by Fr. Edward Foley, Capuchin<\/em><\/p>\n Before rap was a widely accepted musical form While you will be relieved to know Certain animals, for example, have gotten a bad rap: Various dog species have been banned in parts of the U.S. As someone who lives with a Great Dane-Bulldog mix Certain jobs have also gotten a bad rap. And then there are the celebrities we love to hate: There is no doubt that animals, people, and even vacation spots In that vein, I would contend that Martha in today\u2019s gospel At the same time, I think Martha\u2019s bad rap Ok, maybe she\u2019s a little OCD, A favorite science author, primatologist and neurobiologist I\u2019ve read a number of his works, But it is his first major work that these readings bring to mind A basic point that he makes early in the book When chased by a lion, zebras are under stress Most human beings, however, Stress is not bad in the short term, Thus, it is not just Martha who is getting a bad rap Go back to that celebrated first reading from Genesis: The passage doesn\u2019t say that he saunters towards his guests No, the text stresses that Sounds like he has everybody stressed out. Now that might sound like a contradiction in terms, Wendy Suzuki, a professor of neural science and psychology She wisely notes that anxiety is an important information source So we are anxious about relationships It is anxiety for the unproductive or the selfish, The supposed story is told of a woman Despite advice of family and friends, When asked by friends how she could do such a thing, Anxiety about accumulating wealth or power Notice Jesus does not instruct Martha in the gospel That may be why this gospel is paired with that Genesis reading: The Academy award winning film, “the unexpected Lunch Date” She makes her way to a cafeteria, He eventually gets up When it\u2019s time to catch her train, she leaves Devastated she turns to leave After the Our Father at each Mass We do not pray that we be delivered from the natural emotions We do not pray that we be delivered from the natural emotions that punctuate our living fully, but that we might employ them to spur us into gospel living and develop holy anxiety for the good things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":60358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3118,3294],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-celebrandi-new-ws","category-ars-praedicandi"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nnow with its own category in the Grammy awards,
\nthe term concerned one\u2019s reputation:
\na rap sheet was a criminal record
\nand getting a bad rap was acquiring
\na sometimes-undeserved bad name.<\/p>\n
\nthat I am not going to deliver this homily as a musical rap,
\nI do want to consider what happens
\nwhen someone gets an undeserved bad name.<\/p>\n
\nmaybe you can blame Lion King
\nfor making hyenas seem devious, dumb, almost criminal
\neven though they are highly intelligent survivors.<\/p>\n
\nand other countries \u2013 or at least by insurance companies –
\nsuch as Doberman Pinschers,
\nPitt Bulls,
\nAmerican Bulldogs and Great Danes
\napparently because they scare folk
\nand are known to knock kids off bikes.<\/p>\n
\nI contend it\u2019s not the dog but the human trainer.
\nOur 105-pounder is a great watchdog
\nand when you come into the house
\nthe only thing you are in danger of
\nis being licked to death.
\nHis breeds have a bad rap.<\/p>\n
\nDid you know that according to some sources<\/a>
\nthe most hated profession is that of a dentist?
\nSchool principals are not far behind – really?<\/p>\n
\nthe Tiger Woods and Pete Rose of sports fame and infamy,
\nthe Ellen Degeneres-es and Will Smiths.
\nAnd I won\u2019t even go into elected officials.<\/p>\n
\nget a bad rap
\nbecause of some real or perceived truth
\nthat makes it difficult for reaffirmation, reconciliation
\nand reincorporation into our heads and hearts.<\/p>\n
\nhas acquired a bad rap because of an irrefutable truth:
\nshe got chastised by Jesus himself.
\nNot sure that even Johnny Depp could recover
\nfrom that one.<\/p>\n
\nis somewhat undeserved.
\nShe was such a conscientious host,
\ncaring about the well-being of her sacred guest
\nand for exhibiting that most human of emotions: anxiety.<\/p>\n
\na touch controlling,
\nand even a little insensitive.
\nBut she also is a bit of a model for me,
\nmaybe even for us,
\nas she copes with her anxieties in the presence of God.<\/p>\n
\nRobert Sapolsky, whose 2017 800-page tome Behave
\nwas a run-away New York Times Bestseller
\nand whose smarts is only matched by his humor
\nrendering him a YouTube star
\nand much sought-after speaker.<\/p>\n
\nthe most entertaining of which is his A Primate\u2019s Memoir<\/a> \u2013 ostensibly a recollection of early days
\nas a grad student doing fieldwork in Kenya
\nbut ultimately a reflection on our humanity
\nrevealed in jungles, politics, and passion.<\/p>\n
\naptly titled, Why Zebras don\u2019t Get Ulcers<\/a>
\nwhich you can access through his free lecture on the topic<\/a>
\ndelivered a few years ago at our very own U of I.<\/p>\n
\nis that stress is not inherently bad
\nbut that we are the only species
\nwhich generates internal stress
\nand our psychological stressors contribute significantly
\nto our physical and mental demise.<\/p>\n
\nso their bodies secrete adrenaline along with 11 other hormones
\nand in 4 minutes they are either free or dead
\nwhich means the stress ends.<\/p>\n
\nare not literally chased by lions or tigers or bears.
