Readings:

Zechariah  12, 10-11,  I will pour out a spirit of grace and petition.

Psalm 63,  My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Galatians 3, 26-29,  You are all one in Christ.

Luke 9, 18-24, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself.

Georgie arriving ready.

 Zecheria observations : 

Who:  
one of the 12 minor prophets.  Why?  Small work.  Only 14 little chapters.  Vs the Big 3, who have chapters numbering into the 60’s.  Zecharia is really the author of this work.

Time:  
post Babylonian Captivity, therefore, after 555 before Christ.  How do we know?  Reference is made to Darius, the king of the Persians.

Content:  
part 1 involves visions about the restoration of Jerusalem.  Part 2, our part, talks about future prosperity.  Maybe a slightly forgetable book.  I have not one line highlighted in my bible.

Sources: Good News Bible, Wikipedia

Buddy is also ready, with his mom, Michelle.

Deny Myself and Take up a Cross Daily

Ever since I can remember hearing this item I have felt discomfort and
rejection.   I think there was some of this in my original decision to enter the Jesuits to be a priest in 1958.

Our Celeste.

Certainly in those early years of Jesuit training, we practiced this.  We lived in silence most of the time, worked hard on the beautiful Jesuit farm at Grand Coteau, and we never went back to our original homes.   A really regimented monastic life, up at 5:00, lights out at 10:00, every day, month after month, year after year.

Miguel, who helps us tremendously every Sunday.

 Times have certainly changed and I have obviously changed.  Three comments about the idea of taking up a cross daily.

First, it is a metaphor, a metaphor for self discipline.

Dick Taylor, our local Habitat director, giving us a status report. Imagine, 78 houses built.

Secondly, the self discipline involves obvious things, let's say, three:

          Healthy eating, that is, watch out for salt, sugar, and fat or butter, the major seducer ingredients of fast food places, like McDonald’s.

This was stage 3 our our house, after the foundation and the studs.

          Exercise, that is, keep moving.  2 a days are coming for high
school football players.  You want to see self discipline?  27 days from now I will join 15 thousand other wakos to ride across Iowa in a week, about 500 miles.  I’m exercising, getting in shape. 

          Next, take breaks, days off, vacation periods.  A day off a week
or 3 once a month, as I do.   Contemplate and reflect during the
breaks.  What?  My blessings & gifts & joys.  Number one, number two, and on.

During stage 3 we wrapped the house.

Thirdly, the goal?  Follow God’s invitation to be fully alive.

Where are you being invited by God to become more fully alive?

Friday morning the house is ready for siding, windows and doors already installed.

Readings:  Ecclesiastes 1, 2; 2, 21-23; Psalm 90, If Today You hear his Voice, Harden not your Hearts; Colossians, 3, 1-11; Luke 12, 13-21

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Intro to Readings

Our first reading is from the Book of Ecclesiastes, which makes up some of the Wisdom literature.   The book is concerned with the purpose and value of human life. While admitting the existence of a divine plan, it considers such a plan to be hidden from man, who seeks happiness without ever finding it here on earth. 

The authorship has been attributed to Solomon, but that was just to get the book some credence.  It was written long after Solomon, around 250-150 BCE.  One could easily conclude that the book is rather pessimistic, as in its opening which we read today, “vanity of vanities, all is vanity”, and it concludes in chapter 12 with the following:  “The last word, when all is heard: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all; because God will bring to judgment every work, with all its hidden qualities, whether good or bad.” 

This book is also the source of those well known lines from chapter 4:  “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.”

Our second reading is the last for some time from Paul’s Letter to the Colossians.

The Gospel continues with Jesus’ journey up to Jerusalem.  The opening verse, which is omitted from the start of today’s reading, is worth noting:  “Meanwhile, so many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot.”  Luke is introducing the sense that things are starting to get serious.  And the reality is that the topic today is a serious one.

Readings:

Wisdom 11, 22-12, 2,   Before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balance.

 Psalm 145,  I will praise your name forever, my king and my God.

2 Thessalonians 1, 11-2, 2,  We always pray for you.

 Luke 19, 1-10,   Zacchaeus the tax collector in the tree.

Sez You Know Who, "Hi, Everybody, Thanks for coming to my party this morning."  
 

Wisdom (of Solomon) observations:

Author: Not Solomon, but a compilation by numerous people.

Date:  around 200 years before Christ.

Olivia, too, says, "Thanks for coming to my party."  The Old Geezer is really jealous of your beautiful hair, Olivia.  

Subject: Wise statements like

          "Righteous people are protected by God and will never suffer torment." 3, 1

          "Is it good to have riches in this life?  Nothing can make you richer than wisdom."  8, 5

Today:  Nice reading, especially for All Saints.  Note the beautiful line, “You love all things that are.” Line 24

Thanks, Harper, for such a beautiful welcome!
 

