Sunday Homily 7-26-09; 17th Ordinary Time

Readings:   Ezekiel, 34, 11-17,  I will look after and tend my sheep; Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want; 1 Corinthians 15, 20-28, Christ has been raised from the dead; Matthew 25, 31-46, The last judgement, He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Ezekiel:  I've mentioned how Ezekiel is one of the Big 3 Prophets, #3 after Isaiah & Jeremiah.  I also mentioned e how he lived smack dab in the middle of one of the two or three biggest tragedies of the Jewish people, the Babylonian captivity, from say 600 to 550 BCE.  He was there.

In American history we can look back and identify special presidential leaders, Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt.  They came forward in crisis times. 

Ezekiel was this type of leader in Jewish history.  He saw what had happened to other Jews of the the northern province of Israel (Jerusalem is in the southern province of Judah) after they had been carted off as slaves after a defeat by the Assyrians.  They intermarried and simply disappeared in the DNA of the middle east.

Ezekiel is in Babylon and is determined that his community would not lose its identity.  He did three things to help maintain the spirit of the community: he emphasized  1. observance of the Sabbath, 2. kosher diet, and 3. circumcision.

Eventually after ca. 50 years the community still was a cohesive unit and it returned to rebuild Jerusalem, at least most of them.  The Jews are one of the few peoples to be defeated and scattered, and still return to their original homeland.  They remained there until the Romans defeated them in 70 C.E., returning when?  1948, after the Holocaust.

Today's reading comes to us from an Ezekiel captive in Babylon, and has Ezekiel promising the people a return, a brighter day after the captivity.  He uses the figure of speach, I will.  But I is Yahweh. 

Giving Thanks & Giving Back

Occasionally we have a story that is so good it deserves to be repeated, like the Christmas story.  This event took place 2 or 3 years ago.  Some of you will remember it, but it is a lesson worth remembering.

It happened like this. 

The community had adopted a family for Advent, a mother with 3 little kids and a baby on the way.  Beth Robinson had coordinated our adoption of the family and we were collecting clothing, food, and money.  It was our response to Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as our response to how blessed we are and have been this year.  

After the Mass everyone was standing around having coffee and pastries.  Beth was there when a young boy, 6 or 7 years old,  came up and said he would like to help the family.  All he had was a dollar and he would like to give it to the family.  Beth accepted it graciously.

The boy is one of ours.  You know who it is?  Dillon.  The son of Bobbi Whitley, and Tony & Jo’s grandson.  The brother of Hunter & Audrey.   He is not with us this morning because he is a Boy Scout on a weekend camping trip.  He will be back & he knows I am telling the story. 

Dillon is a model for me and he exemplifies the two themes I would like to touch this morning, what we have to be thankful for and how we respond to the Matthew story about feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty.   

My belief is that the greatest prayer is gratitude.  I am grateful that living in our country we have this feast, my favorite.  It pulls me back over the past year and gets me questioning, ‘What is my greatest blessing or joy or gift?’  Rosemary & I even make a list.

Our response is easy, try to give back.  This is why we renovated Rita’s house a week ago.  It is why we have put together for the community a simple plan for Advent, call it A Gift a Sunday.  I will explain the idea at the end of Mass and welcome any helpful ideas.

Two observations about our gospel about the sheep & goats.  Actually, lefties like myself & goats don't do well here.

    1.  Beware of either/or spirituality.  We are both.  The temptation, of course: I am a goat & lost.  We are all goats.

    2.  Beware of letting fear enter your spirit and trying to do it all, feed, give drink, clothe, visit the imprisoned, and on & on.  Try moderation seasoned with gratitude.

What is your blessing of the year?  How are you giving back? 

Picture 1:    Mass begins

Picture 2:    John working out with Ray & Jon 

Picture 3:   Froebes, Richard & Morgan & Monica  

Picture 4:    Butterlies, Jim & Denise, Kara & James III   

Picture 5:    Buddy with his dad, Randolph 

Picture 6:    Brooklyn thanks everyone for welcoming her and accepts her baptism tree

Readings: Habakkuk,1, 2-3 & 2, 2-4;Psalm 95; 2 Timothy 1, 6-14; Luke 17 5-10.

Habakkuk: the words of this prophet come from the end of the 7th century, B.C. at a time when the Babylonians were in power.  He was deeply disturbed by their violence and asked Yahweh why he was silent. Yahweh’s response was that he will rescue the people in his own time.  But meanwhile, the good will live on because they are faithful to Yahweh.

