Sunday Homily 10-5-10, 23rd Ordinary Time

Readings: Isaiah 9, 1-6; Psalm 96; Titus 2, 11-14, Luke 2, 1-14.

Isaiah: This is another of the great visions of Isaiah 1.  This comes from one of our ancestors who was reflecting some 800 years B.C.  We have enjoyed Isaiah all the four Sundays of Advent because of his marvelous vision.

The Gift of Life

Last Thursday I was at Baylor Hospital ca. 5:30 in the morning.  I was there to give a hug and a blessing to a woman & a friend who was coming to have an operation.  She was donating her left kidney to her sister in law. 

She naturally had some anxiety and we had talked about this earlier.  I felt privileged to be there with her.

Two comments on this event: the receiving & the giving. 

First, we are celebrating this evening the fact that we are the recipients of life.  My friend’s sister in law received life, rather dramatically.  Our parents gave us life, our teachers give us life, our companions give us life, you people give me life, God gives us life.  Even every day.

Secondly, like my friend, we are invited to give life, sometimes as dramatically, sometimes in small ways, probably daily.  In fact, without giving life, we likely stagnate.  This generation of life often involves anxiety, discipline, sacrifice, and pain.  Guess what: giving my life is reciprocal, i.e., I usually get back more than I give.

Looking back at 2007, what was the biggest way you received life & gave life?  And this year?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-12-24.mp3

Rosemary's Blessing

Lord,

May we never take our freedom for granted

and help us to strive so that this same freedom

may be experienced by everyone in our country,

especially the poor and the oppressed,

and eventually by all humankind.

Andrew Greeley   A Book of Irish American Blessings and Prayers  

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers,  John & Mary Jane & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel & Homily, John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer, John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike & Richard

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Download Readings Week 14

Please Remember these special people:

For Cindy facing a procedure Monday morning;   For our Bill;  For Esparzas, Frank & Mary, who lost their son Jim to sepsis;   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;   For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom;   for Michelle;  

For Jackie's mom;  For a friend, a neighbor, & a doctor, Karen, with brain cancer; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free.;    For Hue;  For John O'Donnell;    For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; For John Schanot's continued health;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini;  for Virginia Mattingly

Richard & Mike, this Sunday's producers.

Birthdays:  Brent, 64; Paul Bieda, 59, Kim, Carol Eshelbrenner

Anniversaries:   Jan & Sir Charlie, 58th

Sir Bieda, Is this what happens when you retire??

Community Finances, July 5, 2020

Expenses: $500.00 

Outreach   $100.00   (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.  Winston Churchill

John Cade's excellent homily

Homily: I want to thank Stack for making known to us the beauty and power of a Biblical verse in today’s Responsorial Psalm, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.” I now know that this same description of who God is, is also repeated in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in other Psalms.   

• In Exodus Ch 34 we hear that when Moses received the 10 commandments the Lord came down over Mt. Sinai in a cloud and said, The Lord the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness.”
• In the Book of Numbers Ch 14, when the Israelites didn’t obey God’s commandments and just grumbled about life being difficult, God wanted to wipe them out, start all over and make Moses the head of an even greater nation. But Moses cried out quoting God with what he said about himself on Mt. Sinai, that ‘The Lord is slow to anger and rich in kindness.” 
• At least three psalms repeat this description of God.

Psalm 86 says, “You, O Lord, are merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness.”

Today’s Psalm 103 says, “Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.”

Psalm 145 says, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.”

• The Prophet Joel Ch 2, says, “Gracious and merciful is God, slow to anger, rich in kindness.”
• Finally, the funny little story of the Prophet Jonah. He was told by God to go to Nineveh and preach to the people that they better repent or in 40 days they would be destroyed. In Ch 4 Jonah says to God that the very reason he didn’t want to preach destruction to Nineveh and tried to run away, was because, “I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and rich in kindness.”

Mike checking out the production.

My household of three persons are, for the most part, keeping the quarantine, so there aren’t as many opportunities to see God show up in person through the mercy and kindness of others, though I see plenty of it on the news.  Here’s five instances I saw this verse, this definition of God, show up in others, all just this week:

• I was struck again by the graciousness and kindness of our Mass team. The tech squad, e.g., brings some of their own computers, and other electronic stuff I wouldn’t understand, and patch it all together to ‘make community happen’ through this online Mass.
• I went to get about a twice-a-month treat for me and Mama (what I call Kalliopi)—original chicken from KFC. I order the smallest bucket they have, 8 pieces which covers the protein part of two meals.  When I got to the window, the guy says, I have a recommendation—when you want the 8 piece, order the 10 piece special; and it costs less.  He did not have to tell me this little secret. 
• Our AC guy came to perform a semi-annual check-up on our AC system. When he tested the unit’s cold air production he found it wanting and said he thought we’d need a pound of Freon @ $200/lb. But he stayed longer watching the gauge, and eventually said with a smile, “Well, waiting later, now it’s reading okay, so no added Freon is needed.”  He did not have to extend the time of his check-up.
• Joey brought us some of the bulk vegetables she gets from an organic farm near Austin every week. She did not have to drive across town to bring us such a treat.
• Finally, when Joey came, Leo was with her wearing a t-shirt that said on the front in big print, “A little kindness can change the world.” Hello!?  That inspired to recall how often others show up—in so many ways—wearing that Bible verse definition of God: The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.

