Sez Harper, "Welcome in, Everybody, I still have some Girl Scout cookies"

 

Readings:

Isaiah 8, 23-9, 3,  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Psalm 27,  The Lord is my light and my salvation

! Corinthians, 1, 10-13,  That you be united…

Matthew 4, 12-23, Come after me and I will make you fishers of men (people).

 

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," say Hue & Linda.

 

Isaiah reminders, again—

 Author: This is Isaiah #1, the composer of chapters 1-39.  Even though Isaiah #1 lives before the Babylonian Captivity, he still sees that a great, bright day will come to the Jewish people, despite Babylon. 

Isaiah 2: Chapters 40-55;

Isaiah 3: Chapters 56-66

 Date:  Ca. 555 before Christ, the composition.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are about to be defeated and carried off into slavery.

 

 

The famous Sisters' Candle Team in action.

 

 Subject:  A great day will come for you Jews.  A special leader will be born.  You will be a beacon to others, glorious, and a light to nations everywhere.  You might easily recognize parts of this reading.  From where?  The Nativity readings and Handel's Messiah, a favorite of mine. 

This is the last week we will have these Isaiah readings which I love.  I will miss them.  Until next Advent.

 

 

Today's team in action.

 

80 Years of Blessings

When Isaiah says that a people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, I hear him speaking to me.  There are dozens of ways I see this in my life, all blessings & gifts.  I’ll mention 5, at least 3 of which you have heard me mention previously.

 

 

Today's Offertory Team, Sandra, Susan, & Tom,

 

First, the fact that I joined the Jesuits when I was 18.  Granted I joined up because I thought I was such a bad kid that I was obviously headed to hell.  I got that idea from the monsieur who was pastor at Christ the King.  When he told the congregation that if your friends are going to hell, you will go too.    Obviously my best buddy, Pete was going to hell along with my other friends.  That fear fell away when I was a Jesuit and life turned out to be an adventure.

 

 

The minor elevation.

 

The second blessing was my decision to accept an invitation to work in East Africa.  There was loneliness, but it was an adventure.  How else could I have scaled Kilimanjaro 5-6 times?  How else would I have ridden my motorcycle back & forth across Tanzania.  I discovered that I had a gift for languages and became fluent in Swahili.

 

 

Today's Communion Team, Patricia & Denni, Geri & Mike & Grace.

 

The third blessing was and is my marriage with Rosemary.  Did you people know that she waited 15 years to get formally married?  When I asked her to get married I asked her to wait until I was 65 and would have Medicare.  As a Jesuit I had platinum coverage.  As soon as I would depart, nothing.  I knew guys who married, had an accident, and ended up with an enormous debt.  This cinco de mayo is our 15^th and it has been for me (at least.  I won’t speak for her!) an unimaginable & enchanted time.

 

 

Happy Birthday, Mike.

 

The fourth blessing is the tree hobby project.   That project started with maybe 5-6 trees planted on the Jesuit campus where I was living.   Then it got bigger & bigger.  A guy who owns a construction company gave me a 800 gallon water tank & a 4 wheel trailer.  The community of St. Marks gave me the money to buy a pickup.  Mike Doran gave me the truck for 15K.  The last big project we did was Plano Senior High.  We planted in an hour 400 trees one sunny October Sunday.  

 

 

Welcome home, My Dear Carrie, or should I say My Dear Doctor Carrie.   Proud of You.

 

The fifth but not the last of the blessings is our community here. Do you realize that along with our 15^th anniversary of marriage, I am celebrating 15 marvelous & humbling years participating in our community?

I am most grateful.

What are your five biggest blessings in life?

 

 

One cupcake to you, Monique, for being such a good mamma.

 Readings: Zecharia 9, 9-10;

Psalm 145, I will praise Your Name forever, My King and My God (Plus the great line, 8-9, The Lord is Gracious & Merciful, slow to Anger & abounding in Love);

Romans 8, 9-13;

Matthew 11, 25-30. 

Zechariah:  Zechariah is the 11th of the 12 Minor Prophets and lived just when the Hebrews were released from the 70 year long Babylonian Captivity, in other words around 535-520 B.C.  In Jerusalem he encouraged the people to rebuild the temple.

He is called a minor prophet only because his little work has simply 14 chapters, unlike the Big 3, Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel, who have many chapters.

