Sunday Homily, May 4, 08, 7th of Easter & Ascension

Acts 12:  Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the cell.  He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying, “Get up quickly.”

2 Timothy 4:  The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it.

Matthew 16: He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

John Cade and John Stack ready to start Mass
 

 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben & Shonda

The Kiss of Peace

 

Outreach: $   490.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Paula gets a cookie for her birthday

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

 

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,  The Grace of God has appeared.

Luke 2, 1-14,   In those days a decree went out from Caesar  Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled.

 

A Christmas Gift

I want to tell you about a Christmas gift this afternoon.  It is one of my biggest gifts of this season and it came to me yesterday afternoon by surprise.

In our neighborhood we have alleys behind the lots.  Garbage trucks and service vehicles us the alleys.

 

 

Once a week on Mondays we are visited by the trash trucks and the recycle trucks.  The trash trucks are all mechanized, so only a driver runs the show.  A mechanical arm grabs the trash can, empties it, and replaces it.

 

The recycle truck, however, has three people, one driver and two men who empty the recycles into their truck.  I often see the recycle guys because they start the day’s run at our alley and at our house.  We are on the corner.  We wave.

I got this idea from a guy I helped to do his memorial a few years ago.  He would give a small gift to his mail man and trash collectors.

 

So Monday morning I am watching at 7:00, hoping to give the recycle guys a gift of a few bucks.  They don’t come.  I am afraid I will miss them like I did at Thanksgiving.  So I place a note on the recycle bin.  And I continue to watch.  I can hear them usually, because their big truck makes noise.

 

 

Suddenly about 3:00 I hear the truck.  By the time I grab my coat and head out, one of the guys is coming in the back yard, because my note told them to come to the door.   They are friendly as ever.

I give them each $20.

This was when my present arrived. 

 

 

Their gratitude.  It was over the top.  They thanked me over and over.  One guy says, “I’m rich, I’m rich.”  They head off down the alley with more thanks and well wishes for a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

I was so touched I got choked up when Rosemary asked me how it went.  So small a gift on my part, so great a gift to me on their part.

Want to receive a gift like this?  When are you going to do it?

 

 

Readings: Isaiah 56, 6-7; Psalm 67, O God, let all the Nations praise You; Romans 11, 13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15, 21-28 

Isaiah:

    1.  Author:  This is Isaiah III, the one who writes after the Babylonian Captivity, therefore, probably in Jerusalem after 550 B.C., more or less.

    2.  Today’s message:  this selection is used to support the gospel, a message of inclusion of all peoples.  His house will be open to all. 

 

Romans: For months we have been using as our second reading Paul's letter to the Romans.  I have not mentioned it or even included in the homilies for two reasons:

1. It is not related to the other two readings. The Gospel & the first reading attempt to follow a theme. The second reading continues the same book week after week and if it relates it is accidental.  Romans will be with us another 4 Sundays into mid-September.
2. It is dense. I really don’t like it, except in a few sections.  7 letters are considered written by Paul who wrote this one probably around 55 A.D., while he was in Corinth, Greece, and in anticipation of a visit to Rome.  Some scholars consider it his masterpiece, but it is often difficult to understand.  

 

The Assumption

Often I mention that a line from the readings is one of my favorites, or a certain passage, maybe from Isaiah, is a favorite.  Today I cannot say the Matthew passage is a favorite.  In fact, I do not like the way Jesus insults the Canaanite woman.  A dog!  No way!

For maybe two days I thought about talking about this, but I could not find what I was looking for.  Like, was this Matthew, not Jesus, speaking?  And why?  I searched all my resources.  I even phoned my ace in a jamb, my friend, fellow ex-Jesuit, and excellent scripture scholar, Francis Vanderwall.  He admitted he had not a clue. 

So, I am going to cop out.  I want to talk on a much more favorite topic, the Assumption. 

 
 

Tomorrow the Catholic Church celebrates one of the big feast days, the Assumption of Mary into heaven.  The meaning: Mary, after she finished her time on earth, was taken bodily into heaven.  I would like to make 4 observations.

1.  The history of the belief.  The idea that Mary was taken up bodily into heaven got going by at least the 5th century.  People thought that she was rewarded for her role in redemption by this action on God's part. 

2.  The history of the declaration.  Really fascinating.  In November, 1950, Pius XII declared this event to be a dogma of the Catholic Church, that is, you have to believe it if you are a Catholic.   It was the first and only doctrine declared under papal infallibility, a doctrine proclaimed by Pius IX in 1870.