Zacchaeus, the tax collector

Couple of questions.  

For us today, listening to this delightful story, what does Jesus represent?

What does Zacchaeus represent?

I would propose that Jesus represents the person fully alive. 

Who is this Candle Lighter of The Week??

Zachaeus represents the person who wants to be fully alive and who is willing to do anything to get there, even to looking like a clown in the eyes of his neighbors. 

Zachaeus represents Everyman, or every person, all of us. 

This room, our community is full of Zachaeus persons.   John is a Zachaeus person.  Carol, Tom, Frank, Dee, all Zachaeus persons, all trying to live fully.

Welcome, Mary, to your lovely Granddaughter, Monique, and her boyfriend, Zach.

Last night Rosemary & I had the privilege and honor to celebrate a Zachaeus event.  John and Michelle Simari’s son, Scott  and Scott’s beautiful fiance’ publicly pronounced their vows to live and love together all the days of their lives.  They are fully alive as they are and they are reaching out to be even more fully alive. 

In a note that Scott and Deanna sent to us to thank us, Scott said something that really touched me. 

The Beginning, Ron escorting his daughter, Deana, down the aisle to a New Life.

When Scott was attending St. Marks with his family while I was there, he used to dream that someday he would have a fiance’ and get married.  He dreamed, moreover, that the old geezer would do the wedding. 

Last night on the fairway just below the 18th green at the Las Colinas Country Club, Scott’s dream came true.

Perfect Couple, Perfect Evening, Perfect Setting, Las Colinas Country Club, 18th Fairway leading 18th Green.

I have to  share one more Zachaeus story that came in late, like at the wedding last night.

After many years of not seeing her, last evening I met Dana, a person I had known for years during my time at St. Marks.   Dana introduced Rosemary & me to Norm, her husband of a few years.

Dana had been for years a flight attendant for Delta.  She worked for years the N.Y. to Rome flight.

Deana Howard vows to live forever with her love, Scott Simari. 

One night she met this guy while she was working first class.  At the end of the flight, he says, "Will you marry me?"  "No," she says of course.  

This guy was Norm and he was taking his mother back to the old country.  He says to Dana, "Meet us at the Piazza Navona tomorrow night."

The Sand Symbol of Unity.
 

Norm says he had been married 40 years before being widowed, and he never intended to marry again.  He is pretty pessimistic, but his mother says, "She will be there."  She was there, her first date since her divorce, as Dana says.  

Zachaeus was a guy doing everything he could to be fully alive. 

How are you like Zachaeus?

Welcome into your New Life, Deana and Scott.  You two are tremendous people.  

Readings: 2 Maccabees 7, 1-14; Psalm 17, Lord, when Your Glory appears, My Joy will be full; 2 Thessalonians 2, 16-3, 5; Luke 20, 27-38.

Intro to Readings

 Our first reading somehow got past the censors.  It is from the Second Book of Maccabees.  This is the only Sunday in the entire three-year cycle of readings that we have anything from this book.  It is about the martyrdom of a family of seven brothers and their mother.  I suggest the only reason this reading was selected is because the number seven also appears in the gospel story.  If you want to learn more about this period in Jewish history, Wikipedia has more than enough information to satisfy most. 

Paul is writing to the Thessalonians in our second reading. 

 The Gospel reading from Luke has Jesus finally in Jerusalem.  Remember that a major part of Luke’s gospel has Jesus on the great “Journey to Jerusalem”.  Today Jesus is in the temple trying to answer one of those imponderable questions.  “Who gets the bride in heaven?”  The folk who ask the question, the Sadducees are only heard from in Luke in this passage.  They were a group of ultra conservative Jews who only accepted what was written in the Torah and refused all of the oral tradition.  They actually disappear following the destruction of the temple. 

I am keeping these comments brief because I want instead to talk about the sacraments in the homily.

Homily

 I would like to begin by reading from Chapter 3 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy from the Second Vatican council.

“The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the body of Christ, and, finally, to give worship to God; because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it; that is why they are called 'sacraments of faith.'

They do indeed impart grace, but, in addition, the very act of celebrating them most effectively disposes the faithful to receive this grace in a fruitful manner, to worship God duly, and to practice charity.

It is, therefore, of the highest importance that the faithful should easily understand the sacramental signs, and should frequent with great eagerness those sacraments which were instituted to nourish the Christian life.”

Many of us last studied the sacraments in CCD class and perhaps a review will be helpful.  There are seven sacraments.  As the council reminds us, the sacraments are a source of grace.  The easiest way for me to understand what that really means is to say that the sacraments help deepen my relationship with God thru a community action. 

