July 19, 2009: 16th Sunday Ordinary (B)
(This weekend, Fr. Leo Tinkatumire, a missionary priest, will be making mission appeals at all the masses at Our Lady of Mercy. He will be preaching all the masses. This homily is for those of you who read my blog.)
Many of us have fallen for infomercials on TV. The other day I was watching a movie, and while flipping channels during commercial break, I saw two different channels hawking the "Sham-Wow!" How many of you purchased it? I was tempted, too. It was not the first time that I was tempted to buy something just because those folks on TV swore what that product done for them. One night I was watching TV, munching on one too many chips--I was a true couch potato. I was thinking to myself, "I'm gaining weight. I'm sluggish. I need to do something to lose weight." One channel over was an infomercial on exercise videos, P90X. I heard about it from a parishioner's son. In the infomercial, lots of fit looking people were doing some difficult exercises. And you know somewhere in your brain you say to yourself, "I need this video to look like that." So after $100 it arrived. I put one of the DVDs and worked out about 30 minutes. I felt good. Then, on day 2, the DVDs sat on top of the TV without being played. Then day 3, day 4, and now day 60 have past, and it has not been played. It's sort of like those exercise machines that become laundry hangers.
Now I'm saying to myself, "What possessed me to buy that?" You have to hand it to those folks who come up with those infomercials. They know how to get our attention, create a need that we haven't thought of before, and create an urgency to purchase NOW or we'll miss this opportunity. And they were able to convince us in less than 30 minutes that we need to pull out our plastic! The marketing folks know how to zero in on our desire to have something new, something that is better than what we have now.
So how often are we exposed to marketing folks' techniques on TV? A.C. Nielsen Co. says the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (that translates to 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube. In addition, the New York Times says the average American spends 8 hours in front of a screen--TV, computer, Blackberries and iPhones. And of that, an average American is exposed to 61 minutes of TV ads and promotions a day via TV or on-line. That's a lot of tugging and pulling of our desires in the direction of the marketing folks. And all that tugging and pulling have effects on us.
Our Responsorial Psalm today says, "The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want." So it invites us to ask, 'If I'm being led by some sort of a shepherd, is he leading me to rest or restlessness?' I would like to use the analogy here that our First Reading uses. Through the Prophet Jeremiah God says, " Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD...You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them..." With the tugging and pulling of our desires that we feel inside, we feel scattered and tested, especially in the areas of purity, moderation, and temperance; our brain says one thing, and our emotion pulls us to an opposite direction. What are we to do with all these conflicting desires inside?
Our Lord in the Gospel offers us a solution. "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." Our Lord is not saying the kind of a rest where we plop down on sofa and reach for the remote. We are already over stimulated by our computer screens, Blackberry screens, and our TVs. He is calling us to quiet prayer to listen to his voice for guidance. We need that quiet time to pull our scattered brain and heart together. Listen again to the Psalm.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
So how often are we exposed to marketing folks' techniques on TV? A.C. Nielsen Co. says the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (that translates to 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube. In addition, the New York Times says the average American spends 8 hours in front of a screen--TV, computer, Blackberries and iPhones. And of that, an average American is exposed to 61 minutes of TV ads and promotions a day via TV or on-line. That's a lot of tugging and pulling of our desires in the direction of the marketing folks. And all that tugging and pulling have effects on us.
Our Responsorial Psalm today says, "The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want." So it invites us to ask, 'If I'm being led by some sort of a shepherd, is he leading me to rest or restlessness?' I would like to use the analogy here that our First Reading uses. Through the Prophet Jeremiah God says, " Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD...You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them..." With the tugging and pulling of our desires that we feel inside, we feel scattered and tested, especially in the areas of purity, moderation, and temperance; our brain says one thing, and our emotion pulls us to an opposite direction. What are we to do with all these conflicting desires inside?
Our Lord in the Gospel offers us a solution. "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." Our Lord is not saying the kind of a rest where we plop down on sofa and reach for the remote. We are already over stimulated by our computer screens, Blackberry screens, and our TVs. He is calling us to quiet prayer to listen to his voice for guidance. We need that quiet time to pull our scattered brain and heart together. Listen again to the Psalm.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
