January 25, 2015, 3rd Ordinary Time B

Readings:

Jonah  3, 1-10,  The word of the Lord came to Jonah, saying…..

Psalm 25,    Teach me your ways, O Lord.

1 Corinthians 7, 29-31,   Let those having wives act as not having them.

Mark 1, 14-20,   Come after me and I will make you fishers of people.

"Hi, Folks," says Charlotte, "Welcome."

Jonah: This little book of 4 chapters is a gem and tells a delightful short story.   It is so good I would like to read it all, but will read only chapter 1 and most of chapter 3. 

Background: Jonah has been asked by Yahweh to go to Nineveh in Assyria to tell the people & leaders that they are evil and will be punished shortly by Yahweh.  Trouble is, Nineveh is the enemy, like me going to Houston or Philadelphia. 

So he runs away, catches a boat headed for Spain, is blamed by the sailors for causing a big storm on the sea, and is dumped overboard.  The whale swallows him and for three days Jonah is constrained to reflect on what he is doing.  When, after 3 days, the whale dumps him on shore, Jonah is more willing to listen.  We arrive at this point and I will have most of chapter 3 read.

Chloe, too, with her sister, says, "Welcome, Everybody.

Author: For centuries, while people took this story as factual, Jonah was considered author of his own story.  Once it was seen as a fable or allegory, it is accepted that the story probably has some unknown ancient as the author.

Date of composition: no one really knows, but educated guesses put it ca. 800 before Christ.

Note: the story of Jonah and the story of Jesus' interaction with his future apostles are both about The Call.   1 Corinthians is really bad.  Just like last week.  Who in Rome chooses these readings?

And Emma, too, "Hi, Everybody."

Reminiscing at 75

This morning I would like to reminisce on the theme of call at 75.  I propose that calls can be blessings or gifts.  For example. 

I see three big calls in my 75 years.  The first came when I was in high school at the old Jesuit on Oak Lawn.  I felt drawn to be a Jesuit & a priest. 

Kevin arriving ready to cover anything, Georgie, his partner, participating in a swim meet.

I admit there was a lot of scare in this decision, scare that I was going to hell because of my sinful ways and the guys I hung around with.  I remember clearly one of the sermons commonly used with us guys.  You go out with your girl friend, you neck a little bit, you head home, you are hit by a train, and killed instantly.  You go straight to hell. 

I remember the pastor at Christ the King telling the people that where you go will depend upon the people you hang out with.  Good people, you go to heaven.  Bad people, you know where.  I looked around and thought to myself, ‘I know where I’m going.’  I look around now and see some of my best friends, one a lawyer, another a banker, and my friend in Chicago, FBI.  On second thought, I still don’t know where we all might be going.

Leo and Brandon, buddies.

Trouble is, now I don’t think there is a hell thanks to my Jesuit training. I grew up in the Jesuits.  We simply had to.  I used to look at some of my classmates in the military and thought they were lucky.  We entered the Jesuits in those days and never went home for anything, weddings, special events, maybe funerals of parents.

With all this, my decision to follow this inner call to be a Jesuit was an enormous blessing.

Cupcake of The Week to Doug for entering a new decade.

It led me to a second momentous blessing in my life, my years in East Africa, especially Tanzania.  I really had to learn how to adapt.  I learned Swahili and in the process discovered I have a gift for languages.

A high moment for me during maybe my 8th year came one afternoon when I went to a market in a big shed at my base near Kilimanjaro.  I had an old Tanzanian who was a buddy.  He sold fruits and veggies.  I always chatted with him when I was in town.  One day after we had chatted, a little old lady asked him, while I was to the side picking fruit, was I one of them, their people. 

Cupcake, really a power bar of the week to Sir Charlie in another decade.

I used Swahili so good she thought I was an ndugu, which means something like a brother, something I would never had used for myself.  The old guy told me and I was floored.

Then I was somewhat unpleasantly invited to go back to the States, which led to the third most incredible call and blessing, Rosemary and marriage.

