Sunday Homily 8-16-09, 20th Ordinary Time

Readings: Exodus 17, 8-13; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3, 14-4, 2; Luke 18, 1-8

Exodus: to understand this book it helps to review what came before in Genesis.  Namely, creation, Cain & Abel, the flood, the tower of Babylon, and then the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob.  Remember that Jacob had 12 sons, the last of which, Joseph, was sold by his brothers to a camel caravan which got him to Egypt. 

Joseph thrived in Egypt, becoming the favorite of Pharaoh, while drought & famine afflicted the land of Joseph’s brothers & his father, Jacob.  At one point Jacob sends his sons to Pharaoh to get food & help.  That is how eventually the Israelites ended up in Egypt, to live. 

Exodus is the story of their escape from Egypt, Moses, his birth and call, and how he gets the people away from Pharaoh.

In our selection the people are in the desert fighting for their lives.  Three characters make up the story, Moses, Joshua, the leader of the Israelite army, and Amalek, the leader of the army attacking the people. Moses is blessing his people by holding his staff over the army as a blessing, like praying for success.  See what happens.  This sets up the Luke story about the widow petitioning the judge for a victory.

What We Ask For

A few years ago I had three elderly people from the subdivision of Northwood Hills contact me about planting trees in their neighborhood.  Two were a couple and there was a third guy, all probably about my age right now.  I really did not want to do this project because they were north of LBJ and I thought it was too far to drag the water trailer full of water from Jesuit, where I was living then.

So I put them off.  Maybe even for a year.  Eventually, however, because of their persistence I went to see their project, which consisted of Fretz Park, Hillcrest from LBJ to Beltline, Beltline from Preston to Coit, and a neighborhood elementary school, about 350 plus trees.

Despite not being eager to tackle the distance, two things pulled down my resistance.  First, they were willing to kick in a good portion of the cost of the trees.  Secondly, they were so gracious and eager to improve their own neighborhood.  I could not tell them no after all they were willing to put out, and all their pleading. 

You know the rest.  We planted one of our bigger projects and the trees are thriving.  In fact, I did not even water that project once this summer.  You may not know it, but they gave me a recognition of gratitude at one of their large community meetings.

When I hear Luke’s story about the widow & the judge I always think about Northwood Hills.  With gratitude. 

With confusion also, because I have difficulty with the main point of the story.  Namely, that God will answer persistent prayer, without even being slow about it, as Luke says.  Do you believe that God answers our prayers, and even more swiftly if we are persistent as the widow?  My mom thought that a nine day novena with special prayers got her every request, though my memory tells me otherwise.

I need to make a distinction and an observation to make sense of this for me.  I have talked about it before, so I remind you.  The distinction is between a macro-managing God and a micro-managing God.

The macro-managing God I can handle.  This god is behind the big stuff, the sky, creation, the stars, life, the balance of the universe.  I see this god as like a person bowling.  He gets the ball going and it travels on its own.

The micro-managing god, however, is in the small stuff, responsible for my sickness, for instance.  He makes good things happen & bad things.  He can change each.  If I pester this god enough he will find my lost wedding ring or car keys.  He will cure the sick, make me rich, fix the lottery so I win it, and so forth.  This god I don’t see in my experience.

Then why do I pray for people?  Like at our prayers of the faithful.  This is the observation. I pray first because I think, I hope, our God hears and is personal.  Secondly, I pray because I imagine that my spirit sends forth some kind of emotional energy to that God that says, "Please take special care of this person I love."  When we do this as a group, the emotional energy has a little more punch. 

A by product of praying for others is it sensitizes me to the suffering & difficulty other people are experiencing.

So where does this leave us?  Don’t pray for people?  Don’t pray persistently like the little widow or the people from Northwood Hills?  No. It may mean I lower my expectations. Maybe it helps to make the distinction about the macro vs micro-managing god.  I still remember people in prayer. 

Ultimately, what is your belief about praying for special intentions?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-10-21.mp3

 

Readings: Exodus 20, 1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1, 22-25; John 2, 13-25

Exodus: 2nd book of the Bible & of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible.

Date of Composition: put together ca 450-400 BCE, though elements come from 1000 BCE at least.

Author(s):  Moses, no.  At least 3 sources, maybe 4, e.g., the Yahweh (J) source, the Elohim (E) source, the Priestly (P) source, and even the Deuteronomy Source. 

