Mont St. Michel France A Shining City on a Mountaintop (Mt 5:14)
February 6, 2011, 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 58:7-10 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 Matthew 5:13-16
First reading from Isaiah: “Your light shall break forth.”
The Word of God
Thanks be to God
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Glory to you, Lord
“You are a shining city on a mountaintop.”
“You are the light of the world. You are a shining city on a mountaintop, glowing in the night for all to see. No one lights a lamp to put it under a bowl; instead he puts it on a lamp-stand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see your goodness and give praise to your Father in heaven.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
----------------
Introduction
A much-liked imagery
It’s a much-liked image.. Puritan John Winthrop, standing on the tiny deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast, wrote a sermon entitled A Model of Christian Charity. In it he admonished the future Massachusetts Bay colonists to be a “shining city upon a hill, watched by the whole world.” President Reagan also used the image in a speech: “Why this country is a shining city built upon a hill!” In response to Reagan, former Governor of New York, Italian Mario Cuomo, took up the image in his famous keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, July 16, 1984. “Mr. President,” he said, “you ought to know that this nation is more a Tale of Two Cities than it is a shining city upon a hill.” Cuomo wove the image throughout his speech.[1] In 2008 running mate Sarah Palin announced that she shares a worldview with John McCain “that says that America is a shining city upon a hill, as President Regan so beautifully said.”
Pope John and Fr. Judge -- shining cities upon a mountaintop
Franciscan Father Mychal Judge was a compassionate champion of the forlorn and forgotten of New York City and a beloved chaplain of the N.Y. City Fire Department,. He died in the holocaust of 9/11, as he ministered the last rites to a dying firefighter. He too was a shining city on a mountaintop. Multitudes of churched and unchurched people saw Fr. Judge’s goodness, and gave glory to the Father in heaven for it. When a memorial service was held for Fr. Judge, an endless flow of priests, nuns, lawyers, cops, firefighters, homeless people, rock-and-rollers, recovering alcoholics, local politicians and middle aged couples from the suburbs streamed into Good Shepherd Chapel on Ninth Ave., an Anglican church, to memorialize a Roman Catholic.
A Jewish CEO --- a shining city upon a mountaintop
A quarterback -- a shining city upon a mountaintop
An e-mail I received reads:
That e-mail was sent as a gentle rebuttal to a homily I preached, which took pot shots at sport heroes “as overrated, overpaid and very spoiled brats.” Among them, I included the infamous quarterback Michael Vick, who has more money than he needs, and yet ran a lucrative but utterly cruel dog-fighting operation. The e-mail was written by one who saw quarterback Kurt as a shining city upon a mountaintop (especially in the world of sports), and he titled his e-mail: “Sometimes sport heroes are heroes.”When they met, Kurtis Warner was a university student and Brenda was a divorced
single mom living on food stamps. In his autobiography Keep Your Head Up Kurt describes his and Brenda's first encounter, when a teammate at the University of Northern Iowa talked him into going to a country-music club in Cedar Falls, Iowa. There was an instant connection, but Brenda didn't know whether it would last. Not only was she a single mom, but one of her two children - her son Zachary - had significant medical problems. He was blinded and brain-injured when accidentally dropped to the floor by her first husband. Kurt was not turned aside by the children or Zachary's condition, and he and Brenda forged a relationship that resulted in their marrying four years later.
After trying out with the Green Bay Packers, Kurt received a pink-slip and returned to Cedar Falls in 1994. There he worked nights stocking shelves for $5.50 an hour. To keep a long story short, he eventually became quarterback for the St. Louis Rams, and rose to fame by throwing an amazing 41 touchdowns passes in one season for the Rams, bringing them to a 13-3 record and to memorable victory in Super Bowl XXXIV.
He is known for his commitment to his family, his clean-kid lifestyle, and his Christian faith. He and Brenda now live in St. Louis with their four children Zachary, Kade, Jesse, and Jada Jo. Kurt is the founder of First Things First -- a foundation dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities to encourage everyone that all things are possible when people seek to put First Things First.
Conclusion
A motley tribe
John, Mychal, Aaron, Kurtis are indeed a motley tribe. But at the end of the day, they’re all shining cities on a mountaintop, and we, seeing their goodness, give glory to the Father in heaven.
[1] In the same speech Cuomo also remarked, “We would rather have laws written by the patron of this great city, the man called the `world's most sincere Democrat,’ St. Francis of Assisi, than laws written by Darwin.”
