Feast Day of Deacon Bill Beckfeld

Today is the feast day of my ordained classmate and friend, Bill Beckfeld. Bill had a tremendous passion and compassion for social justice. I remember that Bill wanted to work with the developmentally disabled community following ordination, but as time went on became more and more active with the LGBT community in the Twin Cities. Bill was a man of deep prayer and very committed to his bride, Mary, his children and his grandchildren. Now, if any are wondering whether I am promoting a cause for Bill’s canonization, well, I wouldn’t mind doing that actually. However, Bill was also incredibly human. He had his fair share of pride, times when he thought he had all the answers and learned the lesson of humility. I still believe the Lord Mayor of London is waiting for Bill to address the damaged caused by Bill’s attempt to apply American rules of the road as he drove in that fair city. I don’t think the car Bill rented will ever recover from the abuse it received (did they ever find the door that got knocked off the car?). Somehow, one's depth perception is not quite the same when you cross "the pond." The City of San Francisco is still waiting for Bill to pay the traffic fines he incurred while in that fair city as well. Bill, but especially Mary, would have my class and I in stitches as she related Bill’s proclivity for mayhem in their travels hither and yon. Bill and I once joked about who was going to have his faculties pulled by the Archbishop first. Bill had a wonderful story about how, as he was assisting at a confirmation with Bishop Welsh, accidentally struck Bishop Welsh in the chin with the thurifier (censer) as he was incensing the Bishop. Bill said the wide eyed expression of surprise in Bishop Welsh’s eyes when the censer struck his chin and the amount of sparks and smoke that flew out of the censer was priceless. Bill learned to shorten the chain on the censer when he incensed Bishops and people from that moment on. When Bill left this world and entered the fullness of God’s Reign on this day, our world got a little darker and sadder, however heaven got brighter. I hope St Peter gave Bill the Rules of the Road. Thank you Bill, my good friend, for your advice, your laughter, your stories, your incredible humanness. I love you, my brother, and you are never far from my thoughts and my heart.

Homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (2014)

HOMILY FOR THE 6^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A (2014)

How many of you have ever played the card game, 52 pickup? Can we have a show of hands? I learned this card game when I was 8 years old. My older brother, Bill, sat down with a deck of cards and asked me if I wanted to learn a new card game called 52 pickup. Eager to learn a new card game, I said, “yes.” I asked him how to play it. He said, “Like this.” He held the loose deck of cards in his hand and threw them up in the air, and cards, all 52 of them, scattered all over the room. He then said, “pick them up,” and left the room. I thought, well, that’s a lousy card game, as I began to begrudgingly pick them up.

52 pickup is obviously a card game with very few rules and only fun for one of the card players. Most of the games we play have rules and regulations. Rules and regulations are necessary to a game, because the rules bring an order to the play of the game and makes the game fairer for all the participants. Human society is no different. We need rules or laws to bring order to our lives. When there are no laws, people get hurt, peoples’ lives suffer and like the game 52 pickup , people’s lives become scattered and broken. When laws are broken, or there is a lack of oversight and enforcement of laws, or a lack of laws, disaster strikes society. The economic recession is a good example of how broken human systems can become and the suffering that results from the big financial institutions either break the law or ignore the law.

During the time of Moses, the Jewish people were a loose confederation of 12 different warrior tribes. In order to bring some order to this confederation of 12 tribes a set of  rules and regulations were laid down for them to follow. The law that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai, and the resulting rules and regulations that continue to be laid out in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, brought a very necessary spiritual and civil order to these 12 tribes so that they could live together in peace. As we read throughout the Old Testament, whenever the Jewish people broke or ignored these rules, disaster struck.  Of these over 500 rules and regulations, you and I know 10 of them. 

1.       I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me. 2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. 3. Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day. 4. Honor your father and your mother. 5. You shall not kill. 6. You shall not commit adultery. 7. You shall not steal. 8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

Like many adults here, I learned and memorized the 10 commandments as a kid. Some I understood quite clearly, some were a bit ambiguous, (just what is a “covet”, anyway?) and others, like adultery were never clearly explained to us by Sr. Angeline. These were the rules that brought order to my life as a kid and they continue to bring order to my life now as an adult. 
  

 In the gospel today, Jesus continues to stress the importance of following the law but adds that while following the Law is important, we are not to make the mistake of making the law more than what it is supposed to be. The Mosaic law becoming more and more important to the Jewish people, over time became more than just law. People began to worship the Law, and placed the law on the same level as God. The people had lost the understanding, the meaning behind following the law. Jesus tells them that the Mosaic law is not an end unto itself, but rather the gateway into a deeper relationship with God. 

