<\/i> circus happening with my<\/i> cardboard circus animals?\u00a0 Or, did you buy those from me?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNo, sir,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cWell, let\u2019s look at it this way.\u00a0 As long as your<\/i> circus is happening in my<\/i> garage with my <\/i>cardboard animals, Cathy Phillips will be a part of it.\u201d\u00a0 And I could tell by the way that he was speaking that that was the last word.\u00a0 Then my dad pushed a slip of paper across the table with Cathy Phillips phone number on it and said to me \u201cYou know what you have to do.\u201d\u00a0 So I called Cathy Phillips and I apologized for what I said to her and I said that I thought we could use a ballerina in our circus.<\/p>\n

When I told this to Tommy Wagner he said there is no way we could use a ballerina in the circus.\u00a0 So we decided to say that Cathy Phillips was a tightrope walker since tightrope walkers and ballerinas look somewhat the same. Tommy wanted to stretch a rope from the top of the garage to the back of the porch and make Cathy Phillips walk on it, but my mother insisted that the rope stay on the garage floor.\u00a0 And it worked out all right.\u00a0 In fact, the circus was a big success.\u00a0 Everybody came and in the end I have to admit that it was better having a tightrope walker in the circus\u2014even if it was Cathy Phillips.<\/p>\n

I tell you this story today because the Eucharist, the meal that we will all soon to share together is very much like that circus.\u00a0 Not the circus that I wanted to have that kept people out, but the circus that my dad said we should have that invited everybody in.\u00a0 Because the Eucharist is the meal to which everybody is welcome.\u00a0 That\u2019s the way Jesus wanted to have it.<\/p>\n

You know Jesus could have told the apostles after the Resurrection that he did not want to eat with them anymore. Peter had denied him and they had all run away when he was arrested.\u00a0 But you hear in today\u2019s Gospel that Jesus says, \u201cCome and have some breakfast.\u00a0 Eat with me.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus said this because he wanted his disciples to know that there would always be room for them at his table.\u00a0 He wanted everyone to know that if you ate this meal with him then you would have to welcome others by forgiving them and loving them even when they were difficult to love.<\/p>\n

We rejoice today with all of you who are here who are making your Confirmation and who for the first time will come and share that meal with us.\u00a0 We want you to know that Jesus invites you to this meal because he loves you and he always wants you to feel welcome.\u00a0 Remember, no matter what happens in your life you are always welcome here.\u00a0 This is also true for everyone here today.\u00a0 No matter what has happened, no matter what you have done or what you are dealing with, Christ in His love welcomes you to his table.<\/p>\n

Christ welcomes us and we are to welcome one another.\u00a0 We who eat this meal are meant to act like Jesus.\u00a0 We who eat this meal are to believe that no one has cooties, that everyone is to be respected.\u00a0 As Christ has welcomed us, we are to welcome others into our lives.<\/p>\n

Love and Creamsicles <\/b><\/h2>\n
April 10, 2005<\/h5>\n

Luke 24:13-35<\/h3>\n

Whenever I hear the beautiful story of the two disciples meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus, I think of a story that happened to me when I was the same age as many of you here today, who are making your Confirmation and First Communion. It is a story about fireworks. When I was growing up, our family loved fireworks. Therefore the Fourth of July was a very special day for us. I remember that when I was in the second grade, my dad announced that we were going to see fireworks at Edgewater Park. Now Edgewater Park had the biggest and the best fireworks of any place in Cleveland, so we were all excited. My dad said that we were going to pack a picnic dinner, but we would have to be careful because it would be very crowded at Edgewater Park.<\/p>\n

It was!\u00a0 When we got to the park, there were thousands of people on the beach waiting for the fireworks to begin. We carried our blankets and our cooler with the food inside onto the beach. My dad saw an empty place ahead of us and he said: \u201cThere\u2019s where we\u2019re going, come along.\u201d So we started moving towards the place. But I noticed that there was a man there with a cart who was selling creamsicles. Now I don\u2019t know about you, but I love creamsicles. I love the orange ones, I love the cherry ones. But this man was selling blue<\/i> creamsicles and I had never seen those before. I wanted one!<\/p>\n

\u201cDad,\u201d I said, \u201ccan I have a creamsicle?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge,\u201d he said, \u201cyou don\u2019t need a creamsicle, we\u2019ve got plenty of food here in the cooler.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s a blue<\/i> creamsicle,\u201d I said, \u201cand I brought some of my own allowance money so I can pay for it myself. Can I please have a creamsicle?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge,\u201d my dad said, \u201cwe\u2019re need to get to that empty place on the beach before someone else does, so no. Definitely not!\u201d<\/p>\n

So what could I do?\u00a0 I went along. We unrolled our blanket, we took out some food and we began to eat. As we were eating, I was looking around in the crowd and I saw that my friend Tommy Wagner was sitting with his family a little up the beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad,\u201d I said, \u201cthe Wagners are here.\u201d<\/p>\n

My dad yelled out and waved and Mr. Wagner waved back.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad, can I please go and watch the fireworks with Tommy Wagner and his family?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge,\u201d my dad said, \u201cthe Wagners don\u2019t want you there, stay right here.\u00a0 There are too many people here. It is too easy for you to get lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease Dad,\u201d I said, \u201cTommy Wagner is one of my best friends and I\u2019ll have such a good time if I can watch the fireworks with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was wearing my dad down.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK,\u201d he said, \u201cbut you go right over there and as soon as the fireworks are done, you come right back here. Understood? Promise?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sure dad, I promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I started going through the crowd over to the Wagners and then . . .\u00a0 I had an idea! I thought instead of going straight to the Wagners, what if I just went a little bit out of my way back to that creamsicle man? I knew he was not too far down the beach. Of course doing that would be disobeying my dad, but I really wanted to taste a blue creamsicle.\u00a0 I made sure I knew where we were sitting: next to a life guard station with a big red sign on it. That way I could find my way back. So I started down the beach through the crowd, looking for the creamsicle man. When I came to the place where we had seen him, he was not there. He must have moved on down the beach so I went a bit further, and then a little bit further and a little bit further and then the fireworks started. \u201cOh, boy,\u201d I said, \u201cI better get back to my family.\u201d So I looked for the lifeguard station and went to it. But when I got there, it wasn\u2019t the right life guard station. It didn\u2019t have a red sign on it. Then I looked around and I saw that there were a whole row of lifeguard stations all up and down the beach. It was then that I realized that I was lost. I began to wonder whether I would ever find my family again? Would they leave and go back home without me? What could I do?<\/p>\n

I decided to pray.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus,\u201d I said, \u201c I know it wasn\u2019t the smartest idea to go after that creamsicle, but I really need your help. I can\u2019t find my family and if you could just lead me back, I promise I will never disobey my mother or father again. I will never tell a lie again. Amen.\u201d\u00a0 Then because I was desperate, I began to cry.<\/p>\n

After a few moments I heard a voice, \u201cIs there a problem here, young man?\u201d<\/p>\n

And I looked up to see a police officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there\u2019s a problem,\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m lost. I can\u2019t find my family and I\u2019m afraid they\u2019re going to go home without me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policeman said, \u201cDo you have any idea where they are?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said, \u201cthey\u2019re next to a big lifeguard station with a red sign on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policeman smiled and he put out his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome with me,\u201d he said, \u201cI know right where that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

So we walked together for a very long time. Finally I saw my family sitting on our blanket and watching the fireworks. They were just coming to an end. I thanked the policeman and I ran towards my family. My dad saw me coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow,\u201d he said, \u201cGeorge, you\u2019re back just right on time just as you promised. Good work. How were the Wagners?\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I realized that my dad didn\u2019t even know anything had happened. He thought I was with the Wagners the whole time. This was good, I thought. All I would have to do was say, \u201coh they\u2019re fine\u201d and I could get out of this mess without any problem. But then I remembered the prayer that I made and the promise to tell the truth.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad,\u201d I said, \u201cI didn\u2019t go to the Wagners. I went to buy a creamsicle and I got lost and a policeman found me\u2014that policeman (I pointed, the policeman waved, my father waved back). I never thought I would see you again.\u201d Then I ran to my father and I hugged him.<\/p>\n

Now my dad was just beginning to realize what had happened. It took him a few minutes to catch up on what I was telling him. Finally he spoke. \u201cNow let me get this straight. You disobeyed me and did not go straight to the Wagners, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you went to buy a creamsicle even though I said you couldn\u2019t have one, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m very disappointed in you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there was a pause and then he said, \u201cBut you told me the truth, even though you could have gotten away with a lie, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir<\/i>,\u201d I said, hopefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that makes me proud,\u201d he said, \u201cDon\u2019t ever do that again and let\u2019s get these things together to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

So we packed up our stuff and began to walk off the beach and just as we were leaving the beach, who did we run into but the creamsicle man!<\/p>\n

My dad stopped and looked at me, \u201cHey, George, how about a creamsicle?\u201d<\/p>\n

The two disciples of Jesus in today\u2019s Gospel were lost. Every thing was happening in Jerusalem. That\u2019s where Jesus rose from the dead. But they were going in the opposite direction. They were going to Emmaus. Jesus, however, did not forget them. He came after them and turned them around so that they could return to Jerusalem and witness his Resurrection. Those disciples learned the same thing that I learned when I was at Edgewater Park\u2014that even when you\u2019re lost, even when you make bad decisions, Jesus still loves you and comes to walk with you. This is what I hope all of you who are making your First Communion and Confirmation today will remember. You belong to Jesus. He loves you deeply. Confirmation confirms His love. The Eucharist invites you to the table to share in His very life. Never forget His love for you.<\/p>\n

This is a lesson for all of us here today. No matter how lost you may have become, no matter how many bad decisions you may have made, you still belong to the family of God. Jesus does not forget you. He is still your companion. So as we celebrate today these sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist, let us always remember that Jesus is with us. Let us remember that He will never stop loving us, that He will always lead us home.<\/p>\n

When You See a Ghost<\/b><\/h2>\n
April 30,2006<\/h5>\n

Luke 24:35-48<\/h3>\n

I don\u2019t know if any of you have ever seen a ghost, but if you have, you know that it is not a fun experience.\u00a0 In today\u2019s Gospel, the disciples saw Jesus after he rose from the dead and they thought he was a ghost. They were terrified.\u00a0 When I was about the age of those of you who are about to make your Confirmation and First Communion, I saw a ghost<\/i>.\u00a0 Here is how it happened:<\/p>\n

Each year as we celebrate another Confirmation and First Communion I realize how very old I am becoming.\u00a0 When I was in the second grade, they had just invented television. (You see what I mean.) I remember one summer evening our family was watching \u201cWalt Disney.\u201d\u00a0 Although television was very new, it was already very clever. Mr. Disney was showing clips from his new movie to encourage us to see it.\u00a0 The movie was called \u201cDarby O\u2019Gill and the Little People.\u201d\u00a0 It was a story about an Irish man who spoke to little people, which was another name for leprechauns.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if you know what a leprechaun is.\u00a0 It is like a small, magical character. You could probably call it an Irish fairy.<\/p>\n

