Read the signs

Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

       My daughter and I used to have a name for a particular kind of driver. He was called a shmookulluh. He'd be leaned back in the drivers seat a bit and to the right, almost appearing to be in the middle of the car. The dead give away was the left arm completely draped over the steering wheel with the music blaring. I suppose it was a look, a pose or a style. Another look that got attention is the Guido look. That's a guy who wears tons of gold bling which usually includes a cross, a car like Pontiac TransAm or hot Camaro, silken shirt open to reveal a hairy mat and a fine coiffed head of hair. I had a friend in high school who made the sign of the cross as he passed every church. In New York, you could appear to have a serious tic. He was always making the sign of the cross.  I also knew a Deacon who delivered elaborate and exaggerated personal acts of piety on the altar. Honestly, he could have been accused of taking the focus away from where it really belongs. What was equally bad (I think) is that his personal acts of piety began to become inculcated in the congregation. There will be a generation of Catholics from this one parish that will forever more repeat this one Deacons' personal preferences and actions of worship.

        These are all external signs but we pay attention to them and make judgements based on them. We judge the person as stupid, religious or holier than thou.

         My daughter and I never made sense of the arm draped driver with the music blaring but I did have an occasion to meet a Guido that was very educational. I was on a jury and so I spent a great deal of time in the jury room. One of my fellow jurors looked like a typical Guido and he was constantly looking across the street to check out his Trans Am to be sure it was OK. Really, a gold TransAm. Funny thing though, I got a chance to really talk to this kid. He was hard working. He was smart. He volunteered each weekend in the worst part of the city handing out food to the poor and homeless from the back of a truck. The judgement on me (from myself) was swift and complete. I had made a great error in judgement. I paid way too much attention to the external signs. This lesson stays with me to this very day, I was so embarrassed with myself.

         The Deacon as it turns out has been a thorn in the parish's side. He professes and whales but also judges, curses and tells people that disagree with him that "you are dead to me". He is a very poor example for anyone, no less a Deacon. The externals would have pegged him as a very holy man. He turned out to be rude, unforgiving and unloving. I have written about him before. He is clearly a very unhappy man. I pray for him as much as I pray for myself.

          While it's hard to resist making judgements based on externals, I think we must resist if we are faithful people.  I can think about the time Jesus told the fishermen to cast their nets one more time. They caught the mother lode. Had the fisherman judged that this guy was a mere carpenter where would they be? Where would we be?
Jesus was so counter cultural in almost every way,we need to be the same. Rock the boat, seek out the goodness of everyone inside and let us not judge on externals.

‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.