Subject Matter Today:  The 10 Commandments–2 observations:

1. Academics see 3 maybe 4 versions of the 10 commandments, Exodus 34 (the oldest), Exodus 20 (our selection), Deuteronomy 5 (the last)

2. The versions come from the sources composing at different times, for example,

  

• The Yahweh Source, 10th Century BCE, therefore, Exodus 34    

• The Elohim Source, 9th Century BCE, therefore Exodus 20

•  The Deuteronomy Source, 7th Century BCE, therefore Deuteronomy 5    

• The Priestly Source, edited all the sources in 6th Century BCE (450-400 BCE, at the end of the Babylonian Captivity).  The 7 Day Creation Story comes from this source at this time.

Source:  Bishop (Episcopal) John Shelby Spong

 

Anger Management

I think it was October last year when Rosemary & I were at DFW taking a flight to Philadelphia (probably departing out of the international terminal) to celebrate Jean Kovatis' wedding.  It was a morning flight so we bought a couple of lattes to take on board. 

We end up at the middle of the pack and head for our double seats in the middle of the plane on the right side facing forward.  Since I like the window & Rosemary doesn't, I squeezed in first, seated myself, opened the table, and put my latte on the table.  Then Rosemary begins to squeeze in.

At some point in this process her purse or arm or something hits my latte.  It flips over to the right, hits the wall and my leg, tumbles down, and finally lands on the floor below the seat in front of me.  I cannot see it. As fast as I can, I lock up my table, get my book out of the way, and squeeze down to pick up the paper cup, hoping that the top was still on.  The top was not still on.  My half gallon of latte spilled all over the carpet creating a lake of coffee with milk under the double seats in front of us.

Rosemary is still standing so she piles into the line of people waiting in the aisle and heads to the rear restrooms to scavenge paper towels.  With these finally we begin to sop up the lake, apologizing to the people in front of us because of the latte lake at their feet.  We succeeded pretty well under the circumstances.  You could hardly tell there had been an accident.

When it was all over, finally seated and buckled in, me without my latte, Rosemary says to me, "I don't know what you got so mad about."  I confess I had been steamed.  "You know I do this frequently," she adds.  True enough.  There had been other special occasions. 

I mention this little event (with Her permission) because it came to mind when I see the story of Jesus getting all steamed up at the vendors in the temple.   I have to laugh.  Lucky he never got married.  What is he so hyped up about?  Was he having a bad mood day?  Can he have bad moods?  Was he getting old and cranky?  He apparently was about 30 at this time, which would make him a pretty old geezer for those days when most people checked out in their mid-twenties.  If you look at the scene with amusement and detachment, you might want to laugh.

On the other hand, there might have been some significant reasons for anger, like:

    1.  he was angry because the vendors were supposed to remain in the outer courtyard and they were inching into the inner sanctum, the holy place.

    2.  he was angry because he was watching the vendors cheat a little bit here, a little bit there.  Maybe his mom had been cheated by one of these guys 20 years ago and he still was angry about that.

    3.  he was angry because he saw the obsession of some of these people with money.  He was seeing the Bernie Madoffs, the Stanfords, and the Ken Lays of his day.

But, note that

    1.  it was customary for animals to be sold at the temple.  These animals were destined to be bought by people, taken to the priestly cast inside the temple, and given as a sacrifice.  These people were heavy into sacrifice.  The idea: I give something to Yahweh, I get something from Yahweh.  Maybe it was gratitude for already getting something.  The rich bought larger animals, like sheep & goats, the poor bought small critters, like a dove or a pigeon.  So animals were always expected around the temple.

    2.  it was customary that the temple was a center for all sorts of trade.  People went there for sacrifice, giving thanks, and socializing.  The market naturally set up near, in, and around the temple.  The markets I saw in Tanzania when I lived there were probably similar and were fascinating events.  Take our farmers market and multiply, then add bushels of women chatting, snooping around for deals, and bargaining.  Men are drifting around and some are running the meat market.  Both men & women are selling.  You tell the butcher, "I would like a kilo of that beef."  It is hanging from a hook and the butcher uses a sharp knife to slice off a kilo.  It gets wrapped in newspaper you bring or a piece of material you bring with you.

So why was Jesus so angry, why was I angry?  We did not read about it in Exodus, but when Moses came down the mountain and found that his son Aron had built some kind of little idol and all the people were worshiping it, Moses broke the stone tablets of the 10 commandments.  I don't know about Jesus & Moses, but I would suggest that I got caught off guard.  I have a little trick that helps with this craziness.  I would call it expectation adjustment.  The idea comes not from my head, but from a man named Albert Ellis (American Psychologist, developed RET, Rational-emotive Therapy, d. 2007, 93). 

