Saturday, VII Easter
(Acts 28 and John 21)
I wonder how many of us feel more aware that this is Memorial Day weekend than that this is Pentecost weekend. It is easily understandable how a summer holiday weekend will so affect our lives in satisfying ways that we will give it first attention. Perhaps a few of us as well are looking forward to remembering our war dead in this time of hostility or of our beloved who have gone before us into the night.
But just for a few moments let us try to feel the excitement of the celebration of Pentecost. We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the group of disciples and upon us. The Spirit will unite us together. He sends us forth to renew the face of the earth – that is, to transform our neighborhoods from indifferent, maybe hostile, places to friendly and caring communities. He also breathes life into our dead so that they just don’t linger in our memories until we join them.
The Scripture readings today present two characters to help us celebrate Pentecost. If anyone has ever been moved by the Spirit, surely Paul of Tarsus has. In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles he is in captivity. Yet he continues to preach the Good News. We would do well not just to admire but to imitate his desire to tell others about Jesus Christ. The gospel focuses on the Beloved Disciple. We really do not really know his name. But he stands out among all the disciples for just one quality – his love for Jesus. Peter may be the caretaker of Jesus’ flock and Thomas his proclaimer as “Lord and God.” But no one loves him quite as much as the Beloved Disciple. This is something else that we should imitate as well as admire.
Homilette for Friday, May 25, 2007
Friday, VII Easter
(John 21)
Atul Gawande, a physician, wrote an article on nursing homes in the New York Times yesterday. He said that society can do much better than provide institutions that avoid residents’ bed sores and maintain their body weights. He praised recent efforts to give the aged some independence and assistance with mutual cooperation when they can no longer live in their own homes.
In the gospel Jesus tells Peter that when you become old, someone else dresses you and leads you where you would not go. He is indicating that Peter will die a martyr’s death. But we can interpret Jesus’ words to mean that other people determine how the elderly live. Too often standard procedures deny seniors in nursing homes the semblance of privacy and most personal preference beyond their choice of television channel. An alternative vision, as the doctor in the Times suggested, would be institutions with at least individual rooms and opportunities for meaningful interaction with other residents.
We should do what we can to change the atmosphere of nursing homes from a place where the elderly are dying to one where they are really living out their last years. We might begin this effort by regularly visiting someone we know in a nursing home.
(John 21)
Atul Gawande, a physician, wrote an article on nursing homes in the New York Times yesterday. He said that society can do much better than provide institutions that avoid residents’ bed sores and maintain their body weights. He praised recent efforts to give the aged some independence and assistance with mutual cooperation when they can no longer live in their own homes.
In the gospel Jesus tells Peter that when you become old, someone else dresses you and leads you where you would not go. He is indicating that Peter will die a martyr’s death. But we can interpret Jesus’ words to mean that other people determine how the elderly live. Too often standard procedures deny seniors in nursing homes the semblance of privacy and most personal preference beyond their choice of television channel. An alternative vision, as the doctor in the Times suggested, would be institutions with at least individual rooms and opportunities for meaningful interaction with other residents.
We should do what we can to change the atmosphere of nursing homes from a place where the elderly are dying to one where they are really living out their last years. We might begin this effort by regularly visiting someone we know in a nursing home.
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