Readings: Isaiah 35, 1-10; Psalm 146, Lord, Come and Save Us; James 5, 7-10; Matthew 11, 2-11. 

Intro to Readings

 Remember what I had said on the First Sunday of Advent, it is a time when the Church turns towards not just the coming of Jesus at Christmas but gives greater focus on the Second coming of Jesus at the end time.  We can see this very clearly in our readings today.  It is a common theme; “when is the world going to end?”  “what will be the signs?”  For the Jews there was an expectation that it was when all wrongs would be made right.  

The second reading is interesting.  It is a letter from James.  There has been much speculation on who this James is.  The apostle James or the James mentioned as the ‘brother of the Lord’.  We just don’t know and there are different supporters for each position.  The letter is more like a sermon than a typical letter from the time.  The main purpose of the letter seems to be to warn the hearers of the danger of having just an abstract faith.  Faith must be implemented in every action of our lives.  It can become too easy to make it theory and nothing more.

 The responsorial psalm is worth thinking about carefully.  It too picks up the same theme of the results of God’s activity in human lives!

Homily

 This past week the Church celebrated two big feasts, on Wednesday it was the Immaculate Conception and then today Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Certainly a big week for Mary.  The Immaculate Conception is a statement about Mary’s birth, namely that she was conceived to be free from sin.  I am not too sure what to make of that statement, but it is the Church’s way of honoring her as the mother of Jesus.  As we get closer to Christmas I would like to spend a few minutes reflecting with you on what Christmas might mean for us today.

 I remember many years ago reading a book on Quantum Mechanics and it was examining the question whether light traveled as a wave or a particle!!  A great book!  The feast of the Incarnation, namely God becoming human, is one of those events beyond our ability to understand.  I am sorry to have to keep saying it but God is way outside our ability to comprehend. 

The Jews were smart when they basically adopted the use of the name Yahweh without the vowels, in other words a name you could not say.  It sounds like something JK Rowling dreamed up for the Harry Potter world!  And yet our faith has gone to the trouble of coming out with proclamations about God in great detail.  One of the great blessings of both Luke and Matthew’s infancy stories about the birth of Jesus is that they are very easy to understand, which is what makes Christmas a wonderful event!  We can all relate to a baby’s birth, in fact we have all gone thru one!!

 The insight I have had this past few weeks was that since God is outside of time, then that event, God becoming human, even though it was an event in our experience that happened over two thousand years ago, since God is outside of time, it is an event which is always happening for God!  Look around you.  God is present in each one of us.  We have been given clues by Jesus of this:  remember “where two or three are gathered” or “as often as you did it for one of these”. 

 In Jesus’s response to John’s disciples he tells them to go back to John and tell him what they see, and there is almost a direct quote from our first reading from Isaiah about the blind seeing etc.  Remember last Sunday John sharing about his Jesuit friend Fr. Larry Gillick.  His blindness was taken away by his Jesuit colleagues who read to him and helped  him so that he could pass the exams!  Maybe that is how the blind see!!

 This Christmas, as we go about our busy days, trying to get too much done in too little time, pause!  Not only are the people you meet bringing God into your life, but you are also bringing God into theirs.  It may be that you will have an opportunity to help the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear and the poor have the good news preached to them.

Picture 1:    Mass begins

Picture 2:   Eleanor with her grand dad

Picture 3:   Dillon lighting the candles

Picture 4:   Our Father

Picture 5:   Ben & Amanda

Readings:  Isaiah 60, 1-6, Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem, your light has come!; Psalm 72, Lord, every nation on earth will adore you; Ephesians, 3, 2-6, The Gentiles are coheirs; Matthew 2, 1-12, The Magi arrived from the east asking, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews?"  

Isaiah, a review 

Here is another of those passages which make me love Isaiah so much.  I said this on the 3^rd Sunday of Advent, when we read Isaiah 61.   

Today we have Isaiah III talking again to the Jews who have returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian Captivity, about 550 years before Christ. 