\nBut we are chased by
\nfinancial and relational and personal
\nlions and tigers and bears
\nso we turn on our own stress responses.
\nBut unlike the Zebras, they don\u2019t last for 4 minutes.
\nSometimes they last for 4 decades
\nor as long as our bodies can handle them.<\/p>\n
\nbut is highly problematic in the long term
\nas anyone on blood pressure medicine can attest.<\/p>\n
\nin today\u2019s gospel,
\nbut maybe even the very human experience of anxiety
\nand I don\u2019t think the gospel or liturgical message today
\nIs \u201cdon\u2019t feel stress\u201d!<\/p>\n
\na revered tale of extraordinary hospitality
\nin which Abraham runs around
\nlike a metaphorical chicken with its head cut off
\ncreating a hospitable experience
\nfor his angelic visitors.<\/p>\n
\nor leisurely texted Sarah about calling for carry out
\nor inquired among his servants
\nif there was any extra beef in the food locker.<\/p>\n
\nhe runs to greet his guests,
\nhastens to Sarah to make bread,
\nruns to the herd to pick out a steer,
\nand has a servant quickly prepare it.<\/p>\n
\nBut isn\u2019t that the cost of hospitality
\nor even what we might call \u201cgood anxiety\u201d?<\/p>\n
\nbut psychologists actually believe there is such a thing
\nas \u201cgood anxiety\u201d<\/p>\n
\nat New York University
\nargues that instead of trying to obliterate
\nany feelings of anxiety
\nwith the accompanying tightness in the chest,
\nsweaty palms
\nand knot in the stomach,
\nwe can actually make friends with our anxiety<\/a>
\nand reap all the gifts it can offer.<\/a><\/p>\n
\nunderscoring what we appreciate
\nand value in our lives.
\nShe says, \u201cthat is where the good anxiety lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nbecause they are important to us.
\nWe are anxious about safety
\nand about violence in our neighborhoods and on our streets
\nbecause the well-being of our community is important to us.<\/p>\n
\nthe misguided or self-indulgent urges
\nthat contribute to our spiritual hypertension & ill-health.<\/p>\n
\nwhose greedy husband was at the end of his life.
\nHis dying wish was that he be buried with all of his money
\ntelling her point blank
\nthat he loved his money more than anything.<\/p>\n
\nshe acceded to his instructions when he died,
\nplacing a large envelope in his casket before it was closed.<\/p>\n
\nshe said that she felt obliged to carry out his last wish
\nso she put all of his money in her bank account
\nand placed a check for the total amount
\nwith him in the casket.<\/p>\n
\nis a pursuit valued by many
\nwho might protest
\nthat it does bring them satisfaction \u2013 even happiness.
\nThe gospel question, however,
\nis whether it brings others joy.<\/p>\n
\nnot to be anxious,
\nonly not to be anxious and worried about many things
\nrather than the one important thing:
\nthe abiding presence of God in our midst.<\/p>\n
\nif we are to be anxious about important things
\nabout the welfare of others,
\nabout the safety and well-being of our communities,
\nthen we are called to be anxious about hospitality,
\nespecially to the unexpected guest,
\nthe disguised angel
\nand the unrecognizable Christ.<\/p>\n
\nis about a woman, in Grand Central Station
\nwho bumps into a man, spills all of her packages,
\nmisses her train and loses her wallet.<\/p>\n
\nscrapes some coins together from the bottom of her purse
\nand buys a salad, gets to a booth
\ndrops all her packages there
\nand goes back to get a fork.
\nShe comes back to find an apparently homeless man
\nsitting there eating her salad.
\nWhen she protests, he keeps on eating
\ntired and upset she attacks the salad with her fork
\nthe stranger, calm as Mary in the gospel,
\ncontinues to eat with her off the same plate.<\/p>\n
\nreappears with two cups of coffee
\nand gives her a cup with sugar.<\/p>\n
\nbut then realizes she has left all her packages;
\nshe runs back to the cafeteria
\nbut the man is gone, the shopping bags are gone
\nonly the empty salad plate and coffees cups remain.<\/p>\n
\nbut then notices a few booths down
\nher untouched original salad and all her packages.
\nIt dawns on her: the man did not steal her salad
\nShe stole his.<\/p>\n
\nwe pray to be safe from all distress,
\nthough I think the previous translation, \u201cundue anxiety\u201d
\nis more instructive \u2026<\/p>\n
\nthat punctuate our living fully,
\nbut that we might employ them
\nto spur us into gospel living
\nand develop holy anxiety for the good things
\nthat render glory to God and joy to others
\nthrough Christ our Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"