The idea is that I have an expectation about how a person should behave & how things should be.  If I  get obsessive compulsive or as Rosemary might gently describe it, I get anal, then I can go off when the person behaves in a way contrary to my expectation.  What do you think is the dynamic behind road rage?  For example, I expect that truckers will drive in the lanes other than the left lane.  I see trucker in left lane.  I go off. 

Want to fix it?  Adjust my expectation.  Trucker is in left lane.  So what.  Moses comes down the mountain and the people are messing up.  Expectation.  Jesus seems to have done some expectation adjustment, because faced with condemnation by the Pharisees at the end of his life he does not fight back. 

How do you manage your anger? 

Sources:  Center for Liturgy, St. Louis U.; Alfred Ellis

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-03-15.mp3

Picture 1:  Mass with Noah & Rosemary

Picture 2:  Birthdays–Jzckie, Shiela, & JoJo

Picture 3:  Wedding begins, Fred & Martha, her daughter April & best man Manuel

Picture 4:  Fred & Martha share their vows

Readings:

Nehemiah  8, 2-10,   Do not be sad and do not weep.

Psalm 19, Your words, Lord, are spirit and life.

 1 Corinthians 12, 12-30,  A body is one though it has many parts.

Luke 1, 1-4; 4, 14-21,   He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives.

 

 

  Victoria says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in.  We got a brunch today."

 

Introduction  

 

 Our first reading is from Nehemiah, Ezra, a scribe and priest, reads and teaches from the written Torah in Jerusalem, brought back by those returning from the Babylon Exile. The Torah, of course, begins with the Book of Genesis and the creation story. 

Later the NT and then, Sufi Islam would make known that we are made in the image and likeness of God. A bond begins!  Our second reading from 1 Corinthians follows last Sunday’s teaching on the spiritual gifts.  Today’s reading describes how we are one in the Spirit as the body of Christ in the world.

 

 

Harper, too, says, "Hi, Folks, Come in."

 

 

Homily by Mike  

Remember the story about the tax collector and the Pharisee who went to the temple to pray.  The Pharisee praised himself and ended his prayer by saying, ‘I am glad that I’m not like the tax collector standing over there.  The tax collector however was beating his breast saying, ‘Have mercy on me a sinner.’   The Pharisee was self-righteous instead of being humble. He chose to look down upon others as if they were morally inferior.  He committed the sin of pride, the first of the deadly sins and he, too, like the tax collector, should have been seeking forgiveness.

 

Hi, Cathy, Welcome in to you, too.  Thanks for bringing Harper.

 

Don’t be surprised when Pope Francis formally asks the Jews to forgive us for being self-righteous toward them for so many centuries prior to World War II.  Unfortunately we had a part in the Holocaust for our prior teaching that the Jews could not be saved unless they became Christians. 

 

Sez Genevieve, "I want to sing, too."   Watch out, Folks, she can almost walk.

 

Francis has been calling us to recognize the bond that exists between Jews and Christians; it’s called the Spirit, blows were it wills, and is present within the inspired writings of both Jew and Christian.  Jesus was a Jew. Most of the NT was written by inspired Jews who believed that the Messiah had come.  Francis is encouraging us to visual this graphic relationship: within every Christian there is a Jew. 

 

Buddies, Leo & Genevieve.

 

Today’s gospel is about what happened when Jesus entered the Sabbath synagogue service.  The reading for that day, as you have heard, were the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me….’  The one who gave the reading would then give a teaching on why and to whom Isaiah had said these words.

 

The entrance, Here they come, Folks.

 

 For example, Isaiah could have been referring to the Jews to whom Ezra was reading and explaining the newly written Torah that had been brought back from Babylon after the exiles had been set free by Cyrus the Great.   Instead the inspired writers have Jesus fulfilling Isaiah’s words using them as an expectation for the coming of the Messiah.  In doing so, the structure of the Christian Liturgy of the Word would forever be identified: the words of Christ would fulfill the expectation of the reading from the Law and/or Prophets for the coming of the Messiah.  

 

Mike, sharing The Idea.

 

What Jesus said, of course, was, ‘This day these words are fulfilled in your hearing.’   Those in the synagogue who were receiving the good news, then, were the poor in spirit, the captive being set free, and the blind being given the opportunity to see. 