 

The story behind both of these dates is quite revealing.  1870 is the date of Italian unification.  Up to this time there was no united peninsula, no Italy like today.  There were at least three big parts: north, south, and right in the middle the Papal States. 

The people wanted those states to be part of the whole.  Pius IX was adamantly against ceding an inch of papal property.  When the people won the property deal, Pius withdrew into the Vatican, declared himself a prisoner of the Vatican, appealed to France who did not help him, and finally declared that what he said as pope on faith & morals was infallible, despite the advice of the majority of his consulters.  Sort of  'And I'll show you!' action.

 

In 1950 the Second World War was finished and the world was stunned into shock by the revelation of the Holocaust.  Pius XII himself was downcast by the Holocaust.  Moreover, he was getting heat because he did not stand up more strenuously to Hitler.  He had been Vatican ambassador to Germany during the build up of the Third Reich, so he knew the atmosphere well.  On top of that, there was evidence that at least one senior Vatican official was complicit in sending Jews to the death camps. 

Pius XII might have experienced some shame.  In the face of the brutality of the Holocaust, Pius decided to make a dramatic statement to show the sacredness of the human person, body included, by declaring the assumption of Mary's body into heaven a dogma.  

3.  The basis in Scripture for the doctrine.  There is none.  What is taking place here, is that Pius is articulating what has been considered a belief for centuries.  People have believed this for, say, 10-15 centuries.  Therefore, it took place.  There is a weakness here, of course.  What can be asserted a fact without evidence, can be discarded without evidence. 

 

4.  The Assumption in my life.  53 years ago tomorrow I walked into the Jesuit novitiate in Grand Coteau, LA.  30 of us entered more or less together.  Two of my classmates are still Jesuits. 

On that day 50 years ago my life took a 180 degree turn from being a typical  bratty teen- ager to a monk.  From days spent with friends, cars, and radios, I entered a world of silence, meditation, physical work, and study.  Feast days were eagerly anticipated and the Assumption was one of the big ones.  The date is still big with Jesuits and it brings back fond memories.  It comes at a convenient time at the end of the summer and before the school year. 

I still celebrate August 15, not at all with the same belief pattern that I had when I entered the Jesuits August 15, 1958, 18 years old just out of high school.   I celebrate because of a fondness for Mary and a fondness for my years as a Jesuit.

 

The Assumption is celebrated tomorrow.  What do you think about it?  What do you believe?

Picture 1:    Celebration

Picture 2:   Communion

Picture 3:   Cliff

Picture 4:   Emma

Picture 5:   Leo

Picture 6:   Wedding of Victoria Looney (an old friend since her childhood) & David Cline

Picture 7:   Wedding at the gazeebo, Plano City Park

 

       

Readings:

Genesis 60, 1-5, Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. 

Psalm 12, The Lord, every nation will adore you

Ephesians 3, 2-6, 11-14,  You have heard of  the stewardship of  God

Matthew 2, 1-12, Magi from the East

 

 

 

The brain trust.

 

 

Readings:

Download Readings 1-3-2021

 

Homily:

Download Mike's Homily 1-3-2021

 

 

Our beautiful Georgie reading Isaiah.

 

Our Kevin reading Ephesians, while Connie, his mom looks on.

 

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers,    Georgie & Kevin, and Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Deacon Mike Carrell

Homily,   Deacon Mike Carrell

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Richard & Mike 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

 

Remembering…..Mike reading.

 

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; 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;

 

John sharing the Eucharistic Prayer still in the Christmas spirit.

 

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; for a little 4 month old boy undergoing an operation, from Barbara & for Rollie with Corona; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

Birthdays: Tom Fleming, 64, Cheryl O'hagan

Anniversary: Richard & Carol, 45th

 

 

Community Finances, January 3, 2021

Expenses: $200.00

Outreach   $450.00  (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Am I dreaming?  Or is it a nightmare??

 

Rosemary's Blessing

When the decorations of Christmas have been packed away then the work of Christmas begins:

Lord, help us

to find the lost,
to heal those broken in spirit,
to feed the hungry,
to release the oppressed,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among all peoples,
and to make a little music with the heart…

Adapted from Work of Christmas Begins by Howard Thurman

 

 

Readings:

Genesis  18, 20-32,  What if there are ten there?  For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.

Psalm 138,  Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

Colossians 2, 12-14,  You were buried with him in baptism.

Luke 11, 1-13, Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find.

 

Observations on the readings:

The first reading from Genesis is a familiar story about God’s mercy and forgiveness, how it is all encompassing and present to all. More in my homily about this.