The leprechauns were the fun part of this movie.\u00a0 But there also was in the movie a ghost, an Irish ghost, which was called a banshee.\u00a0 Now, trust me, if any of you were to see this movie today, you would not be afraid of this ghost at all, because I know that you are all familiar with special effects in movies.\u00a0 You see them in the theater, you watch them on DVD at home.\u00a0 You see dinosaurs and space ships and ghosts of one kind or another, so they don\u2019t surprise you.\u00a0 But back at the time when television was new, this was the first special effect I had ever seen. It scared me silly. The banshee was big and black and it moved around like a cloud. It had a face of an old woman who kept screeching and wailing and scratching on the window of Darby O\u2019Gill\u2019s bedroom, trying to get inside the house.<\/p>\n

Now as soon as I saw it on the television I closed my eyes because I was afraid. It was too late.\u00a0 The banshee was already in my head; I could not forget it.\u00a0 But that was not the worst part.\u00a0 The worst part was, as soon as the television show was over, it was time to go to bed!\u00a0 Then I remembered something about my bedroom.\u00a0 In my bedroom I not only had a window like Darby O\u2019Gill had, I also had a door, a door that went onto our back porch.\u00a0 Because it was in the middle of the summer (and because no one had air conditioning in their home then) the door and the window were wide open.\u00a0 There was only a very thin screen that was between me in my bedroom and whatever was out there in the darkness.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad,\u201d I said, \u201cI think I\u2019d like to sleep tonight with the door and window shut.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d said my dad, \u201cIt is the middle of the summer. It is ninety degrees!\u00a0 You\u2019d never survive.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to keep them open.\u201d\u00a0 I realized that he was right.\u00a0 So I went up to the screen door to make sure it was locked. As I jiggled the flimsy little lock, I just shook my head.\u00a0 I said to myself, \u201cI<\/i> could push my way through this door!\u00a0 What\u2019s going to stop a banshee from coming in?\u201d<\/p>\n

So I lay down in bed, in the dark, trying to get to sleep.\u00a0 No luck.\u00a0 I could not fall to sleep.\u00a0 Every little noise I heard outside, every rustle of the wind sounded to me just like a banshee climbing up the steps of the back porch.\u00a0 So I lay there, listening.\u00a0 Suddenly I heard a looow, loooong, deeeep moan. \u201cHelp, help!\u201d I cried.\u00a0 My dad came running in.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDad, I think there\u2019s a banshee on the back porch, and it\u2019s moaning!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cGeorge,\u201d my dad said, \u201cthat is the train whistle.\u00a0 You hear that every night.\u00a0 Now there is no such thing as a banshee.\u00a0 Go back to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, now that he pointed it out, it did sound like the train whistle.\u00a0 That gave me some comfort. So I thought I would just close my eyes.\u00a0 I do not know how long my eyes were closed, but suddenly I heard something, and it sounded very close.\u00a0 I opened my eyes, and there, at the foot of my bed, right inside the screen door, STOOD THE BANSHEE!\u00a0 It was just like it was on television, except that instead of being black it was yellow.\u00a0 It was waving its\u2019 hands over its\u2019 head and moaning and yelling and looking right at me.\u00a0 \u201cHelp, help!\u201d\u00a0 I cried.\u00a0 As soon as I called out, the banshee disappeared.\u00a0 My dad rushed in, \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDad,\u201d I said, \u201cyou\u2019ve got to believe me.\u00a0 There was just a banshee at the foot of my bed and it was looking right at me!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cGeorge,\u201d my dad said, \u201cyou were sleeping.\u00a0 You were dreaming.\u00a0 You just thought you saw a banshee.\u00a0 There is no such thing as a banshee.\u00a0 So it cannot hurt you.\u00a0 Go to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Dad,\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m so afraid.\u201d So my dad turned on the light, sat down on my bed, put his arm around me, and this is what he said:\u00a0 \u201cGeorge, there are a lot of scary things in life.\u00a0 You will always be able to find something to worry about.\u00a0 There will always be fears that get into your head. Most of those fears are not real.\u00a0 They cannot hurt you.\u00a0 Banshees are not real.\u00a0 They cannot hurt you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Dad,\u201d I said, \u201ccan you prove<\/i> to me that banshees are not real?\u201d\u00a0 My dad stopped for a minute and said, \u201cNo.\u00a0 I cannot prove that.\u00a0 But here is what I want you to do.\u00a0 Instead of trying to prove what is not real, I want you to remember what is real.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s real?\u201d I questioned.\u00a0 \u201cYes,\u201d my dad said.\u00a0 \u201cThis is what\u2019s real:\u00a0 I love you.\u00a0 Your mother loves you. We are right in the next room.\u00a0 We are not going to let anything happen to you.\u00a0 The minute you call I will be here.\u00a0 Most importantly you must remember that God loves you.\u00a0 God is with you always.\u00a0 Wherever you are, God will always protect you and so you do not have to be afraid.\u00a0 That is what is real. That is what I want you to think about\u2014not banshees.\u201d\u00a0 With that, my dad put my head back down on the pillow and turned off the light.\u00a0 I tried to do what he told me to do.\u00a0 I kept thinking, \u201cGod loves me and my family loves me.\u201d\u00a0 And you know what?\u00a0 In a few minutes, I was fast asleep.<\/p>\n

Now I learned an important lesson that summer.\u00a0 I learned that there is power, real power, in believing in God\u2019s love and believing in the love of my family.\u00a0 I learned that I had to be like the disciples in today\u2019s gospel and not think about the things that were unreal (like Jesus being a ghost), but think about the things that were real\u2014that Jesus was risen and was with me always.<\/p>\n

This is what all of us come to celebrate today\u2014all of us.\u00a0 There will always be scary parts of life. There will always be something to worry about. There will always be fears creeping into our heads.\u00a0 But if we can remember what is real, if we can remember who loves us, we can find peace.<\/p>\n

In a few minutes, we will confirm these young people of our community in God\u2019s love.\u00a0 Then we will invite them to share with us in the body and blood of the Lord for the first time.\u00a0 That is real.\u00a0 That is Christ\u2019s real presence among us.\u00a0 That is what all of us must cling to at every time and in every place.\u00a0 For if we remember what is real, if we remember who loves us, then we have no reason to be afraid.<\/p>\n

A Lesson at Christmas<\/b><\/h2>\n
April 29, 2007<\/h5>\n

John \u00a010:27-30<\/h3>\n

This might surprise you but I would like to tell you a Christmas story.\u00a0 Now I know it\u2019s not Christmas and in fact we are in the middle of the Easter season, but this Christmas story tells us something important about Easter and it also tells us something important about the confirmation and first communions which we celebrate today.<\/p>\n

Now this story happened to me when I was in the 5th<\/sup> or 6th<\/sup> grade.\u00a0 It was about a month before Christmas and my mom and dad were asking me what I wanted for Christmas?\u00a0 I could not decide. Then one day, when I was looking through a catalog, I saw the perfect gift.\u00a0 It was an electric keyboard on which you could play music.\u00a0 Now today these keyboards are small and inexpensive, but in those days they were bulky and cost a lot of money.\u00a0 In fact this keyboard cost $85 which was a lot of money when I was a kid.\u00a0 So I knew it would be a hard sell.\u00a0 I told my dad, \u201cThis is what I want. Please, please can I have it for Christmas?\u00a0 I know it\u2019s a lot of money. \u00a0But if you get it for me, it\u2019s the only gift you have to buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

My dad shook his head and said, \u201cEven if it\u2019s the only gift we have to give you, it\u2019s still a lot of money. But I\u2019ll make you a deal.\u00a0 Now I\u2019ve noticed that you and your sister have been fighting and teasing one another. If you promise that from now until Christmas you will be a good big brother to your sister, that you won\u2019t tease her or fight with her, then we\u2019ll see if we can make it happen\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo problem I said, I can do it!\u201d<\/p>\n

My dad said, \u201cGeorge, I am serious.\u00a0 No teasing, no fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo teasing, no fighting. It\u2019s done, Dad, it\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want you coming up to your mom and me saying you said this, she said that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no, it\u2019s not going to happen, Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, he said, we have a deal.\u201d We shook on it, and he left. I remember thinking, \u201cThat was easy.\u201d But I was so wrong.\u00a0 It was going to be the hardest month of my life.<\/p>\n

It all started one day when I was coming home from school. I had saved up some of my allowance money to buy a treat for myself, my favorite treat as a matter of fact. I bought a Nutty Buddy.\u00a0 Do you know what a Nutty Buddy is?\u00a0 An ice cream cone with chocolate and nuts.\u00a0 I walked into the house after school eating my Nutty Buddy and there was my sister. She had this funny smile on her face and she said, \u201cGeorge, would you give me the rest of your Nutty Buddy?\u201d<\/p>\n

And I said, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be out of your mind. This is my Nutty Buddy. I bought it with my own money. If you want a Nutty Buddy, go buy one for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then she said, \u201cThat would be so selfish. I would have to go and tell mom that you were not sharing and you were not being a good big brother. How that would hurt me. In fact I feel as if I am starting to cry right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

This sick feeling came over me. And almost in disbelief I watched as my hand reached out and gave her the rest of my Nutty Buddy. Then I watched in silence as she ate it bite by bite. Then she licked her fingers and said, \u201cThank you, thank you very much.\u201d\u00a0 It was going to be a long time until Christmas.<\/p>\n

Another time I came home and I heard music coming from my bedroom. I walked in and there was my sister. She had all of my records out, spread over my bed.\u00a0 (This was before IPODS and CD\u2019s.) She was playing them on my record player.\u00a0 I said \u201cMargie, those are MY records.\u00a0 What are you doing\u201d?<\/p>\n

She said \u201cI am being very careful.\u00a0 I am picking them up so I do not scratch them or break them. Thank you, George, for being such good and giving older brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

And all I could do was grit my teeth and say, \u201cYou\u2019re welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

So there it was, day after day, week after week. I never thought I could do it. But in time, it was Christmas Eve. I only had a few more hours to go and the keyboard was mine! That Christmas Eve afternoon my mom said \u201cI am going out for a few errands. You children have been very good the last couple of weeks, no fighting or teasing.\u00a0 Now keep it up. I will just be gone for a little time. Remember tomorrow is Christmas\u201d.<\/p>\n

So she went. \u00a0My sister started coloring. I took out my rock collection, because when you have a rock collection every so often you have to look at it and organize it.\u00a0 My favorite rock was a round white smooth one about the size of a plum. I was admiring it and my sister said, \u201cGeorge, let me hold that rock.\u201d\u00a0 I said \u201cMarge, not now. I am busy. I am working and organizing.\u201d\u00a0 She said, \u201cNo I want to hold it. Give it to me.\u201d\u00a0 Suddenly, she grabbed it from me and started running out of the room.\u00a0 Without thinking I jumped up and began fighting for the rock. And then–I still don\u2019t know how this happened\u2014but somehow I saw the rock sail through the air and hit the front of the television set.\u00a0 We both watched as a large crack formed down the television screen.\u00a0 (Up unto this point I didn\u2019t even know you could crack a television screen.)\u00a0 But there is was. My mother came in at that point and saw the crack. (I don\u2019t think she knew that you could crack a television screen either.) \u00a0She turned to me and said \u201cYou were fighting weren\u2019t you?\u201d\u00a0 I nodded. She said \u201cI don\u2019t believe it. I leave for one hour and when I come back, you kids have cracked the television screen! Go to your rooms.\u201d\u00a0 So we went, and step by step I knew I would never see that electric keyboard.<\/p>\n