If we go back to the very beginning of the Old Testament and the Book of Genesis, in the story of the creation of the world we have this concept of God speaking and then something happening.  God said, Let there be light, and there was light.   I find a similar pattern in each of the sacraments.  We have a liturgy of the Word, followed by an action of some sort, whether it is pouring of water, or anointing with oil or an exchange of promises.  The sacrament of Penance when celebrated as a communal service also fits into this. 

So we can say that each of the sacraments has Word and action.  I also like to divide the sacraments into two main groups.  One group is about joining, namely Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, and the other group is about special circumstances or situations, namely, Marriage, Ordination, Penance and Holy Orders. 

One of the challenges we have today is to be able to understand the symbols used.  Symbols are a funny thing, because in themselves they can have one meaning, but when an object is used as a symbol it points to something else, and unless you are part of the group using that object symbolically you can too easily fail to understand what is intended in the symbol. 

But the most important aspect of sacrament is that it is a community action.  We seem to have drifted from the original concept of God’s People, to that of individual relationship with God.  But the whole history of the Old Testament was that of a people, a community in relationship with God.  And the New Testament continued that notion.  The early church was a community of believers.  I think we need to begin with that reality when discussing the sacraments too.  They are community actions, not individual actions.  In fact none of the sacraments can be celebrated, and notice I use the word “celebrated” in isolation or on ones own. 

In future homilies I would like to delve into each one of the sacraments in detail, but let's not forget, while we talk of the seven sacraments, we acknowledge that almost any action/activity which brings us closer to God deserves the title sacrament.

Picture 1:     Mass beginning

Picture 2:    Offertory with Grace & Marsha

Picture 3:    Carol & Marilyn

Picture 4:    Jan (The photo taker) & Curtis & Charlie

Chloe says, "Happy Easter, Everybody."

Readings:

Acts 10, 34, 37-43,   Peter proceeded to speak.

Psalm 118,  This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.

1 Corinthians  5, 6-8,  A little yeast leavens all the dough.

John  20, 11-18,  Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene.

Jude also says, "Happy Easter, Everybody, and welcome in."

Seeing the Lord

I would like to talk this morning about seeing the Lord.  I would, also, like to suggest we see the Lord constantly and seldom realize it.  I have three short stories to illustrate the idea.

The first event happened here about two, maybe three weeks ago.  We were in the middle of our Sunday celebration.  I am pretty sure we were singing, so it could have been at the very beginning or during the responsorial psalm. 

Not to be outdone by those big kids, Charlotte says, "Happy Easter Everybody; where is that Easter Rabbit?

During the singing Leo was playing at the feet of his parents as he often does.  At a point, he gets up and starts walking slowly in front of the table as he often does.  Suddenly, however, he vanishes from sight.  I don’t think I was paying much attention to him. 

Then I sense he is just at my feet.  He had decided to slip under the table cloth hanging down in front of the table which we use as an altar.  He climbed in under the table.  And there he was right at my feet.

Christopher says, "Happy Easter from Amarillo."

Poor Shonda, as soon as she could finish singing and get over here, she comes over, pulls him out from under the table, and carries him off.  Leo did not cry or squeal or anything.  He looked content.

This was a see the Lord moment for me.  Why?  Two reasons.        

First, Leo was not afraid to wander around up front with everyone looking on.  He feels accepted by you people, the community.  Occasionally, Emma does it, walking by sweetly smiling at everyone.  Georgie, you used to do a bit of this in your day.  This is amazing and I see the Lord in the kids and in you folks when you accept the kids.

The Roberts.

Secondly, Leo is not afraid of The Old Geezer.   Parents have told me since the days of St. Marks, “My kids think you are God.”  I am sure many of you can see the resemblance. 

I think when I was a little kid I saw the priest as some God figure.  Trouble was, they were all stern and scary.  I would never have done what Leo did, nor anything close to it.  I grew up with fear, ultimately, fear that I was going to hell because I was such a bad kid.

Emma, who is always ready to welcome everybody, says, "When do we begin that Easter egg hunt?"

So if Leo and the kids think I am something like God and they are not afraid of me, I am overjoyed.  This is one of my goals in our community.  No fear spirituality.

The second event took place last night in Granbury.  We did the wedding of Ron and Barb Senter’s second daughter, Rebecca.  I saw the Lord in those people and especially in Rebecca, who had a difficult time in her adolescent years and has turned into one marvelous person. 

"Where is that Easter Rabbit, say the Gerwers kids.

I was so touched by her.  As she walked down the aisle with Ron, her dad, she began to cry and cry.  Of course, that got me going.  I saw the Lord last night.

The third event took place Thursday afternoon.  See this turquoise thumb.  This says, “She made it, the last of 18 chemo treatments, success over ovarian cancer, NED, no evidence detected, Jackie Urbanczyk.”  We had a celebration at her house Thursday after her last treatment. 