He was a favorite of the N.T. writers because he is rich in messiah predictions.  Today we have one of those visions.   You might picture how this message is coming across.  The people have been crushed, they have been slaves in Babylon, and the Jerusalem they have returned to is nothing but a mess. 

Psalm 145, 8-9: here it is again, The Terrific line: "The Lord is gracious & merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness."

 

July 4, Independence Day

 July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence signed.

 50^th anniversary, July 4, 1826: two signers of the Declaration died, the only 2 to serve as presidents, mutual friends, Thomas Jefferson & John Adams (excellent source, David McCullough’s John Adams).

 

You Call This Burden Light?

 It was a Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago, a beautiful day.  Rosemary & I left the house about 8:30 to come to Vines.  We drove down Royal Lane to Central.  As always at that corner, we caught the red light.  A guy drives up behind us in a silver or gray Mercedes.

 The light turned green and we drove left up the on ramp to the northbound lane of Central.  The Mercedes is behind me, right behind me, like I can see the color of his eyes in my rear view mirror. 

 I get up on the freeway and move to the left to get into the first lane.  The Mercedes guy whips to the right as I move left, he floors it, and with a roar and a friendly hand sign he races by us and up Central. 

 

 How did I react?  Actually, I feel fortunate because I didn’t.  I even felt a bit sorry for the guy.  A beautiful Sunday morning, no traffic and he has already lost it.  Who knows?  Maybe it was somebody from the community in a hurry to get here. 

 This poor guy exemplifies what is not being talked about in today’s readings.  Unfortunately, he exemplifies the obsessive behavior of a lot of people, especially on weekdays and probably especially on Central. 

 These folks are not rejoicing or shouting for joy, they are not peaceful or restful, and certainly they don’t seem to have a light burden even if they are driving a Mercedes. 

 I grant, maybe he is unemployed now for six months or a year, like people we know.  Maybe he’s like the 30 year old divorced mother of a 10 year old boy, a mother in Medical City right now taking heavy doses of chemo because of the bad kind of leukemia.  Maybe he is the father of the 15 year old boy who hung himself this past week. 

 Are these burdens light?  I must respectfully disagree with you, Jesus, not all your burdens are light!  Some pain and some stress can be unbearable.

 

 So how do I handle this in the light of the observation?  Do I pray and it all goes away?  Not according to my experience.  So what would I do?  I can offer only two ideas to people with great pain or suffering, and at the time the ideas can seem pretty lame. 

 First, the biggie, acceptance.  This is not the acceptance of give up.  If I am unemployed, for instance, I continue to muster up the courage each day to make contacts and search.  This acceptance is surrender to the state of things in my life, ultimately the surrender to death, my own death and the other deaths that take place in my life.

 Secondly, contemplation.  Contemplation of the beauty, the physical beauty, the people beauty, the Spirit-God beauty.  The psalm line that says so much to me might touch you, gracious, merciful, never angry, abounding in love.

 I don’t know what pain or stress was pushing the man in the Mercedes.  Obviously he was not peaceful.  What might help him?

 How do you handle pain & stress?

 Picture 1:   Leo with Wendy & Shonda & Ray

 Picture 2:   Offertory with Sir Charlie & Cliff

 Picture 3:   Alesia with some of her grand kids

  

 

 

Genesis Chap 1 “God spoke: Let us make human beings in our image.”

Genesis Chap 2 “And Man came alive—a living soul!”

Responsorial Psalm – May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.

Alleluia – If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is in us.

Mark 7:31-37 – “Children are at the very center of life in the kingdom.”

                                                                                  

Introduction to the readings:

Genesis and the first 5 books of Bible, according to modern Scripture experts, were not written 10 or 20 thousand years ago after humans began to populate the earth and form tribes.  Rather, they were probably written in 5^th or 6^th century before Jesus (probably during or right after Babylonian captivity 555). 

They were written to give the Israelites a beginning and a common history.  That made them a special people with noteworthy ancestors and their own extensive rules to live by.  This set the Israelites apart and helped hold them together.  (Remember the ten tribes of Judah weren’t able to stick together, and disappeared, absorbed into the DNA of their captors.)

And so we have the stories of Genesis and of the books that followed; such as the stories as story of Adam and Eve, of Cain and Abel and Seth (who replaced Abel), and later of Noah, and later still of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and later still of Moses and so on and on. 

The first creation story in Ch 1 of Genesis has a more cosmic style, placing human beings at the pinnacle of creation to give everything a name, and to rule over and take care of the earth and of all living creatures.

