Sermon in a Bottle

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord - B.  "They all left him and fled."

It has taken years for me to sort out and appreciate the subtle differences among the three synoptic gospels--Matthew, Mark and Luke.  This year we hear Mark's passion.  It is marked by an austerity of compassion and a brutal awareness of human sin.  The male disciples run away; only the unnamed woman with expensive spikenard and the women of Jerusalem remain faithful.  Both revolutionaries, crucified to Jesus' right and left, verbally abuse him.  Jesus hangs on the cross for six hours (not the usual three).  There is no resurrection story.  Yet the power of Mark's gospel is clear.  In spite of all that happened to Jesus, the pagan centurion proclaimed, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"  Can we say the same thing?

Bonus Sermon in a Bottle

Fifth Sunday of Lent - A.  "And Jesus wept."

This is a very familiar gospel passage for me, as I use a portion of it for almost every funeral Mass I celebrate (and I have celebrated a LOT of funerals in my time).  The downside of such familiarity is that I can gloss over the harsh reality and vivid pain of death.  Why are people crying, I sometimes think to myself during the funeral Mass.  But death is real, it hurts, and we should never overlook its power to hurt.  Only by acknowledging the death of our body (and worse, the death of our loved ones) can we never take for granted the unique power of the resurrection of Christ. 

Sermon in a Bottle

Fifth Sunday of Lent - B.  "He offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears."

In a peculiar way, I think it is easier for Catholics in our day to believe that Jesus is divine rather than human.  Today's Scriptures help us to see the humanity of our Savior.  The Letter to the Hebrews explicitly says that Jesus "learned obedience from what he suffered."  Just like us, he had to grow into knowledge.  Just like us, his prayers were filled with tears.  And from the gospel, just like us, he was troubled and wanted to avoid doing God's painful will.  But unlike us, divinity and humanity come together in Christ for faithfulness.  "Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternity."

Bonus Sermon in a Bottle

Fourth Sunday of Lent - A.  "Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"

How often we make sins of presumption.  We presume to know who is good, who is bad, what is the best way forward.  John the Evangelist's brilliant story of the man born blind challenges presumptions at every turn:  who is a sinner (not the blind man); who is strong (not his fearful parents); who believes (the now sighted young man); and who is truly blind (those who reject Jesus the Christ).  We need to pray daily to be "a people of the light," seeing as the Lord teaches.

Sermon in a Bottle

Fourth Sunday of Lent - B.  "The LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation."

The issue of the role of religion in politics is much on people's minds in the USA.  Many think this is a new concern.  Far from it.  Today's first reading shows the impact that civil leaders (in this case, Middle Eastern kings) have on people of faith.  One king destroys the great temple in Jerusalem and hauls the Jews into exile for three generations.  Another king ends the exile and grants the Jews freedom to return home and practice their faith.  The Church of Christ has endured all kinds of persecution, yet remains ever-faithful.  Salvation, on earth and in heaven, is "a gift of God, so no one may boast."

The Old Barn

We all experience time going faster and faster, the older we get.  Scientists who have studied this phenomenon say that it has to do with the ratio of a year to our life.  For a two year old, one year is 50% of her life.  For a five year old, 20%.  For a twelve year old, 8.3%.  And for a fifty year old person, one year is a mere 2%.  So we perceive time going faster, even though it moves at the same pace.

All that time under our belt allows us to have lots of experiences, too.  As a kid, Dad took my brothers and I to many hockey games in the Civic Arena.  We watched the Pittsburgh Hornets -- yes, the American Hockey League franchise that pre-dated the creation of the Penguins in 1967.  The Civic Arena was less than ten years old.  And Dad talked to us about seeing this same team in the "old" Duquesne Gardens, which was located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, near to St. Paul Cathedral.  When the Penguins came, ticket prices went up, and it was too expensive for Dad to take five of us to a game.  But I have many memories of hockey at the Civic Arena, getting pucks when they flew up into the stands, seeing the tough goalies without masks, even bringing my skates and going out onto the ice after the games for a half hour of free skating.  Yes, can you imagine the current owners just allowing ordinary citizens onto their precious ice at the Consol Energy Center?!  But we did it.  Of course, the Hornets rarely sold out.  6,000 or 7,000 fans were a good crowd. 

I distinctly remember the last Hornet game, as they played for the Calder Cup in a Game Seven of the playoffs.  We were in a mob that rushed up to buy tickets.  I was next to Dad and my brothers, and I sort of got trampled.  My glasses were pushed off my face, and broke at my feet.  But we got in, and saw the Hornets win their last Calder Cup.  The next day I got some tape and made my eyeglasses good as new! 

Over the years I did make it to the Civic Arena (later Mellon Arena) to see Duquesne Dukes mens basketball games, the Dapper Dan High School All-Star game (when that was the only event in the country bringing the best high school players together), hockey games (several with Dad when he was in Vincentian Home), rock concerts (including two of Bruce Springsteen), and in their final season, another Penguin game. 

Now the old barn is being torn down.  These photos were taken on March 11, and I gather that by now the entire roof is down.  The Penguins organization, which has the rights to develop the land under the old arena, recently let a contract to begin the planning process for the mix of housing, shops, and street grid. 

I am just another Pittsburgher who remembers "things that aren't there anymore."

Mario Lemieux Statue

Have you been over to Consol Energy Center, Uptown, to see the new statue of Mario Lemieux?  It's worth taking a look.

The setting is a little odd, at first glance.  When we drove up Center Avenue, and pulled over just behind Epiphany Church, my first thought was, Why are we looking at these two bums?  Then the scene becomes clearer.  Mario has swept by these two defensemen, whose backs are to you, the viewer.  Mario is cruising up ice with the puck on his stick in a breakaway toward the goalie.  It's from an actual event in a game against the New York Islanders on December 20, 1988.  Some have called the statue "Le Magnifique," one of Mario's many nicknames.  But others have dubbed it "Resiliance," to represent the many health problems Mario had to overcome throughout his great career. 

Initial reviews in the sports pages upon its unveiling earlier this month were mostly negative.  But I have to say (just another opinion) that it is a worthy and suitable remembrance for a great sports figure in Pittsburgh, and a great Pittsburgher.  As many remarked at the statue's dedication, Mario Lemieux came to Pittsburgh as a callow, and not very pleasant, 18 year old.  Over the years, he made Pittsburgh his home, raised his four children here, and continues to live in Sewickley.  He saved our hockey franchise once as a player, and once as an owner.