Emma and Cole signing a birthday card.

  Looking back I returned to the States with a loneliness that I picked up in Tanzania and a much different perspective on marriage that I also picked up from the people, the priests, and even the bishops and a particular cardinal.  Tanzanians deep inside think not getting married is contrary to the laws of the universe.  I came home with this and I now could not be a happier person.

Finally, a side effect call and gift: you people, our community, the gift and the fun I receive from you every week.

Calls can be marvelous gifts and blessings.  I have had three and a half marvelous ones. 

And you?

Peace is Emma with Aviana.

Readings: Acts 1, 1-11; Psalm 47, God Mounts his Throne to Shouts of Joy, a Blare of Trumpets for the Lord; Ephesians 1, 17-23; Luke 24, 46-53.  

Ascension  of the Lord – Intro to the Readings

Today, we have a whole lot of Luke and a reading from Paul, or someone who knew him very well!

Our first reading is from the beginning of Acts and because of the feast, we leave aside John’s Gospel today and hear about the ascension from the very end of Luke’s Gospel.

The Gospel of Luke ends as it began (Luke 1:9), in the Jerusalem temple.

Luke brings his story about the time of Jesus to a close with the report of the ascension. He will also begin the story of the time of the church with a recounting of the ascension. In the gospel, Luke recounts the ascension of Jesus on Easter Sunday night, thereby closely associating it with the resurrection. In Acts 1:3, 9-11; 13:31 he historicizes the ascension by speaking of a forty-day period between the resurrection and the ascension. The Western text omits some phrases in Luke 24:51, 52,  perhaps to avoid any chronological conflict with Acts 1 about the time of the ascension.

Homily for the Feast of the Ascension

Faith is one of those items, which, try as we might, we will never be fully able to explain.  But I think there is a clue to this challenge in our second reading today.  There is a little phrase in there about the eyes of the heart.   I have never heard of the phrase “eyes of the heart” before, but the more I thought about them the more it started to make sense to me.

For most of my life beginning with my first catechism my faith seems to involve learning stuff:  information, ten commandments, seven sacraments, seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, twelve apostles names, mortals sins and venial sins.  The list goes on and on.  As humans, today, we are almost obsessed with information, data.  I don’t think that people at the time of Christ were quite so obsessive as this.  Here is why:

In our first reading today from the opening chapter of Acts, Luke tells us that Jesus ascended to heaven forty days after the resurrection.  Yet in the gospel reading, also by Luke, if we pay close attention to the last chapter of that Gospel, Jesus ascended to heaven the same day as the resurrection!  Both readings are from the same writer.  Both readings coming from close to each other in their respective books, the last chapter of the gospel and the opening chapter of the Book of Acts, and yet this contradiction did not seem to matter to Luke or his audience. 

The only conclusion is that the detail, the facts themselves were not that important.  The event was looked at thru the eyes of the heart.  As I said on Easter Sunday, the fact of the Resurrection cannot be proven; neither can the fact of the Ascension.  They can only be seen thru the eyes of faith, thru the “eyes of the heart”

This week I was watching a new TV program “Into the Universe” from Steven Hawkins, the world's most famous living scientist which is all about the origins of the universe.  Even as intelligent a person as Hawkins cannot find God in our universe, and I believe the reason is quite simple. 

He is not looking with the eyes of the heart; he is looking through the eyes of a scientist who looks for hard data.  Our God is outside all of that.  Our God is in a totally different world.  His is the world of caring, the world of loving, of taking care of the poor, the sick and the lonely.  Our God has one simple rule, love one another. 

This kind of stuff is only visible thru the eyes of the heart.  And so today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, we can only celebrate it emotionally, not intellectually, because the notion of someone rising from the dead and going up where-ever doesn’t make any sense from a scientifically observable point of view, but is easy to accept in the context of a God who loves you and me unconditionally.