When he says Jerusalem or Zion, you may consider it a metaphor referring particularly to us, to you and to me.

Ephesians

Paul is directly talking Epiphany, that is God to Gentiles, to us.  

Sources: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter’s Bible

Epiphany Every Day?

    Almost every evening Rosemary & I take Aviana for a walk along our street.  Usually we meet a variety of neighbors and neighbor dogs.  It is a fun connection. 

    This past week we were walking when we met a lady who lives across and down the street.  She had tragedy hit her family.  A daughter with 3 young kids died 18 months ago with cancer.  It had been a lengthy fight and numerous neighbors had helped out. 

    We asked her how she was doing.  She waited a moment and then with a gulp she said, “Ollie has cancer.” 

    Ollie is a 3 year old son of the mother who died.  A week or so before Christmas the family noticed that Ollie had a lump on his forehead.  They took him to get checked and discovered that he has a very rare and aggressive form of child cancer.  Only about 350 cases occur a year in the States, hitting children between ages 1 and 5.  Ollie is 3. 

    The lump has been removed but a port has been put on Ollie’s chest for chemotherapy.  He is expected to receive chemo from 6 to 11 months.  Meanwhile, another small tumor I think in his lymph nodes grew about a centimeter in just about 10 days.  

    Folks, this was an epiphany moment for me.  I wanted to cry with our neighbor.  My heart went out to Ollie, his dad, his brother & sister, and to my neighbor & her husband, to the whole family. 

I would suggest that an epiphany is

    1.  a God light breaking through, especially through & into those corners of myself where I don’t go,

    2. a deeper awareness of the fragility of the Gift, the Gift of life & health & control

    3.  a deeper awareness of my normal insensitivity & ingratitude.   

The Accident was an Epiphany.  Check Rosemary.  

    I suggest that there are large, small, and medium epiphanies.  However, they occur daily.  At home, at work, at Tom Thumb, on the roads, at the Bridge & Austin Street Shelter, at Vines.   In fact, we can be epiphanies for others. 

Your last epiphany?  

Picture 1:    Mass Begins

Picture 2:    Our Father   

 Picture 3:    Taylor & Zack

Picture 4:    Torri walks

Picture 5:    Sienna

Picture 6:    Cole

Readings: Note that these readings are for Sunday rather than All Saints.  Much better readings.

Wisdom 11, 22-12, 2, You love all things that are.

Psalm 145,  I will praise your name forever, my king and my God.  Also, check out the marvelous second stanza, my favorite.  What a portrait of our God.

2 Thessalonians 1, 11-22  We always pray for you.  Good old Paul, two long sentences.

Luke 19, 1-10, The beloved Zacchaeus in his tree.

Celebrating All Our Saints.

Wisdom (of Solomon) observations:

Author: Not Solomon, but a compilation by numerous
people.

Date:  around 200 years before Christ.

Subject: Wise statements like

          "Righteous people are
protected by God and will never suffer torment." 3, 1

          "Is it good to have riches
in this life?  Nothing can make you
richer than wisdom."  8, 5

Today:  Nice reading, especially for All Saints.  Note the beautiful line, “You love all things
that are.” Line 24

The Celebration begins.

Psalm 145 observation:

Can you spot my favorite line?  Someone
has composed a beautiful portrait of God.

Sources, Good News Bible, The New Interpreter's Study Bible, Wikipedia.

Three of Ours, Bethany, Shonda, and Ray.

Saints?  Ever met One? 
Never met One?

I would like to talk today about saints. 
Ever met one?  Never, you
say.  I would say, on the contrary, I
have known many, and I know many.  Let me
spell out a bit what this saint person is or does from my perspective.

First I would suggest the saint is fully alive or trying to be fully
alive.

Secondly, I think this person shows me that Our God is what the Psalm writer
says.  Namely, using my translation, Our
God is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.

Bernadette leading the Creed.

Zacchaeus exemplifies these two qualities.  He shows me this portrait of God and he is so
alive that he climbs a tree to compensate for his shortness.  A terrific model.