 

 Does it get any better?

 

So there is an intended spiritual harmony between OT and NT, between the Sabbath synagogue service and the Christian Liturgy of the Word, and between Jew and Christian.  Within every Christian there is a Jew.  Let us open our hearts to the words of our creed today that addresses all who seek to be led by the Spirit. 

 

 Buddies, Michelle & Georgie.

 

 

Readings:  Isaiah 63, 16-19 & 64, 2-7; Psalm 80; 1 Corinthians 1, 3-9; Mark 13, 33-37

Isaiah: One of the big 3 Prophets, mostly because of the size of the book.  At least 3 writers put this book together and this is number 3.

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.

3.  The Separatists did not come to establish religious freedom.  They came for religious freedom for their religion and only their religion.  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 ot build a barn in Buckinghamshire (just north of London & east of Oxford).

5.  How did the Indians & Separatists communicate?   The Indians were Algonquins & 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. 

 

How to Prepare for a Marvelous Christmas

For the first ten years of my life as a Jesuit and the ten years I was in East Africa I think every Christmas I was homesick.  This was true despite my efforts to make the event a lot of fun.  One year when I was in Tanzania I brought a frozen turkey down from Nairobi, Kenya, across the border into Tanzania, and threw a party Christmas day on the roof of our house, inviting friends and neighbors, many of whom were Muslim. 

Because of this and because we are just beginning the season of Advent, the season of preparation for Christmas, I would like to review some ways to prepare ourselves for a marvelous Christmas.  I have 5 observations.

1.  First, beware of fear and depression.  You read Mark's story about the man traveling abroad and you get spooked into thinking God is going to grab me when I'm not looking.  Nonsense.

Depression seems to surface more during the Christmas season, because of at least one reason.  Expectations.  We expect more out of the Christmas season, peace, love, warm relationships, gifts.  When the reality comes in below the expectation I have, I get disappointed and maybe depressed.  Memories of disappointing Christmases past can also depress me. 

2.  Unlike Mark's warning about sleeping, I would propose that we need more rest at this darker time of the year.  Our ancestors used to sleep when it went dark.  Today we force ourselves to stay awake and lights keep us awake.  Doctors are saying we need more sleep in the dark days of winter and are recommending, get this, 9 hours.  Maybe try an extra hour.  How about a nap?

3.  Along with more sleep, exercise.  My internist tells me that he wants me to exercise every day.  I do.  Walk through the neighborhood.  Ride a bike.  Along the way look at the colors of the red oaks and Bradford Pear trees. 

4.  Have you got anything special you do every year for Christmas, during Advent?  Something to get you into a Christmas spirit?  If not, what about finding something?  Two things I have got to do every year: take in a performance of Handel's Messiah and take in the Dallas Symphony Christmas concert.  I may get in an extra one or two of these, but I find this so touches my spirit.

I know a few families who tour Christmas lights.  Here in Plano is Deerfield.  Among the best is Highland Park, Beverly Drive and Armstrong Parkway, both east and west of Preston.   In Deerfield, you may walk around.  In Highland Park there are horse drawn carriages. 

5.  Finally, in line with Mark's gospel, watch, watch for the daily miracles and blessings.  Review your year for the biggest blessings, like I mentioned before Thanksgiving.  Write a blessing on one of the pieces of paper by the blessing tree.  I will include one or two in each Sunday's blog.  Your blessing will be a gift to someone who cannot get here to Vines for Mass and has to pick up our celebration via the blog.

I thank God each year now that I am no longer homesick at Christmas.  I am home.

How are you putting together a Marvelous Christmas?

Picture 1.  17 years old, Renee Bresson, plus T.J. & Lorynne & Lacee serving

Picture 2.  Barb & Ron, Diane, Mary & Frank, Anniversaries & Birthdays

Picture 3.  45th Anniversary: Mary & Frank Esparza

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-11-30.mp3

  Blessings under the Tree:

1.  My biggest blessing of the year was my mom's recovery & being able able to be there for her.

2.  One of my blessings is to turn 70 years of age and have my mother call at 8 A.M. and sing Happy Birthday to me.

3.  A special blessing is my daughter.  She has adjusted to college life so well, emotionally, physically, adademically, and much more.

 

Readings: Genesis 14, 18-20; Psalm 110, You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek; 1 Corinthians 11, 23-26; Luke 9, 11-17 

   

Sorry for the delay on the Sunday Blog.  The Editors had a wedding near Austin Sunday Evening.