The second reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians is his letter to the Christian community at Colossae (in present day Turkey), telling them to remember that, as followers of Jesus, they are made new and are called to forgive one another, called to peace and thankfulness. Remember, I said last week I was choosing a more inspirational part of this letter for us to hear (Chapter 3, 12-15)

In the Gospel reading from Luke we will hear about prayer. The prayer Jesus
taught that we are familiar with, and say in Mass, is in Matthew, Chapter 6.
Today’s version in Luke is shortened. Jesus’ parable of knocking on a friend’s
door is about God’s constant mercy.    

 

Homily

From the reading in Genesis, I want to talk today about mercy and forgiveness. In particular I want to talk about what I think makes it possible for us to forgive one another. Forgiveness requires first that I put away self-justification where I put myself above another, where I collect points that make me ‘look better’ than another, especially one whom I judge has offended me, hurt me (‘I am right; I am justified in my hurt’). In order to forgive, I give up the quest ‘to be right’. [This is
where that saying fits, ‘you can be right’ or ‘you can have love in your life.’]
If I need to ‘look better’ or ‘be right’ (self-justified, self-righteous),
forgiveness becomes difficult, even unlikely.

The second requirement for sharing forgiveness is accepting what I take as an offense, a hurt, as possible in the universe of my life. This means in the whole universe of possible happenings, I accept that this hurt, this offense, is possible, this can happen to me. If I treat an offense or hurt as unthinkable or unacceptable to me in my universe, I disallow it as possible and keep it at a distance, away
from me, therefore not forgivable.

The third requirement to forgive another is mercy. Mercy is the quality attributed to God in today’s reading from Genesis about God and the people of Sodom. The quality or spirit of mercy makes forgiveness possible, even predictable. As we listened to the story about God and the people of Sodom, didn’t we predict as each question was asked by Abraham, that God’s response would be mercy?

We are called to have mercy and to forgive, even giving up the safety of waiting to first be forgiven by another (when there is mutual hurt). We are called to forgive. On the other hand we are totally accepted wherever we are in the process of learning mercy and forgiveness in our relationships.  Sometimes it may seem easier to forgive another than to ask for forgiveness from the other. Maybe that’s because giving forgiveness seems to put us in the ‘good guy’ role. Asking for forgiveness can put us in a more vulnerable position, not knowing if we will receive mercy and forgiveness from the other.

 So, my questions today are:   

Am I ready to forgive hurts by another,
especially from those close to me?

Am I ready to accept myself, even if I am not
yet fully capable of forgiving?

Am I able to ask for
forgiveness from another?

 

Readings: Proverbs 8, 22-31; Psalm 8; Romans 5, 1-5; John 16, 12-15.

Proverbs: You may wonder what is being talked about here.  It is Wisdom.

Giving Back

Psalm 8 is one of my favorites because it says that with all the beauty of creation around us, the heavens, the stars, still even more beautiful is the human being.  Last week on Hilton Head Island I saw this in a few surprising ways. 

First, did you know that at night the island has no street lights?  As you ride around the little lanes, it is dark and there is the sensation that you are out in the boonies, which I liked. The island is heavily forested with live oaks and pine, even around the houses. The reason for the darkness is turtle migration. The turtles won’t come where there is a lot of light. 

As much as this struck me, the next two things struck me more. They both touch on projects we as a community believe in and support. The first has to do with Habitat for Humanity, one of our favorites. Not only is there an active Habitat chapter on Hilton Head, but there is an all female chapter. The island has a number of retired & semi retired people. The women had helped with the local Habitat projects and decided they wanted to have their own group. 

As a group they determined to reach out even beyond the island. Consequently, the women took themselves and their generosity to Ireland, of all places, and there they built a number of Habitat houses. They are still quite active, according to Rosemary’s sister. 

The other phenomenon that struck me.  Many of the 50 thousand full time residents on the island are retired professional people. They have free time and are ready to contribute it to the community.  Many of the retirees are doctors and nurses. 

They have set up their own clinic. Similar to the Collin County Adult Clinic we support, all the staff are pro bono, working for free. Dissimilar to our clinic, which is able to open only one night a week, Thursday, the Hilton Head clinic is apparently open seven days a week.This astounded me, because I know how difficult it is for Julia & Al and all the staff here in Plano to open even one night a week. 

I’ve visited Clare & Joe probably four times over the past few years. I have ridden a bicycle over numerous shady roads and bike paths through the neighborhoods. This visit I got a look behind the facade. I am impressed. These folks, even in retirement, are giving back, through Habitat and through their clinic.

How are you giving back on this feast of the Trinity?

Download the homily as an mp3 file.