Readings:

Isaiah 49, 1-2, 14-15,   Even should your mother forget you, I will never forget you.

Psalm 62,  Rest in God alone, my soul.

1 Corinthians 4,  1-5,  Do not make any judgment.

Matthew  6, 24-34,  Why are you anxious?

 

 

 

Isaiah observations and reminders—

Who, This is 2^nd Isaiah.

When, This is during the Captivity in Babylon, ca. 555 before Christ. 

Subject, The writer, the prophet, is trying to lift the spirits of his fellow slaves.  He gives them exquisite news, using God’s words, “I will never forget you.”  A short but touching cameo of consolation and hope. 

 

 

Matthew observations–

Who,  unknown really.  A bishop about 100 years later indicated that the apostle Matthew was the author, though no reference is made in the gospel.

When, around 80-90, meaning around 50 years after Christ's death.

Subject, I can hear you laughing when we read this.  The message is, 'Why worry?'  Good enough.  However, the message has an unreality about it.  Like it says to imitate the birds.  They don't worry, they don't stockpile, but God feeds them.   Imitate the birds.  

 

 

 

I will never forget you

I have another story for you this morning.  Ever hear of a guy named Kenny Thompson?  I saw an article on him recently. 

Thompson is an elementary school teacher and tutor in Houston.  One day he picks up news about some elementary kids in Salt Lake City.  Seems like 40 kids who were on subsidized lunches were dumped because their parents did not pay enough, even though it was only about a dollar a day. 

So the kids, instead of getting the standard lunch, usually hot, they got a plain cheese sandwich. 

 

 

Kenny Thompson wonders if kids in his school have the same problem.  Turns out they do, about 60 of them. 

So he pays out about $500 so every one of the 60 kids is covered.  He says the kids are there to learn how to spell, not worry about where they will get something to eat.   Plus, they cannot learn anything if they are hungry.

He also discovers that some of the 60 kids even skip the cheese sandwich because they are too embarrassed to be singled out.   Moreover, this meal was for some kids their only good meal of the day.

 

 

 

What Thompson does gets picked up by a local TV morning news.  Immediately, the phone is swamped with callers wanting to help the kids who cannot afford the subsidized lunch. 

Thompson finally establishes an online funding source, Feed the Future.

I thought of Kenny Thompson when I read 2^nd Isaiah’s little message, “Can a mother forget her child?  Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”

 

 

 

I would propose that we have here another one of those infinite demands.  I know, it is truly infinite acceptance.  However, how hard it is to accept.  Really, you will never forget me?   Come on.

Lent begins Wednesday.  I confess it is the Church season I am the least delighted by.  Bad memories and experiences.  What if the goal this Lent was to simply have a “No Fear” Lent, using Isaiah’s line that our God will never forget me?

 

 

Matthew seconds this idea.  His comparisons may strike us as a bit naïve.  We are not birds of the air or flowers of the fields.  We do need to concern ourselves about what we will eat and drink. 

But the basic message affirms that infinite demand which is to accept our acceptance, no ultimate fear.  This to me is the basic, fundamental belief of Christianity.  It has been polluted over the centuries with fear & punishment messages. 

I imagine Kenny Thompson took away some of the fear these kids had in their hearts.  Maybe they will someday have a no fear life.

Wow, can you really do it?   Have a no fear Lent? 

 

 

 

Readings:

Isaiah 9, 1-6, The People who walked in darkness have seen a great  light

Psalm, 96, Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

Titus 2, 11-14,  Beloved, the grace of God has appeared, saving all.

Luke 2, 1-14, In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus…

 

 

Peace 

 

 

Download Readings Christmas 2020

 

Homily:

Download Homily for Christmas Eve 2020

 

Serenity

 

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda, 

Readers, Beth & Rob,  & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Claire Occipinti 

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Mike 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

Alaskan Forest

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Paul & Carrie recuperating, plus her ex, Larry;  For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Sullivan;    For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine; For David Dinsmore's bad shoulder from a biking accident;  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 & Ben & Leo & all of Shonda's dear family;  

 

 

 

 

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;   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; for a little 4 month old boy undergoing an operation, from Barbara;  For the students, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

More of the forest

 

Community Finances, December 24, 2020

Expenses: $

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

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Loving Father, Help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.

Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

Robert  Louis Stevenson

 

Readings:  Sirach 27, 30-28, 7; Psalm 103, The Lord is Kind and Merciful, Slow to Anger, and Rich in Compassion (terrific line!); Romans 14, 7-9; Matthew 18, 21-35

 

Sirach: 3 observations

          1. Time: about 200-175 B.C. 

          2,  Author:  a Jewish scribe, called “The Philosopher,” wrote in Hebrew.

