Sunday Homily, May 13, 2007 – 6th Sunday of Easter – Mothers’ Day & First Communion

Hooray, The Team is back from vacation!

Readings:  

 Genesis 3, 9-15,   The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree.

 Psalm 130,   With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption

 2 Corinthians 4, 13-5, 1,  We have a building from God

 Mark 3, 20-35,   Who are my mother and my brothers? 

Tori says, "Welcome back, Everybody."   And we say to you, Tori, "Welcome home from your vacation.   It is more fun when you are here."

Homily:  When Jesus Christ ascended to heaven in glory, we were not left as orphans.  The Father, through his Son, bestowed upon us his very Spirit to enable us to be Christ in the world.  Each of us has a different spiritual gift, and a different story.  But each of us has been graced, to grace others, for the glory of God.

While CC lights the candles, Georgie reads the Blessing of The Summer Candles.
 

When John and Ro, and Judy and I ate lunch or dinner with others on our cruise, we came to the table with an expectation to listen to a feast of interesting stories.  And, we were not disappointed.  In reflection, I think that the four of us were gracious and good listeners, treating each story teller with compassion.

Some evenings, and most lunches, one or more of us sat at a table with a couple that we hadn’t met before.  One lunch I sat across from two ladies who shared with me their story on how, why, and they met.  A softer voice came from the African American woman.  Both had become flight attendents for the same airline and had traveled the skys together for a couple of decades through good times and bad, those years when inappropriate language had been directed toward her best friend.  Both married years later; but every year they would find a time, such as this cruise, to be with one another.   Grace at work for the glory of God.

Mike sharing his (pleasant) memories of the 12 day trip the four of  us (he & Judy, Rosemary & I) made in and around Bordeaux, France.

One evening we introduced ourselves to a man and woman traveling together who revealed that they had been good friends since grade school, but were not married. He had never married; her husband had passed a few years before.  Recently they had sought out one another and decided to take this cruise together. You couldn’t help but feel very happy for them.

There was a woman who we invited to join us for dinner three evenings in a row.   Her husband began the trip sick and he would not leave their room until he felt well.  We daily cheered her up and on the fourth day she sat with us with her smiling husband who thanked us for watching over her.

Welcome back, John, and congratulations on finally getting your arm operated upon after the bike accident.   Is that a tazer or a weapon sticking out with the two straws?   Rumor has it there is gin & tonic in there, like pain med.

One evening the four of us sat at a table with a young man and his mother.  She was probably the happiest woman in the cruise.  She had been asked by her son to spend a week with him on this cruise. She was so happy seeing and listening to him tell stories, some about her. Tears were often in her eyes as she smiled and quietly spoke to us.   I was struck with the question, ‘Why hadn’t I taken the opportunity to take my mother, just the two of us, on a trip?’

It has been tough doing the elevations without you kids to help me out. 

Readings: Genesis 9, 8-15; Psalm 25; 1 Peter 3, 18-22; Mark 1, 12-15

Genesis:  First book of the Bible, starts with creation, goes through Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah & the flood, the Tower of Babel, & ends with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob (Israel).

Author: Not Moses as was thought for centuries before people began to study the work.  At least 3 sources: 

• a Y (or J) source for the group that addressed God as Yahweh;

• an E for the group who addressed God as Elohim (Like two historians calling NYC The Big Apple or New York City, or Denver by its name or Mile High City);

• and a P group that focused on the priestly class, activities, & customs.

Time: compiled and put together from 1000 to 500 BCE.

Today's Selection: the flood has just receded and Noah is receiving a promise (called covenant) from Yahweh that never again will people be wiped out by a flood.  Guess what the sign of the promise is.

40 Days

I want to talk about Genesis.  Picture this.  It is night.  Moon & stars.  Sitting around a little campfire are 3 or 4 families, parents and a half dozen kids.  It is Maybe 1000 years before Christ.  It  is perfectly quiet except for the howl of a few animals out in the complete darkness.