In our selection we have a bit of both: Habakkuk’s complaint & Yahweh’s response.  This connects with Luke’s gospel which touches on faith and the servant who simply is doing what he is supposed to do.

Faith? In What?

A short while ago Donna sent me a quiz on religion.  A handful of questions asks about what a person believes.  Like, do you believe, or not believe in God?  What do you think happens after you die?  And so on.

After you finish the quiz you are matched up with the religious group with which you have the closest fit.  My closest fit turned out to be Liberal Quaker.  Roman Catholic for me was in the twenties.  So why don’t I become a Quaker?  Because it does not feel like home, which Catholicism does.  I hope to work with the essentials of Catholicism.  Some say this is being a cafeteria Catholic.  I would prefer to call myself an a la carte Catholic.  The only intellectually healthy way.

I thought of all this because of Luke’s  comments about faith.  If I had faith I could uproot trees.  I would be happy to just get rid of the weeds in the lawn. Is this not exaggeration? Sadly some sects take it literally, as you know. Faith is the product of a process, often called faith formation.  And this is where it really gets tricky. Who determines what is taught to young people and members of a religious group? What I was taught as a child, wow. So much of it I don’t accept any more.

My Catholic education was anomalous.  I learned to critique literature, poetry, politics, government, psychology, but not religious instruction.  I memorized that. That religious instruction was supposed to be my faith. Doubts & questions were not encouraged. 

This leads me to make a distinction between religion and spirituality. I think both religion & spirituality produce my faith. My spirituality, likewise, is influenced by religious instruction. Some of these observations come from Vaillant’s Aging Well.

First, religion is usually exclusive, while spirituality is inclusive.  For example, If you don’t believe the pope is infallible, you are excluded from the membership.  If you don’t wear certain dress, you are expelled or criticized. 

Secondly, religion comes from outside, while spirituality comes from inside. True, my spirituality is not formed in a vacuum. It receives input from outside sources.  Spirituality, however, sifts and sorts before accepting it. 

Thirdly, religion is certain and proclaims creeds & dogma that have to be believed.  Spirituality searches. It involves feelings, experiences, and uncertainty.

My brother in law gave me a good book on how religions become corrupt and evil, eventually losing their original charism.  (When Religion Becomes Evil, Charles Kimball) Five characteristics:

• Absolute truth. For example, infallibility. 
• Absolute obedience. We Jesuits took vows of obedience.  Was God asking this? Or people? Like men who lived in Rome. We are all expected to be obedient to Rome.
• End justifies the means. Inquisition. Firing of theologians like Charles Curran over at SMU to eliminate alternative ideas in areas like birth control.
• Justification of the Holy War. Crusades, Jihad.
• The Special Time. Peace will come when all people believe the same religion and there will be one law, like Sheria or Evangelical Christian.

I would suggest that each person’s faith is unique and we are not homogeneous. If we are spiritually healthy.

What are the three things you have the strongest faith in?

RELIGION QUIZ: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-10-07.mp3

Readings: Deuteronomy 18, 15-20; Psalm 95; 1 Corinthians 7, 32-35; Mark 1, 21-28 

Deuteronomy:5th book of the Bible, the Torah, coming after Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, & Numbers.  The work is basically 3 lectures given supposedly by Moses to the Jewish people while they were still in the desert and preparing to enter the land of Canaan, where the Canaanite people lived. 

Author: For centuries people considered Moses to be the author, in fact, the author of the first 5 books of the Bible, the part called the Torah.  Today it is commonly held that Deuteronomy is a compilation by a number of authors.

Date: 7th Century BCE, with some parts coming from the period of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 575.

Our selection: comes from the second lecture (chapters 5-26) which presents numerous dictates about how to behave in the new land.  For example, an every 7 years a jubilee year is prescribed when all debts are erased (chap. 15); if one's son is rebellious, take him to the city council, and stone him (chap. 21); and laws concerning slaves (chap. 23).  In our section from chap. 18 Moses is telling the people another prophet like himself will be raised up by Yahweh to lead them.  Guess why this prophet statement is chosen by the lectionary editor today?  Jesus is seen by people following Jesus' time as the prophet mentioned by Moses.

A note on Paul's comments in 1 Corinthians: jokesters like to say that maybe Paul was not happy in his marriage.  This is why he puts marriage in second place behind non-marriage.  It could, also, be because he was influenced by the dualistic philosophy of his time, flesh-spirit.   Spirit was good, flesh less good.  For the spirit to thrive the flesh needed disciplining.