Picture 1:  Fr. Tony Begins

Picture 2:  Fr. Tony & Buddies, Marianne, George, & Ron

Picture 3:  Coffee time, Curtis, Warren, Ken & Cindy, Teresa & Tom, & Mabel

Picture 4:  Old Geezers, Tony, Jerry, David, & Stack

Picture 5:  Backpacking talk, Lynda, Bill, Daniel, & Claire

Numbers 11, Would that all the people for the Lord were prophets.

Psalm 19, The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart. 

James 5,  Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder.

Mark 9,  If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

Shonda & Ben bringing us together.

Thanks……

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Beth & Rob & Buddy, our candle blesser 

Gospel,     John Cade

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Hue & Mike

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Beth reading the first reading from Numbers.

Readings: 

Download Readings 26th Ordinary time 09-26-21

Homily by John Stack,  

Download Homily 26th Sunday 9-26-2021

Rob reading from James.

Remember these special people:

For John & Karen Anderlick's unborn grandson;   For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson  & Frank;  For all the medical personnel struggling to treat the tsunami of sick people, in particular, locally, Cindy's staff at Presby, Dallas, and at Frisco Presby, the mother of Harper and Betsy, Kendle, working in labor & delivery, and for Hue & Linda's daughter, Doctor Rosemary Beavers;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, The Woodlands,   For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family; For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy,

Jan & Charlie saying, "Hi, Everybody!"

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.; For Meredith, cancer free & John Schanot;    For John O'Donnell & Jean;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren  ;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little 12 month old baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & a nephew; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends & brother;   for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Mary, Connie, & John singing the beautiful hymn "On Eagles' Wings."

Birthdays:   Ben's daughter, Sophia, 14 (yesterday), Judy Carol, Leo (11?), Jackie Johnson

Anniversaries:  

Fred & Patricia

Tom & Becky Good

Ron & Nancy Kovatis

Cathy, Fred, & Ron updating the news of the week.

Community Finances,   September 26, 2021

Expenses: $600.00 

Outreach: $5.00 

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary sharing her beautiful Blessing of the Week.

Rosemary's Blessing:

“Rivers do not drink their own water;

trees do not eat their own fruit;

the sun does not shine on itself

and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves.

Living for others is a rule of nature.

We are born to help each other.

No matter how difficult it is.

Life is good when you are happy

but much better when others are happy because of you.

Let us remember that pain is a sign that we are alive,

problems are a sign that we are strong and

prayer is a sign that we are not alone.

If we can acknowledge these truths and

condition our hearts and minds, our lives will be more meaningful,

different and worthwhile.”

Pope Francis

Peace, Everyone!

Readings:  

Acts 2, 1-11, They were all in one place together;

Psalm 104, Lord, Send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth;

1 Corinthians 12, 3-7, 12-13, There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit. 

John 15, 26-27; 16, 12-15, I Have much more to tell you.

Notes on the readings, Mike Carrell

 At the end of Luke’s gospel, the apostles receive instructions from the Lord. First of all they were told that he fulfilled the expectation of the Law, Prophets and Psalms for the coming of the Messiah. 

Then they were told that as the Father had sent him to bring forgiveness to humankind, he was sending them.

John Cade & Kevin beginning Mass

Finally they were told to wait in Jerusalem for the Father’s gift of the Spirit.  In our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples receive this gift, that Christ is alive to them through the power of the Spirit.

 In the letter to the Corinthians we are reminded that God has no favorites.  The Spirit is alive within the hearts of all who welcome the good news and put it into practice by their words and actions.

Pentecost Homily, Mike Carrell

 If you haven’t heard the story of the Master violin-maker, I share it with you now.  His violins when used by a skilled violinist produced tones so true that they resonated within the hearts of those who listened to them.  Violinists traveled from all over the country to his workshop in the mountains to seek the opportunity to purchase or play one of his violins. 

This master violin-maker had been taught by this father that the most important step in making a great violin was the choice, curing and aging of the very best wood available. This meant that the wood used to construct a violin was in a preparation process for years before the violin’s construction could begin.