A little girl says to her parents, "Where did that moon come from?  The stars?  Where did we come from?"  The parents tell her about the stories they heard from their elders.

They say: Before people were here the earth was all desolate.  It was dark & cold & waters were raging.  God came along one day and decided to put some order into this mess.  So he got up the next morning and divided up the daylight and the dark.

The next day he got up and created the dome of the sky.  The third day he created the earth and starts plants growing.  The day after that he sets up the sun, the moon, and the stars.  On the fifth day he puts together fish and birds and tell them to multiply.  The sixth day he really has to work hard: animals and especially man & woman.  By now he is tired, so he takes the seventh day off and enjoys his work.  This is the first account of creation in Genesis.

Now at another campfire many miles away a little boy is asking his family the same question.  He is told another story.  One day, say, Elohim is walking on a dirt path (like everyone did.  No pavement).  He leans down grabs a handful, wets it, and molds it into a new form, something with two legs, two arms, and a head.  A man. 

This man is given life and gets put into a marvelous garden with only one command.  Don't eat from that tree.  Time goes on and animals are created which the man names.  However, the man is lonely, so God takes a rib out of his side and molds it into another human  form.  This one, however, is female and becomes man's partner.  The man names her Eve, the mother of all.  This is the second creation story.

At this point in time all is copasetic.  One day, however, while Eve is strolling around the Garden of Eden, a snake begins to talk with her.  Eventually the snake convinces her to try the fruit of the tree.  Uh, oh.  Then she shares it with the Man, now called Adam.  Later, God comes strolling along in the evening and has to call out for Adam & Eve, who are hiding.  He knows what they have done.  They confess and he tells them they will be forever punished with difficult living.  So they get kicked out of Eden.

Adam & Eve have kids.  Cain first, Abel second.  One day both boys make an offering to God.  Unfortunately for some reason, Cain's offering is rejected by God.  He is hurt and gets mad because his brother is accepted.  He kills Abel.  Then he, too, gets punished by God. 

Time passes and apparently many more of Adam & Eve's kids turn out like Cain.  In fact, God becomes so mad, so disappointed in his new creature man, that he regrets what he has done and decides to wipe everyone off the face of the earth–except one guy, Noah.  At this time, Noah is 500 years old.  He builds a boat and it rains 40 days.  Which takes us up to today's reading, where the water has receded and God promises he will never kill everyone with a flood again, signing his name with a rainbow. 

I tell these mythological stories for four reasons.

First, we seldom hear or read these marvels.

Secondly, though it is not in the Genesis reading we have, there is a thread between this part of Genesis 9 and Mark and today: the 40 days.  Forty is a special number in the old times meaning a sufficient number.  It rained 40 days.  Jesus is in the desert 40 days.  And we are spending 40 days of Lent.

Thirdly, when Jesus came out of the desert he really throws himself into his message, which contains 4 points in Mark:

• The Time is now.

• The Kingdom is here.

• Repent.

• Believe the Good News

Fourthly, for centuries up until Vatican 2, the 40 days of Lent focused on fasting and abstinence to imitate Jesus and to do penance for our bad ways.  It was supposed to be a cleansing before Holy Week and Easter and a test of character. 

Fasting usually meant giving up meals.  Abstinence meant giving up a particular item, like Blue Bell or chocolate chip cookies.  I found one amusing note:Thomas Aquinas, one of the great doctors of the Catholic Church who lived ca. 1250, suggested that the faithful abstain from meat, eggs, and dairy.  Why?  Because they were aphrodisiacs and generated lust.  Food, alcohol, tobacco, and sex were all targets of the Church.

Today Mormons fast 1 day per month.  Muslims fast dawn to dusk the month of Ramadan which is August 22-September 20 this year.  This fast often includes liquids. 

Last week I suggested for a positive Lent we might practice sensitivity and service.  This week we might fast, since this has been the hot topic.  Maybe a fast from guilt and stress.