But you know, the next day, when I went down on Christmas morning, the keyboard was under the tree. After I unwrapped it and played with it, I went to my dad and said, \u201cDad I don\u2019t understand.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t keep the deal. I fought with Margie. We cracked the television set. But you still gave me the keyboard.\u00a0 I don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

My dad said, \u201cI know. Your mom and I talked about it. We decided that maybe if we gave you the keyboard, you would learn a lesson\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kind of a lesson\u201d I said?<\/p>\n

\u201cA lesson about Jesus, he said.\u00a0 You know Jesus came on Christmas not because we were all good people but because he loved us. George, I want you to be good. I don\u2019t want you to fight with your sister. I don\u2019t want you to do what\u2019s wrong. But even if you do, your mom and I still love you.\u00a0 The same is true about Jesus. Even when you do things that are wrong, he still loves you no matter what.\u00a0 You belong to him.\u00a0 Your mom and I thought if you could learn that lesson, it would be worth the price of the keyboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, you know, it was. I did learn that lesson, and I still believe it today.\u00a0 It is that lesson that I want each of you making your first confirmation and first communion to know today. You belong to Jesus.\u00a0 He comes to you not simply because you\u2019re good. He wants you to be good. But even when you\u2019re not, he comes to you because he loves you, no matter what.\u00a0 He says in the gospel today that you belong to him, he wants to lead you to eternal life, and no one will snatch you out of his hand.\u00a0 You belong to Jesus and he comes to you simply because he loves you.\u00a0 That is a lesson I think all of us should know.\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t come to us because we\u2019re good; God comes to us because God loves us.\u00a0 God has made us sons and daughters, confirmed us in his love. So let us celebrate that love today. Let us celebrate the Christ who comes to us in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.<\/p>\n

Jesus in the Breaking of the Bread<\/b><\/h2>\n
April 6, 2008<\/h5>\n

Luke 24:13-35<\/h3>\n

There are many things upon which we could focus on today from the beautiful gospel we just heard.\u00a0 But I want to talk about the last phrase: how the disciples came to see Jesus in the breaking of the bread.\u00a0 Now you remember in the story that Jesus walked with them along the road, but they did not recognize him.\u00a0 It was only when they broke bread with him, when they shared a meal with him, that they came to see that it was really Jesus.\u00a0 Now many of you here today will be breaking bread at the table of the Eucharist for the first time.\u00a0 And so the question I want you to think about today is, what does it mean for you to see Jesus in this meal in the breaking of the bread?<\/p>\n

Now to answer that question, I have a story.\u00a0 Usually on First Communion day, I tell a story from my childhood.\u00a0 But today\u2019s story is a special one, because it happened to me on my First Communion day.<\/p>\n

But before I tell you the story, I need to give you some background.\u00a0 You see, when I was in the second grade, I went to a catholic school, a catholic day school.\u00a0 Now some of you here say, \u201cFather George, we know about that, because we go to catholic day schools.\u00a0 We go to All Saints or Our Lady of Mt. Carmel or St. Francis.\u201d\u00a0 Well, yes, you do.\u00a0 But your catholic day school is very different from my catholic day school.\u00a0 In our catholic school almost all of our teachers were nuns, religious sisters.\u00a0 Now some of you say, \u201cOh, Father George, we know about nuns.\u00a0 We\u2019ve met religious sisters.\u201d\u00a0 And you have.\u00a0 But the nuns that you met were very different from the nuns who taught me in school.\u00a0 For example, the nuns in my school all wore a full religious habit, special clothes which covered their entire body (not only from their neck to their shoes, but their head as well).\u00a0 In my childhood, nuns wore a veil, but not the lacey veils which some of you girls are wearing here today. They wore a complete veil that covered their whole head, and the only thing you could see was their face.\u00a0 You could not see their hair or their ears. All you could see was from their forehead to their chin.\u00a0 Now if you think that I\u2019m making this up, when you go home, go on the internet and you can find a picture of a nun that looked the way they looked when I was in school.<\/p>\n

So, when I was in the second grade, we had a new nun who came to our school as principal.\u00a0 And her name was Sister Laetitia.\u00a0 Now in Latin that means \u201cSister Joyful, Sister Happy.\u201d\u00a0 But it was not a good name for Sister Laetitia, because she was not particularly joyful or happy.\u00a0 In fact, a Latin name for her should have been Sister Maximus, which meant \u201cSister Big.\u201d\u00a0 Because she was big.\u00a0 She was six feet tall, and she had big shoulders.\u00a0 Of course, all you could see was her face, but you knew that there was a lot of nun under that habit.\u00a0 And Sister Laetitia was tough.\u00a0 In fact, there was a rumor that went around our school that before she became a nun she was in the navy.\u00a0 The rumor said that she fought on a submarine during the Second World War and that she had personally sunk a number of German battleships.\u00a0 Now I didn\u2019t believe that, but my friend, Tommy Wagner said he believed it.\u00a0 He told me that he heard that Sister Laetitia had a tattoo, right here on her forearm, and it was an American flag with rope around it, and it said \u201cAnchors Away.\u201d\u00a0 So every time that she came into our classroom and she would write on the board and her habit would slip a bit, all of us leaned forward to see if we could see that tattoo.\u00a0 Now, I never saw it, but I knew that she was tough.<\/p>\n

One day she came into our classroom and she said, \u201cBoys and girls, I have a friend to introduce to you.\u201d\u00a0 And then she pulled out from under her habit and brought out a paddle, a wooden paddle.\u00a0 She said, \u201cThis is my friend.\u00a0 His name is Mr. Conversation.\u00a0 I call him Mr. Conversation because if any of you children fool around in school, if you fight in the parking lot, if you don\u2019t listen to your teacher, if you fail to finish your homework on time, then you and me and Mr. Conversation are going to go into my office and have a talk.\u201d\u00a0 Now we knew that if we went into Sister Laetitia\u2019s office, there would be more than talk. If we went into that office, we would receive a spanking.\u00a0 We could even see that Sister Laetitia had drilled holes in that wooden paddle so that when she struck us there would be less air resistance.\u00a0 When she left the room, my friend Tommy Wagner said, \u201cOh my God, first she took care of the Germans and now she\u2019s gonna take care of us!\u201d<\/p>\n

So, that\u2019s the background.\u00a0 And that brings us to the day of First Communion.\u00a0 Like all of you here, we prepared for our First Communion.\u00a0 We learned about how Jesus loves us, how Jesus is present to us in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. We learned all the things that you children have learned.\u00a0 And just like you children, we also had a practice in church.\u00a0 And at the end of that practice, Sister Laetitia came in and she said, \u201cBoys and girls, after you receive our Lord in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, I want each of you to come back to your pews and kneel down.\u201d\u00a0 (Now in our church we had kneelers; not like St. Noel\u2019s.) She continued, \u201cI want you to kneel down and I want you to put your face in your hands like this, and I want you to say a prayer.\u00a0 But most especially I do not want to hear a sound.\u00a0 I do not want to see a movement.\u00a0 And as you are kneeling there, if I hear even one peep or see even one little wiggle, then on Monday when you come to school, you and I will meet with Mr. Conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I determined right away I was not going to say anything; I was not going to move.\u00a0 On my first communion day everything went well until I came back from communion.\u00a0 Unlike you children who sit with your families, in our parish all the children sat together.\u00a0 Next to me was my good friend Tommy Wagner.\u00a0 So I sat down and I put my face in my hands and I was not making a sound and I was not making a move, and suddenly I felt something hit me in the leg.\u00a0 And I knew at once it was Tommy trying to get me into trouble.\u00a0 So as I looked through the corner of my eyes, I saw that he, without making a move himself, had balanced himself on one knee and was using his other knee to hit me.\u00a0 Now of course what I wanted to do was to say, \u201cTommy, stop that.\u201d\u00a0 Or I wanted to hit him back, but I couldn\u2019t do that because I knew that Sister Laetitia was watching.\u00a0 And so I was caught.\u00a0 I could not speak; I could not move.\u00a0 And Tommy was making it look like I was causing the problem.\u00a0 I knew I was in big trouble.\u00a0 What could I do?\u00a0 Then I thought, \u201cI should pray.\u201d\u00a0 And here\u2019s the prayer that I said.\u00a0 \u201cDear Jesus, I know that you suffered and died for me, but I do not want to suffer and die in a conversation with Sister Laetitia.\u00a0 Please help me.\u00a0 Please save me.\u00a0 You are my only hope.\u201d\u00a0 And I just tried to be as still as I could while Tommy kept hitting me.<\/p>\n

Well, when our time for prayer was over, we stood up and I looked right at Sister Laetitia and she looked right at me.\u00a0 I was worried.\u00a0 After the Mass was over, we gathered together in our classroom and Sister Laetitia came in.\u00a0 And for once she looked really happy.\u00a0 She said, \u201cBoys and girls, you were wonderful.\u00a0 God bless you on your First Communion.\u00a0 All of you really were good.\u00a0 You really behaved yourselves.\u201d\u00a0 And then she said, \u201cSome of you had a harder time of it than others.\u201d\u00a0 And she looked right at me and winked.\u00a0 In that wink I knew that things would be okay. She had figured out that Tommy was making me move. I knew that I would not have to meet with Mr. Conversation on Monday morning.\u00a0 And all I could say was, \u201cThank you, Jesus!\u201d<\/p>\n

Now I know that this story is a bit silly, but really speaks to the heart of what we\u2019re about today.\u00a0 Everybody here through their baptism and confirmation belongs to Jesus.\u00a0 And that means that Jesus is with you always, at every time and in any place.\u00a0 And it means that you can always talk to Jesus, no matter where.\u00a0 But in a special way, Jesus is with you when you come and share this meal of the Eucharist, when you come and break bread at this altar.\u00a0 I want everyone here to know this, those who are making their confirmation and First Communion today and those who are not.\u00a0 Jesus is always with you, but it is here that he is with you in a special way.\u00a0\u00a0 It is here that you can ask for anything you want, that you can ask him to save you from any trouble you have.\u00a0 Although Jesus is always with you, he is with you in the breaking of the bread.<\/p>\n

A Theft at the Carnival<\/h2>\n

April 26, 2009<\/h5>\n

Luke 24:35-48<\/h3>\n

This is a very important day for our whole parish and for everyone here.\u00a0 It is important for the candidates who are going to be making their Confirmation and their First Communion.\u00a0 It is important for their parents. (Can it really be eight years already since you presented them for baptism?)\u00a0\u00a0 Of course it\u2019s a great day for our whole parish because we celebrate God\u2019s gift of life and grace for us all.\u00a0 But what is most important today as we celebrate Confirmation and First Communion is that we understand what these sacraments mean. Why are they so important?\u00a0 So I thought I would tell you a story from my own childhood that might help you understand what is so important about these sacraments.<\/p>\n