Jesus was often accused by his religious authorities of not following the letter of the law. While Jesus followed Mosaic Law closely, there were times when he would break the law. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, which was strictly forbidden by the Law. He countered attacks by asking his accusers whether the Sabbath was made for God or whether the Sabbath was made for humankind. Jesus tells them that God does not need the Sabbath, but it is rather we who need to keep holy the Sabbath. Why? Because we need the Sabbath to grow into a deeper relationship with God and with those around us.

The Great Commandment, “Love God with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself” sums up all of Mosaic Law, especially the 10 commandments. We come to Mass to give reverence to the presence of God in Holy Scripture, the presence of God in Holy Communion, and as importantly, to give reverence to God in the people gathered here. We come to Mass in order to receive the grace we need to live fully our relationship with God, and to live in right relationship with all people. Loving God with all our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength, leads us into recognizing the presence of God in all people and living in a deeper relationship with the presence of God within them. In properly understanding the law, we begin to see that our relationship with God does not end with just following the law to the letter, but opens our eyes to see the presence of God all around us. 

  

The Jewish Rabbi and theologian, Martin Buber wrote, all of nature that is around us and especially our relationships with one another are windows upon which we look on God’s face. When we use the law to deepen and faithfully live out our relationship with God’s presence in creation, with one another, and within ourselves, our lives are not only more orderly and happy, in the end we find fulfillment. In the end we find God.

A Poem For Ruthie on Valentine's Day, 2014

Valentine’s Day 2014

Many years ago today,

Sergeant Pepper began to play for us

stories of fixing holes, girls leaving home,

friends helping friends, Lucy laced in acid

within and without, we were mesmerized

by melody, intricate harmonies,

and brassy orchestrations.

Together, our hearts no longer lonely,

we listened to the Fab Four Troubadours

one day at a time, a day in a life,

as it were, growing ever closer.

Your eyes twinkling, a smile

bathing across your face

as the clarinet began

over a vaudevillian arrangement,

Paul’s voice, singing questioning,

unending love.

The old album, timeless faces etched,

some etched in wax, look at us

from the cover, many of the faces,

even of the troubadours, lost in time.

The scratchy sounding record

from its many orbits on a turntable

is long retired by its 8 track, cassette,

CD and MP3 progeny.

Yet, Sir Paul’s question still floats

in a young voice, whimsically

on melodious air …

“Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?”

The unasked questions, “Will you still kiss me?

Hold me? Love me? mixed in between

the lines of the unanswered question he poses.

Our age, and our relationship creeps closer

to the age of the song.

“Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?”

Will you still hug me, and kiss me?
Hold me and love me?

The answer, as it was

when first we heard the song,

always and for evermore,

now and far beyond sixty-four.

William Butler Yeats, "The Ballad of Father Gilligan", for all of us in ministry

 All of us in ministry, from time to time, experience a world of weary. So many needs, so many demands on our time, especially those of us who are married and have families. For all of us who may struggle with this, here is a lovely poem from one of my favorite poets, William Butler Yeats.

 

The Ballad of Father Gilligan 

The old priest Peter Gilligan

Was weary night and day;

For half his flock were in their beds,

Or under green sods lay.

Once, while he nodded on a chair,

 At the moth-hour of eve,

Another poor man sent for him,

And he began to grieve.

 ‘I have no rest, nor joy, nor peace,

For people die and die’;

And after cried he, ‘God forgive!

My body spake, not I!’

 He knelt, and leaning on the chair

He prayed and fell asleep;

And the moth-hour went from the fields,

And stars began to peep.

They slowly into millions grew,

And leaves shook in the wind;

And God covered the world with shade,

And whispered to mankind.

Upon the time of sparrow-chirp

When the moths came once more,

The old priest Peter Gilligan

Stood upright on the floor.

‘Mavrone, mavrone! the man has died

While I slept on the chair’;

He roused his horse out of its sleep,

And rode with little care.

  He rode now as he never rode,

By rocky lane and fen;

The sick man’s wife opened the door:

‘Father! you come again!’

‘And is the poor man dead?’ he cried.

 ‘He died an hour ago.’

The old priest Peter Gilligan

In grief swayed to and fro.

 ‘When you were gone, he turned and died

As merry as a bird.’

The old priest Peter Gilligan

He knelt him at that word.

 ‘He Who hath made the night of stars

For souls who tire and bleed,

Sent one of His great angels down

To help me in my need.

‘He Who is wrapped in purple robes,

With planets in His care,

Had pity on the least of things

Asleep upon a chair.’

Yeats, William Butler (2008-06-30). COLLECTED POEMS OF W.B. YEATS (p. 48). Simon & Schuster, Inc.. Kindle Edition.