How is Lent going for you?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-03-01.mp3

Sources:  Wikipedia on Lent & Fasting; Dominican Website; Creighton U. Spiritual Seminar; St. Raymond Church, Dublin, CA.

Picture 1:  Mass with Reed (3 weeks new)

Picture 2:  Reed with his momma Nikki & granny Jackie

Picture 3: Stacie McKinley, Reed with Jackie & Nikki, Ryan (Nikki's brother & Jackie's son); Rosemary, & Margie Duggan

Picture 4:  Mass with Noah helping

Mike helping us with the persistent widow.

Readings: 

Exodus 17, 8-13  Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Psalm 121,  Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

2 Timothy 3, 14-4, 2,  Remain faithful to what you have learned.

Luke 18, 1-8, Because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her.  

Grace enters, sans bike.

Introduction to Exodus:

 Recall that the Book
of Genesis ends with the Israelites still in Egypt.  When the Book of Exodus begins, a new Pharaoh
ordered that all newly born Hebrew males were to be thrown into the Nile River
to die, for he feared the sheer number of the Israelites. The Egyptian men
would continue to take their young women and use them as slaves, the older
would die, and the Israelites would vanish from the face of the
earth—genocide.  

Cole ready to take off.

The inspired writers tell us that God had something else in
mind.  He used Moses, who had been hidden
at birth, to have Pharaoh change his mind and set the Israelites free.  The ensuing journey of the Israelites to
receive the Law, a covenant with God, and finally their own land is presented
in the rest of the first five books of the Bible.

That journey would take forty
years.   Our First Reading from the Book
of Exodus is from the first month of that journey.  

The reading from Second Timothy is also part
of today’s theme of having faith in God.

Georgie ready for service.

Homily

 Jesus presented a
parable to his disciples to teach them to pray always. Widows, along with the
orphans, are the poorest of the poor.  The
widow who had been ripped off in our gospel was from apparently a very small
village.   The judge is her worst
nightmare!  He does not respect God or
neighbor. He’s unwilling to even listen to her.

 However, we are told
that she doesn’t lose heart.   Why?  Because Jesus’ words have taught her that
women do have rights and power, and that ‘one with God is a majority.’  In faith she perseveres; and her prayer is
answered.  

Cupcakes of The Week to Bill and CC (on opposite edges of the age spectrum).

I visualize her using a walking stick as she comes to the
gate of the village where this judge arrogantly resides for business.  Each day she stands a little closer to him as
she speaks; and each day, to the judge, the size and appearance of her walking
stick becomes a little larger and more ominous. 
Finally, standing very close to him one day, he decides that he will
deliver her a just decision so that she will not strike him! 

Harper accepting Cathy's Cupcake of the Week.

Jesus states that his Father will bring justice to those who
put their faith in him.  But today’s
parable story ends with the question, ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory
will he find faith on earth. 

Offertory, Brent and Meredith.

The answer was given by the poor widow of the parable.  His faithful bride, who prays without ceasing,
who listens to, and obeys his words, will be waiting for him when he comes in
glory.

Harper happy with that Cupcake.

Today, as always, we have come together to be united in
prayer. We have come to pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks,
for that is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.’  

Robyn and Brian .

This Liturgy is the Prayer of the People of God, and it
joins us at this moment with people celebrating it all over this world as we
ask the Spirit to come upon us through the Gospel and the Bread about to be
blessed and broken. 

Mr. Leo, the photogenic.

We are Christ’s body
especially when we join our hands and raise them toward God in prayer with the
words that Christ taught us to bring about his kingdom by forgiving others,
like the unjust judge, as we have been forgiven.

Rosemary with her blessing.

Readings:

Isaiah  42, 1-4, 6-7  I have formed you to open the eyes of the blind.

Psalm 29,  The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Acts  10, 34-38,  God shows no partiality.

Matthew 3, 13-17, After Jesus was baptised, he came up from the water.