The story takes place at our parish carnival.\u00a0 When I was growing up I went to St. Paul\u2019s parish in Euclid.\u00a0 Each summer we would turn the parish parking lot into a big carnival. There would be rides like a Ferris wheel and bumper cars. There would be food like elephant ears and pierogies. There would be booths where you could play games and win money and prizes.\u00a0 The parish would raffle off a car and do everything to attract attention. One year they even had some guy jump off a high tower into a tub of flaming water.<\/p>\n

As much fun as this was, the best part for me was that I got to be with my dad.\u00a0 Because for the parish carnival, my dad would take off from work early so that he could work in one of the booths. He would bring me along with him.\u00a0 It was the best thing. I got to stay up late because the carnival didn\u2019t close until about 11:00 at night. I got to wear a special apron that showed I was working in the booth. And in time I was even allowed to run the booth with the adults.\u00a0 The booth that we usually ran was called \u201cGo Fish\u201d.\u00a0 There was a big tub of water and in it were plastic fish that were floating and on the bottom each fish was a number.\u00a0 If you wanted to play the game you had to pay a dime. (Big money in those days.)\u00a0 Then you would get a stick with a little net at the end, and you could scoop up one of the fish out of the tub.\u00a0 If it had the right number on the bottom of the fish, you would win a prize.\u00a0 The prizes were very cool: purple teddy bears and those big foam dice you could hang from your rear view mirror.\u00a0 So everyone was coming to our booth.<\/p>\n

My dad was very careful to explain to me what I had to do to run the booth.\u00a0 First of all I had to make sure that all the fish were floating with the numbers down.\u00a0 Secondly, I couldn\u2019t give anyone the net until they gave me the dime.\u00a0 Then when I got the dime I had to put it immediately into my apron so that I wouldn\u2019t lose it.\u00a0 And then as soon as there was a break, I took all the dimes from my apron and put them into the metal cash box.\u00a0 My dad was very clear on this he said, \u201cNow George, this is NOT your money this belongs to St. Paul\u2019s so you have to be very careful with it.\u201d\u00a0 And I was.<\/p>\n

Well that gets me to the heart of my story because, of all the times at the carnival, my favorite time was closing up at night.\u00a0 After all the other people left, it got quiet. The men who were working the booths would get together and share a beer and talk about what happened that night and count the money.\u00a0 And I loved to just sit off to the corner of the booth under the glow of the carnival lights on those warm summer nights and listen to the men talk and laugh.\u00a0 It made me feel grown up and that made me feel pretty good.<\/p>\n

One night, however, things were different.\u00a0 One night the laughing stopped and the men began to talk very seriously about something. So I listened in to what they were saying.<\/p>\n

They had counted the money and there was some money missing.\u00a0 The men talked to the men in the other booths and they had some money missing too.\u00a0 So everyone was trying to figure out what had happened to the money.\u00a0 One of the men from another booth who I did not know said, \u201cYou know I saw someone walking around here earlier today and he didn\u2019t look like he belonged. \u00a0I wonder if that person stole some of the money.\u201d\u00a0 I was shocked.\u00a0 Somebody would steal money from the church? It was hard to believe.\u00a0 So the other men, asked what did this person look like?\u00a0 \u201cOh he wasn\u2019t very old, just a young boy.\u00a0 But he was clearly not where he was supposed to be.\u201d I was even more shocked.\u00a0 Someone my own age was stealing money?\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t believe it!\u00a0 Then the men asked what did this boy look like?\u00a0 The man who had seen him thought and then said, \u201cHe was about this high and he had brown hair in fact, he looks like that boy right there!\u201d He pointed right at me! All the men looked at me like I stole the money!<\/p>\n

I froze.\u00a0 I wanted to say all kinds of things like wait a minute I didn\u2019t do that; I put the money in my apron and then I put it in the box and I put ALL of it in there.\u00a0 I wanted to defend myself.\u00a0 But I was too afraid to say anything. But soon I didn\u2019t have to, because my dad came out and put his arms around me and said, \u201cNo, no, this is not a thief, this is my son, George. He is working with us here.\u00a0 He would never steal anything.\u201d\u00a0 Then the other men who knew me said, \u201cOh yea, don\u2019t worry. That can\u2019t be the boy. He is Mike\u2019s son.\u00a0 He\u2019s working with us and you can trust him.\u201d\u00a0 So everyone agreed, and went off to tell the pastor that the money was missing.\u00a0 But I was safe.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have to worry. Nobody thought that I was a thief, because I belonged to my dad.<\/p>\n

I think all of you making your First Communion and Confirmation today know who you belong to.\u00a0 You belong to your parents and your family. You know that they are there for you and if you have a problem you can talk to them about it and they will try to do the best they can to make you happy and safe.\u00a0 But you do not only belong to your family, you belong to Jesus. That is what we celebrate today in these sacraments.\u00a0 You became a part of Jesus\u2019 family at baptism.\u00a0 Today Jesus is going to give you strength in the Holy Spirit and then Jesus is going to give you his very self in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.\u00a0 That is what the apostles discovered in today\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 When Jesus rose from the dead be came to them and said \u201cPeace be with you.\u201d\u00a0 I am with you now and we are going to face whatever we have to face together.<\/p>\n

That is the best thing about being a Christian.\u00a0 We belong to a God who will be with us always, both when things are easy and when things are tough.\u00a0 We belong to a God who will lead us through life and lead us to happiness with God forever. So that is the Good News of what we celebrate today in Confirmation and First Communion. \u00a0The Good News is that Jesus is with us. We don\u2019t have to be afraid. We can always have hope, because we know who we belong to.\u00a0 We belong to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Terror on the Glider<\/b><\/h2>\n
May 15, 2011<\/h5>\n

John 10:1-10<\/h3>\n

I have a question for the young people who will be making their First Communion today: Do you ever remember your parents or your grandparents talking about something that was around before you were born and isn\u2019t around anymore? For example, do you ever remember them talking about a typewriter? A typewriter is a machine that people used to use to make letters on paper before we had computers. Or did you ever hear them talking about a record player? A record player is the way people used to listen to music before we had IPODs. Or did you hear them talking about a VCR?\u00a0 That was the way people used to watch movies before we had DVDs.<\/p>\n

Today I want to share with you a story about something that happened to me when I was your age but in order to do so you have to understand about something with which I do not think you are familiar. It was around when I was growing up, but is not around much anymore. When I was in the second grade we had a glider. In fact I think everybody on our street had a glider on their front porch. And I know you\u2019re asking me, \u201cFr. George, what is a glider?\u201d Well, a glider is kind of a couch, but it\u2019s an outdoor couch. It\u2019s not lawn furniture; it\u2019s not patio furniture. It was a regular couch and it was covered with oil cloth so that if it were to rain it would not be damaged. It had big cushions, and about three or four people could sit on it. And of course, the reason it was called a glider was because this couch could move. It could glide<\/i> forward and glide backward. It was always a sure sign of summer when my Dad would carry up our glider from the basement and put it on the front porch. Because it meant from then on we could sit on our front porch and enjoy the nice weather and call out to our neighbors as they walked by on the sidewalk. So our glider was an important part of summer.<\/p>\n

But the reason I want to tell you about the glider is because of something that I invented when I was your age. It involved the glider. I invented a new game. You see our glider also had a big cloth, a cover that would go over the glider. Of course you know that during the summer we often have a number of thunderstorms, when there is wind and lightening and rain. What I invented was this game: during a thunderstorm I would go out on our front porch and crawl under the cover on the glider. I would be right there in the middle of the storm, with the thunder and the lightening and the rain blowing all around me. But I was dry and safe because I was under the glider cover. It was a lot of fun. And it was a great invention of mine. The only mistake I made was to tell my sister about it.<\/p>\n

My sister, Margie, is three years younger than me. As soon as she heard about my new game she said, \u201cI want to go out on the glider during the storm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo way,\u201d I said, \u201cYou\u2019re too little. It\u2019s too scary out there. This is not a game that I invented for kids in kindergarten. You have to be in the second grade to be old enough to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can do anything you can do,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to go out on the glider.\u201d<\/p>\n

I told her that she couldn\u2019t, but she never listened to me. So, as you would suspect, when the next big storm that came up, I went out and climbed under the cover on the glider. Just before the rain began to fall, my sister crawled in right next to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d I said. \u201cYou\u2019re not old enough. Go back into the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMake me,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m staying here.\u201d<\/p>\n

But before I could begin to argue with her, there was a peal of thunder that was the loudest thing I ever heard. It was so loud it made your teeth rattle. It seemed like the sound was coming right outside the glider on our front porch.<\/p>\n

My sister began to cry. \u201cI\u2019m afraid,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSee,\u201d I told her, \u201cyou should have stayed in the house.\u201d But even as I was speaking, it began to rain\u2014not just little drops of rain but buckets of rain coming down, and plenty of wind. It felt like someone was hitting the cover of the glider with a broom. This was wilder than I had ever experienced before. And\u2014even though I would not have admitted it to anybody\u2014I was beginning to be afraid myself. So I said, \u201cMargie, let\u2019s get out of here.\u201d We lifted up the glider cover to go back in the house, but there was so much thunder, rain, and wind that we realized that we were stuck. We would have to stay under the glider cover in the midst of this terrible storm and wait to see what came next.<\/p>\n

Well, what came next was a voice. Through the screen door of our porch someone said, \u201cAre you kids out there somewhere?\u201d It was my father\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cYes, we\u2019re here under the cover on the glider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just a few minutes later, my dad came under the glider cover too. \u201cWhat are you kids doing here?\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a big storm.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a game I invented,\u201d I said to my dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s no fun at all!\u201d my sister said, \u201cIt\u2019s scary with the thunder and wind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I don\u2019t know,\u201d said my dad, \u201cthis is kind of fun, all of us here underneath the glider cover. I\u2019ll tell you what we should do. Every time it thunders, we should see if we could yell out even louder. And every time the wind makes the glider swing, we should see if we can make it swing faster.\u201d And that\u2019s what we did. For the rest of the storm we kept yelling and rocking on the porch until the storm was over. And I have to admit that even though I was afraid, it was a lot of fun. But it was only fun because my dad was with us.<\/p>\n

Now I tell you this story because to this day I remember how in the middle of that storm I knew things would be OK when I heard my dad\u2019s voice. I knew that my dad cared for us and loved us. This is really the message of Jesus in today\u2019s gospel. He wants each of us to know that he cares for us and that he loves us. Jesus calls himself a shepherd. And we are Jesus\u2019 sheep. We are to follow him because we recognize his voice and because we know that he cares and loves us. This is what First Communion is about. At Baptism you became a part of Jesus\u2019 family. Today, at First Communion, when you receive the bread and wine, you take the very presence of Christ within you. In this way Jesus promises you that he will always be with you and he will always guide you.<\/p>\n