When was the last time you saw this verse show up in another person, or in yourself?

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 10, 34-43; Psalm 118, This is the The Day the Lord has made, let us & Rejoice and be Glad; Corinthians 5, 6-8; John 20, 1-9. 

Acts observations—(Author, Date, Place, Subject)

 Author: This is Luke, the physician, the companion of Paul, the Gentile writing for Gentile Christians, and the same Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke.

 Date: Around 65 years after Christ.  Probably just before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (70 C.E., a big date in Jewish history), or Luke would have probably mentioned it. 

Place: probably Ephesus, today a ruin on the west coast of Turkey south of Constantinople.  Once this town was a major Christian center.

 Subject: the material works like in concentric, expanding circles, beginning in Jerusalem and ending in Rome after touching Judea, Syria, Ephesus, & Europe.  It treats activities in the early Christian community, some of which may describe the way they wished things were. 

 Sources: Good News Bible, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, St. Louis U. Jesuits’ Liturgical web

Easter Life All Around Us

 I had an Easter Event happen to me recently.  The event took place on a bus.  Bus number 64.   An ordinary bus and not an ordinary bus.  It is a Parisian bus that runs from the Eiffel Tower on the west and what is called the left bank, through the historic center of Paris, for example the Louvre & Notre Dame, over the river Seine to the right bank, to a beautiful park near the former location of the Bastille on the east side. 

 I am on this bus at about 6:00 P.M., rush hour.    I have caught the bus going in the direction of the Eiffel Tower, where Rosemary, Mary Ellen & I have a small hotel.  I caught the bus just after it crossed the Seine.  The bus is pretty full and I am able to get into my favorite nook, a place I can stand next to the window on the left side, half way down the bus, across from the exit. 

 Three events occur on this bus that make it an Easter event for me. 

 First, we are moving in heavy traffic on a four lane street, one way street which will divide into two right & two left.  The bus is going right & is in the middle lane.  On the left side of the bus is a black Mercedes.  He is in the middle lane going left, but wants to go right like we are.  The bus is in the way.  The driver knows he is there & what he wants to do.

 What do you think he did?  To heighten the drama, the Mercedes has a German license plate.   Remember, France was defeated and occupied by Germans in WW II. 

 I am watching all this. 

 What the bus driver did was stop and let the German Mercedes go in front of him.  I was rather stunned.

 Next, secondly, a white woman in her 40’s gets on and works her way down the aisle which is full mostly of men & young people.  Ahead of me and on the opposite side of the bus are 4 seats facing the aisle, each with a man seated. 

 After a couple of moments the youngest, a guy about 19-22 gets up and offers the lady his seat.  He is self conscious.  He is Arab or North African.  The lady declines and he returns to his seat. 

 Again I am moved by the simple goodness of a person.

 So what do I do? This is the third thing.   I want to go over and hug this kid.  I’m thinking I should say something.  I start memorizing 2-3 sentences in French.  The bus is filling so that the aisle is packed between us.  I am beginning to have doubt.  These French speakers will think I am a stupid American trying to use French. 

 Suddenly I notice I have missed my stop.  I have to reach through the crowd.  I press the button.  I know I have a three block wait, so I plunge into the crowd, get to the kid, and tell him he did something good.  I am happy with him.  Everyone looks up and the kid smiles, sheepishly. 

 I jump off the bus.  I feel exultant. 

 There are Easter events & Easter people all around us, folks.  It is like our Great Easter Egg Hunt.  What is your Easter event?

 Picture 1:    Easter Mass Beginning      

 Picture 2:    One Family Offertory, Christine, her daughter, Megan, grandmother Diane, & Chris's sister D'Arcy

 Picture 3:    Kids' Korner

 Picture 4:    Believe it or not, the Quads

 Picture 5:    The Great Easter Egg Hunt 

Welcome, Terra, from Iran

Readings:

Jeremiah 38, 4-6, 8-10,  They took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern.

Psalm 40,  Lord, come to my aid. 

Hebrews 12, 1-4,  Let us rid ourselves of every burden.

Luke 12, 49-53,  I have come to set the world on fire.

