Hear and Answer Your Call
One of the interesting sights in Jerusalem, or in New York, are these Jewish guys wearing black suits with white shirts buttoned all the way up, no ties, wearing black hats with ringlets of hair hanging down. They are what Jews call “the religious” or you may have heard of them as ultra-Orthodox or Hassidic Jews.
It surprised me to learn that they are not one group. There are differences in their hair, the shape of their hats, the width of the brim and so on that signify which school or tradition or rabbi they follow, which may be tied to a place or country – say Lithuania or Ukraine – from which their group came. Why are there so many flavors of ultra-conservative Jews?
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The Fiery, Dividing Tongues of God's Love
Children’s Homily: Life is a team sport.
Fr. Tom Seitz, Jr. 8/14/22
When I was your age, I competed on my hometown swim team. Our final and largest swim meet included five or six at an Olympic-sized pool in a nearby city. So many swimmers came hoping to win a medal or a ribbon that they had to hold preliminary races to find out who the six fastest swimmers were in each event for the final, decisive race. Doing that took all morning.
The final races started after lunch, beginning with the youngest swimmers - eight and under and ten and under - and moving on to the middle and high school swimmers, so I didn’t have to wait very long to compete. The first time I won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, I was, of course, very eager to receive my award right away, but my older teammates told me that’s not how it worked.
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It's Just Paper
It is my hope that our lessons this morning give each of us cause to reflect on the question of where we find our security, and in that happiness. If it is found in personal items, our investments or material things, then my question is, what are you willing to trade for it? We are making a trade whether we realize it or not. Sometimes its family, those whom we hold dearest, many times its relationships. Where do we find security?
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