This is a message that all of us should hear, not just the young people making their First Communion today. There are many storms in life, many things that frighten us and cause us worry. We need to remember who we are and to whom we belong. In the midst of the storms of life we need to listen for Jesus\u2019 voice. He calls out to us to assure us that he is with us. And if he is with us, we do not need to be afraid.<\/p>\n

With Us in the Water<\/b><\/h2>\n
May 6, 2012<\/h5>\n

John 15:1-8<\/h3>\n

I know that those of you who are making your first Communion have heard today\u2019s gospel before. You understand that when Jesus says that he is the vine and we are the branches, he is telling us that we are connected to him and his very life is in us. Just as a branch must be connected to the vine, we must be connected to Jesus. This is good news, because it means that Jesus is within us and with us in every need we have.<\/p>\n

I remember the very first time that I recognized that I really needed Jesus. It happened when I was as old as those of you making your first Communion today. In fact I had just made my first Communion and summer vacation had begun. At the beginning of that summer my mother said to me, \u201cGeorge, this summer I want you to learn to swim.\u201d Now our family always went to the pool in the summer. In fact we went to Grovewood pool right here in Cleveland. But you did not need to swim to enjoy Grovewood pool. They built the pool so that at one end it was only three feet deep. Then as you went to the other end it got deeper and deeper until it was nine feet deep. Well, even if you could not swim, you could stay at the three-foot end, stand on the bottom, and still have a lot of fun splashing people around you. But that was not good enough for my mother. She said \u201cGeorge you can\u2019t spend your whole life standing in three feet water. You need to learn how to swim.\u201d I really did not want to learn how to swim. It meant I had to take swimming lessons which were held at o\u2019clock in the morning when the water in the pool was still very cold. So who would want to get up early in the morning and jump into an ice cold pool? I didn\u2019t. I told my mother that. But she had already made up her mind. And that was that.<\/p>\n

But swimming lessons were not as bad as I had feared. That was because of the lifeguard who was my swimming teacher. Her name was Dana. She was in high school. She was very pretty. She wore a tight red bathing suit. I liked Dana a lot. And she was a very good teacher. So within the very first week I had already learned how to do the \u201cjellyfish float.\u201d Now I don\u2019t know if you know the \u201cjellyfish float,\u201d but you put your face in the water, pull your knees up under you, and you float like a bubble on the top of the water.<\/p>\n

Now this was progress, but the \u201cjellyfish float\u201d is not that great a float. You just stay in one place. So very soon, Dana said, \u201cGeorge, you have to learn the American crawl.\u201d You all know this stoke. You put your face in the water and move your arms up and out of the water pulling your body forward. You can move from place to place. Dana showed me all the moves and told me, \u201cPractice in the afternoon when you come to the pool.\u201d So I practiced and practiced, and pretty soon I could go a couple of feet swimming. I was very proud of myself. I wanted to show Dana how much progress I made. I was eager for our next day at swimming lessons.<\/p>\n

But when I arrived at the pool, I knew it would not be a good day. That day Dana\u2019s boyfriend Mike came to swimming lessons. I didn\u2019t like Mike. Whenever he was there, Dana spent all her time looking at and talking with Mike. I wanted to show her my American crawl, but I couldn\u2019t even get her attention, because she and Mike were talking about what they were going to do that weekend. Then I had an idea. I thought I could swim across the three foot section of the pool to the other side. Then, when Dana looked up and saw I wasn\u2019t there, I could say \u201cHere I am Dana. I swam here!\u201d That would really impress her. So, I did it. I put my face in the water and I started swimming.<\/p>\n

You know, I did not have much experience in swimming. But I was confident because the other side of the pool was not that far away. So I swam. I kept swimming. But somehow I was not reaching the other side of the pool. I kept feeling for it but it wasn\u2019t there. Finally, I had no energy left. I had to stand up and take a breather. So I stood up and reached for the bottom of the pool. It wasn\u2019t there. What had happened was that as I was swimming across the pool I turned and swam right into the nine foot section!<\/p>\n

So there I was, no energy left, no bottom to stand on. Down I went. All the way down till I reached the bottom of the pool. But I needed air. So I pushed up from the bottom of the pool and broke through the water to take a breath. But because I was exhausted, down I went again. This was not good. Because unless somebody saw me over in the nine foot section, eventually I\u2019d be on the bottom for good. So as I came up the second time, I looked for Dana. There she was with Mike at the side of the pool talking and talking and talking. Down I went again.<\/p>\n

This is when I decided I would pray. Now I do not remember the prayer exactly, but it went something like this: \u201cDear Jesus, I know you are always with me and that you come to me in first Communion. When I made my first Communion, I promised to receive you every weekend. If you want me to receive you next weekend you better do something<\/i>.\u201d When I came again and I looked over, Dana wasn\u2019t there. Mike was there waving his hands and shouting. Suddenly I felt someone grab me and pull me to the side and out of the pool. It was Dana! She said, \u201cGeorge how did you get into the nine foot section?\u201d I said, \u201cI swam <\/i>here!\u201d \u201cWell, good for the swimming\u201d she said, \u201cbut we have to work on your directions.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the first time that I really knew that I needed Jesus. I prayed and I believed he was with me. It was an important experience, because many other times in my life, I again had to trust that he would not forget me. What I want to say to all of you making your first Communions today, is as you come to the altar you need to know that Jesus gives you his entire life and promises to be with you always. No matter what you need to face, you can count on him.<\/p>\n

This is true for all of us here today, whether we are making our first Communion or our thousandth Communion. Wherever we find ourselves, no matter what is going on in our lives for good or for bad, Christ is with us. We can count on his presence. As we receive Communion, he promises to be faithful. If Christ is the vine and we are the branches, it means we share his very life. His life is with us when we are happy and when we are sad, when we are sleeping and when we are awake, when we are walking and\u2014yes\u2014when we are swimming.<\/p>\n

Fishing and Forgiveness<\/b><\/h2>\n
April 14, 2013<\/h5>\n

John 21:1-19<\/h3>\n

On this First Communion day, we have a very special gospel.\u00a0 Or at least it was a special gospel for Simon Peter, because this gospel is the first time that Simon Peter and Jesus meet after Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection. This made Simon Peter very nervous because, as you know, before Jesus\u2019 death Peter denied that he was Jesus\u2019 friend. That hurt Jesus very much.\u00a0 So as Simon Peter and Jesus meet in today\u2019s gospel, Simon was certainly worried whether Jesus would forgive him for hurting him. But, it goes well for Peter. When Jesus prepares a breakfast for him on the beach, it is clear that Jesus forgives Peter, even though he denied him. So, this gospel is a gospel about fishing and about forgiveness. And, it reminds me of a similar story in my life about fishing and forgiveness.<\/p>\n

During the summer when I was in the fourth or fifth grade, I would always go fishing with my father. After mass on Sunday, we would take our fishing poles to the car and drive to the bait store. There we would buy a carton of night crawlers. Do you know what night crawlers are?\u00a0 They are big, long, juicy worms, and fish love to eat them. So we would go down to Wildwood Park at the end of Neff Road and go out onto the pier. Then my dad and I would take night crawlers, put them on our hooks, and drop our lines into the water. \u00a0We would wait for the fish to bite. They often did. But, even if they didn\u2019t, it was fine, because the best thing about fishing was being with my dad\u2014just the two of us together.<\/p>\n

So, you can imagine how upset I was when my younger sister, Margie, came to me and said,<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to go fishing with you and dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

I knew at once I didn\u2019t want her there.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I said, \u201cyou can\u2019t go fishing.\u00a0 Fishing is not for girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes it is!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, you can\u2019t go fishing. You are only in second grade. You\u2019re too little.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo I\u2019m not!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t go fishing. You are too weak. You couldn\u2019t pull the fish out of the water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo I\u2019m not!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t go fishing because you would have to take a big, slimy night crawler and put it on the hook.\u201d (My sister hated night crawlers.)<\/p>\n

\u201cDad will do that for me!\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m going to go ask him right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Off she went. I was upset. I knew what my dad would say. He always would invite my sister along even though she was a girl and even though she was little. Sure enough, next Sunday when I came to the car with my fishing pole, there was my sister Margie with her fishing pole that dad had just bought for her.<\/p>\n

Now, I loved my sister, Margie, but she could do one thing that would drive me crazy.<\/i> She would smile a certain smile. I called it \u201cthe Margie smile\u201d and I\u2019m going to try to do it for you so you can see it. She would smile like this:<\/p>\n

[Fr. George does the Margie Smile]<\/p>\n

Now this smile meant a number of things. First of all it meant: \u201cI\u2019m right and you\u2019re wrong.\u201d It also meant: \u201cI\u2019m happy and you\u2019re not.\u201d But, most especially it meant: \u201cI\u2019m here and you can\u2019t do anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, when I came to the car that Sunday morning, there was my sister with the Margie smile on. She smiled as she took her fishing pole and put it in the trunk. She smiled as she climbed into the back seat of the car and sat down. She smiled as she held my father\u2019s hand walking down the pier, but most of all she smiled as my father took the night crawler and put it on the hook for her and then helped her throw the line into the water. I was miserable. I thought that this day could not get worse. Yet, it did. Only a few moments after the line hit the water there was a tug on it. Then my sister pulled out (with my father\u2019s help of course) the largest fish I\u2019d ever seen caught at Wildwood Park. This fish was so big it barely fit into the bucket we had for the fish we caught. After that she was no stopping her. For the rest of the afternoon, every time I looked over at her, she would point to the fish and smile<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t take it. I had to stop her from smiling. Then I had an idea. I noticed that when Margie would lean forward to look into the water an generous space opened up between the back of her neck and her blouse\u2014a space big enough to drop something in. So the next time she leaned forward to look into the water, I reached down and took the biggest, slimiest night crawler I could find and DROPPED IT IN! Then, I just waited. I didn\u2019t have to wait for long. Soon my sister started screaming. She jumped up, put down her pole, and started running up and down the pier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something in my blouse! There\u2019s something in my blouse!\u201d<\/p>\n

She pulled her blouse out of her pants and the night crawler fell onto the pier. She was no longer smiling.<\/p>\n

I was.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what gave me away. My father saw the night crawler, and he saw me smiling. He picked up the worm and came over to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge,\u201d he said, \u201cdo you have any idea how this night crawler got into your sister\u2019s blouse?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could have crawled there.\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d he said, \u201cit could have, but I don\u2019t think so. Did you put it there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t remember,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d my father said, taking my pole, \u201cwhy don\u2019t you go back to the car in the parking lot and see if you remember there?\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time I reached the car, I knew I was in trouble. I had done something wrong. My sister was upset, and I was afraid of what was going to happen to me. Would my dad refuse to take me fishing?\u00a0 Would he make me stay in my room?\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know what was going to happen. After about a half an hour my dad came down to the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you remembered anything yet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir,\u201d I said. \u201cI did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, and do you know why you did it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure,\u201d said my father. \u201cYou did it because you listened to your worst self. You listened to that part of you that is mean and selfish, and you ended up hurting your sister. But, I know you have another part of you that is your best self. If you listen to that part, you would be happy that your sister was with us and we as a family could fish together. Now, because I know that best part is in you, here\u2019s my deal. If you promise to act out of your best self and if you apologize to your sister, we\u2019ll call an end to this. Deal?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDeal, sir,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