The second creation story in Ch 2 of Genesis is used in today’s Mass as the back-story for the Gospel reading from Mark about Jesus expanding the ideal of marriage and his recognizing the beginnings of the equality of men and women in marriage.

In Jesus’ time men could, on a whim, just fill out a certificate of dismissal to divorce his wife.  A woman had no such right.  Unbelievable at that time, Jesus mentioned that women could also divorce their husbands.  He also raised the ideal, explaining that a husband and wife have like responsibilities to each other. 

Jesus gave marriage the higher ideal of ‘lasting fidelity and lasting connection.’  The Church, though allowing ‘catholic divorce’ or annulment, has traditionally interpreted the words in the Gospel literally—and has not acknowledged divorce or remarriage, if the Church doesn’t have a hand in it through the annulment process. 

Bishops and others are being called to Rome this very month by Pope Francis to make pastoral decisions concerning family issues.  Many say this update may acknowledge Christian Marriage as a Christian ideal, while acknowledging that we imperfect humans are often unable to achieve the ideal.  From a pastoral perspective this could allow for Catholic communities to accept and welcome people who are divorced or remarried (as we do in this community without reservation). 

Readings 1, 2, and Gospel

 

HOMILY:

I want to say just a few words about simplicity in children.  First, I am thankful that Stack and this community stand strong for welcoming and accepting children. 

This gives us a unique opportunity to observe what Jesus meant by accepting the kingdom, “in the simplicity of a child”, and we can continue to watch and learn how to live that in that simplicity.   What I associate with the simplicity of a child, if they are allowed their natural, instinctive inclinations, are:  they tend to be more into connecting than making distance, more accepting than rejecting, more curious than judgmental, more naturally free than fearful, more open than defensive, and more giving than withholding. 

Examples of Pope Francis in visit to our country:  Seeks/welcomes children to hold/touch; simplicity of dress; little Fiat; words & gestures…Our children: say what think/feel; open; natural freedom; share; give… 

Ask yourself:  How do I live in the simplicity of a child in my life and relationships? 

 

Readings:  Wisdom 9, 13-18; Psalm 90, In every age, O Lord, You have been Our Refuge; Philemon 9-10, 12-17 (expand, 4-22); Luke 14, 24-33

 

Philemon observations:

Author: Paul in prison in Rome.

Time: around 60 C.E.

 

Actors:

—Paul

—Philemon, a leader of the Christian community in Colossae ( in Turkey today), maybe a slave owner

—Onesimus, maybe a run away slave, maybe a brother to Philemon.  This letter was used for centuries by slave owners to justify slavery.  Right up to the Confederacy.

 

 

What is going on:  Paul is writing to Philemon to request a warm welcome to Onesimus, who, as slave or brother, has apparently run off with money or goods of Philemon.  When Onesimus ran away, he met Paul and they became close, with Onesimus helping Paul while he is imprisoned.

 

 

We’ll read verses 4-24 for a broader picture of the letter.

 

 

Wisdom observation:  a book of counsel on behavior.  Basically, be good thrive, bad burn alive.  Not written by Solomon.

 

 

Sources: Good News Bible; Christian Inconnect (on line); New Interpreter’s Study Bible, pp. 2147 & ff.

 

 

Hate My Parents?  Renounce My Possessions?

 

 

I would like to talk this morning about the Hotter 'N Hell Hundred bike ride in Wichita Falls last Saturday.

 

Approximately every ten miles of the HHH there is a rest station.  You can get water, gator aide, pickle juice, pickles, bananas, watermelon, and other specialties.  The pickle juice & bananas are for potassium to prevent muscle cramps, which I have to fight.

 

 

I stop at every rest station except the ten mile station.  Last Saturday I was at the 30 miles station, a favorite because the ladies there bake chocolate chip cookies.  Trouble is, I can only eat one.  Or I’ll throw up.

 

 

I had made a resolution to lie down at each stop for a few minutes.  So I lie down in the grass near my bike.  Almost immediately another rider says to me, “You okay?”  I was perfectly okay I told him.  Thanks.

 

 

This caring for one another really touches me and seems contagious throughout the event.  Other people have asked me how I’m doing (maybe they think the old geezer can’t make it) and I ask others. 

 

 

My buddy and mentor Hammond tells me another story of people helping people.  He goes by a girl with a flat tire.  He remembers her well because she was all in pink, pink jersey, pink pants & shoes, pink helmet & bike, long blond hair.  Bill said there were about 5 guys all helping her.  I asked him if shortly there was a sixth.

