Cranky Pants* Just a fair warning, I have my cranky pants on. And yes, it was this morning's homily that did it to me. OK, why complain? What right do I have to criticize a sermon by a trained teacher of the faith? I dunno, I'm just a pew potato, but I do believe we should get our money's worth! (?) After all, Father's had all week to prepare for this 10 minute teaching. And we are starving out here for a word that can stick, a word that can heal and help, a word that can be the spell with which we step out into battle against our own dragons and the dragons of the culture that will no doubt appear to try and defeat us first thing Monday morning. The readings started off strong, really strong. The Letter from James was cutting to the heart. "Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries." The gospel spoke of plucking out your eye if it offends you, cutting off your hand if it leads you to sin. Yikes! This is serious work, this transformation into Christ. No compromising, I thought to myself. And then the gospel ended with an allusion to H___! You know, "where the worm dies not and the fire is unquenchable." I thought to myself, "Self, this is it. There's no denying it. He's gonna preach on the stuff we never hear preached about! The readings have aligned themselves, it's time for an eternal equinox! He's going to talk about H-E-double hockey sticks!" Father ascends the pulpit... "The story is told in the memoirs of Carol Burnett..." Huh? Carol Burnett!? What the!? Pop..... fhizzzz .... we gotta diet caffeine free homily. Yes, it was nice (for my thoughts on nice, click here). But I thought this was a perfect time to tell us all, so comfortable in our comforts, so secure in our security and our techno-easy lives, that we need to wake up! Be vigilant, ponder the Four Last Things (anybody know what they are anymore?), carefully weigh the choices we make, consider the reality of sin, eternal justice, and stuff. Nope. Not this week. We did enter beautifully into the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We have a wonderful choir. The words of the Consecration cut through our hearts and the sacrificial death of Christ was renewed, the veil peeled back again so that we living today could enter into the timeless moment when the God become Man died for us. The moment when we were, we are, we will be rescued from death. The moment that gave life to all moments, the pound of the hammer that sent shockwaves back into the Garden of Eden and forwards to the very last breath of the very last person on earth. Behold the power of our Redeemer. And the graces from Communion are always beyond imagination. Who can fathom what He does in there, in the hollow of our chest, so rich and so deep is His Love. OK.... it's over now. I did learn something about Carol Burnett today, so that was cool. And the last words of the priest today, after such cosmic love was shown to us? Yup, you guessed it... "Have a nice day." The understatement of the millenium. __________________________________________________________ * cranky pants - a state of agitation brought on by a luke-warm expression of faith in me or around me.