Love God. Live the Eucharist.

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November 10, 2019: Signing Yes or No / A glass of water

 

I want to teach you the signs for YES [Demonstrate] and for NO [Demonstrate].

I now have some questions for you and I want you to respond by using either of the signs.

 

Do you like snow?

Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving Day?

 

Did you sleep 8 hours or more last night?

Do you tell the truth if someone you love ask, “Does this dress make me look fat?”

 

I need a couple of volunteers up here to help me demonstrate.  [I give each a plastic glass filled with water and ask them to hold it out in front of them.]   I ask, is the glass of water heavy?  Probably not.   But what if I asked them to hold it for 5 minutes.  Is it heavy?

If I asked them to hold it for the rest of Mass, would it be heavy?  [Have volunteers sit down.]

 

Here’s something to think of . . . you don’t have to respond. 

Are you more of a NO person, or a YES person?  

For example, do you often say NO to things, to people?

 

Is NO the most common word your toddler hears from you?

Is NO the attitude you usually have toward  . . . enjoying the holidays with family?

                                                                        with winning that game?

 

Is your usual response to others . . . no, don’t bother me? 

 No, it will never work?   No, I am not going to help you again?

 

A NO attitude usually ends conversations. A NO attitude never wants anything to change.

A NO attitude usually complains about everyone and everything.  

A NO attitude is hard to live with, work with, hard to be with.   

 

A question for you . . . are you a no person?

 

On the other hand, a YES attitude is not the same as YES-MAN who blindly agrees with anything.  

A YES attitude faces situations as a challenge not a problem. 

A YES attitude is about dreaming and “what if.” 

A YES attitude is about commitment and accepting responsibility.

 

A YES attitude responds that this marriage is for life . . . in good times and if bad.

A YES attitude responds to the invitation at Baptism to raise the child in the faith, meaning bring them to Church.

A YES attitude is starting conversations instead of ending them.

A YES attitude tries to make the world a better place, rather than only finding faults and problems.

God is a God of YES.  When the Sadducees (who didn’t believe in resurrection) tried to trap Jesus with their goofy scenario of re-marrying a brother.  They are dealing with a very negative understanding of God and God’s love for us.  This view sees God as the end, rather than the beginning of life, that is, a God of judgment and anger rather than one of life and reconciliation.

 

My image of heaven is that the deceased enter into this huge ocean of peacefulness.  That any worries or pain disappear.  That any bad feelings we have toward them, don’t really matter.  The deceased are in the bliss of being with God (and God’s joy and goodness) that nothing matters.

 

When the kids were holding the glass, the glass represents our worries and stresses.  If we hang onto to them for a long time, they will seem heavy and impossible to carry.  If we think of them for only a little bit and TURN them over to God, God can hold our worries, our stresses.  It’s like God saying, I give you a glimpse of what heaven will be like  . . . trust me, don’t hang onto NO . . . I will be there, no matter what.  God is a God of yes.  

 

 

[Sing]

 

God said Yes, Yes to the Sun.  It was good. Creation had begun

Yes I understand!  Yes is my command. Shout together the great Amen!

Yes, I am the Lord!  Yes, forevermore!  I am coming again!

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