Bailey says, "Hi, Everybody, welcome."

Isaiah reminders—

 Author: This is Isaiah #2, the composer of chapters 40-55.  Isaiah is my favorite book and Isaiah 2 I love the most.  As John Cade pointed out a while back, Isaiah 2 is used by Handel in his work, The Messiah, another of my favorites.

 Date:  Ca. 555 before Christ.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are in the Babylonian Captivity.

Delaney, Bailey's big sister, says, "Yes, welcome to a fun community."

 Today’s Message: Hope and promise of a better time with emphasis on 1. being chosen, and 2. being chosen to bring light to the other nations, sight to the blind, and freedom to prisoners, very consoling and moving even today. 

Isaiah 2 is aiming his remarks at the Jewish tribe.  Later, after Jesus has come and died, the gospel writers applied the message to Jesus, saying God had chosen him  to do all the things the Prophet mentioned. Handel takes this approach.

Brady and Cameron ready to celebrate their 6th Birthday

Open the Eyes of the Blind?  Me?  I’m blind myself.

This morning, Folks, I would like to talk about the beautiful lines from Isaiah II, where he tells the people that they are chosen for good things.

In particular, they are chosen to give sight to the blind and freedom to prisoners.  This is what we are baptized to.

Reid and Trey say, "Guess whose 6th birthday is Thursday."

The message of this passage has motivated me as a Jesuit, as a priest, as a psychotherapist, and in my decision to go to East Africa.  I think to myself, ‘Maybe I can bring a little light and a little freedom to someone.’   Physically not so much as psychologically and spiritually. 

Trouble is, I constantly discover that I am the blind one or the one more in prison.  I can give you the most recent example. 

As the newest member of our community and a new jewel in our world, Charlotte gets a Cupcake of The Week along with Chloe, Andrew, and Claire.

Rosemary & I have returned to dancing, as some of you probably know. Every Monday night we go to the Senior Center where they specialize in dancing for old geezers.  All types of dancing, ballroom, country western, line, swing, and so on.  And can some of those geezers dance.

We have met some neat people and we have noticed some special couples.  One couple looks like they are out on their first date.  They always dance close and slowly.

Emma at the beauty parlor, "who is next?"

We saw another couple that had us curious.  The guy was a nice looking elderly guy, slender, and a good dancer.  He looked a little like Colonel Sanders, but without the beard.

With him and always with him was an attractive young girl, really young like in her late 20’s or 30’s, long black hair and slender figure.  While Rosemary & I will dance 2 or 3 dances and then sit one out, this couple never sits out and they always stay close together. 

Kiera says, "Where has this community been all my life?"

Guess what.  My curiosity and speculation level was really high with this couple.  I asked a lady we know one evening and she responds that, yes, the couple is a curiosity for everyone.  All are wondering.  This lady tells us that there is an age minimum to get in, like 50, and she is quite a bit younger than 50.  She should not be there and is only there because he brings her and dances every dance with her.

They seem quite congenial, dance well together, and pretty much keep to themselves.   Naturally, I am surmising the guy has a young, trophy bride.

Makela, Kiera's big sister, arriving full of charm.

Until I happen to ask another lady we know if she knows the couple.  And the story is.  The young girl has recently gotten divorced, is still hurting, and does not want to get married again or even date.  But likes to dance, and knows the guy from somewhere else.

He, on the other hand, is married, but his wife is not doing well health wise.  He loves to dance and they have all 3 agreed that the husband and the girl go dancing at Farmers’ Branch.  The wife totally supports it. 

How can I bring sight to the blind when I am so blind myself?  Talk about creating a whole fabric out of superficials.

To whom are you blind?   How do we get rid of this blindness.

The family, Georgie, Zoe, and Tori.

Readings: Isaiah 49, 3-6; Psalm 40, Here am I, Lord, I come to do your will; 1 Corinthians 1, 1-3; John 1, 29-34 (apologies for the wrong reading the past 2 blogs)

Isaiah reminders—

 Author: This is Isaiah #2, the composer of chapters 40-55.