 

 

Bill said he was telling Greg Moldovan the story at the next rest stop.  A guy near them in the crowd said, “Hey, I was one of those guys and we were only three.”

 

 

I tell stories about caring for one another to broaden Luke's demanding  message today.  Hate my parents?  Maybe not so hard to do sometimes.  My brothers & sisters?  Renounce all my possessions?  Hey, I’ve done this, actually twice.  It ain’t the answer.  What is the healthy approach?

 

 

Three observations.

First, we have here the old Christian dynamic of infinite demand—coupled with infinite acceptance.  It is not meant literally, but symbolically.

 

Secondly, this infinite demand can be healthy & useful.  What about healthy detachment for a greater good?  High school & college football practice is in full throttle right now.  When I played a bit of high school football, in order to get in shape we did all sorts of conditioning exercises. We did pushups so often I hated them for the rest of my life.

 

 

To achieve a greater good I may have to detach from my parents & my possessions. 

 

Thirdly, I have 4 examples of the caring-for-others-way being a greater good.

a.  Paul’s care for Onesimus in the second reading.

b.  Luke’s very own story of the Good Samaritan.

c.  The guy asking me if I was okay.

d.  Greg Mortenson’s stunning book, Stones into Schools, about building girls’ schools in Afghanistan

 

Whom do you care for?

 

Picture 1:   Mass Begins

 

Picture 2:   Mass Ends

 

Picture 3:   Georgie & Zoe enjoy the celebration

 

Picture 4:   Normally the one taking the pictures, Jan is caught by the eye of the camera.

 

Pcture 5:   The Gang, Sandra, Mike, John, Chuck, & Geri

 

Readings: 2 Maccabees, 7, 1-14; Psalm 19; 2 Thessalonians 2, 16-3, 5; Luke 20, 27-38.

2 Maccabees: The two books of Maccabees cover the history of Israel for about 50 years, from ca. 200 to 150 B.C.  The books are again part of the Apocrypha collection, those books separate from both the Old & the New Testaments.

2 Maccabees emphasizes loyalty to the law, even in the face of persecution.  Our selection exemplifies this loyalty in the story of seven brothers & their mother.   This leads to the gospel story which also treats of seven brothers & one wife.

What to Die for; What to Live for

The date of this event was Nov. 16, 1989, 18 years ago this Friday.  The place: a Jesuit university.  The Jesuits have a residence for their men on the campus.  About 10 men live there and this evening six are at home.  Like most Jesuit residences they eat dinner about 6:00, then chat for a while, go off one by one to work on their classes or papers, and finally turn in before 11:00 or maybe 12:00.  A routine evening.

About 1:00 in the middle of the night the routine is shattered by 30 or 40 uniformed soldiers who bang on the door and barge in.  They wake everyone up and herd them into the patio.  While this is going on, other soldiers are crashing around the rooms, throwing books & drawers on the floor, and busting open cabinets.  A house keeper & her daughter are found in an adjacent apartment and they are taken into the patio with the 6 priests.

The searching and ransacking goes on for a couple of hours.  Meanwhile in the patio the priests and the women are made to lie face down on the grass.  At some point in the night while the group is lying down, each one is shot in the back of the head.

This took place at the University of Central America, San Salvador, El Salvador.

I am reminded of this contemporary event when I read in Maccabees about the mother with the seven sons.  Some comments about these events.

First, it is humbling to hear about people who believe so strongly about something that they are willing to die, even die being tortured.  These Jesuits at the university were attacked because they criticized the policies of the El Salvador government.  Some years before this event a gunman had walked up the main aisle of the cathedral in San Salvador and in front of everyone shot Bishop Oscar Romero face to face as he finished up a Mass.  He, too, had criticized the government for brutalizing the peasant people.  The Jesuits probably figured that the government would surely not murder a whole household of priests.  I stand in awe of the courage of these people.

Secondly, would that if we are called to defend our principles even to death, we could die defending the poor, struggling to bring peace, or demanding more equality.  While I admire the courage & integrity of the seven sons and mother, I am sad that they died over a law about eating pork.  Muslims today can kill infidels using a suicide bomb with the belief that Allah is pleased with them and they will have a special place reserved for them in paradise. 