(Then, as he walked away, I said to myself, \u201cThat went a lot better than I though it would.\u201d)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Peter thought in today\u2019s gospel, when Jesus prepared the breakfast on the beach. Peter said, \u201cYou know, that went a lot better than I thought it would.\u201d Jesus forgave Peter for the very reason my dad forgave me. Jesus could see Peter\u2019s best self, he could see all that was good about Peter. That is why he could put Peter\u2019s mistakes behind him.<\/p>\n

For all of you making your First Communion today, I want you to remember that Jesus always sees your best self. No matter how many times you mess up and do what\u2019s wrong, Jesus sees how good you are. He remembers how much he loves you. It is for this reason that he welcomes you to the table today and wants to share this meal of the Eucharist with you.<\/p>\n

This is true for all of us here today. No matter what we have done in the past, remember that Jesus welcomes all of us here to this meal. He sees the goodness that is in us. Jesus never fails to see our best self.\u00a0 That is why he invites us to this meal so that we can share life with him.<\/p>\n

Being Better to Each Other<\/strong><\/h2>\n
May 4, 2014<\/h5>\n

Luke 24:13-35<\/h3>\n

I grew up on the east side of Cleveland on a small street just off of Nottingham Road. It was a great neighborhood. It was the kind of neighborhood where families would gather on one another\u2019s porches on summer nights and kids would play ball in the street. Everyone in our neighborhood knew one another and looked out for one another\u2014with one exception. In the middle of our street there was a house which was covered over with vines. The yard was filled with trees and shrubs which made the house difficult to see. Around the yard was an iron fence, and on the fence there was a gate, and on the gate there was a sign. It said: KEEP OUT. In that house lived a large bald man who everyone in our neighborhood called \u201cThe Russian.\u201d I don\u2019t know if anyone knew his real name. But if they did they never used it. \u201cThe Russian\u201d had a big black dog that all of us kids in the neighborhood called Hell Hound, because if you even came close to the fence, that dog would come bouncing out barking and jumping like a dog out of Hell. It was only the fence that would keep him from biting you. No one ever talked to \u201cThe Russian.\u201d You could see him sometimes in his yard smoking his pipe, but he lived alone. I was afraid of him.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more to the story. It began on my First Communion Day. Many of you here who are having your First Communion today are planning a party afterwards. After my First Communion we also had a party. And at the party I received some gifts. The best gift was from my Aunt Josie. She gave me a wiffle ball set. Now you might not know what a wiffle ball is. But it is a plastic ball about this big. It\u2019s hollow and has big holes in it. There is also a big bat that comes with it that is also hollow and very light. The good thing about a wiffle ball set is that you can hit that ball as hard as you want and it doesn\u2019t go too fast, and because it is not heavy, if it hits something or someone, there is no damage done. So wiffle balls were great for playing in crowded neighborhoods, and my wiffle ball set was a big hit with my friends. All through the summer we would play wiffle ball after supper in the street.<\/p>\n

Well one day I was at bat and the ball came to me. I hit it as hard as I could, and that ball flew off my bat, over the fence, into \u201cThe Russian\u2019s\u201d yard. All my buddies just looked in silence. They shook their heads and said, \u201cThis game is over.\u201d They patted me on the back as they went home saying, \u201cYou\u2019ll never see that ball again.\u201d But I could see it. It was caught in a bush just inside \u201cThe Russian\u2019s\u201d fence. I knew that if I went to the fence and pushed my hand in as far as I could, I could get it back. But when I got to the fence, right next to the bush was Hell Hound. He had his eyes on me, and he was growling. I knew that if I pushed my arm through the fence, I would lose it. I went home sad.<\/p>\n

But that night in bed I made a decision. I was not going to give up. Even though I was afraid, I was going to ask \u201cThe Russian\u201d to give me my ball back. So the next morning I got up, crossed the street, and stood right in front of the gate. There was no need to knock. As soon as I got there Hell Hound came running out of the house. He was barking, and jumping, and throwing himself up against the fence. But I just stood there and waited. After a few moments the front door opened and \u201cThe Russian\u201d came out. He was big. He was moving slowly down the front steps and he had his eye on me. But I did not move. I just waited. As he got closer he grasped Hell Hound by the collar\u2014I was happy about that\u2014and then he opened the gate. What I wanted to say was \u201cCould I have my wiffle ball back, please.\u201d But all the words left me, and I just stood there with my mouth open. Then \u201cThe Russian\u201d shook his head slightly, reached into his jacket, and pulled out my wiffle ball. \u201cI \u2018tink dis belongs to you.\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t let it happen again.\u201d \u201cI won\u2019t,\u201d I said. I grabbed the ball and ran home.<\/p>\n

My thoughts about \u201cThe Russian\u201d changed that day. We never became friends. But ever after that, as I was riding my bike down the street, if I would see him in his yard smoking his pipe, I would yell out and wave. And he would look up and give me a little nod.<\/p>\n

I tell you this story on First Communion Day, because I think it helps explain what we are doing here. Many of you young people are making your First Communion for the first time. Many of us here are making Communion for the thousandth time. We know that when we receive Communion, Jesus comes to us in a real way. But Christ comes to us for a purpose: he wants us to be better to one another. In life we will run into some different people, some strange people, some difficult people. Jesus wants us to give them the benefit of the doubt. They might not be as bad or as frightening as they seem. Jesus asks us to approach them with care and respect. This is what the disciples do in today\u2019s gospel. They meet a stranger on the road and they do not dismiss him or ignore him. They walk with him and then invite him in to stay and eat with them. In that action they discover that the stranger is Jesus. So whenever we receive this Eucharist, whenever we gather at this table, Jesus is asking us to welcome the stranger, to treat people who are different with respect, because in doing so, we may find Jesus in them.<\/p>\n

Red Cake and Lima Beans<\/h2>\n

April 19, 2015<\/h5>\n

Luke 24:35-48<\/h3>\n

This is a very special day for all of you here who will be making your first communion at this liturgy. I know that after this liturgy some of you will have a family dinner or party, and your parents and grandparents will probably bring some of your favorite foods to eat. We all have favorite foods, right? Things we like to eat. When I was your age one of my favorite foods was red cake. (Now it had another name that we can\u2019t use in church.) But red cake was a two-layer cake that was bright red and covered all over with white fluffy icing. My sister Margie and I loved red cake. We would like to eat it every day. But my mom only made it on special occasions. So once when we were planning to celebrate my dad\u2019s birthday with a family dinner, my mom asked my dad, \u201cWhat do you want to eat for your birthday?\u201d He looked at Margie and at me and he said, \u201cRed Cake!\u201d \u201cHooray!\u201d we said. It was decided that we would eat red cake.<\/p>\n

My mom made the cake the day before the dinner, and it came out beautifully. My mom is a great cook. Every couple hours I would walk into the kitchen just to look at the cake, and to smell it, and to imagine how wonderful it would be when I ate it. When it came time for the dinner, my mom began to prepare the meal, and I came into the kitchen to smell the red cake. It was wonderful. But as I smelled the red cake, I smelled something else. And my heart stopped. I forgot that my dad not only loved red cake, he also loved lima beans. Now, do you have some foods that you hate? I hate lima beans! To me, they are little packets of stinky mush. I said to my mom, \u201cWhy are you making lima beans, I hate lima beans!\u201d She said, \u201cThey\u2019re your dad\u2019s favorite. And I don\u2019t want any trouble from you tonight. You will have to clean your plate.\u201d So, you see my problem. I wanted to eat the red cake, but I didn\u2019t want to eat the lima beans. So I came up with two plans and I hoped that one of them would work.<\/p>\n

When time came for dinner, the red cake was displayed on the counter. My mother brought to the table meat, potatoes \u2013 and a large steaming bowl of lima beans. After the prayer, my dad took a big spoon of the lime beans, put them on his plate, and put a few in his mouth. \u201cMmmmm!\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re like candy! Wonderful!\u201d I gagged. So I took the serving spoon and I put one lima bean on my plate. My mother just looked at me. So I took the serving spoon and I put a second lima bean on my plate. She shook her head. She took the serving spoon and she put thirty<\/em> lima beans on my plate. And she did the same for my sister Margie, who also hated lima beans. She said, \u201cLook kids, you have to eat your vegetables, and today they are lima beans. So clean your plates. No lima beans! No red cake!\u201d<\/p>\n

My first plan had failed so I tried the second. I figured that although I had to put lima beans into my mouth, I didn\u2019t have to swallow them. So during the meal I packed behind my cheeks all but two or three of the lima beans that were on my plate. And then I said, \u201cExcuse me; I have to go to the bathroom.\u201d I got up, and went to the bathroom, and spit out the lima beans. Then I waited an appropriate amount of time, and flushed the toilet. Success!<\/p>\n

I came back to the table and sat down smiling. Then I noticed that my sister Margie was also smiling. That was not good. So I looked around, and I saw it: her plate was clean and my plate was filled with lima beans! And then she said, \u201cMom that was a great dinner. I can\u2019t wait for dessert.\u201d I lost it. \u201cIt\u2019s not fair!\u201d I said. \u201cMargie put her lima beans on my plate!\u201d \u201cHmmm!\u201d my mother said, \u201cIf those are Margie\u2019s lima beans on your plate, where are your lima beans?\u201d I said nothing. \u201cAnd what were you doing in the bathroom?\u201d I said more nothing. \u201cHere\u2019s the way I see it,\u201d my mother said, \u201cYour dad works hard to earn money to buy food, and I prepare it, and you spit it out. To your room!\u201d<\/p>\n

So I went to my room, and I sat there alone and listened as Margie and my mom and dad finished the meal, cleared the table, and then served the cake\u2014the cake that I would never taste. It seemed to me that I sat in my room for a very long time. But then there was a knock at the door and my dad came in. \u201cGeorge,\u201d he said, \u201cwe\u2019re having dessert and I think you should join us.\u201d \u201cBut Dad,\u201d I said, \u201cI didn\u2019t eat my lima beans.\u201d \u201cI did,\u201d said my dad, \u201cand they were delicious.\u201d \u201cBut Dad, I tried to trick you, and that\u2019s the same as lying.\u201d \u201cI know,\u201d said my dad, \u201cand I\u2019m not happy about that. But you are my son and I want you at the table.\u201d Then we went out together and we each had two<\/em> pieces of red cake.<\/p>\n

Now I tell this story on your first communion day, because I think the words my dad said to me are very close to the words that Jesus is saying to you. \u201cI love you. And I want you at my table.\u201d In the gospel today when Jesus meets the apostles after the resurrection, he says, \u201cDo you have anything here to eat?\u201d He wants to share food with his apostles, as a sign of his love. Jesus wants to share with all of you who are making your first communion today the bread and wine of the Eucharist, his body and blood, as a sign of his love. We don\u2019t always do things well. We fall short. We are not always the people we need to be. But Jesus always wants us to be at his table. This applies not only to those making their first communion here today, but to all of us here. Wherever you are coming from, whatever has happened, know that Jesus wants you at the table. Let these children today who make their first communion, remind us how deeply God loves us and how Jesus wants us to share this meal always.<\/p>\n