 Date:  Ca. 575 before Christ.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are in the Babylonian Captivity.

 Today’s Message: Hope and promise of a better time with emphasis on 1. being a Servant of the Lord, and 2. being a Light to the Nations.

A Servant of the Lord, a Light to the Nations.  Me?

 One day about a week ago Rosemary & I took a taxi to the bus station in Cuernavaca, Mexico.  Taxis cost about $2.00 normally, so many folks use the little white Nissan sedans roaming the city streets.

 As I always do with anyone I can question about anything in Spanish, I ask the driver how the new year is going for him.  He says it is going sadly, triste.  So, naturally, I ask him what is causing his new year to go so sadly. 

He tells me that 3 months ago his son who lived in Cuernavaca was shot for his pickup truck.  The son, who was in his 20’s, left behind his wife and two young kids, one only 9 months old. 

 I’m reminded of the same situation that happened with an acquaintance of Beth.  Also, some years ago I did a funeral for a recent graduate of A&M who had stopped by a convenience store on his way home from a Mavericks’ game.  He, too, was killed for his Mustang.  I did the boy’s funeral.

 Then, Rosemary & I read the news about Tuscon.

 I’m thinking, “What is going on?”

At the same time, Rosemary & I had been reading the selection from Isaiah II about being a light to people.  I am wondering how?  How can I make for a more peaceful environment?  How can I be like, say, Martin Luther King, whose holiday we celebrate tomorrow?  I am feeling overwhelmed. 

 We’ve come up with the following idea.  Any who has better ideas, please let us know.  I cannot expect to make a difference for greater peace in Tuscon or Cuernavaca.  I can expect to shine some light on my environment, Dallas, Plano, even our neighborhood. 

 And then I was struck by the insight that we as a community are a light to the nations.  The community supports CCAC which helps people who can’t get medical help anywhere.  You people help LifeNet, which provides housing for homeless.  The community supports our own members who cannot make it right now.  The community even supports a mother & daughter who had polio in Cuernavaca. 

This is only a short list.  Habitat, serving Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless.  There are others.  You people are bringing peace & light to a lot of people

 In a sad way the taxi driver in Cuernavaca was a light to me just by his sharing.  He certainly has me thinking. 

Who has been a light to you?

For whom are you a light? 

Picture 1:   Rosemary's Blessing 

Picture 2:   Christine & her mom, Diane  

Picture 3:   Zoe in her dad's arms and mom, Michelle  

Picture 4:   Georgie & Kate selling Girl Scout cookies

Picture 5:   Buddy & Torri

 Readings:

Jeremiah 1, 4-5, 17-19,  Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.

Psalm 71,  I will sing of your salvation.

1 Corinthians 13, 4-13, Love is patient, love is kind.

Luke 4, 21-30, No prophet is accepted in his own native place.

For those who don’t have a decent Bible or a book of the readings, here are two links that I use,

The Bible at Your Fingertips (http://st-luke-church.org/bible-at-finger-tips.php) and USCCB, The New American Bible (http://www.usccb.org/).  

The difference?  The first is Protestant more or less, and the second is officially Catholic and has the 12 little books in between the O.T. & N.T., called Deuterocanonical or Apocrypha. 

Both are good translations.  

Buying a bible?  The Jerusalem Bible.

The Reads, Taylor, Teresa, and Doug.

 Jeremiah observations:

Who:  One of the Big 3 and my second favorite behind Isaiah, whom we will hear from next Sunday.  Why a favorite: because he shares his feelings with gusto. 

Time:  you can guess it, before and during the Babylonian Captivity.  Notice how much prophetic energy is concentrated around this one event?  Shows how big it was in Jewish history.  Keep 500 before Christ as the beacon date.  

What: you can guess this, too.  Criticism of behavior, warning of punishment from God, and eventually a better day.