There that rabbit is.

Three times in three days: Leo, Rebecca, Jackie, I saw the Lord. 

And you?

Fred and Maureen celebrating 51 years and Fred 76 years. So he wants 2 Cupcakes of The Week!

Readings: 

2 Kings 5, 14-17,  Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times.

Psalm 98,  The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

2 Timothy 2, 8-13,  The word of God is not chained.

 Luke 17, 11-19  Where are the other 9?

Emma and Beth arriving.

2 Kings observations:

Time of the events: 900 B.C.

Time when written: 550 B.C., during the Babylonian captivity.

Subject of 1 Kings: This book continues the history of the kings
taking up with the death of King David and continuing through the story of
David & Bathsheba's son Solomon.  He builds the famous Temple of Solomon.  After his death the
nation divides into the northern & southern states, Israel in the north, Judah
in the south (including Jerusalem;
remember by the "J's").

Kevin arriving ready to work.

Subject of 2 Kings: This book continues the history of the decline
of the two states until Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats the people. 

Subject of our chapter 5 (read it all, it is delightful): one of
the leaders of the Syrian-Babylonian army goes to visit the prophet of the day,
Elisha.  Naaman, the general, has leprosy.  Note the twist of the
story at the end.  Thanks is a theme of this selection and it sets the
stage for Luke's story about gratitude.  Three characters: Naaman, his little slave girl, and Elisha.

The Team, ready.

Gratitude

This morning I would like to talk about the theme coming from Luke’s
story and the neat little story about Naaman, the general with leprosy.  Specifically, gratitude. 

To put together a story, I looked back over the week for special gifts,
events I am grateful for.  I thought of
our ROMEO lunch Friday, of my 2 French sessions, and the fact that my nice skin
doctor, Sara Scott, gave me a pass. 

Freddie with his granddad, John.

Despite how grateful I am for these events, two others really stood out.

Friday night Rosemary and I were privileged to be part of a special
celebration.  It was the marriage of
Kristin Urbanczyk and her fiance’ Josh 
Eddings.  You all know that I take
delight in celebrating weddings and get to do quite a lot, especially now that
I am not officially Catholic.

Zoe.

As precious as all of them are, it is a unique jewel of an event when I
get to celebrate the wedding of a person whom I have known since
childhood.   Kristin I have known for maybe 18-20
years.  She used to throw water balloons at
me when she was a supposedly nice little girl.

Folks, it does not get better than last night for me. 

Torri and her granddad, Gil.

Thursday morning before this event took place, Rosemary and I went for one
of our early morning bike rides down to and around The Lake, our beloved White
Rock.  At one point we are riding south
on the path at the edge of the lake and along East Lather Drive.  We have just passed in front of the
Arboretum.

As we approach the bridge just before Garland Road, the tarmac path curves
left then right and is wet from earlier sprinklers.  I am about 30 years ahead of Rosemary.  I go up on the bridge and for some reason I
look back.

Rich with his birthday Cupcake.

What I see scares me to death. 
Rosemary is sitting on the path, her bike down, and people are running
to her side.  I turn around and race  back. 
She has slid out on the wet tarmac. 
She has hit the back of her head on the path but not broken her
helmet.  She says she is okay and will
walk on to the boat house over near the dam. 
I race back to the car, return, and tell her I really would like for her
to call our M.D. right there in the car.

Later he checks her out and says nothing is wrong.  Just bruises and sore ribs. 

Folks, I am so grateful and cannot give thanks enough.

Celeste with her birthday Cupcake.

 A few observations.

First.  The temptation is to think I am one of the
nine who did not return to thank Jesus. Yes probably & No, also.   I would suggest
again: we are both.  Lots of times we forget to thank.  Lots of times
we thank. 

Second.  There could be symbolism in the nine and
one.  Perhaps I am nine tenths ungrateful and one tenth grateful.  Is this a pretty normal proportion? A lot of times, however, I am not so much ungrateful
as just insensitive, totally unaware.  Perhaps the lepers who did not
return just figured they were lucky and went on their way.  The other guy
realized he had been given a gift by that stranger and wanted to respond.

Jesus tells him his faith has saved him.  I would
suggest that his gratitude transformed him.

Kristin and Josh with their honeymoon Cupcake.

Third.  How is it possible to rearrange the
percentages?  Practice.  Practice make perfect. Rosemary & I have a favorite little practice that we do
every night.  I've mentioned it before. We ask each other what were the blessings
of the day.  I recommend this. I even recommend it for sitting alone,
while savoring the first coffee in the morning, driving or riding the DART to
work & back, getting ready to go to school.  Simple question: what
were my blessings today, yesterday, or this week?

You may start now: what were your three biggest blessings
this week?

Connie and John coming ready to video and shoot pix.