Judging the Book by the Cover Again

There was a kid who was working as a stocker at a Home Depot.  One afternoon he heard a new female voice over the store intercom asking for help with packing at the check out.  Sort of reluctantly he stops his break and goes to help.  As he searches for the person asking for help he sees a beautiful woman who stuns him.  He had never seen her before.  He helps her out, then hangs around the time clock to see what her name is when she checks out. 

When she checks out, he watches where her card goes and takes a look at the name.  Brenda.  Then, as he walks to his car he sees her walking up the street toward home he guesses.  The next day he waits around just right and as she departs he asks if she would like a ride.  She accepts, figuring he can't be too bad since he works where she does.

He does the same thing another day and as she is leaving the car he asks if she would like to have dinner the next Saturday night.  She says she can't.  He continues to invite her and she admits that she cannot come because she has two little kids and cannot afford the baby sitter.   He offers to pay for the sitter and asks her to think about it.  Finally, another day she accepts, despite the fact that he is 22 and she is 26.

When he arrives at the door that evening, she says again she cannot go.   The sitter canceled.  He says, "So, let's take the kids."  She says it would be very difficult.  So, he asks to meet the kids and she grudgingly lets him in.  First to come in is a daughter about 8 who he thinks is cute as can be.  Then Brenda goes to the back and returns pushing  a wheel chair with a young boy.  A little child born a paraplegic with Down Syndrome.

"This is why I cannot go out," She explains.  "No problem," he says, "We can still take them with us."  Now it is Brenda's turn to be astounded.  Most men she knew would not come near her just because of having two children.  But one that is a paraplegic with Down Syndrome.  Adios!  But she accepts, they all go to eat, and then to a movie. 

When the kids need anything the guy is ready to help, even helping when the little boy needs to go to the potty.  Brenda continues to be astounded at the guy's helpfulness and consideration.

If you have not heard this story already, the guy's name is Kurt and you can see him on TV this evening playing quarterback for the Cardinals at age 37.  The story has a marvelous ending, because about a year later they married and have had at least two more kids.  Be fun to see Brenda on TV.

I talk about Kurt Warner because before I read this story I have not liked him for a little while.  He plays for a team whose owner I do not like.  But also, the maybe one time I have ever seen him on TV was when he played the last game against Carolina, he never seemed to be excited or animated, never congratulated anybody, or cheered on his team mates.  At least that was what I saw.  Then I get this story from Larry Thompson and think, "There I go, did it again."  Judged a book by the cover.  In fact, judged negatively.

I would like to apply this lesson to the Mark story about the man with the unclean spirit.  Traditionally when people were considered to have an unclean spirit they were considered possessed by a devil.  Do you believe in devils?  In this tradition we have all the melodrama connected with exorcisms.  Want to read about how this can go wako?  Read Heretic's Daughter  by a Dallas author, Kent. It talks about the Salem, MA witch hunts around 1690.

Today, with our much deeper psychological understanding of people's behaviors, their thinking and feeling, we would consider the man with the unclean spirit to most likely have a mental disorder or sickness.  It could even be an addiction.  You only have to visit psych wards in hospitals to run into what could be called people with unclean spirits.  You meet a homeless person on the street and you might be tempted to think that person is demonic. 

What did Jesus do?  I propose he first of all was not scared away by the man.  Secondly, he accepted him peacefully. 

The lesson for us?  Maybe two.

First, regarding the Bible, what is your belief system?  Believe in devils, in evil spirits, in demonic possession, in exorcisms?

Secondly, how many times a week do you judge the book by the cover? 

AUDIO:  sorry, missed connection

Picture 1:  Mass with T.J., Lorynne, & Lacee

Picture 2:  Birthday of John & Geri

Picture 3:  Jim & Dorothy

Picture 4:  Birthday of Gilberto

References:

• The Carmelite web site

• Christ in the Desert web site

• St. Raymond Catholic Parish, Dublin, CA web site

• Bishop John Shelby Spong, various works and articles in Mirabile Dictu, edited by David          Gawlik

Readings:

Isaiah, 2, 1-5,  They shall beat their swords into plow shares. (a beautiful readRing)

 Psalm 122,  Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

 Romans 13, 11-14,  Our salvation is nearer now.

 Matthew 24, 37-44,   Stay awake, for you do not know on  which day your Lord will come.

Thanks, John, for celebrating today.

 Second week of Advent, Thoughts by Mike

Energize your spiritual journey

We are all brothers and sisters, and our one goal is the kingdom of heaven, here and now.

We will always obtain the desire of our heart, so we must choose our desires wisely. 

