Awareness-Gratitude-Conversion

Ten were cleansed, where there not?

Where are the other nine?

In the men's group we are reading this book called

“Tattoos on the Heart” by Father Gregory Boyle. 

Father Greg is a Jesuit and the book is about

his ministry in Los Angeles to gang members.

It was his first book and he has written several books since.

It talks about his ministry to the gang members.

He calls them homies.

He talks about their struggle to realize how God loves them.

Their struggle to realize how anyone could love them,

but that God would see them as beloved.

Over and over again, he gives illustration after illustration.

In one particular chapter, he comes up with this great story,

I think it is apt for us today.

Two of these homies go with him to a diner called Coco's.

You can imagine the scene as these two gang members

who are tattooed from head to toe and look menacing.

As they walk into the restaurant

all the regular clientele are spellbound.

Literally, they stop with forks and knives midair

as they watch them walk in.

And the two homies say to Father G.,

"G, we don't belong here. We don't belong here.

This isn't our people. Everyone's staring at us."

Fr. G. said,  "No, they're not,"

knowing well that they were staring at them.

And he proceeds to try to address their unease.

They had never been to a restaurant in their life before.

So, they did not know what to do.

But the waitress came over and

treats them as if they were her own sons.

She calls them “sweetie”, calls them “honey pie”,

puts her arms around them, says,

"What do you want, sweetie pie?"

And after it was all said and done, 

it was only after they left that the two homies said to Father G,

"You know, she treated us real well,

like no one's ever done that.

I'm feeling all weird inside, that... feeling all warm.

What is that feeling?"

And he identifies,

"That is what it feels like to be loved."

He says, "Yeah, that is foreign.

I don't know what that feels like before."

Then they realize that they are beloved.

That they are lovable, that despite all their brokenness,

all the woundedness in life, that they are beloved.

They are lovable.

It was so simple.

Something so simple as treating them

like a human being can be transformative in their life.

But here is what is interesting.

It took time for it to sink in,

they had to become aware first before they become thankful.

It was in that awareness that they were treated real well,

that they were grateful and then came the conversion.

Then came the moment of, “Oh, okay.”

Aware, grateful, and then transformed.

That movement is the very movement that happens in our lives

because many of us are healed or graced by God.

And many times over, we do not realize it.

We are not aware of it.

Like the nine lepers, right?

Ten were healed:

and nine of them did not come to the same realization.

They did not come to a conversion like that tenth one.

And what was the distinction?

He became aware of what had happened

and then become grateful and went back to God to offer gratitude.

Then that gratitude turned the wheel of conversion.

That is the journey that each of us are called to go on.

To look at our own lives, to become aware of our own lives,

and to see where God's grace is already at work in our own life.

And then to be grateful for that grace in our lives.

That is the reason we come to the Eucharist every week,

to offer that gratitude for the graces that are received.

But the challenge is that God's grace

just does not happen on Sundays.

It happens every day of our week.

And we have to become aware of the grace

that God is flowing, is showering us

with His grace every single day.

If we could get used to that

and do some sort of prayer and awareness each day.

Then we have a collection of seven graces,

so that when we come to Mass on Sunday,

we have seven days of gratitude to offer at the table.

See, that is the journey we are called to go on

each and every day and each and every week.

But it is hard to remember to do that

because our lives just get busy

with the ordinary stuff of life and we get distracted.

We just go about our stuff and

it is very hard to remember to take pause and

become aware of the grace that God is already in our life.

Here is the part that is super important.

God is operating in our lives at all times, in all seasons.

It is us that become distracted and we do not see God's grace.

So, we have to find some little routines in our daily life

that will help us break that open.

So let me give you an example.

I try to do this every day.

I try to give God thanks for my five senses every day.

I do it as a reminder that I am grateful for God's grace in my life.

And it is not what I see, hear, or smell, taste or touch

that is important, but that I can.

That I can smell, hear, see, taste and touch.  

So let me give you an example.

I try to remind myself of the sense of smell

when I am out walking,

I am very deliberate about stopping,

literally, to smell the roses.

And we have tons in our neighborhood.

But also if I am out hiking up in the park,

I will stop and make a point of stopping and just inhale.

"Wow, beautiful smell."

I have a picture I could show you of my back garden,

just bounding with flowers right now.

Roses are fragrant, so beautiful.

But then I am sensitive to touch.

When I go up to Stevens Creek Park,

there is a big tree at the entrance at the trailhead.

And it is holding up another tree that has fallen down on it.

It is like the guardian.

I consider her the guardian of the trail.

I call her Annie.

And so every time I walk in the park,

I put my hand on the tree and I say to Annie,

"Annie, thank you for the gift of your sanctuary.

I ask for permission to come into your sanctuary."

And every time I leave, I touch that same spot on the tree

and say goodbye till next time, reminding the touch,

and I feel the moss and the roughness of the bark.

You know, now I have made a kind of a spot on it.

My hand is there all the time.

It has gotten a little smooth.

I do the same thing with my sense of hearing and sense of sight.

I take in what I see to look up at the beautiful blue skies

or the clouds that are coming in,

or looking up at the trees,

or looking out at all the children

and I hear all their sounds and

I celebrate the gift of all that noise.

The beautiful sound of children making noise.

My friends, you see, we have to find a way

to tune in to God's grace each day.

Here is the thing to be very mindful of.

Like, my senses are always at work,

whether I am having a good day or a bad day.

So I can be grateful to God for those  

no matter what is going on.

Whether the parish is going to hell in a handbasket

or whether everything's going smoothly,

whether I am having a personally bad day

or whether I am having a great day,

my senses are still in action.

To be mindful of that gift.

Because you see, once we are mindful of it

and we become aware of it,

then we can be grateful,

and in that gratitude turns the wheel of conversion

that we become aware even more of how

God is operating in my life, in our life.

And now this is the most important part.

Then I am called to help others

to discover that same grace in their life.

You see, that is why we come to church.

We come to church to not only offer thanks to God,

but also to encourage one another to

become that presence towards life.

That is why we come to the table.

We become what we receive.

We become that grace for others.

Today, may we find a way to make a daily practice

of thanking God for the graces in our life. 

At least for the five senses,

and to make that our daily offering of prayer.

And then we can come together each weekend

as we come to mass this Sunday

and gather those seven days of graces, experiences.

We will have a bountiful of graces to offer thanks to God.

Then allow the wheel of conversion to happen again in our life.

So today, let us be not one of the nine,

but let us be that 10th one who came back to say,

"Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord."

Ten were cleansed, where there not?

Where are the other nine?