 

 

Genesis: a review—

 

 

What: the first book of the whole bible, part of the Torah, the first 5 books of the ancient Jewish bible.   The word, from Greek, means origin or beginning.

 

The book is a mythical panorama that covers:

   1.  2 creation stories

   2.  The apple tree, the snake, Eve, The Fall

   3.  Cain & Abel

   4.  Noah & the Flood

   5.  Tower of Babylon

   6.  The Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob (or Israel)

   7.  The 12 sons of Jacob & Joseph sold into Egypt

   8.  The migration to Egypt (which sets up the Exodus)

 

Who wrote: not Moses; 4 major streams or sources can be identified

 

Date: Anywhere from 1500 to 500 B.C.E.

 

Today: a little blessing of Abraham by Melchizedek, a king & a priest.  Abraham has just won a battle.   Melchizedek is seen by the Catholic Church as a sort of proto-priest.  How come no more Jewish priests?  Because the Romans in 70 C.E. destroyed the temple in Jerusalem.  The priests offered sacrifice to Yahweh to win his benevolence.  Now rabbis & synagogues.  What if the temple were rebuilt? 

 

 

 

Luke Gospel: observations—

 

 1.  Luke copied Mark (the earlier writer), 5 loaves, 2 fish, 12 baskets, 5,000 men seated in groups

  2.  Mark is trying to convince the Jews in the temple & synagogue that Jesus is special, similar to Moses .  Both bring the people out of slavery.  Both feed the people, Moses in the desert.

  3.  Mark is working with the Jewish liturgical calendar, presenting Jesus stories each Sabbath in the worship services. 

4.  Please pardon me for repeating an understanding of this nature miracle that I have told before.

Sources: Wikipedia; Bishop Spong, Jesus for the Non-Religious, p. 72

 

 

 

The Miracle of Sharing My Stuff

 

 

I took an overnight train once from the capital of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, to the Kilimanjaro region where we Jesuits had a house I used as a base.  The train leaves at about 6:00 in the evening and arrives in a town called Moshi about 6:00 in the morning. 

 

 

Normally I would book a first class compartment ahead of time, which is not that much, but much better than coach.  I do not remember the reason  why I was traveling without my motorcycle.  Whatever, I ended up grabbing a coach ticket on the afternoon of the train’s departure.  A dumb move normally.

 

 

Coach, folks, is a scene.  I get on.  All seats are occupied, of course.  The aisle is full of luggage and people.  I find a corner and sit on my suitcase, resigned to sitting up all night. 

 

 

This would have been okay, but about 1:00 in the night we stop in the middle of nowhere.  It looks like west Texas in the dry season, scraggly bushes, semi-desert.  We sit there all that night, all the next day, and finally move as it is getting dark again.

 

 

I have now lived in East Africa a good half a dozen years.  I can speak the language easily.  I know the unpredictability of everything.  However, I did something really stupid that night.  I got on that train without any water or food, assuming the train would arrive as scheduled. 

 

 

Of course, the Tanzanians were provident.  They had food & water.  They would have easily shared with me if they knew I needed anything.  Trouble was, I did not want to drink their water because often it is not purified.

 

 

 

In the whole train, guess how many white folks there were.  One other couple, the guy a 6’4” military kid from West Germany and his blond girl friend from East Germany.  Before the wall came down.

 

 

They had water.

 

 

There are a couple of spin off stories about this couple.  First, I saved them from big trouble when the guy took a picture of a cute Tanzanian baby.  Tanzanians really get spooked and mad about this.

 

 

Secondly, I took the couple up Kilimanjaro and had to laugh.  The guy was like a number 5 out of 5 on the Alpine Rescue Team and near the top of Kilimanjaro I had to carry his pack because he got altitude sickness. 

 

 

I tell this story about the train because it explains to me just how this feeding of the people could have come about.

 

 

The people following Jesus were like my Tanzanian companions.  They did not go off without food.  Moreover, they hid what they had.  And they aren’t sharing it except under exceptional circumstances.  Jesus was one of the circumstances. 

 

 

He takes the five loaves and two fish, takes a bit, and passes it on.  The person who receives it realizes that under his robe he has some bread, too.  He takes a bit and passes it on.  But he also adds a portion of his own bread.  By the time it makes the rounds of 5 thousand times at least 2 (the women & kids), there is a leftover of 12 baskets.

 

 

The miracle was of the heart.  These country people who would hide and hoard to save their lives opened their hidden treasure and shared with their neighbor. 

