Anecdotes – 33rd Sunday (C)
Featured anecdotes / illustrations from Fr. Tony’s Homilies, a popular website, accompanied with related YouTube videos and Life Messages. Includes Jokes of the Week.
Featured anecdotes / illustrations from Fr. Tony’s Homilies, a popular website, accompanied with related YouTube videos and Life Messages. Includes Jokes of the Week.
THE DAY AFTER (5:53) – Devastating Effects Of A Nuclear Attack On Kansas City.
When the movie The Day After was shown on television in 1983, it caused quite a controversy. This was because it was focused on the ultimate what if: the event of a global nuclear war. What if the population of Kansas City is instantly reduced to vaporized silhouettes; what if the blistered wounded are doomed to die; what if some survivors are surrounded by radioactive fallout that settles like a fine white dust all over the earth? The Day After was intended primarily to provoke serious reflection and discussion about nuclear disarmament. But it also provokes questions about our Faith. Would a good God allow such a terrifying evil to happen? Why do we have to die at all? Is there really a resurrection?
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
Years ago, a film entitled It Happened Tomorrow featured an ambitious business executive who wished that he could buy tomorrow’s newspaper today so as to take financial advantage of his privileged glimpse into the future. Suddenly, an elderly gentleman appeared before him, holding the coveted newspaper. “I’ve decided to grant your wish,” he said. The remainder of the movie details what happened to the businessman as a result of his “future” knowledge.
Later a television series, called Early Edition, reprised the premise of the film and featured a young man who received “tomorrow’s paper” daily. As he read of accidents that were yet to happen and disasters that were yet to occur, he sensed a certain responsibility for preventing them by altering the circumstances and/or protecting the people involved.
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth and took it home to watch the moth come out. One day a small opening appeared. The man sat and watched the moth for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. The man thought it was stuck and decided to help. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon so that the moth could get out. Soon the moth emerged, but it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch, expecting that in time the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would simultaneously contract to its proper size. Neither happened. In fact, that little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly. The man in his haste didn’t understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening had a purpose. They force fluid from the body into the wings so that the moth can be ready for flight once it emerges from the cocoon.
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
Childhood’s End is a science fiction novel written by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. In this novel, he describes that humanity is visited by aliens who resemble Satan. The aliens, named in the novel as the Overlords, are seen in the role of “heralds” for a god-like force named the Overmind. A transformation occurs in the last human generation, which ultimately merges with this Overmind, resulting in the destruction of the earth and the solar system.
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, they immediately attempted to suppress the Catholic Church. Over the course of the next several years, they killed a third of the Polish clergy and outlawed Faith education. One Polish layman, Jan Tyranowski, decided to do something. He began a secret group, called the Living Rosary, to instruct people in their Faith. He faced numerous obstacles, including the certainty of execution if he were discovered. However, he persevered, and, over the course of time, 10 of the young men who attended these groups became priests. One of those priests is known to history as Saint John Paul II.
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
The tendency of popular culture today is to avoid thinking about the last things, the great truths like death and judgment. Popular culture tells us to enjoy ourselves while we can here on earth and not to worry about the bigger story. That is completely backwards. It’s like telling a football player to enjoy his game by sitting on the sidelines and working on a suntan. A football player enjoys the game by playing hard and doing his best to win. He knows that the fourth quarter is right around the corner, and the clock is winding down, and the last minute will soon run out. And when it does, when he makes his way into the locker room – sweaty, bruised, exhausted – he wants only two things: to know that he has won, and to know that he has pushed himself as hard as he could to do his part well.
1) Judgment Day, Second Coming, WHAT A PHONE BILL! After finishing his homily on the Judgment Day, the preacher started the prayer of mercy. “Oh Lord,” he began. “One of these days we are going to wake up, and it’s going to be DARK everywhere! Deliver us, O Lord.” “Lord, have mercy on us!” responded the congregation. The preacher continued: “Then we are going to pick up the telephone and call Washington, and they are going to say, ‘It’s DARK over here too!'” “Lord, have mercy on us!” responded the congregation.” Then we’re going to pick up the phone and call London, and they are going to say, ‘It’s DARK over here!’ “Lord, have mercy on us!” responded the congregation. “Again, we’re going to pick up the phone and call Moscow, and they are going to say, ‘It’s DARK over here too!” “Lord, have mercy on us!” responded the congregation.” “Then we’re going to pick up the phone…. At this juncture, the church treasurer, who had also been caught up in the fervor of the preacher’s prayer, cried out uncontrollably: “Lord, Lord! What a PHONE BILL!”
2) End time humor: Humorist Lewis Grizzard writes about a man in his hometown named Luther Gilroy. Luther claimed he was out plowing his field and saw a sign in the sky that said THE END IS NEAR. So, Luther let his mule and his cow out of their pens, gave all his chickens away, and climbed on top of his house to await the end. When it didn’t come, he pouted and refused to come down from the roof. Finally, his wife called the deputy sheriff, who came over and said, “Luther, you idiot, I saw that same sign. It didn’t say, ‘The end is near.’ It said, ‘Go drink a beer.’ Now come down off that roof before you fall off and break your neck.”
SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homily’s