The Candle Lighting team in action.

Jeremiah Observations:

Author:  really Jeremiah or at least his scribe.

Date:  after the Babylonian Captivity again, say 555 years before Christ. Jeremiah sees the Babylonian catastrophe coming and says it is going to be how Yahweh punishes the people for their evil and unjust ways.

Blessed be The Lord, with David, Ben, Shonda, and Leo

Subject:  Jeremiah is the classic prophet.  He does the 3 things characteristic of a prophet.  He criticizes the behavior of the people.  He promises punishment from Yahweh.  He indicates that a better day will come.    Jeremiah lives to see the punishment, that is the Captivity.  Probably not the return from captivity.

Our selection:  Jeremiah pays the price of most real prophets.  The people are enraged, turn against him, and watch what happens.

Will somebody go sit with Sir charlie.

Why I love the J (as in Jewish Community Center vs Jesuit, an older love)

This morning I would like to talk about why I  love the J.  That is, as in the Jewish Community Center rather than my long time love, Jesuit.

This past Thursday morning before 6:00, more of less, I was in the big gym at the J.  Monday, Wednesday, & Friday I am in another wing of the complex to beat myself up at spin class with about 20 others.  I love it.

Welcome back, Richard

Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday I work on ellipticals and punch a bag, all to maintain some control over the Parkinson’s.

This past Thursday I have just finished about 15 minutes on an elliptical as I see the next customer coming along, Rita.  I have known & loved Rita for a number of years.    She comes Tuesdays & Thursdays with the DART special bus.    She is an African American hug machine.   Despite me being a Catholic  and she a Jehovah Witness, she still hugs me and continues to pray and work for my conversion.

Welcome Home, Sandra, and sorry about the loss of your brother

While we are hugging on each other and I am helping Rita to get seated on the elliptical, along comes a very outgoing and friendly girl from our spin class, Lisa.  We all three get talking.  Lisa, who is somewhat new to spin class, but who knows everybody, she asks if I am still working (a compliment) and then what did I do.

Uh ho, Patricia is coming to sit with you, Sir Charlie.

So what should I do?  Drop the bomb in this peaceful Jewish haven?  “Oh, I’m Catholic Jesuit priest excommunicated for getting married.”  I did it.   Lisa was so responsive and positive I was touched and humbled.  Rita already knew my background.  Then we had to split.

Leo miked up and right at home.

Reflecting later on the encounter, I was struck by what a precious event that was, a real God-like moment.  Here were 3 people, 2 women & one guy.  The woman who could have been our hostess was Lisa, who is Jewish.   The other woman, African American & a Jehovah Witness.  The guy, an excommunicated Catholic Jesuit.

Elevation time.

Meeting people like Rita and Lisa are why I love the J

Can we not meet and develop relationships with other people similar to Lisa & Rita?

Offertory Time with Tom & Denni & & Cheryl.

Readings: Isaiah 49, 1-6; Psalm 139 (good); Acts of the Apostles 13 22-26; Luke 1, 57-66.

Isaiah: One of the 3 great Old Testament prophets, he lived about 700 years before Christ.  Actually the book itself has about 3 authors. The section we read this morning emphasizes the call Isaiah received from Yahweh to be a prophet. It ties in with John the Baptist, today’s feast. 

How to Get There

Last week when we confirmed Erica & Susie we talked about six qualities of the person who is becoming more mature and more whole. The qualities were curiosity, hope, gratitude, love, zest, and humor. 

This morning I would like to focus on the road to these qualities. How do I get there? I have five suggestions plus one. The first five I picked up somewhere, liked them, and wrote them down. 

The five plus one suggestions are: no hatred, no worry, give more, expect less, live simply, and accept.

With hatred I would distinguish between the feeling of hating a person and the state of being a person of hatred.  It is normal to hate. It is a feeling. To deny it if I feel it is more dangerous.  Because of guilt I may try to stuff the feeling. Then watch it become a state. If I hate, process it and then for me it has helped to forget.  Note that underneath hatred is probably anger & hurt.  That was where I was when I got kicked out of East Africa. After talking about it with trustworthy people, I had to just forget. And it worked.

Worry often involves the game of "What if?"  What if my child gets hurt?  What if I fall down? The opposite can be used as the antidote: "What if not?" Worry does not mean that I do not care or take care. Worry involves fret over a future I have at most limited control over. 

What is the hardest thing for me to give more of? Money, things, time, my attention?  That is where the path to greater peace lies. It may even involve giving care to myself, what I call self nurturing. I occasionally see people fearful of nurturing themselves because they consider it selfishness. 