Choose love, for it is in giving that we receive, ‘it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.’

‘Pay it forward.’  We teach by example.

Life is not about winning or loosing, its about compassion and justice.

Taking a step forward means that we have chosen to leave something behind. 

We are granted joy when we choose to leave pain behind. 

We enter truth when we choose to leave fear behind.

Peace comes when we choose to forgive.

Our Spirit enlightens us by chasing away our darkness, for they cannot coexist.  

Happy Anniversary, Frank & Mary.

The Kingdom of God is always at hand.  Be born again.

We are one body in Christ, when we are not seen or recognized when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned.

Love does not build barriers; it tears them down.

Gratitude is the lens through which the Spirit calls us to journey.

‘Most opportunities are never convenient.  You don’t wait for them; they just occur.’

Deacon Mike

Hi, John and Mike from Hilton Head Island.

Readings: Acts 8, 5-17; Psalm 66; 1 Peter 3, 15-18; John 14, 15-21.

Conditional or Unconditional Love?

On the west coast there is a writer named David Sheff who wrote a book about his son Nic.  The book is called Beautiful Boy.  In turn, Nic wrote a book about his own experience of growing up, a book called Tweak.

When Nic was 11 years old he got totally drunk for the first time.  During his four years in high school, he continued down this path, drinking, smoking pot, and experimenting with drugs.  On graduation Nic entered the world of methamphetamines and he plunged toward the bottom.  Tweak refers to the condition of a person on meth, totally strung out.

David tells in his book how for 2, maybe 3 years he refused to accept that his beautiful son was a drug addict.  On numerous occasions, after Nic had been gone for weeks on end, David would get Nic into a rehab program.  Nic would rehab for a month or two, come out and stay clean and sober for three or four days, then disappear into his meth world for another stretch. 

Nic got so desperate he would break into his dad’s house and into his dad’s friends’ houses to steal money or items to sell.  At a really low point he stole $8 from his little brother Jasper.  All this helped him to feel lower than dirt, but he was obsessed about his addiction.

During the first two years, David worried constantly and would welcome Nic home whenever he showed up or called for help.  Only slowly with the help of counseling, consulting, and Al Anon did he begin to believe in the tough love concept.  He told Nic he could not help him with money & bed, only get him into rehab. 

During one long clean & sober period it looked like Nic had turned a corner.  He even gave Jasper $8 and wrote him a touching apology.  Shortly after that, he disappeared again. 

I watched David mature in this book.  Though a loving father, in the beginning he was a poor parent and self indulgent.  As Nic spirals downward, David continues to love.  But he matures and his love matures.  Which brings me to a subject I’ve been hearing about & reflecting upon, conditional vs unconditional loving.  The Gospel brings up the idea.  Did David ever love Nic with unconditional love?   How would I see it?  What would be the signs?

Three comments about conditional & unconditional love:

1.  Have you ever noticed how the Bible is full of conditional love statements?  Look at today’s Gospel.  "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  "Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me."  Also, John 15, 10 & 14.  "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love."  "You are my friends, if you do what I command you."  Sounds very conditional and parental. 

In other places there is talk about the sheep and the goats and the unquenchable flames.  The Old Testament is one long story of a jealous Yahweh.  Many tragedies befell the Hebrews because they did not show enough honor to Yahweh.

2.  Does Jesus show us the face of an unconditionally loving God? In his words? What we hear today is pretty conditional.  What about his actions? 

What if God is an unconditionally loving God, or an unconditionally accepting God?

3.  How do I become unconditionally loving?  Do I want to?  As a parent?   Two observations:

     a.  Is unconditional love made up of unconditional acceptance?  I think so. Tough.  Is there a distinction between accepting the person and accepting the actions, e.g., addiction and abuse?  I think so.  It is how tough love comes into play.

     b.  Is unconditional acceptance of another influenced by unconditional acceptance of myself ? I think so.  David had a hard time with guilt.  He felt guilt, I think appropriately.  He was told the 3 C’s: you did not cause it, you cannot control it, and you cannot cure it.  Nonsense.  I see regularly and believe in the miracle of cure, cure of the spirit, cure of the heart.  And I can accept that I cause harm to other people.

In summary, I would suggest that we become more spiritually whole the more we love unconditionally.

Whom do you love unconditionally? 

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-04-27.mp3

Readings:

Daniel 12, 1-3,  The wise shall shine brightly.  

 Psalm 16,    You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Hebrews  10, 11-14, 18, Every priest stands daily at his ministry.

Mark 13, 24-32, This generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.

