March 23, 2025: Ta-Da!

Ta-Da!

Have you done something really dumb lately? You know, like asking a woman when her baby is due and she responds, “I’m not pregnant.” Well, I did something dumb a couple of weeks ago. For those of you who watch our online Masses, you may remember. It’s when Pope Francis first started to get sick, so I was ad-libbing a petition at the end of our petitions. I meant to say, “For the Pope’s serious medical situation,” but instead I said, “For the Pope’s serious mental situation.” Ooh, sorry, Francis. And we keep praying for him.

Anyway, what can you do when you really goof up? Cry? Run away? Laugh it off? Well, there’s an improv teacher and solo performer in Seattle, named Matt Smith. He teaches a technique that can be used as a response to an embarrassing mistake or blunder. He calls it "the Circus bow."

Matt explains that this is how circus clowns deal with a goof in their routines. Instead of shrinking and berating himself silently with “Oh, no, I really blew it!” the clown takes a magnificent bow with his hands extended and his arms high in the air, proclaiming "Ta-da!" as if he had just pulled off a master stunt. He then turns to face the other side of the audience and repeats the bow, "Ta-da!"

The virtue of the “Circus bow” is that it pulls the clown's attention away from himself and puts the focus out into the world again. Most of us focus inward when a blunder occurs: "How could I have done that?" The body shrinks and withdraws. Remember that any of those blunders are just your life situation; they are not your life. Your life is bigger than any blunder or goof-up. Now I know teens especially struggle with this. But ask any adult, we all make mistakes, blunders, goof-ups, and embarrassing moments. Instead of dwelling on it, move on and become better. In a sense, after a dumb thing... simply think in your mind, "Ta-da!"

Now, that doesn’t mean you should intentionally do dumb things like drop a heavy object on your foot just to get attention on TikTok. No, that’s just crazy. But we will all do dumb things accidentally; we don’t need to create them. If you haven’t done or said something dumb lately, don’t worry... you will.

But the secret is to grow and to learn from it.

In the gospel, there’s a parable of the fig tree that has been called the "Gospel of the second chance." You see, Jesus tries to teach us that God gives us many chances to improve. In the story, the owner sees a fig tree with no figs on it and says, "Cut it down." Whereas the gardener says, "Whoa, whoa. Let’s give it some time and see if it can improve."

We are always invited to move beyond our mistakes, our follies... and even our sins. Notice that we never hear if the fig tree bore fruit the next year. It’s open-ended. That’s because it’s your story. What are you going to do?

Will you keep making the same mistakes and committing the same sins? As Jesus said at the beginning of the gospel, “We are ALL sinners.” Can you admit the wrongs you have done (that is, not make excuses or cover things up), but instead say "Ta-da" and then seek to improve? We have a sacrament for that. It’s called reconciliation. We offer it every Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, and Friday nights during Lent. We’ll have a big Lenten reconciliation on the first Thursday of April, April 3, with many priests here.

The first reading reminds us that God does some incredible things (like appearing in a burning bush). God is trying to get to you. Like a fig tree that might bear good fruit... maybe you need some pruning and to cut away the things that do not lead to a healthy you.

You’ve made some mistakes, “Ta-da.” Now come, get forgiven, and move on.