Expecting less can really get tough when I focus on people. When my expectation of a person’s behavior is up here and they behave down there, I get mad & hurt. My dad always used to get upset on Saturday nights when he & my mom were going out. Mom was always late & dad’s expectation of being on time was up there where mom did not go.

Living simply takes work these days. When I lived in Tanzania, it was pretty easy to live a simple life style. In Dallas there is so much stuff. Wardrobes can go out of sight.  Cars, houses, things.  They weigh us down.

Finally, I add acceptance. Acceptance involves not only things & events, it involves me, accepting myself. It comes up constantly in daily life. 

Using these six little rules for happiness, we can become more peaceful and more whole people. One may be more challenging than the others. 

Which challenges you more?

Click here to download to an mp3 file:

Readings:  Isaiah 66, 10-14; Psalm 66, Let All the Earth Cry Out to God with Joy; Galatians 6, 14-18, Luke 10, 1-12, 17-20

4th of July: some notes–

1.  Celebrates the composition & signing of the Declaration of Independence from the British on July 4, 1776.  2 days ealier a declaration was made. 

2.  Composed by a committee of 5, including the greats, Jefferson, John Adams, and Ben Franklin.

3.  Jefferson & Adams, long time friends and collaborators, both died the same day.  Guess the day: July 4.  Exactly on the 50th anniversary of the first July 4. 

4.  Just so you know: Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, Coney Island, NY, began July 4, 1916.

Isaiah 66: 2 notes–

1.  This is the last chapter of the whole great book.  Therefore, the author is author #3, written just at the end of or after the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550 BCE.  It is also part of the Book of Consolation and the reading today is total consolation.

2.  Jerusalem is mentioned a lot.  What about making Jerusalem symbolic, not just the place?  What kind of symbol?  Don't know.  But, all of us have our Jerusalem place.

Sources: Wikipedia; David McCullough, John Adams (excellent work)

The Harvest is Abundant, but the Laborers are Few?

Last weekend John Cade, Tony, and I went to a convention-seminar at the AA Training Center south of DFW airport.  The meeting was sponsored by and for Corpus, a national organization of over 600 married priests.

About 80 plus people were there, and, folks, I was impressed.   Humbled, even.   About half the guys came with their wives.  These people are the best. 

I would look at these men and think to myself, ‘These are the kind of men this church needs.’  They are healthy spiritually and psychologically, they love to serve, and they are rejected because they married.  The Catholic Church reminds me of the mad wolf who eats her young.  Every one of these men should be active and would be active if they could.

Let me tell you briefly about just two men who moved me.

First is a man named Anthony Padovano.   You may have heard about him or read him.  Incredibly talented and accomplished, he’s written over 25 books, has lectured at 25 colleges & universities.  He has doctorates in theology and literature.  He presents at the U.N. and at The Hague.  He’s a playwright and, in fact, for the second year in a row we got to see one of his plays, one on Thomas Merton.  Last year was Martin Luther.

Equally outstanding about Tony Padovano, however, is his optimism in the face of lots of criticism and his personal warmth.  He presented a talk on the profoundly positive impact the Second Vatican Council has had on Catholicism, an impact that cannot be reversed despite the reversal efforts going on.  When the article is printed, I will attach it to the blog.

The second person who humbled me was a married priest from Louisville, Kentucky.  A simple, easy going guy, I only know his first name, Tony.  I called him Louisville Tony.

I got to know Louisville Tony Friday afternoon before the seminar began and after we both had checked in.  We ended up sitting on a porch overlooking the beautiful campus. 

He told me that when he married about 25 years ago, he had no idea what he was going to do to support himself & wife.  He had decided to go into teaching, when he saw an ad by Hospice asking for chaplains.  He applied, was accepted, and has worked as a Hospice chaplain in Louisville now for decades.

He told me he loves what he does.  He is prevented from being a priest officially, but he said that with the exception of doing Masses he is working full time as a priest anyway.  He wanted to know all about you folks and how and when our community got started.  A number of guys, in fact, wanted to know this.  He said he might explore starting a small group in Louisville.

In the gospel this morning we hear about the harvest being abundant, but the laborers are few.  I would say, “Whoa!”  I know of an organization that has 600 laborers, Corpus, who signed up to be workers, but did not just want to live alone.  I find that the ones I’ve come to know through Corpus are still laborers, just not officially. 

In fact, they are like all of us, because we are all called to be like Louisville Tony, even like Anthony Padovano, in our own way.  In this community you help with CCAC, with Habitat, with Heritage Farm, with the Life Net food serving at Thanksgiving, with food drives, and on and on.

What are you doing today? 

Picture 1:   Mass Begins, Wendy & Ben

Picture 2:   Sienna with grandmother, Robyn, and mom, Erin

Picture 3:   Sacrament of the Sick, John Cade

Picture 4:   Sisters, Cindy & Marlene