I have another.  This person came
into my life around fifth grade at Christ the King.  He was a young guy in his twenties, out of
the navy where he had been wounded. 
He was our all sports coach, scout master, teacher, and mentor.  

Cupcakes of The Week for Alison's John, Beth's Rob, and Patricia's 15th. Did John and Rob ever see those cupcakes?

His name was Frank and at least twice in his life he showed me God. 

The first time it happened started after I had entered the Boy Scouts
and we went off to camp Texoma. I don’t think Frank was there this year.  I immediately did not like this, was homesick,
and scared that some of the big guys, the eighth grade boys, who were going to
initiate me, it being my first time out.

So I pretended to be sick, cried a bit, and eventually got taken
home.  I remember coming home.  It was mid-summer and hot.  We had no a/c, of course.  I think my parents were embarrassed.  That event was one of the most humiliating
times in my life.

Harper with Cathy.

My dad & some of the other dads had gotten involved with the Scouts
at this time and, therefore, I stuck around. 
Summer came again, camp came, and I did not want to go.  But my dad had volunteered to do an
overnight.  Each night a dad stayed with
the troop. 

I did not want to go, but figured I had better go along with my
dad. 

I’ll never forget arriving in that campsite at twilight.  They used the old canvas, walled tents on
platforms.  Each tent had 4 cots.  When we arrived, we went straight to Frank’s
tent and he was seated on his cot.

When I  entered the tent rather queasy, Frank was so warm in his
greeting and so accepting that I immediately felt at ease and at home.  I think Frank’s support of me that night
helped me turn a big corner in my life.

Torri at The Play World.

Could this have significantly helped me to enter the Jesuits in ’58?  Despite the fact that I knew I would be
coming home for nothing, and despite the times I felt homesick, like especially
around Thanksgiving and Christmas, I never returned home.

The second time Frank showed me Our God was when we planted trees on Marsh
Lane from LBJ to Love Field, probably around 1993-4.  We had so many trees that we used two Sundays
in October-November. 

Frank owned a restaurant just north of LBJ west off of Marsh.  When he heard about what we had done the
first Sunday, he invited all the planters to eat dinner at his restaurant after
the second planting. 

We did and those trees are still there. 
Moreover, for some years Frank’s oldest son, likewise, Frank, whom I
taught at Jesuit in the 60’s, and who owns Back Country Bar-b-que on Greenville
Ave., Frank Jr. catered a lunch for all the tree planters.

Frank Sr. is retired and living at Tremont, and he is one of my saints.  He is fully alive and he has shown me that Our
God is merciful and gracious, never gets angry, and is abounding in love.

Who are your saints?   For whom
are you a saint?  

Jessica in from The Home of the Red Sox.

Readings:

Isaiah  60, 1-6, Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem,  Your light has come.

Psalm 72,  Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Ephesians  3, 2-6, The Gentiles are coheirs.

Matthew 2, 1-12, Magi from the east arrived.

Emma says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

Isaiah, a review 

Here is another of those passages which make me love Isaiah so much.  I have mentioned this before.  He is my favorite.  

Today we have Isaiah III talking to the Jews who have returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian Captivity, about 555 years before Christ.  It helps to picture the mood of these people. 

"Hi, Folks, Welcome in, they are going to win today," says Cole, our Cowboy fan.   Sorry, Cole.  It has been a tough year.

Are you a Cowboy Fan?  How do you feel at about this year?  Multiply this by 10 and you have how the Jewish people felt after 50 years of slavery and  their town destroyed like New Orleans or parts of NY & NJ. 

When he says Jerusalem or Zion, he is talking to these beaten down people.  Later centuries church leaders began to make these words have two meanings, the city and us Christians.  Jerusalem, then, applies to us.

Sources: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter’s Bible

Does the Lord not shine on this little girl?

Upon you the Lord shines, because of 3 Magi

This morning I would like to propose that we have Magi in our lives and because of them the Lord shines on us, like it says in Isaiah.  