 

 

This is miraculous.  This we can do. 

 

 

How are you doing it?

 

Picture 1:   Mass begins, Kevin helping

 

Picture 2:   Wendy, Shonda, Ray, & Celeste

 

Picture 3:   Communion

 

Picture 4:  John & Alison DeGenova, Sabrina's parents

 

 

 

 

 

 Readings:    

1 Kings  17, 10-16,   When we have eaten it, we shall die.

Psalm 146,   Praise the Lord, my soul.

Hebrews 9, 24-28,   He will bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.

Mark 12, 38-44,  A poor widow came and put in two small coins.

 Kings:

     Author & date of composition: the work is a compilation of numerous sources put together near the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550.

    Subject Matter: 1 Kings is part of a 4 book work that includes 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings.  The 3 kings are Saul, David, and his son, Solomon.

 The work begins with Samuel, the last great judge, continues through the lives of the 3 kings, and finally shows how Solomon’s sons’ squabbles led to the division of the Jewish nation into two states, north & south, Israel & Judah.  Both states were defeated and the people of Judah taken into the Babylonian Captivity.  It ends on a high note when Cyrus of Persia defeats Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and allows the Jews to return to Jerusalem.

    The Theme: you be good, good things happen to you; you be bad, bad things happen to you.

    Our selection: 2 great prophets lived when the kingdom divided, Elijah & Elisha.  They criticized the bad ways of the sons.  In this selection, Elijah tells the king he is going to send a drought to the king's land.  Then Elijah goes away & meets a poor, starving widow with a son.  Watch what happens.  This is setting us up for a little widow in the gospel.

 

   Contribute all I have, my whole livelihood?

I want to talk about a marvelous event I saw take place on a Southwest airplane.  

Last week Rosemary & I went to Chicago to visit a friend of mine since all the way back to our days at Christ the King grade school.  My friend, Pete, he and I parted after high school and we saw each other maybe half a dozen times all these years up until recently.

When I entered the Jesuits in Louisiana, he entered the F.B.I. and worked his whole life in and out of Chicago.  He was always athletic and last year told me he ran the Chicago Marathon 10 times.

So we fly Southwest to Chicago on Tuesday and return Wednesday.  The visit goes fine and we prepare to return home.  When we boarded in Chicago we were a bit nervous because the plane homeward bound was booked solid and we were on standby.  We make it okay.

 

Before arriving at Love Field we make a quick stop in Kansas City.  Half the plane empties, and refills just short of full.  Rather quickly all the new passengers are seated.  The overhead bins are stuffed full and closed.

Rosemary and I are seated two thirds of the way back, together this time.  Everything is copasetic and ready for departure.

 At this point down the aisle comes a slightly heavy lady.  She is pulling a roll on, max size. 

When she gets to us she sees a flight attendant approaching from the back.   “Where can I place my bag?” she asks. 

“I think all the bins are full, Ma’am.  Would you like to check your bag?”

“No,” responds the woman somewhat bluntly. 

Meanwhile the flight attendant is patiently opening and trying to find space, but this lady’s roll on is not small.  And her posture says she is not backing down.  The flight attendant is pleasant but starting to get a bit frustrated.

We are at crisis point, I think to myself. 

Then, the most amazing thing happens.  The woman in the aisle seat right across from me and Rosemary says to the flight attendant, “You may check my bag that is overhead and put her bag in my place.” 

I could not believe. 

The woman then mentions that she has $20,000 worth of equipment in her bag and she cannot stow it.   It would have helped to know this from the start.  However, the bag in the bin went underneath and the late arriving bag went in the bin.

I talk about this because the woman who offered her bag resembled the two women in the stories.  Both women gave a lot of themselves.

Three observations.

First, I bet a lot of parishioners are hearing how they should be donating to their parish like this little lady in Mark.   It is a set up.  And it is a really narrow approach to the story.

Secondly, watch out for Mark’s use of infinite demand.  Am I supposed to likewise contribute all I have, my whole livelihood?  Not quite, which leads to my next point.

Thirdly, we are called to help and to contribute, not just money, but so much else, my roll on, my time, my positive strokes of others, my efforts to help people recover from a hurricane, like the St. Bonaventure kids and staff are doing. 

Of course, when leaving that plane I complimented the lady on her offering her roll on to be stowed and I asked the flight attendant her name so I could send in a compliment to corporate, which I did.  That was my small offering to the event.

Whom are you helping today?