Finding a Pony<\/strong><\/h2>\n
April 10, 2016<\/h5>\n

John 21:1-19\u00a0<\/u><\/h3>\n

Who would not want a pony? When I was about the age of the children making their first communion today, I wanted a pony more than anything. Growing up, half of the shows on television were Westerns. They had cool men riding on horses, wearing cowboy hats, and fighting bad guys. I wanted to be a cowboy. But to be a cowboy you had to have something to ride.<\/p>\n

Now, I was realistic. I realized I couldn\u2019t have a horse. Horses are big and we didn\u2019t have a farm. We lived in a little house just off of East 188th<\/sup> street, and a horse would be too big for our yard. But a pony is smaller. I could imagine the pony being happy in our backyard. I prayed to God for a pony: \u201cDear God, I know that you love me. And I know you can do anything. So please give me a pony. Any pony will do. Although, if I have a choice, I\u2019d like a black and white one. They are my favorite.<\/p>\n

I was pleased with this prayer to God and so I went to talk to my father. He was reading the newspaper. I came right up to him and said, \u201cDad, I want a pony.\u201d He looked up from the paper and just stared at me. \u201cGeorge,\u201d he said, \u201cwhere would we keep this pony?\u201d \u201c Well, I\u2019ve been thinking about that,\u201d I said. \u201cWe could build a little pen right next to the garage. The pony would be just big enough to fit into that pen.\u201d My father said, \u201cHow would the pony get any exercise in that little pen?\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about that too Dad,\u201d I said. \u201cI would take him for a walk every day around the block on the sidewalk.\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d my father said. \u201cNo pony. We live in the city. No pony. Not now or ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was somewhat of a setback in my plan to get a pony. I went to God again and said, \u201cYou know God, my dad doesn\u2019t want to give me a pony. I need some new ideas.\u201d Then I thought of my sister, Margie. If she and I were both to ask my dad for a pony maybe he would change his mind. So I went and I found my sister. She was in the kitchen playing with her Barbie doll. \u201cMargie, will you help me ask Dad for a pony?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t want a pony. I want a dollhouse for my Barbie doll.\u201d \u201cOk,\u201d I said, \u201cnow we\u2019re cooking. The two of us together can ask for a pony, and then once we get the pony, the two of us together could ask for a Barbie dollhouse.\u201d My sister thought about this for a moment. Then she said, \u201cNo. I don\u2019t like ponies. They smell.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know about you children here today, but do you ever get angry with your brother or sister because they\u2019re being so stubborn, And then do you maybe do something that you really shouldn\u2019t do? That\u2019s what happened to me. I grabbed the Barbie doll and I said, \u201cLook, if I\u2019m not going to have a pony, you\u2019re not going to have your Barbie doll. I\u2019m going to throw her down the garbage disposal.\u201d \u201cNo, no,\u201d said my sister. I turned on the garbage disposal. Whirl, whirl, it went. \u201cDown she goes,\u201d I said. \u201cStop! stop!\u201d said my sister. Then my mother came in the room. She turned off the garbage disposal. She took the doll from me and said, \u201cTo your room.\u201d And I went. And when I got to my room, I began to realize that I probably wouldn\u2019t get a pony. My dad wouldn\u2019t give me one. My sister wouldn\u2019t help me. And God didn\u2019t seem to hear my prayer.<\/p>\n

So after about an hour in my room, I went out on the front porch and sat on the front steps. It was hopeless. I would never have a pony. And then, I looked up and there he was\u2014a pony, a black and white pony, standing right on the corner of East 188th<\/sup> street! Even I was wondering, what is this pony doing here? Then I saw that next to the pony was a man with a camera. He was going up and down the streets seeing if people would pay for a picture of their son or daughter on his pony. I ran into the house. \u201cDad,\u201d I said. \u201cThere\u2019s a pony outside!\u201d \u201cI\u2019m sure there is,\u201d he said, without even looking up from his paper. I said, \u201cNo, no, really. Look outside! There\u2019s a pony!\u201d And when he looked outside there was the pony.<\/p>\n

And I said, \u201cCan I ride him?\u201d<\/p>\n

And I did. I even got a cool cowboy hat to wear as the man took my picture. Now of course, I didn\u2019t get to keep the pony. (I didn\u2019t even get to keep the hat.) But to this day, I believe that God sent me that pony to let me know that he did hear my prayer and that he loved me.<\/p>\n

And that is what I want you children to understand today as you make your first Communion. God loves you, and God will always be with you, even at times when things seem hopeless. After Jesus\u2019 death, his best friend Peter thought he would never see Jesus again. Yet in today\u2019s gospel, he looks up and there is Jesus, standing on the seaside. Then, Jesus comes and they share a meal together.<\/p>\n

Jesus does this for you who are making your first Communion here today. He wants for the first time to share this special meal with you, to show you his love. He wants you to know that he will always be with you, even when times seem hopeless. God may never give you a pony. But God will always find a way to show you His love.<\/p>\n

The Eucharist and Welcoming <\/strong><\/h2>\n
April 30, 2017<\/h5>\n

Luke 24:13-35<\/h3>\n

When I was the age of most of you who are making your first communion today, there was a girl in our class who was, how shall I say it, \u201ca little different.\u201d Her name was Hazel Peters. There were several things about Hazel that were not very attractive. First of all, Hazel wore her hair in a ponytail. Now there is nothing wrong with wearing your hair in a ponytail, but in Hazel\u2019s case all of her hair did not make it back to the ponytail. Although most of her hair dropped behind her, there were all kinds of hairs that were sticking out of her head in all directions. The second thing about Hazel was that she had a lazy eye. What that meant is that both of her eyes did not look in the same direction. One would look this way, and the other would look that way. And so when you were talking to Hazel, you were not sure whether you should stand here … or maybe over here. But the most irritating thing about Hazel was that she was a giggler. She could hardly say anything without laughing. If you met her in the hallway, she would say, \u201cGood morning, Hee, hee, hee, how are you today?\u201d Or at lunchtime she would say, \u201cDo you want half of, hee, hee, hee, my cupcake?\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of these things, Hazel was not very popular at school. In fact, most of the kids made fun of her. My friends would tell me, \u201cGeorge, stay away from Hazel. She has the cooties.\u201d Now I don\u2019t know even to this day what the cooties are, but you really did not want to have them. But the most difficult thing about Hazel was this: she liked me. I knew this because when we exchanged cards in class on Valentine\u2019s Day, Hazel wrote in my card, \u201cThank you, George, for being my best friend.\u201d But I wasn\u2019t her best friend. I barely even spoke to her. But that\u2019s what Hazel thought.<\/p>\n

At the end of the school year, our teacher gave us an assignment to address the class on what was our favorite place to go during the summer. I gave my presentation on Euclid Beach. Now some of you don\u2019t know about Euclid Beach. But this weekend when you gather together with your families, ask your parents or especially your grandparents and they will tell you all about it. Euclid Beach was this wonderful park right on the lake. It had rides. It had a carousel with a calliope, rocket ships, a fun house, and roller coasters. You could spend your whole day there having a great time all day long. That\u2019s what I told my class.<\/p>\n

After my presentation at recess, Hazel Peters came running up to me. I could tell that she was excited. She said, \u201cGeorge, hee, hee, hee, my dad works at Euclid Beach and can get free passes. Do you want to come to Euclid Beach, hee, hee, hee, with me?\u201d I just froze. I didn\u2019t want to go to Euclid Beach with Hazel Peters. I could see all my friends looking at me. \u201cCooties! Cooties!\u201d they were saying. So I said, \u201cNo, Hazel, I don\u2019t want to go to Euclid Beach with you. I want to go with my friends.\u201d And Hazel\u2019s eyes dropped (both of them) and she walked away sad. Now I felt terrible. I didn\u2019t like what I said, but I didn\u2019t know what else to say. I just wanted to forget about it.<\/p>\n

Well, about three weeks later, my mom was busy with something in the kitchen. I said, \u201cMom, what\u2019s going on?\u201d She said, \u201cOh, the Peters are coming over for dinner tonight. I believe that their daughter, Hazel, is in your class.\u201d \u201cMom,\u201d I said, I don\u2019t want to have dinner with Hazel Peters. I don\u2019t like Hazel Peters.\u201d My mom stopped and said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you like Hazel Peters?\u201d And I said, \u201cMom, she has the cooties!\u201d \u201cThe cooties! I\u2019ll give you the cooties!\u201d my mom said. \u201cYou are going to sit next to Hazel Peters at dinner and be a perfect gentleman or else.\u201d And I knew what \u201cor else\u201d meant. So when the Peters came, Hazel sat next to me, and we had dinner. Mr. Peters said that the next time I came to Euclid Beach he could give me the inside tour and show me how the calliope works and how the brakes stop the roller coasters. I thought that would be fantastic.<\/p>\n

After the Peters left, as we were cleaning up, I found on the table an envelope with my name on it. I knew it was from Hazel. I opened the envelope, and inside there were two passes for Euclid Beach and a note. \u201cGeorge,\u201d it said, \u201cthese are for you. Take a friend.\u201d I held my breath and thought, \u201cHow nice of Hazel to do this.\u201d And then I thought, \u201cHazel is nice. She has frizzy hair, and you are not always sure she is looking at you. But she is kind and generous and God knows she is happy.\u201d So at that moment, I decided that Hazel Peters did not have cooties. And the next day I called her on the phone and said, \u201cHazel, do you want to go to Euclid Beach with me this Saturday?\u201d \u201cHee, hee, heeeee, Yes!\u201d she said. And we went. And I got the inside tour. Now Hazel did not become my best friend, but we went to Euclid Beach several times that summer and really enjoyed ourselves.<\/p>\n

To this day I am thankful that at the meal we had at our house I came to see Hazel in a new way. I tell you this story, because that is what happens to the disciples in today\u2019s gospel. They are walking on the road and Jesus comes and walks with them, but they do not recognize him. They think he is a stranger. But they do not make fun of the stranger or push him aside. They listen to him. And then they invite him in to eat with them. And when they eat together, they see that it is Jesus and that he loves them. As we share together communion today, Jesus is asking us to welcome those who are a little different, to be accepting of those whom maybe other people ridicule. Communion with Jesus is communion with everyone Jesus loves. And Jesus loves everyone. So as we share this meal with Jesus at this table today, my prayer for all of us is that will be blessed with the ability to welcome and accept others, and that this gift will be ours today and always.<\/p>\n

Serving Jesus<\/h2>\n

April 15, 2018<\/h5>\n

Luke 24: 35-48<\/h3>\n

My dad was born in Pennsylvania. When he came to Cleveland for work, he stayed for a while in a boarding house in East Cleveland. East Cleveland, in those days, was an exclusive address. The woman who ran the boarding house was Mrs. Breslin. She liked my dad a lot and he liked her. So, even after he moved out and married my mom, he would often come back to visit her. When I was about the age of those making their First Communion today, our family would visit Mrs. Breslin at least once a month. It was not fun. By this time, Mrs. Breslin was old and confined to a wheelchair. When I would come up to say hello, she would grab me by the cheek and shake my head. \u201cOh, you\u2019re so cute!\u201d she would say. Then she would give me a big kiss on my face and because Mrs. Breslin had whiskers, it tickled. Yuck! I couldn\u2019t get home quick enough.<\/p>\n