What today: Jeremiah’s call by God to be his man, really Everyperson’s call to be God’s special.  This call theme carries through our next 2 readings, especially the next one, The Big One.

Georgie arriving with free hugs.

 1 Corinthians, 13 

Here it is: Paul’s famous treatise on what love is.   

I used to get 1 Corinthians 13 fatigue, I heard it so often at weddings.  Lately, however, I appreciate it more because I never cease to need to be reminded of what love involves.   

Karina with her little doggy, Pelusa

 The Greatest of these is love.

When I returned from East Africa in May of ’86, I decided to study Spanish because I wanted to stay in Texas.  Plus, I discovered I had a gift for languages in East Africa learning Swahili.  So I went to Cuernavaca, Mexico where I spent 2 five week periods. 

The second 5 week period I stayed in the small house of a lady named Maria Luisa.  She had a crippled daughter named Karina.  Maria Luisa had two Mexican girls renting a little space in her house.  One of these girls was one of our teachers at the language institute.  I stayed in a little hut in the back and I stayed there because I wanted to live with people who spoke only Spanish.

Karina at the grave of her mom, Maria Luisa, who died last year in a car accident after surviving 3 cases of cancer. The little fenced area contains also the parents of Maria Luisa. An old cemetary in Cuernavaca.

When I returned to the States after running the Mexico City Marathon in September of ‘86, I continued to keep in contact with mother & daughter. A year or so later they lost their little house and had to move into the garage which had been an attached part of the house. 

Year by year I used to visit them, usually around Christmas when Rosemary & I would take a break in Mexico.  I think what started me helping the two women was when Karina fell down at some point, broke the apparatus she wears on her withered left leg, and did not have the money to buy a new one. 

CC and Emma.

Each Christmas we would visit with hopefully enough money to help them get through the year.  With the help of numerous people at St. Mark’s and then our community from 2004, I gave them as much as $2400 a year,$200 per month.    This was especially true when Maria Luisa started coming down with what turned out to be 3 cases of cancer. 

Six year ago, as Karina reminded me, we brought an extra thousand to help them establish a small shop.  They did and we were able to back off the support.  However, there were times when Maria Luisa was hospitalized and dependent upon Karina.  These times the shop did not get opened and I would help them with maybe a thousand. 

Sisters, CC and Kayla arriving.

This past fall, after having survived 3 cases of cancer, Maria Luisa was killed in a car accident.  Karina was panicked.  In fact, she feared she was going to be kicked out of the garage.  I sent her $600 and she seemed to level out.

Though I did not expect to get to visit Mexico again this year because of the rising cost of air fares, Rosemary & I decided I needed to check on the woman.  And so I went last Monday, coming home Friday.  Three points came up.

Zoe arrives.

1.  It was excellent that I went.  The visit calmed and encouraged Karina.  I gave her $700. 
2. She said she is afraid she cannot run the shop alone, is looking at selling out, closing, and taking up cleaning houses in her neighborhood.  There are some middle class homes in the area.
3. I asked her what can I help her with so that she can get her peace back.  Reluctantly, she said $2000 will help her clear all the bills from her mother and her own apparatus recently broke.  Then she won’t fear getting kicked out of her garage, which she says that she owns. 

Brother and Sister, James and Kara arrive.

For my part, I told her I would consult about the money.  I also suggested that now was the time in her life at 45 when she could put to use her considerable mental capabilities.  I suggested, too, that she broaden her contacts, especially with a couple of influential women I personally know in Cuernavaca who would empathize with her.

Why do this?  Why not work to alleviate the suffering of the thousands running from Syria or even poverty in Mexico?  Mostly I have never known how.  But I do know I can help a person here or there whom I care for.  I can show my love for one.  I don’t know how to do it for thousands.

“The greatest of these is love,” says Paul.  You people in this community are good at this.  But I will ask anyway, ‘To whom are you showing your love?’

Dembneys, Chris, Kate, and Susan arriving.