          3.  Subject: with its injustices and sufferings, life is useless.  He can’t understand the ways of God and says so.  Thus, his work is negative and depressing.  However, he advises people to work, and to enjoy the gifts of God as much and as long as possible.  

Get ready: in connection with our commemoration today the selection is powerful.

  
 

In Memoriam, 9-11 

At 7:30 that morning I was celebrating Mass in the Jesuit community chapel.  Rosemary was there.  Mary Ellen was there.  Sheila Madigan was there.  Plus a dozen others.

It was 8:00 when we finished and Fr. Jack Deeves who had been watching TV in the Jesuit community room across the hall before his first class, said a plane had hit one of the towers.  Being from NY, Rosemary was immediately interested and she and Mary Ellen joined Jack and they saw the second plane.

Remember where you were at this same moment?

 
 

So how has your spirit handled this event over the past 10 years?   What is a healthy response? 

Sorry to tell you this, but it is in the readings today, forgive, forgive, & forgive 77 times.   

3 Considerations: forgive big things, forgive little things, and the process.

    First, I have not had a lot of big bad things happen in my life.  Certainly, 9-11 is the biggest, and that did not touch me personally.  Are these readings serious about forgiving these guys?  Forgiving Osama bin Laden?  Yes and yes. 

The forgiveness is not for these guys.  It is for myself, for my own health, for my own inner peace.  Otherwise, I remain an angry person and I act out this anger like Mark Stroman who walked into the gas station on Buckner Blvd. Sept. 21. 

 He asked Rais Bhuiyan of Bangladesh where he came from.  Then he pulled up his double barrel shot gun and shot him in the face.  He also killed 2 other people. 

Is this not a metaphor?

 

    Secondly, little things.  They happen every day to us.  Road ragers, like the guy that Sunday morning in his Mercedes who got so impatient with my driving onto north bound Central that he floored it by us and waved sweet hand signals at us.  Sunday morning on our way to Vines.

If I am carrying a load of anger, it will leak out.  It will especially touch people closest to me.  I will overreact.  It has to be dealt with or I remain its victim.

    Thirdly, the process.  What do I do?  You’ve heard me describe this before.  Two things. 

          First, I talk about it with people whom I trust or with a therapist.  I got to talk about it.  Look for the feeling under the anger.  Often it is hurt.  Maybe hatred as in this event.  I could also be hurt by my friend or my parents or coach.   Forgiveness probably won't come here.

 

        Secondly, I got to stop talking about the hurt and put it out of my mind.  When I got kicked out of East Africa, I came home hurt.  I talked about it for a good while until I realized that talking about it was getting me worked up & I was far from forgiving.  I had to stop talking and put it out of my mind.  A few years later I realized I could talk about it without the toxicity and the anger.   I have forgiven and am at peace.

Today we remember and honor the people lost & hurt in 9-11.  Rais Bhuiyan obviously came to a peaceful place with the man who shot him in the face and took his right eye. 

We have his and many others' examples.  Moreover, we are told that we have a God who is gracious & merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.

 

On a scale of 1 to 5 where is your anger and where is your peace of spirit with the events of 9-11?

Reference on Rais Bhuiyan: neighborsgo.com, 9-9-11, Dallas Morning News, special weekly on Richardson, North Dallas, & Lake Highlands, p. 16.

Picture 1:    Mass Begins

Picture 2:    Offertory with Christine & her daughter, Megan, Grandmom Diane, & Betty

Picture 3:    Sienna & her sister,

Picture 4:    Sienna & her sister, 

Picture 5:    Brooklyn with Brian & Payton & Erin   

Picture 6:    The Gang, Mike & John & Geri

Readings:  Sirach 3, 17-29; Psalm 68, God, in Your Goodness, You have made a Home for the Poor;  Hebrews 12, 18-24; Luke 14, 1-14

 

 

Introduction to the Readings

 

 

 

The first reading today is from the Book Sirach, which used to be better known as Ecclesiasticus.  It was written about the year 180 BCE by Jesus, son of Elcazar, son of Sira, and later translated by his grandson into Greek.

 

 

Sirach was a highly respected scribe and teacher, a person who traveled quite a bit, may even have been a diplomat to foreign courts.  Later in his life he started a school in Jerusalem where he tried to pass on to the young people the great love he had of the Scriptures combined with what he had learned from his own experiences about life. 

