Homily for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 19, 2012

August 19, 2012

By Father J. Daniel Atkins, Holy Family Catholic Church, New Albany, Indiana

“Where are the ducks going, Daddy?”

“South.”

“Where’s south, Daddy?”

“Far, very far from here.”

“How do the ducks know how to find it?”

“They just know, son.”

“Why don’t they stop here?”

“They know this isn’t the south.”

“Do they know this is Milwaukee?”

“Well, no, they don’t know that.”

“Are the ducks lost?”

“No.” (Long pause……………..)

“Daddy, if the birds aren’t lost but don’t know they’re in Milwaukee, does that mean that we are lost because we do know this is Milwaukee.

That conversation comes from childhood memories of James Carse in his book, Breakfast at the Victory–The Mysticism of Ordinary Experience. Can you remember having similar questions when you were a kid? Questions like, “How far is up?” Where do the stars go during the daytime.” “If you start digging will you come up on the other side of the world?” We were full of questions once upon a time. And then time and people’s lack of patience made us stuff those questions down in a deep corner of our imagination. The world didn’t have time for wonder, it was busy planning. And we, like Peter Pan’s Wendy, decided it was better to grow up. We find our own childhood questions mildly annoying when they come from our children.

Yet, Carse says, “If as adults we are annoyed by questions like “are the ducks lost?” it is not because these questions are unanswerable but because the answers raise even larger questions about the certainties that come with being adults. We know where we are but are we really so sure we’re not lost?”

For the past several weeks we’ve been part of a continuing conversation between Jesus and people who are certain about who they are and about who Jesus is. “We are the children of Abraham. We are the Chosen People.” “You are the son of the carpenter, Joseph and his wife, Mary of Nazareth.” Those were their adult certainties. Yet those facts pose problems. Alone, the facts do not account for other realities. The miraculous feeding with a few loaves and fishes. The compelling truths that draw them toward this Jesus. In James Carse’s words, the religious gatekeepers who encountered Jesus came away muttering, “We know where we are, but are we really so sure we’re not lost?”

If we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that the questions we ask can be as important as the answers we cling to. If we are honest we must admit that many times our answers alone leave us lost. Jesus is the deep Wisdom of God. Like Earth’s wisdom planted deep within the breasts of geese flying south, Jesus is the truth of God’s love at work within in us, drawing us toward eternity with God. This Wisdom has set a table. God’s Wisdom says to us “If you feel sometimes that you don’t have a clue come eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.”

“Daddy, where are people going?”

“To eternity.”

“Where’s that?”

“Far and not so very far from here.”

“How do people know when they find it?

“They just know. Maybe eternity finds them.”

“Why don’t people just stop here?”

“Because they know it isn’t eternity.”

“Are people lost?”

“Not as long as they know this isn’t eternity.”