It is like saying anyone who eats Blue Bell ice cream is going to hell, or eats it on Friday.  I am reminded of how I grew up being taught that I was going to hell if I ate meat on Friday.  People are trained to believe that drinking a glass of wine or dancing is sinful.  These laws are simply demands of other people who are like ourselves.  We let them mess with our minds.

Thirdly, let me suggest that there are two way to give your life.  The one, like the Jesuits, is swift and often violent.  One shot, end of story.

The second way of giving your life is exemplified by Ofelia’s husband, Luis, whom many of you saw at our two anniversary parties.  Both years Luis touched our hearts with his vows to Ofelia.  I, however, saw him every Thursday evening gently take care of Ofelia week after week, patiently being with her as she slowly lost her life.  For weeks he could not leave Ofelia alone, so he was house bound unless someone like Hospice showed up.  He told someone that last Saturday that he and Ofelia had fallen in love again.  Luis gave his life for Ofelia.

Most of us will probably not get shot in the back of the head for criticizing the government or fighting for peace.  All of us, however, are called to give our life, our daily life, to bring peace & life to another or many others.  Like, you teachers, you nurses, you drivers, you soccer coaches, you parents, you all.

For whom or what are you giving your life today?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-11-11.mp3

 

Readings:

Isaiah  8, 23-9, 3,  The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Psalm 27,  The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?

1 Corinthians 1,  10-13,  I urge you that there be no divisions among you.

John  1, 29-34, The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light.

 

 

Isaiah reminders, again—

 Author: This is Isaiah #1, the composer of chapters 1-39.  Even though Isaiah #1 lives before the Babylonian Captivity, he still sees that a great day a bright day will come to the Jewish people.  

 Date:  Ca. 555 before Christ, the composition.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are about to be defeated and carried off into slavery

Subject:  A great day will come for you Jews.  A special leader will be born.  You will be a beacon to others, glorious, and a light to nations everywhere.  You might easily recognize parts of this reading.  From where?  The Nativity readings.  

This is the last week we will have these Isaiah readings which I love.  I will miss them.  Until next Advent.

 

 

Serenity Prayer

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.   In honor of Chuck Pratt

 

The People who have walked in Darkness have seen a Great Light

I would like to talk this morning about our old friend, Chuck Pratt, who moved to the other side December 8.  I would like to tie up my thoughts with two gorgeous lines from our readings.  The first is from my beloved Isaiah, the second from the Psalm, 27.  Namely, The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light.  Recognize the line?  It’s from the Christmas liturgy.  Secondly, from the Psalm, The Lord is my light, whom should I fear? 

 

 

 

 

I would propose that Chuck was and is a light.  Let me offer four reasons.

First, look at the family.  With the gorgeous Sandra (how did he ever win you?  Must have tricked you.), we now have with us Chip and Pam and Chris, all lights, reflecting Chuck and Sandra, and in their own right.   And that is only the beginning.  Chip has Kathy, Pam has Mark, and Chris has Cecily.  And we have the little lights, equally bright, Maddie (TCU) and Alex, Olivia and Amelia.  With lights like these what have we to fear?

 

 

Secondly, beyond the family Chuck had his AA community.  Chuck had over 25 years of sobriety.  I stand in awe of people who have done this.    My sister, Kathey, has been in AA for years and I am so proud of her.  Chuck and she were friends.  At Chuck’s 75^th birthday party last October I was humbled to be in the same room with so many special lights from AA.

 

 

Thirdly, I was amused and touched that Chuck died Sunday, December 8.  Know what date that is?  The Immaculate Conception.  Know what it is?  It means Mary was conceived without Original Sin.  God especially intervened to have her born sinless.  She was born normal.  I would suggest Chuck was born similarly, just like all babies.  Like I’ve said before, what if there is no original sin? 

Fourth.  Rosemary & I were riding around White Rock Lake two weeks ago and I noticed these people with the sign, free advice.  I’ve seen them before on Sundays when we were driving.  Never when biking.

 

 

I was 100 yards down West Lawther Drive when I thought to myself, I want to take their picture and see what is up.  I told Rosemary to go on to the car and doubled back. 

There were maybe three guys and two girls, middle aged, very friendly, and amusing.  Suddenly it hit me.  Chuck Pratt would have loved this little slice of Americana.  Free Advice, wow.  I could see him not only talking with these folks, but sitting down and joining their team.  He had plenty of advice to offer.

I was a person walking in some darkness before Chuck came along and lightened my life with his friendship—and advice.  How can I be afraid with a friend like Chuck? 

How was Chuck a light for you?