I want to limit the selection to 3, like the guys in Matthew’s story.  This was a bit difficult, because I see lots of Magi in my life.  Magi for me are the wise ones, the good ones, the compassionate ones.  I could start right here with you people in the community.  I could easily mention Rosemary. 

Ugh Oh, She has learned how to motor, like crawl.  Beware, Everybody.

However, I chose 3 guys who are not quite as present in my life, but are wise, good, and compassionate.  Here they are. 

The first guy is Harold.  I don’t even know his last name.  I do know that he is going to be 90 shortly.  I see him most mornings, Monday through Friday.  He is in the shower change room when I come into the J (Jewish Community Center) ca. 5:30 to do spin class. 

So, the questions is, 'Where is she going?  To help with the singing (see podiums) or to help with the Mass?"  Tune in next week for the answer.

He is quiet and understated.  Despite working out 5 days a week, he is pretty plump.  What he is, is friendly and congenial.  He knows Rosemary & I go dancing Monday nights.  He always asks if we are going and Tuesday he asks how dancing was. 

The second person is my old coach & Scout Master from Christ the King, Frank Hart.  Frank is 90.  Notice how these 90 year olds are getting my attention.  Rosemary & I visit Frank every Sunday after we leave Sigler.  He lives in a house with about 8 other elderly people, all of them women except Frank.   The house is on Northhaven near Hillcrest.

Emma and Zoe solving our world problems.

If I get to Frank before their lunch at 1:00, I usually find him in bed and asleep.  He has his clothes on.  He just sleeps a lot.  I wake him up and  despite his memory not being too good, he certainly remembers us and makes a big deal out of us coming by. 

Frank was one of the more significant persons in my life as a grade school kid.  He helped me get over being home sick when I went to Boy Scout camp, a story I've told here more than once. 

 Hi, Buddy, are you a frog today?

While Frank touched me when I was in grade school, the third guy touched me when he was in grade school and I was at Jesuit.  His mother came by one day with her son and basically said, “Help!”  This is Michael, about whom you have heard me talk before.

After doing a zillion Masses together at St. Marks in the cafetorium, an old friend, David has joined us in Sigler.  Welcome David!

Last Saturday he came by to visit Rosemary & me.  He has his gorgeous wife, Lydia, and now two neat kids, Barrett and Abby.  Michael is in the Air Force and I think the last time we met was in Aviano, Italy, when Beth & Rob were with us.  He flies these little F-16 jets.  

Genevieve, See these cool kids.  Someday you will grow up to be as marvelous as they.  The Gerwers.

Michael touches me because he overcame a number of blocks to, first, get into Jesuit, and then to have a great career at Tech after failing to get into A & M.  

Remember our old friendly venue, Vines?  With the Nativity drama and 300 folks, we will return to reminisce maybe twice a year.

What are the gifts they give me?  Wisdom, goodness, and compassion.  

Who are the 3 magi in your life & what gifts do they give you?

Acts 13:  Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.

Revelation 7:   Then one of the elders said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

John 10:   Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Connie reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben 

Outreach: $    75.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

A Mother's Day blessing for all the women

Rosemary's Blessing:

Suggested Petitions for Mother’s Day

For our mothers, who have given us life and love, that we may show them reverence and love, and others who show us a mother’s love, we pray to the Lord.

For adoptive mothers and for the women who wish to give birth but experience challenges, that they know your care, we pray to the Lord.

For mothers who have lost a child through death, that their faith may give them hope, and their family and friends support and console them, we pray to the Lord.

For those who wish to serve as mothers, but are not able to do so, that they know your comfort, we pray to the Lord.

For mothers who have died, that God may bring them into the joy of his kingdom, we pray to the Lord.

Archdiocese of New Orleans

Readings:

Genesis 11, 1-9,   The Tower of Babel story.  This comes from the vigil Mass of Pentecost, rather than the Sunday Mass.  A great story, which is why I chose to have it read.

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

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

John  17, 1-11,  Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Who let these Crazies in? Marsha, Cathy, and Connie.