Leo and Brandon say, "Hi, Folks, Welcome in."  Along with Mary, too.  

Thanksgiving History: Everyone knows about the first Thanksgiving in 1602 with the Pilgrims and the Indians eating together, the Mayflower, and Plymouth Rock.   Here are 5 facts that people do not hear about usually.

1.  When did Thanksgiving begin?  Our ancestors have celebrated end of harvest feasts of gratitude for centuries.  Lincoln first focused on a national feast; FDR established the national holiday in 1941.

2.  The pilgrims did not know they were pilgrims.  They called themselves saints, and non-saints were called strangers.  The word pilgrim came along in the 18 hundreds, 2 centuries later.  They were not even Puritans, but separatists.  They split off from the Church of England, old Henry VIII's church, and the Puritans did not split off. 

                                      "Hi, Paul & Carrie."

3.   The Separatists did not come to establish religious freedom.  They came for religious freedom for their religion and only their religion.  Like the Catholic Church, the Separatists demanded everyone belong to their program.  Failure to conform could result in execution, ala inquisition.

4.  The Mayflower returned to England, was torn apart, and its beams were used to build a barn in Buckinghamshire (just north of London & east of Oxford).

          "Welcome back, Miss Genevieve, Good to see you."

5.  How did the Indians & Separatists communicate?   The Indians were Algonquians & one of them, Squanto had actually lived in Briton some years.  He returned to his tribe and taught his friend, Samoset English.  It was Samoset who communicated with the Separatists, & the Indians taught them to raise corn, to fish, and to hunt.  In the first winter half of the 100 Separatists died before the Indians taught them how to survive.

               "Oh, Folks, Watch out.  The girl walks!"

Thanksgiving

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, my most favorite celebration, I would like to talk about blessings.  Excuse me for the personal focus.  It is my annual assessment.  Rosemary & I do this together more toward the end of the year, but initially I put together my own list.

I have already told you that in life I am grateful for three big blessings, my Jesuit experience, my African experience, and my marriage. 

As an aside, this Tuesday we celebrate the 26^th anniversary of the 6 Jesuits killed in the patio of their residence of their university, UCA, University of Central America, El Salvador. 

                     Zoe, our candle lighter of the week.

I was just back in the States from East Africa and was quite moved by these men.  I was ready to go there myself.

This year I can perceive again three big blessings, marriage, health, and my role as priest/psychotherapist.  Let me explain each of these a little.

The landscape of my marriage this year included, first of all, our Viking cruise on the Rhine River.  Just watching and listening to the river was special, but that was only the beginning.  Delightful people, quaint places, homey environment, and more.

"Hi, Georgie, Suit up time.  Just the two of us this morning."

Our Mondays, dancing also has been a blessing.  We even took a class Friday night in what is called West Coast Swing.  I was getting to a point that I wanted to learn a few new steps or routines, like when we used to dance a lot of years ago.  West Coast Swing we knew some from the old days, but we had forgotten a lot.  Friday was a great help.

Because of our marriage I also have the privilege of spending Thanksgiving most years with Rosemary’s sister & brother in law in Hilton Head.  I can rest and unload the pressure more there than almost anywhere else in the world.

                     Cupcake of the year to John on his birthday.

A final blessing connected with our marriage is just our time together.  We have breakfast together most mornings, lunch 3-5 times a week, and I just enjoy being together.  Maybe we are reading on the couch together in the evening before I check out at 9:00, to comments like, “Party Pooper.”

The second big blessing is health and, in particular, my super hips.  I have already called my hip specialist, like I do every Thanksgiving, to let him know how grateful I am and to list what I have done.

                   Cupcake of The Week to Frank on his birthday.

Like riding 500 miles across the beautiful, rolling hills of Iowa for a whole week.

Like riding the HHH, Hotter N’ Hell Hundred the last Saturday of August out of Wichita Falls.  Hundred like in miles and temp.

Like spending 9 nine days in Yosemite with 8 good friends, when on the 2009  hike I thought I would never be able to hike there again.

      Cupcake of The Week to John & Connie on their 29th.

Finally, I would like to mention the privilege and honor I feel in being a priest and psychotherapist.  I love doing the marriages, the memorials, and the visits, all of which Rosemary & I do together. 

And this community.  What a joy to come here each Sunday to see all of you and to watch the kids grow healthy and peaceful.

What are your 2 or 3 biggest blessings of the year that you are grateful for?  Happy Thanksgiving.

         Cupcake of The Week to Mary Ellen on her birthday.