Delgado Corner with Zoe, Buddy & Torri, and Leo

 This master violin-maker wanted the process begun by his father to be followed after he had died, so he wrote it down and began instructing one of his skilled wood crafters everything his father had taught him.   One day in the dead of winter, he asked the one he was grooming to follow him to enter the forest with him for it was time to choose another tree for his wood cutter so that its wood could be to put into the process of curing and aging.

It was a cold day, with some snow swirling in from the north.  The master handed a compass to the younger man, and took a colored piece of rope from the wall of his office along with a ribbon to identify the tree.  The younger man walked with him until they reached a downward slope on the parcel of land that had been given to the master by his father.

It felt much colder now, and after placing the rope, that required a certain diameter tree to be chosen, around several trees, he choose one.  Now the trees along this slope were bent and rugged looking, not like the ones where the workshop was located. 

Mike homilizing

‘Why this tree,’ asked the younger man?  The master replied, ‘Look at the compass. You will see that these trees face due north. This tree has received for the last 100 years the brunt of the incoming north wind, snow and ice, and it has endured.  This wood is your friend: it is about to give its life to you. Its cross section will give witness to a life well lived for it has been pruned many times so the sound of your violins will be vibrant and true….  

Now, what is the meaning of the story? The wood that was chosen to make great violins is another metaphor of God’s plan of salvation for us.  Each of us is the young apprentice to whom the metaphor was explained, and the music played by the violinists, that resonates within our hearts, is the Spirit.   

Leo

 The teaching in which we find today’s gospel reading begins, ‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,’ and that we are Christ’s friends because he has made known to us everything that he has heard from the Father.

We have been empowered by the Spirit to live what Christ has taught us.  So, we are reminded at this feast of Pentecost and the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II to be servants of the least among us who yearn to do God’s will. Continue to extend to them peace and justice, for we have all been made in the same image, to share the same bread, to have the same Father and to be bound together by the same Spirit.

Bethany, Shonda, & Ray

 Readings:

2 Chronicles 36, 14-16, 19-23 , He has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem.

Psalm 137,    Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget you.

Ephesians  2, 4-10,   God brought us to life with Christ.

 John  3,  14-21,   Jesus & Nicodemus.

Buddy says, "Hi, Folks, Welcome."

INTRODUCTION to Gospel:

 When our gospel begins, Jesus is in dialog with Nicodemus, who is present three times in the John gospel. He is a Pharisee and teacher who wants to know what Jesus is teaching and doing. Today’s reading occurs at night for he is afraid that other Pharisees might think that he had become a disciple of Jesus.

 Later Nicodemus will remind the Pharisees who want to rid themselves of Jesus that the Law does not allow them to arrest Jesus without first knowing what he is saying and doing. 

After the crucifixion, Nicodemus, while it is still day, brings to Jesus’ disciples an unheard of amount of expensive spices so that Jesus’ body can be given a kingly burial.   Initial fear had turned into great love.

Victoria, too, says, "Come in Everybody, it's fun."

INTRODUCTION to 1^st and 2^nd Readings:

Salvation comes to us through Christ. Our witness of good works, our love, is how they will know we are Christians.

Zoe says, "It's fun here."

GOSPEL and HOMILY: 

A year or two ago I also gave a homily on this fourth Sunday of Lent; but then I chose the other gospel reading about the man who had been blind from birth.  I took you in that homily to the Feast of Tabernacles where Jesus had called out in the temple inviting anyone who was thirsty to come to him and drink from the fountain of living waters. 

It was in these waters that the man born blind had been baptized.  I also made you aware of the verse from the prophet Jeremiah, ‘Those who reject the Lord, the fountain of living waters, will in shame have their names written in the earth.’ 

Mike sharing his thoughts and preparing us for the reconciliation rite.

The Pharisees sought to circumvent Nicodemus’ words to them about the Law, by trying to trap Jesus using the Law, by bringing to him a woman caught in the act of adultery.  ‘Moses said that this woman should be stoned. What do you say?’ 