Because she was confined to the wheelchair, Mrs. Breslin was always asking me to do things. \u201cGeorge, go and get my purse out of the bedroom. Go into the kitchen and bring me a glass of water.\u201d Sometimes when she asked me to do things, I would pretend I didn\u2019t hear her and keep playing with my toys. My dad noticed this. And one day when we came home from a visit, he said, \u201cWe have to talk. I know that sometimes you pretend that you don\u2019t hear Mrs. Breslin when she asks you to do something. This has to stop. I want you to jump up and do what she wants, whenever she asks you.\u201d \u201cBut dad\u201d, I said, \u201cshe asks me to a lot of things.\u201d \u201cYes she does\u201d, he said. \u201cThat\u2019s because she can\u2019t do them herself and you can.\u201d \u201cI know,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019ll do it because you asked me.\u201d \u201cNo, not just because I ask you, because Jesus asks you. Don\u2019t you remember that we know that whatever we do for anyone, for someone like Mrs. Breslin, we do for Jesus.\u201d \u201cI remember\u201d, I said. \u201cSo I\u2019ll do it, for you and for Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood\u201d, my dad said. But then a strange smile came over his face. And he said, \u201cAlso, you should know, that if you make friends with Mrs. Breslin, she might introduce you to some of her friends.\u201d Then he went away. And I said to myself, \u201cI don\u2019t want to meet any of Mrs. Breslin\u2019s friends. I don\u2019t want to meet more old people in wheelchairs with whiskers.\u201d That\u2019s what I thought; but I was wrong. So I did what I promised my dad I would do. Whenever Mrs. Breslin asked me to do anything, I would jump up and do it right away.<\/p>\n

And after a while, she said to me, \u201cGeorge, I am really thankful that you have been so helpful to me. Would you like to meet my friend, Clarence?\u201d \u201cSure\u201d, I said, not too excited. \u201cGood\u201d, she said. And then she gave me two walnuts, whole walnuts, still in the shell. \u201cI don\u2019t like walnuts,\u201d I said. \u201cThese are not for you,\u201d said Mrs. Breslin, \u201cThese are for Clarence. Will you wheel me into the backyard?\u201d So I did, expecting to see some old man in a wheelchair on the lawn, waiting for his nuts. But no one was there. Mrs. Breslin said, \u201cNow sit down on this step and be very still. Give me those walnuts.\u201d So I did, and she took them and clicked them together three times. Click, click, click. Nothing happened. So she did it again. Click, click, click.<\/p>\n

Then I saw something coming down out of the tree in the backyard onto the lawn. It was a big, brown squirrel. And it ran up to Mrs. Breslin and me. It sat down about five feet in front of us. \u201cGeorge,\u201d said Mrs. Breslin, \u201cThis is Clarence. Clarence, this is George.\u201d Now I could tell that Clarence wasn\u2019t too excited about meeting me. He had his eyes on those walnuts. So Mrs. Breslin took out one of the walnuts and placed it in her hand. \u201cStay very still,\u201d she said. She held the walnut out on her palm. Clarence came very slowly, reached over, picked up the walnut, bit it open with his teeth, ate the inside, and then went back and sat down. He knew there was another walnut. \u201cGeorge, it\u2019s your turn now.\u201d So I took the walnut and held out my hand. \u201cBe very still,\u201d she said. I held it in my palm. Clarence came, took it out of my hand, cracked it open, and ate what was inside. Then he gave me a little nod and ran back up the tree. \u201cWell,\u201d said Mrs. Breslin, \u201cWhat do you think of that?\u201d I told her that I thought it was the best thing ever. Ever after that, I never complained about visiting Mrs. Breslin because she and Clarence and I became the best of friends.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s gospel, Jesus shows his disciples his hands and his feet. He does this to remind them that they need to be his hands and feet to others\u2014they need to do for others what others cannot do for themselves. Those making their First Communion today remind us that every time we share this meal, we commit ourselves to be Jesus\u2019s hands and feet to others. We are called to reach out in our families, among our friends, in our schools, and serve others in Jesus\u2019s name. When you do that, you should know that whatever you do for someone else, you do for Jesus. And\u2014if you\u2019re very lucky\u2014you might even get to feed a squirrel.<\/p>\n

Fishing with Uncle Mike<\/strong><\/h2>\n
May 5, 2019<\/h5>\n

John 21:1-19<\/h3>\n

When I was about the age of those of you who are making your First Communion today, our family would go on summer vacation. But I did not have much fun, because what we usually did was visit my Aunt Mary in Pennsylvania. All we did there was sit in her house while she and my Dad talked. There was nothing to do. It was BORING. But one year, my Dad said, \u201cThis is summer we\u2019re going on a fishing trip to Canada.\u201d \u201cTo Canada,\u201d I thought, \u201cI\u2019ve never been to Canada. That sounds like fun.\u201d\u00a0 And what made it more fun is that we were going with my Uncle Mike and his family. My Uncle Mike was my Dad\u2019s best friend, and we always had a great time when our families were together. Not only that, but when we got to Canada we were not going to fish off of some pier or from the shore. Uncle Mike had rented a cabin on a small lake in and there was a boat! \u00a0We would drive that boat to the middle of the lake and fish from there. I couldn\u2019t wait until vacation came.<\/p>\n

Now, when we got to Canada, I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the boat. I was expecting a big white boat with a cabin and lounge chairs in the back. What we got were two little rowboats. Each one could only seat two people. So, it was decided that I would go in the boat with my Uncle Mike and his son, Mikey, would go with my Dad. Then, at the end of the day we would see who caught the most fish.<\/p>\n

So Uncle Mike and I rowed out to the middle of the lake. When we got there, he handed me a fishing pole that he had brought with him. He said, \u201cGeorge, this is my lucky fishing pole. I always catch a fish with this pole. I am letting you use it today because this is your first time fishing. So, please take good care of it.\u201d \u201cI will, Uncle Mike. I\u2019ll be very careful with it.\u201d It was a beautiful fishing pole. It was blue and green. It had a big reel on it, and on the side of the reel there was a decal of Marilyn Monroe. (My Uncle Mike loved Marilyn Monroe.) So, very carefully, I took the fishing pole and lowered the hook into the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge,\u201d said Uncle Mike, \u201cwhat are you doing?\u201d \u201cI\u2019m fishing,\u201d I said. \u201cYou can\u2019t fish without bait!\u201d \u201cWell, I don\u2019t have any bait,\u201d I said. Then my Uncle Mike smiled and opened a large coffee can. He pulled out an earthworm at least eight inches long. \u201cThis is bait,\u201d he said, \u201cput it on your hook.\u201d So, I took the earthworm and moved it close to my hook. But no matter how I tried the worm would not go onto the hook. It just kept wiggling. Uncle Mike said, \u201cYou have to stick the worm onto the hook. You have to push the hook through the worm.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWill that hurt the worm?\u201d I said. \u201cWe\u2019ll never know,\u201d said Uncle Mike, and he grabbed my hook and put the worm on it.<\/p>\n

Now I was ready. I again lowered my hook into the water. \u201cNo, no,\u201d said Uncle Mike, \u201cthat won\u2019t do. You\u2019re too close to the boat. Watch me.\u201d So Uncle Mike took his pole, moved it way behind his shoulder, and then cast it forward. The hook sailed through the air. Kerplunk. It landed about 20 feet from the boat. \u201cSee that,\u201d said Uncle Mike, \u201cnow you try.\u201d So I took my fishing pole, put it back, and I cast it forward. Kerplunk. The hook landed about 5 feet from the boat. \u201cThat\u2019s not far enough,\u201d said Uncle Mike. \u201cTry again.\u201d\u00a0 So, I did it again. Kerplunk. The hook landed about 8 feet from the boat. \u201cGeorge,\u201d Uncle Mike said, \u201cI know you can do better. Now, try it again and give it all you\u2019ve got.\u201d So I took the fishing pole, stretched way back, and cast as hard as I could. There was no \u2018kerplunk.\u2019 But there was a scream. I turned around. Uncle Mike was holding the side of his face, and there was my hook. It had gone perfectly through his earlobe. (The worm was there also.) I wanted to catch fish. But what I caught was Uncle Mike!<\/p>\n

Uncle Mike was a big man, and he was in a lot of pain. He stood up in the boat trying to remove my hook from his ear. The boat began to rock from side to side. I was holding tightly onto the pole. But this only lodged the hook deeper into his ear. Trying to relieve the pressure, Uncle Mike shouted, \u201cGeorge, drop the pole!\u201d So, I dropped the pole. It went over the side of the boat and sank into the water. As it descended, it began to pull Uncle Mike over the side of the boat. He would have fallen in, if he had not grabbed his pocket knife and cut the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d said Uncle Mike, \u201cthat could have gone better. We better get back and take care of my ear. So, we rowed back in silence with the hook still in Uncle Mike\u2019s ear and blood coming down the side of his face.<\/p>\n

When we got out of the boat, I just ran. I wanted to be by myself. I didn\u2019t want to see anyone because I had made a huge mess of the whole day. I had ruined everything. After a few hours, Uncle Mike came to find me. He was wearing a big bandage on his ear. \u201cGeorge,\u201d he said, \u201cit\u2019s time for supper. Come along.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t want to go!\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry. I\u2019m so ashamed. I messed up our first day of fishing!\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s was a mistake,\u201d said Uncle Mike, \u201cIt happens.\u201d \u201cBut, I lost your pole\u2014your lucky pole with Marilyn Monroe on it!\u201d \u201cI can get another,\u201d said Uncle Mike. \u201cGeorge, you need to know that you are much more valuable to me than any fishing pole. Let\u2019s just put the past behind us. The good news is this: We are all safe. We have other poles. And we have a whole week left for fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the way uncle Mike was. I always knew that he loved me. This what the disciples find out in today\u2019s gospel. Even though they abandoned Jesus during his suffering and betrayed him, Jesus prepares a meal for them to let them know that they were forgiven and that he still loved them. This is what I want all of you who are making your first communion today to remember. As you come to this table for the first time, this meal tells you that Jesus loves you, and no matter what you do, he will not stop loving you. Ten, twenty, fifty years from now, you might lose your way. But this meal is always here to offer forgiveness and love. The same is true for all of us here today. We make mistakes. We sometimes mess things up. But God\u2019s love is more powerful than our sins. This meal tells us that we are always welcome to share in God\u2019s love. In this meal Jesus says to us, \u201cLet\u2019s put the past behind us. We have a lot more fishing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The homilies below were offered on the occasion of First Communion which is celebrated at the weekend parish liturgies on one of the Sundays of Easter. From 2002 to 2010 the children also celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation as part of the restored order of the initiation sacraments. I would like to offer a special … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5879,"featured_media":1938,"parent":152,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1926"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5428,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1926\/revisions\/5428"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}