 Genesis

What :  The first book of the bible, very entertaining because it is imaginative story telling.  It starts with the two stories of creation and takes off.   It responds to the little kid’s question, “How did we get here, daddy?”

Who: there are at least 4 author streams, two primary ones, the Yahwist and the Elohist, and two secondary ones.  The Greeks have the Iliad and the Odyssey.  The Israelites have the Yahwist and the Elohist.  Why these two words?  Simple.  It is the word the stream uses in talking about God. 

Time:  The Yahwist stream was put into a written form about 900 years before Christ.  The others were put into writing in later centuries.

Our Passage:  The little kid asks, “Daddy, why do people talk differently?”  This is the answer proposed, the Tower of Babel.  

These guys, too. Who let them in? John and Joe.

Pass The Spirit, Please

I want to start this morning with a question.  How do I get the spirit?  Let me tell you.  Today’s story of the week.

As you all probably know, on Monday evenings Rosemary & I go dancing at the Farmers’ Branch Senior Center.  There are probably 50 people who show up every Monday and many of them can really dance. 

Cowboy Cole says again, "Hi, Folks, Welcome in."

At 6:00 there is a couple who provide simple dance lessons, ball room, swing, country western.  They spend 6-8 weeks on each type of dancing.

At 7:00 a live band comes on and plays until 9:30 or 10:00, one week ballroom, the other week country western.   You got to be 50 to get in, so a lot of you folks probably can’t get in.  They will card you.  There are lots of people who come alone and I admire their courage at getting out.  There is even a blind woman, Janice, about whom I talked once.

The Girl in the Pink Ribbon, Zoe.

This past Monday night during the live music dance session, at one point Rosemary and I were sitting out.  We are watching everybody dance what was something like a swing. 

One couple whom I had never noticed before, I noticed.  They were not dramatic dancers, but they really had beautiful flow and creativity.  They might have been using a cha-cha step.  When they finished up, I got up, went straight to them, and complimented them on being terrific dancers.

Another Girl in Pink, Tori.

Well, they were touched by the compliment and gracious in their thanks.   They thanked me a bunch of times and we shook hands.  Guess who else was touched.  Yes, I was.

How do I get the spirit?  First, you already have it.  Secondly, it is augmented by giving it.  By giving a compliment.  What is the spirit?  New life, new peace.

Candle lighter buddies, Leo and Cole with Erin helping out.

I remember when Rosemary & I did a lot of dancing, 4-5 nights a week.  We were good in those days.  People would compliment us and I would just be pumped.   New life.   We would thank them profusely.  Compliments are spirit gifts.  New Life, new peace.

I have a compliment I am holding for a special person.  This is a black lady about 55-60 who works at the Tom Thumb on our corner of Preston & Royal.  I see this lady often at about 7:00 in the morning when I am buying bananas after my morning spin class at the “J,” the Jewish Community Center.

Chuck, Cole's daddy, and Mike waiting for their Cupcakes of The Week.

This lady I so admire because she gets up about 3:00 A.M. to catch two buses to come open this grocery store by 6:00.  We know each other by name.

Last Monday I was waiting in her checkout line while she finished with another lady.  My friend’s name is Sondra.  She was being her usual friendly self with this white, elderly lady.  “Good Morning” and everything.  As she finished, she thanks the lady, who had said nothing, and welcomed her back again.  The lady left saying nothing.  

Cupcakes of The Week to Diane, Teresa, Chuck, Mike, and Zach.

I want to compliment Sondra on her non-stop friendliness to a lady who seemed to be an early morning  curmudgeon.  I was really hurt for Sondra and we chatted about other things.  I want to return and compliment her this week.

How do I get the spirit?   By giving it.  A compliment is an amazing spirit gift.   The Prayer of St. Francis says that in giving we receive.  

I compliment that couple on their dancing.  They get new life and new peace.  And their response gives it back to me.  

From whom have you received a compliment lately?

To whom did you give a compliment lately?  Next time?

Cole and Erin.