They knew that Jesus would not allow them to stone her; he would seek to bring forgiveness to the woman.  They had him trapped; but Jesus bent down and began writing the names of these Pharisees and scribes on the ground to inform them that they were the ones in need of forgiveness.

Connie and Cathy. What's all that green about?

When they kept after him to take a position he said, ‘The one of you, who is without sin, cast the first stone at her.’  One by one they left until there was no one left in front of him but the woman who recognizes his great love.

She made no excuse; she does not try to run away from what she has done, she submits herself to his words. He says to her, ‘woman, where are they, is there no one left to condemn you?’ 

Harper says, "My grandmother wears green because it is St. Patrick's color."

He has addressed and treated her with goodness and justice, tenderness and compassion.  She replies, ‘No one.’  Since Jesus has already said in today’s gospel that he came not to condemn but to bring forgiveness to the world, he truly has forgiven her.  He says, ‘neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.’ 

The Greek word, translated as ‘go,’ means in Greek, ‘to journey along the way she has been invited to pursue.’  She has been invited by Jesus to follow him.  Jesus’ command to the woman, ‘do not sin again,’ recognizes, again, that she is forgiven, and is an ongoing request to remain contrite.

Cupcakes of The Week, John, Ken, and Mary Ellen back from CT.

At the end of our Eucharistic Prayer we will join together in the Our Father before celebrating our Lenten Penitential service where we ask for forgiveness and grant forgiveness. It is appropriate for us at this time to take a moment to reflect on some habit we might have that is not life-giving or love-giving, and in a contrite way think about how we will replace it with something that is.

And also for Sophia a Cupcake of The Week.

Jonah 3, 1-5, 10,  Jonah set out for the great city of Nineveh.  (An amusing story)

Psalm 25, Teach me your ways, O Lord..   

1 Corinthians 7,  29-31, The world in its present form is passing away.

Mark  1, 14-20, Come after me & I will make you fishers of men & women.

Staying at home?

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben 

Readers,  Denni & Tom, and Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  John Cade

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Richard & Mike 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

The Zoom Team.

Readings for this Sunday

Download Reading 3rd Sunday 1-24 2021

Homily by John Stack

Download John Stack homily 1-24-2021

Please Remember these special people:

For Carrie's ex, Larry;  For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Sullivan;    For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine & Carol's dad who passed this week; For Sheila Schultz Alverez hospitalized with Corona;  For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique;  For all the medical personnel struggling to treat the tsunami of sick people, in particular, locally, Cindy's staff at Presby, Dallas, and at Frisco Presby, the mother of Harper and Betsy, Kendle, working in labor & delivery, and for Hue & Linda's daughter, Doctor Rosemary Beavers;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, The Woodlands,   For Loretta's aunt Alicia;  For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family;  for Louis Schneider hospitalized with gall bladder problem (our rep. from Open Window)

Ben, Our Life Giver.

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For both Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free;    For John O'Donnell & Jean & their daughter, Molly;   For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; For John Schanot's continued health;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little 4 month old boy undergoing an operation & for Rollie with Corona; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Also, remembering the family of Geri Moran's friend, Elsa Billman, who passed this past week.

Remembering….Kevin, Georgie, & Buddy (and Sir Charlie!)

Birthdays:  Kevin, David Ekes, Sir Charlie, Miguel, Mary Hall

Anniversary:  

Community Finances, January 24, 2021

Expenses: $300.00  

Outreach   $50.00   (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Mike, the Initiator of this Enterprise.

Rosemary's Blessing:

I was regretting the past

And fearing the future.

Suddenly my Lord was speaking

“My name is I AM.”

He paused.  I waited

He continued,

“When you live in the past

With its mistakes and regrets,

It is hard.  I am not there.

My name is not I WAS.

“When you live in the future,

With its problems and fears,

It is hard.  I am not there.

My name is not I WILL BE.

“When you live in this moment,

It is not hard. I am here.

My name is I AM.”

I Am by Helen Mallicoat