 

 

 

The book is part of the Wisdom literature and the reason for its older title, Ecclesiasticus is that in the past it was one of the most used and quoted books by the Church!   Our reading today fits well with the topic in the gospels, humility.

 

 

 

The second reading is from the Letter to the Hebrews.  The author is unknown, although for a long period of time it was assumed to be Paul.  But today most scholars agree that the style is too different and the Greek used is the best in the New Testament. 

 

 

 

The overall message of the letter is one of encouragement to hang in and not get too complacent with the faith.  Probably written late in the first century, the main theme is the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus.  This is the letter where we come across the many references to Jesus as the High Priest. 

 

 

 

I sometimes wonder if this focus was due to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (ca. 70 C.E.) and the end of the priesthood as the Jewish people would have known it, and so to fill the void the author holds up Jesus and his sacrifice as the one true sacrifice. 

 

 

 

Another important theme is the pilgrimage of the people of God to the heavenly Jerusalem, and it is on this topic that our reading is taken from for today.

 

 

Homily

 

 

The theme of the readings today is humility.   From a careful reading of the gospel, I am left a little confused because it seems to me that the main point Jesus could be making is how to get more recognition by being humble.  That said, since I have nothing good to say about it, I want instead to take advantage of the fact that today we are going to be baptizing Emma and welcoming her into our community, and so would like to offer some thoughts about baptism. 

 

 

 

If we go right back to the earliest days of Christianity, we find baptism!  Early in Mark’s gospel Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan.  In Matthew’s gospel the apostles are instructed by Jesus just before his ascension to “go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit”.   And through out the Acts of the Apostles it becomes clear that baptism was the way to join this community. 

 

 

 

It was the Rite of Entry!  And all of the people who were being baptized did so after hearing the message or the teaching as Matthew puts it.  If kids were baptized, it was only because the family was joining. 

 

 

 

It wasn’t until the fifth century when St. Augustine stated that only the baptized could get into heaven that the focus and practice shifted.  This of course created a huge pastoral problem for those who died before being baptized.  It was only in the 12^th century that Peter Abelard came up with the notion of Limbo, for those who had died unbaptized. 

 

 

 

One of the consequences of all of this was that religion was taught to kids, and not to adults!!  When was the last time any of you were at a formal class or session on your faith, outside of mass?  Think about it! 

The catholic faith as most of us have it was given at a kid level.  This might have been fine at a time when most adults were not educated beyond the 6^th grade, if even that, but today most adults have at least completed high school and a large number even college. 

 

 

 

Let me be clear, when I take about “faith” I am specifically referring to our personal response to God, our relationship with God.  Our acceptance of the invitation from God, to love God.  The information stuff, the doctrines, etc., are secondary.  When we were baptized as infants, someone else made that decision for us.  Today while Emma is being baptized, can we take a moment to reflect on the decision made for us, and make it for ourselves!  What does it mean in your life today, that you are baptized?

 

 

Picture 1:   Emma's welcome into the community baptism

 

Picture 2:   Emma's family, godparents Bobby & Tanya, parents Tom & Beth

 

Picture 3:   Sisters, Megan & Emely Kite.  Megan off to teach in Spain for a year.

 

Picture 4:  Chloe

 

Picture 5:  Jackie & Cathy accepting from Mike our monthly $2000 donation to the CCAC

 

Isaiah 66:  Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river,  and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent.   As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms,  and fondled in her lap;  as a mother comforts her child,  so will I comfort you;

Galatians 6:  May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Luke 10: Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'

Connie reading from Isaiah
 

 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben & Shonda

John sharing his homily

 

Outreach: $   130.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Carrie reading the Blessing

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Acts 14:  And when they arrived, they called the church together and reported what God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

Revelation 21:  I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.  He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God.

John 13:  I give you a new commandment: love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.   This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

Connie reading from the Acts of the Apostles

 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben & Shonda

Outreach: $      

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

…and life is still a constant surprise to me. 

We never know what will happen next, what we will see, and what important person will come into our life, or what important person we will lose. 

Life is change, constant change, and unless we are lucky enough to find comedy in it, change is nearly always drama, if not tragedy. 

But after everything, and even when the skies turn scarlet and threatening, I still believe that if we are lucky enough to be alive, we must give thanks for the miracle of every moment of every day, no matter how flawed. 

And we must have faith in God, and in the Universe, and in a better tomorrow even if that faith is not always deserved.

Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan